The Exchanges

Q Did you have a video tech stack already built in events.com so you could quickly pivot to hosting virtual events or did you not have that tech build when COVID hit?

A Yeah, so from a video tech stack, we actually, we, we refer folks and integrate with other video tech stacks. So when people are powering their event from a virtual perspective, they will use our system to do everything from registration, sponsorship management, marketing, analytics, CRM, customers, refund, you know, whatever it might be. Um, and they can pick because, you know, events that are using video really have two goals, right? They either want to broadcast to as many people as possible, In which case they're going to want to pipe it out over Instagram and YouTube and Vimeo. And so a host of, you know, that's one dimension of a virtual event. Another one is someone wants restricted access, right? That's really where, uh, groups are trying to say, well, you have to buy a ticket to get access to what you're watching or what you're interacting with. Um, so we took a step back and said, let's sit on top of that because each organization is going to want to do it slightly differently. And there's been so much, there's been a lot of chaos. We just wanted to be the, you know, we wanted to be the Levi's, I guess, in that situation.

AI assessment note: “we refer folks and integrate with other video tech stacks”

Q Okay. So what signals were you seeing in 2015? I gave you the confidence to say, you know what, let's go all in our events.com.

A You know, the event industry is, has transformed, not just in the last year, but prior to that, as technologies emerged for the event industry, event organizers were faced. You know, if there was like the Nathan festival, you would be using up to 15 different platforms. You'd have one for ticketing, One for marketing, one for analytics, and you got some person in the corner with a spreadsheet trying to sell sponsorship, but they're getting recruited away because they're good with people. And so all of these different things that were happening was pulling value away from event organizers. Um, and we, we operate primarily in the, the sort of the mid tier, although we have, you know, wonderful festival with 56,000 attendees and the rise festival. And, you know, we have big clients. But our focus is really kind of the mid market. Um, and so we looked at these event organizers and there's just a better way, you know, an absolutely better way for them to get access to something that helps them make morning. It helps them make more money and save time because it's just a nightmare. None of the systems they were using were talking to each other. So, you know, the app that they hired someone to build for check-in didn't match with their registration app, which didn't match with their analytics app, which they had trouble doing their email marketing too.

AI assessment note: “event organizers were faced... you would be using up to 15 different platforms.”

Q points here in this space, right? Visible grows in 2019 from ten million run rate to twenty two million run rate at the end of 2020. Hoppin grows from three million in ARR to almost twenty million in ARR pre-hop, pre-streamyard acquisition with their video tech stack. Vfair's bootstrapped goes from three million to thirty million in ARR during this period. Why did you shrink if you had this capability?

A Yeah, so remember, the capability, we are not doing video the way Hopin or Zoom or YouTube or, um, you know, if you're, if you're having someone who's getting access, our primary activity is really for the event organizers to be able to use any of those platforms. We didn't want to limit any of our event organizers, for example, if it's your, you know, your local organization or a national group, they may have a specific tendency to use a Zoom or to use a Hopin, although Hopin is, In some ways, a significant competitor, um, impressed with what they're doing. Found is a great guy, but I think ultimately for what we're trying to do, it really is, you know, attack, tackle that mid market and allow people to use any video integrations that they would like. So we focused on integrating with the various video platforms so that when people are running their, um, apps for, you know, experiencing the back and forth connectivity, check-in sponsorship, marketing that event. Um, also doing ticketing for that event for really the commercial enterprise around the event.

AI assessment note: “we are not doing video the way Hopin or Zoom”

Q And so with that 1.5 million and sort of year one history, right. Just again, ignoring the acquisition You've done now in their trailing revenue. You also went out, I think, raised a round of capital that year. How much did you raise in, in 2015? Correct.

A So I think collectively, and we did it as a rolling raise. So I'm going to, you know, let you know, we've raised over fifty million and we're about to announce a round that takes us over seventy million and that includes the acquisitions. Um, uh, one of which we did in 19 and didn't announce one of which actually the other three, which we're about to announce, I would say within the next two or three quarters. Um, and so that's, that's an exciting time, but it's, uh, it's about seventy million cumulatively. And because we did rolling raises, I can't give you the specific time of what came in unless I opened up a bunch of files and tell you what came in and what point, what, what point in the year.

AI assessment note: “because we did rolling raises, I can't give you the specific time”

Q No, in terms of revenue. 16.8 million in 2019 went down to what in 2020 because of COVID?

A Good question. So that would be one thing I'd want to hold back as well, um, in terms of the COVID drop, but I will share with you it was significant. Um, the great thing is A lot of our partners, right? A lot of our partners are museums that we power the technology for churches, um, you know, uh, temples, synagogues. Um, we do registration for festivals and galas and, uh, all, all of the events, a lot of which aren't happening currently. Although a lot of them are also using our virtual event technologies. Um, but it's, it's a, it's a fraction of what it would be. Uh, and a lot of those, and some, we expect around five up to eight percent of the event organizers globally will actually just not make it, not make it through. Uh, but the demand, the demand that we're tracking on the other end of this, on the other end of the nightmare is significant. When New Zealand opened up again, After their first lockdown, which was abbreviated compared to the rest of the world, they broke 16 year attendance records at their events and have maintained like a 20 to 30% increase in the people that are going to out and experiencing events in the real world.

AI assessment note: “that would be one thing I'd want to hold back as well”

Q Why not though? I mean, what I'm saying is like, isn't this a massive opportunity you missed? I mean, you have the perfect domain name. Why wasn't this like the number one priority the second you heard about a virus shutting down the economy?

A Yeah. And, and I will share with you that one of the reasons is I'm editing out because of the acquisition that, uh, There's an, there's an edit there. You, you, I think uncovered something that, uh, we will be talking about probably not for three months, but there is, um, there's something there in the space that we are targeting. So I'm, is it, you, you, you got a great way of, uh, cutting through, but that, that is correct. We, we at events.com, we were focused kind of sitting on the gateway to the video experiences. People are still having those video experiences on multiple platforms. And when you look at Capacity for people to interact at an event. There's a lot of things emerging, right? I mean, you've got the whole event dynamic world of clubhouse. I'm sure. I think you had a huge clubhouse event at one point, right? Like thousands of people attending it. And if you look at the way, the patterns of human behavior are shifting now pre pandemic. And then of course, post pandemic. One of the things that we've been analyzing is what is the sustainability and the time line around what people are going to do in that hybrid environment when you're going to the wonderful festival, but you're experiencing it digitally from Milan, or if you're experiencing in San Diego in the real world. So we've spent a lot of time looking at that space and we have a pretty big announcement. I t…

AI assessment note: “one of the reasons is I'm editing out because of the acquisition”