It has been very common worldwide that any of the events organized is on a huge budget as well as a great grand aura and ambiance. Whether it may be a formal event or a professional every event is expected to be perfect in every aspect. Before 2020 having such big fat, events was a normal thing, and used to be very grateful. After 2020 each and every field went through changes drastically. Everyone searched for other alternatives for their respective fields. In this huge worldwide horrifying pandemic, it was majorly to save our own lives and then look after everything.
Regarding business and official things, companies switched to online work, meetings, and conferences. Same as this commercial event was also held online. Each and every company carried out its works and events online. As it’s always major for every business whether it’s small, big, or new startup needs clients and popularity among the people to reach out to the targeted audience and clients. With the help of online events, entrepreneurs and other business persons conduct online events with an aim to be completed. This idea of the virtual event makes people own their respective aim and helps to maintain the after-COVID restrictions, as life comes first.
Such a company named HeySummit started its startup in 2019 and was followed by COVID which gradually made them the leading virtual event management company.
In this interview with Benjamin Dell, Founder & CEO of HeySummit, we shall know more about the HeySummit’s growth and journey.
Tell us about the company.
HeySummit is the easy-to-use virtual event platform that helps you grow your audience and monetize your passion. Founded in 2019, we found ourselves in a strong position to serve the heightened demand for online events that the global COVID pandemic created.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
When HeySummit first launched, Virtual / Online Events were less popular (though they were starting to rise in popularity). As a consequence, we found that most of our time was spent educating customers on why running a virtual event can be an incredibly impactful way to grow your community and monetize your passion.
Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company?
When COVID hit in early 2020, HeySummit found that demand for online events skyrocketed almost overnight.
How have the company graphs changed since the foundation? Can you share a few statistics?
HeySummit has 10,000 customers, and 100,000 speakers registered, have served 2.5M attendees worldwide, and have generated over $16,000,000 in revenue for our event organizers.
What is the reason behind your company’s long-standing success?
Although the global demand for virtual events spiked during COVID, there’s absolutely no doubt that demand has remained strong. COVID fundamentally changed the way companies think about marketing (and monetizing) through virtual events. We’re expecting this trend to continue growing.
What are the products and services that your company specializes in?
HeySummit core platform helps its customers set up, promote and run virtual events. Our core strength is helping our customers think about the entire end-to-end process, the wider experience, and the monetization opportunity. Perhaps our core strength (from a product standpoint) is that we’re technology agnostic when it comes to video streaming and replays.
Rather than develop our own Zoom competitor, very early on in our journey, we realized that it would be far better for our customers if they could use the video platforms and tools that they were already using. To that end, our customers can mix and match platforms to suit their audience. From webinar platforms to live-streaming, to pre-recorded video sources. HeySummit integrates with everything you need and more.
How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?
COVID rapidly increased customer adoption within the virtual event space. We believe the next phase in the industries evolution is twofold –
1) ensuring that we integrate with wider ecosystems and tools, and
2) doubling down on community features (essentially helping our customers communicate more effectively with their speakers, attendees and sponsors) to foster a meaningful conversation across all parties during an event.
What do you think are the responsibilities of an entrepreneur?
In short, to make a judgment on the trends that they think will drive tomorrow. Can you please brief us about your professional experience? A serial entrepreneur, with multiple exits. Typically focused on the SaaS space; I’m passionate about empowering businesses and brands with tools that help them succeed.
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
Sold an early SaaS product to David Cancel (Founder at Drift). More recently I created (and sold) 3 SaaS companies in the last 2 years. How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique? My teams are typically small and focused on a particular area of the business. We try and act as much like a startup as we can to remain agile and responsive to changing trends and external factors.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs?
Take note of your leadership style, what your strengths are and what gives you the most energy. Doubling down on your strengths and listening to your gut can be the most impactful thing an entrepreneur can do. TLDR: Spend less time following advice from ‘gurus’ and more time learning about what makes you tick.
