Today we have selected Jonathan Kazarian to take his interview. He is the Founder and CEO of Accelevents.
First of all, how are you and your team doing in these COVID-19 times?
We are extremely fortunate to be doing well during these times. Accelevents has experienced outstanding growth since Spring 2020 and we’re thrilled that we are able to bring people together from all over the world on our event platform during a time when in-person events have been either canceled or happening less frequently.
Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company?
After attending a large charity event, I noticed that there were several limitations with the existing event technology and fundraising platforms. I founded Accelevents in 2015 as a way to make mobile fundraising seamless and intuitive for event attendees. Since then, Accelevents has evolved to meet the needs of event organizers and market professionals, especially in the past year when in-person events came to a halt.
How does your company innovate?
The entire company has a growth mindset and we continuously look for ways to improve our platform. We take customer feedback seriously and release product updates every couple of weeks.
How has the Coronavirus pandemic affected your business, and how are you coping?
While Accelevents had plans in place to expand its features in early 2020, the pandemic really pushed us more quickly in that direction. In May of last year, we launched our full virtual event platform and have kept evolving since then. It was clear that our customers were looking for a virtual solution to host events and we’re grateful to be able to provide that to all types of organizations from Fortune 500 companies to academic institutions to small businesses. Accelevents has always been a remote company with team members located around the world. With the company’s success since last Spring, the team has grown by more than 100 people!
Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?
The decision to stay bootstrapped is a decision that challenges us every day. We have been fortunate in the growth that we have been able to achieve to date without taking on outside capital but also recognize how much more we could do and build for our customers when we do take on capital.
What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?
Some of the tools that keep the Accelevents team running smoothly are Hubspot, Jira, Slack, and Breeze. Not to mention our very own platform! We host our company meetings and happy hours on Accelevents.
Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
There are literally hundreds of virtual and hybrid events platforms out there. We plan to remain competitive in this industry by constantly innovating, having first-class platform features like our real-time, in-depth analytic reports, offering a scalable pricing model, and providing outstanding customer support.
Your Final Thoughts:
When building a company, having a customer-first mentality is the best way to learn. We are grateful that our customers have been so willing to share their feedback with us which has allowed us to grow and evolve as a product and a company.
- Spokesperson: Jonathan Kazarian
- Company: Accelevents
- Website link: www.accelevents.com