EventVue

EventVue, founded in 2007 by Josh Fraser and Rob Johnson, was a Boulder-based startup that aimed to enhance the networking experience at professional conferences. The company secured angel funding, including from the accelerator Techstars, totaling between $256k and $455k. Fraser, who began coding at age 10 and studied computer science, launched EventVue as his first company after college, driven by a desire to work on cutting-edge technology. The initial product was a private online social network for conference attendees, allowing them to connect before, during, and after an event.

The business model focused on charging conference organizers for the service, with monetization also planned through an affiliate fee for new event registrations driven by the platform. However, the company struggled to find a sustainable market. Conference organizers, while viewing the product as a "nice-to-have" feature, did not perceive it as essential for increasing revenue or cutting costs, leading to reluctance to pay. This core issue highlighted a lack of product-market fit, as the platform was more of a "vitamin than a painkiller" for its target clients.

In response to this challenge, EventVue pivoted its strategy twice. The first pivot introduced the 'EventVue Discover' widget, designed to show potential attendees who else was coming to an event, with the goal of boosting ticket sales. This move backfired, as it often showed a sparse attendee list in the crucial early sales period, discouraging potential buyers. The final pivot was a last-ditch effort to focus on a real-time event discussion feature. These strategic shifts failed to gain the necessary traction, and with capital depleted, EventVue officially shut down in February 2010. The founders provided a public post-mortem, citing key mistakes such as not testing market assumptions early enough, focusing on sales for a weak product, and an unsustainable enterprise sales model with a small, non-recurring price point.

Keywords: EventVue, conference networking, event technology, social network for events, Josh Fraser, Rob Johnson, Techstars, startup failure, product-market fit, event management software, conference attendees, startup pivot, Boulder startup, venture capital, angel funding, online community, event chatter, Discover widget, affiliate registration fees, enterprise sales model