It’s never too late to DREAM a new DREAM
If you believe it will work, give it a shot
It’s been more than seven years since the first hint of the idea came to my mind. I have been working in the events and experiential industry for the last two decades, switching 3 jobs and finally starting on my own in 2009, working with the best and the finest tech companies in the world.
Searching, exploring, planning and booking an event space has been a pain for ages now. When you have to search for an event venue, there is no single platform where you can find them, when you want to go deep dive into those venues, there is no data. What you get is a layout, which is not to scale. And you always take a day or two to create multiple options to see if the space fits your client’s requirements. Booking is cumbersome and unreasonable too. A venue which you know will cost X , will always give you a cost of X+, because it’s his process to give a higher cost and after multiple mails back and forth, will come down to X only. We always experienced this pain and wasted our time and money, while we should have been focusing on the creative delivery for the client.
The problem has been consistent for years and as an event manager, it was always frustrating.
“The process of finding and booking a space is outdated, inefficient and time consuming. It normally takes weeks of multiple calls, voicemails, emails, contracts and invoices to secure a space. We knew that there had to be a more simple, easy and quick way of doing that and so we decided to build a platform which would have everything you need all in one place.”
I know Vishal Puri from school, we did our schooling from the same school in Agra and grew up together, we finished our post graduation and were flatmates as well. Since then we always used to think of starting together and solving a problem. Last year around July 2019, while we were discussing our work, the problem came out again, we discussed and discussed and discussed, we started working on it. Months passed and the belief grew stronger, finally in Jan 2020 we registered our company and founded Spalba, a creative tech company. that uses technology as an enabler to resolve the emerging problem of finding and booking a Space.
Spalba, a SaaS platform that enables the algorithm of using Spaces as a Service (SpaaS). Designed for and adaptable to any type of booking requirements for a Third Space needed for ABG(activity based gathering) in Hospitality industry.
Spalba is the anchor between Spaces and People, we not only make spaces accessible & functional but immersive & experiential for people to engage and come together.
What’s the Solution
It’s a world of On-Demand- Services.
WE now have Netflix for movies, Spotify for music, Uber for taxis, Zomato for food, Airbnb for accommodation, Wherever we look people are shifting to on-demand services.
Why are Spaces likely to be any different?
The journey began and we started building the platform, just when the development had started COVID 19 happened and we started questioning the concept and ourselves, but as they say “ every adversity is a blessing in disguise”. We started going deep and found our eureka moment again.
We said spaces should not be confined to physical boundaries. Space is a powerful tool to foster engagement, inspire innovation and enable possibilities. Wherever people can come together to engage, a space is shaped.
We said spaces should not be confined to physical boundaries. Space is a powerful tool to foster engagement, inspire innovation and enable possibilities. Wherever people can come together to engage, a space is shaped.
At SPALBA, we are trying to reimagine and repurpose the functionality of PerSqFt of all available spaces as Third Spaces making it accessible, assistive and experiential for ABG (Activity Based Gatherings)
- Third Space is fusion of the physical (first space) and the remote (second space) into a networked place that can be inhabited by multiple remote users simultaneously or asynchronously (third space).
It’s a space where people meet to unwind, discuss and talk about things that matter to them, their neighbourhood and their community, where they can let down their guard, relax, be themselves, develop new friendships and deepen existing ones.
- Taking the concept of UX for Spaces, we explore how the science of intentional design can turn any holding environment into a holistic experience.
For SPALBA, Activity Based Gatherings are the meet-ups and gatherings where people come together to build experiences. From meetings to conferences to celebrations to networking or anything that brings people together with a plan and purpose, we count it as an ABG.
What we are trying to do is a great value proposition for the Space Owners as well as Space users.
For Spaces Owners:
- Listing The Space- Making spaces accessible to all with an unparalleled reach. Intuitive functionality.
- Cloned: Digital Twining- Designing and developing a digital model of the Space using all forms of designing tools and tech- 3D/XR/AR/VR adding the aggravators of Spatial technology and stitching everything together with intelligence of data to make your space come alive virtually not as a visually appealing model but as an assistive and immersive P.O.S.
- Optimisation & Monetisation- Building a selling proposition of each space
- Business Intelligence- All the products and services offered in the hospitality industry have been characterised by a high level of homogeneity.
For Spaces Users:
- Empowering users to explore and unlock most unique spaces
- A.I Powered Event Management Tools
- Easy Planning- XR guided Tool for event designing
- Optimised and Efficient Working — Tools to manage, coordinate and collaborate
- Price Control- Dynamic Pricing for better budgeting
- Data Sciences for Event Analytics and Reporting
- Content Management
- Users can easily manage bids, determine availability, quickly build eRFPs, track meeting spend, and seamlessly integrate your venue sourcing into your organisations meeting and event management process.
While we have just started and are still on the runway, our feets are firm and the vision is clear.
Leveraging data and technology in an innovative way to move ahead in all aspects. Our vision is to be a Tech Enabling platform for SPaaS to disrupt the Hospitality industry, not only by being an enabler but as innovators of use cases and applicability in the domain to make it more flexible, versatile and lucrative.
Our ultimate vision is that if Elon Musk is able to land us all on Mars then, Spalba would be planning ABG’s (On-Ground) on Earth, Mars and (On-Air) on a Planet Spalba ( A planet which is virtual and has virtual spaces )
I wanted to share my journey because I wanted to let people know that Dreams do happen, you just need to dare a bit, never give up on your idea, if you believe in it, give it a try. You might fail but at least you tried.
If you think it will work, give it a shot, there will always be people who will not understand what you are trying to do, trying to build. You will not find competition because no one is doing it, but if you think the idea is right, you must commit to it and give it a shot.
