PSA: I’m starting a company — Hostowambe!
What they don’t tell you about your launch day…is that it’s only your first launch day.
Instead of celebration and a day of rest — you get many more eyes, attention, feedback, and criticism. All of sudden, your success is being decided by more people than you.
That being said, I plan to celebrate both my milestones and failures along the way. So as the first of many “launches”…I’m celebrating my personal PSA Day for Hostowambe!
I started working on this full-time in August 2019…so there’s a ways to go. But I created a short version FAQs for what I’m working on and how you can help.
Thanks for stopping by!
❓ What is Hostowambe?
We’re a platform to help people hire an event planner for any occasion. Or you can think of us as the Uber for Event Planning.
📖 What does the name mean?
In Yoruba, owambe usually refers to a Nigerian party with lots of food, dancing, drinks, and festivities. My philosophy is that everyone should be able to “host” owambe.
🤷♀️ Why do you care about the space?
At the core, I love getting people together in person. At work, I’ve enjoyed hosting a range of cultural and recruiting events. Outside of work I enjoy hosting and attending housewarmings, brunches, surprise birthday parties, bartending debuts, bachelorettes — you name it!
But doing that on the side, especially for non-local events, has proved to be pretty time consuming. And while I’m not the expert, there are a lot of people who are and can plan /organize events like a boss.
Doing recruiting has taught me how strategic you need to be to find the right person for a job. Tools like LinkedIn changed the game when it came to finding candidates.
Outside of the newer freelancer websites (Thumbtack, Fiverr, TaskRabbit, Upwork, etc.)...there’s no central place to find people to plan the high volume of events that happen so often. Or at least not yet.
Long term, I’m excited to personally use my product to host all my social and company events!
🎈What kind of events are you planning to do?
Eventually — all of them!
But to start, I’m specifically focusing on birthday parties (all ages), graduation parties, baby showers, and holiday parties (friendsgivings, halloween, galentine’s, juneteenth, etc.).
👀When can I see the product?
I’m working towards a “next” launch in October.
Right now, I’m still working on creating the first version of the product that you can use. It will be more of a step up from my current google sheets/manual tasks. But I’m happy to work with you as an event host or planner during this stage as well!
🆘How can I help and support you?
Glad you made it this far :) I’ll need lots of help — and will be asking often for it. Here is what I need for now:
- ➕ Follow my Hostowambe social media (Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn) & subscribe to my email list / Clap up this post. There’s power in numbers — I would appreciate if you could follow all and share them👏
- 🎉Let me help with your next event — whether it’s in one month or next year; or your child’s birthday party or your 30th, I want to help. If I can’t successfully connect you to the right planner, I’ll be happy to help you plan it free of charge.
- 👐Connect me with your event planners (freelance & professional) This inclusive of party planners, event planners, and people who plan freelance but want to turn it into a side hustle. If this is you, or you have someone in mind — have them join the network!
- 💰Funding — let’s talk! I’m actively raising a round of funding. I can send more detailed information on pitch, traction, questions, etc.
- 💻CTO — I’m hiring. If you care about the space or know someone who does, send them my way (joy@hostowambe.com)!
And that’s it for now! More to come with the next “launch” in October.
Joy
