PartySlate: The New Standard In Event Planning

An interview with Partyslate CEO Julie Novack

PartySlate is a website that inspires people planning events and connects them with the leading event professionals and venues across the country and the world. Brides, grooms, gala chairs, and others use PartySlate to browse thousands of curated photos to find ideas and trends for their next events. People can save their favorite photos, then discover and contact local event professionals who can bring their party to life.

Wavemaker was fortunate to back PartySlate during its pre-seed round in 2017 and again in its seed round in 2019. We recently sat down with PartySlate’s Founder and CEO Julie Novack to discuss her founding journey and key insights that are driving PartySlate’s success in a massive $800 billion global events industry.

What were the key insights that led you to launch PartySlate?

I have a digital agency background and I was planning all of these large scale corporate events, such as sales incentive trips and client conferences. I was looking online for inspiration, being a digital person, and I couldn’t find any inspirational websites for corporate events. There were plenty of wedding blogs but there wasn’t anything that was helping me raise the bar for these high stakes events. Then I used a website called Houzz.com to help me redesign my kitchen and it hit me that this was the type of photo-rich experience I was looking for. I set out to build the “Houzz for the event industry” where you could find beautiful galas, weddings and corporate event ideas all linked back to the event professionals who produced those events. Unlike Pinterest, every photo is linked back to the event planners, caterers, venue, photographer and decor company who actually produced that event. Ultimately PartySlate has become a curated marketing platform for the best of the best in the events industry. Within minutes, these event professionals can create a stunning profile page to share their work, build their brand and drive leads.

What made you feel like you were uniquely positioned to start this type of business?

I think I was born to do this business. I’ve loved events since my first party in seventh grade. I was actually a club promoter, believe it or not, in my twenties. Despite having a serious banking job, I was one of the first promoters using email marketing to get people to a party on a Friday night at the hot new club. That’s where my entrepreneurial journey began. I’ve always loved how an amazing event can inspire people to donate to an important cause, connect people with brands and create family memories. With 20 years of experience working with some of the largest brands in the world, leading Razorfish and Agency.com, I put together my digital know-how and my love for events and the connections they create. I truly believe that inspired events inspire people. We want to help people around the world create amazing experiences and connect them with the best event professionals.

What’s the biggest difference from a benefits and challenges perspective about founding a business within a corporate environment versus launching your own startup?

I co-founded the online banking division of First Chicago Bank (now Chase) in the 90s. It was a great experience starting a startup within a large corporation. The great part is that you have the resources and the infrastructure, but it’s also very slow moving. Believe it or not we had a lot of executives saying “Who’s going to bank online?”. We had to be evangelists because these execs didn’t yet see the vision. The best thing about starting your own company is that you really control your own destiny — you can set your priorities with your team, bring in the right talent and move very quickly. That said, the pressure is intense but I love it!

Do you feel like that experience at First Chicago Bank and other large organizations helped you launch PartySlate?

I absolutely think it did. I admire the 22 year olds that are starting businesses. I think it’s amazing. But a lot of research has shown that more experienced founders, I dare say older founders, may have a better chance at success because we’ve been through two recessions, and we’ve scaled organizations. I’ve navigated every HR incident you can dream of leading a team of 300 people at Razorfish. I also have a framework for how to overcome challenges in an organization and I think that’s very helpful. My co-founder, John Haro, has led tech and engineering teams and we’ve worked together for 15 years before we started PartySlate. I think that level of trust and that knowledge of strengths and weaknesses has also set us up for success.

What does PartySlate do really well that you think others can learn from?

Creating a marketplace is incredibly challenging. You’re building two businesses, not one. You have to get the supply side, the event professionals, excited. At the beginning you’re selling an empty suitcase since the marketplace isn’t going yet. On the consumer side, it’s really about meeting their needs and creating a fantastic experience that makes the process of planning an event more enjoyable and easier. We were laser focused on the professional side of the market first and even before there as traffic to the site we were writing great articles about these professionals and created a great sales tool for them. In many cases, their free profile page is better than their own website. This really strong value proposition helped us build that market. I’m proud to share that there are over 6,000 event professionals sharing their work on PartySlate today. In a couple of years, that’s a pretty good feat and of those, about 8% are paying for a premium membership. These premium members get an elevated presence on PartySlate for an annual subscription fee, so we operate similar to a SaaS company.

Partyslate’s platform is perfect for inspiration when planning an event

What’s one professional hurdle you’ve personally navigated?

Ah, there are so many. I think one professional hurdle for me has been balancing the process of raising money and running the business at the same time. I’m a born enterprise sales person so I love pitching. I’m glad I have a small reprieve from the fundraising to be heads-down focused on the business. I think that’s something that every founder struggles with.

What do you do when you want to be inspired?

I am inspired by the events industry. It’s incredibly diverse. About 70% of this industry are women-run entrepreneurial businesses. It’s also very creative. We’re in the business of happiness and creating memories. Even if it’s a corporate event, it’s about creating a fantastic experience that connects people to a brand, a mission. Wavemaker, for example, invests in tech companies, yet you have all of these events that are amazing with inspirational speakers. We believe that inspirational, well run events have become a growing form of advertising. Influencers and attendees amplify the event through social media and build the brand.

We just launched PartySlate Miami and we had an incredible launch party last week at 1 Hotel South Beach. We had over 300 leading event professionals in South Florida and it was an all-white party, which is tough for me because I wear all black, on the beach, with incredible entertainment. Everything was 100% eco-friendly which was on brand for the 1 Hotel since they’re eco-friendly so the fact that this party was made of 100% recyclable materials was special. It was incredibly inspirational.

We’re really excited about hotels that are embracing PartySlate. We offer three main differentiators. One, we’re more than just weddings; corporate events are huge for these hotels, too. 95% of event professionals produce more than just weddings. Two, we’re a photo-rich platform similar to Houzz. Third, PartySlate is a great sales tool. In addition to new leads, we know that many event professionals send a link to their PartySlate profile with every proposal that goes out the door. The flexibility and beauty of the PartySlate profile showing all of their work is often better than their own website.

If you were to start a new company tomorrow, what industry would you pick and why?

That’s really easy for me — this industry! The people in the event world are wildly creative, passionate, diverse and hard working. And these are all local jobs that are never going overseas. We are in the business of bringing people together for important causes and milestone events. Whether it’s growing a company or raising money for cancer research, I think this is one of the best industries to be in. The events industry is huge — over $160 billion in the US alone and $800 billion globally.

What advice would you like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?

If you’re fascinated with startups and just looking to start your own company, but you’re not sure of an idea, that’s not enough. You have to have a lot of passion around your idea because you’re going to be beaten down and have a lot of naysayers and challenges. If you don’t love what you do, you’re not going to get over those challenges. After the 6th or 7th time, you’re going to throw in the towel. And I will say no one, I don’t care what happens in this industry, is going to stop me from building this business. That’s because I love the industry, I love our team, and I love what we’re building. You have to have an idea that’s burning in you and that you’re very passionate about.

Describe your dream event.

I love that question. This Miami launch party was my dream event! I’ve always been obsessed with the celebrity-filled “white parties” that P. Diddy hosted in the Hamptons. This party was sleek, branded perfectly and I always wanted to be on the guest list! So for us to have this beach party with amazing entertainment, decor and incredible food in the stunning 1 Hotel was my dream event.

When I got into this business I was planning a lot of fundraisers for cancer research and children’s hospitals. I found that you can raise 80–90% of your annual fundraising goal in a single night. The quality and the experience of the party not only impacted how much you raised that night but how many people came back the following year, almost like recurring revenue. I connected that the better the event and the more thoughtful the experience, the more funds you could raise for these mission critical charities and that’s another thing to keep in mind. These events really move the needle for different causes and we are the only company putting a spotlight on the incredible events that are raising money, and we’re really proud of that.

What’s next for PartySlate?

We’ve created this amazing platform with over 500,000+ stunning event photos where you can get inspired and find the best local event professionals and venues. We’re in 8 cities and we’ll add 8 more this year.

What we’re really excited about is helping people organize their ideas and organize their short list of event pros/venues. So launching in the next few weeks, we’ll have this concept where you can have an Idea Slate for your event — your favorite venues, caterers, and event photos. Event planners can even share an Idea Slate of their favorite local venues with their clients. Instead of creating an ugly PDF or a mismatched email, you can easily create a Slate with your favorite photos, professionals and venues to share with your stakeholders and whoever you’re planning an event with.

Rapid fire:

1. Favorite meal in Chicago? It’s gotta be Gibson’s. They have the best steak, seafood and salads. I go there at least twice a year for birthdays and other occasions. My close second is Sunda. It’s a trendy pan-Asian restaurant in the city.
2. What was the last gift you gave someone? It was a special splurge but I got my daughter the new iPad Pro with a stylus for her birthday. She’s a creative and design focused kid. She’s only 10 but she is very passionate about being an interior designer.
3. What’s in your pocket right now? Nothing. In my backpack — laptop and iphone at all times.
4. One word that best describes how you work. I am a driver. I will say that I am very fortunate to have a co-founder who’s an analytical thinker that compliments my leadership style. I “paint a picture” and hire very smart and capable people to make things happen.
5. What’s the quirkiest item on your bucket list. I don’t think it’s quirky but I’ve always been obsessed with those Bora Bora and Fiji Islands vacations where you have those huts with the glass bottoms. One day I want to have the energy and time to do something like that. I have three kids, a startup, a husband that travels, and I travel, so that’s not really on my radar right now.
6. What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “a blessing and a curse”? Well, we’re out of office space. It’s a blessing that we’re growing and we’re feeling good that company is getting traction, but we’re also having meetings in our storage room. That’s where a lot of our important decisions get made. And we have meetings in the hallway. That’s going to be fixed soon but we say it’s a good problem to have.

Looking to get inspired for your next event? Check out Partyslate now!

Originally published at wavemaker.vc on April 5, 2019.