Hey, we launched and I was able to successfully on-board the supply side, however the demand side doesn't seem to be biting yet.<p>I have a bunch of meetings with event planners tomorrow to learn more, but we may be headed towards a pivot.<p>Here's the startup: www.venuevortex.com (connecting event planners to venues).<p>With this same technology what can we pivot into? We're open to make changes to the code if needed but the technology is robust for the most part we're looking for something we can transform it into if need be.<p>Open to all ideas from the community.
Why pivot so soon? Didn't you just launch? It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, so success is not going to happen overnight. I think you have a great idea. Several things I would work on:<p>1. Expand your market. If I remember correctly, you are only in Toronto. Start on-boarding venues in other areas.<p>2. Work on establishing partnerships with the venues that you can offer discounts if the customer books through your site, even if you don't handle the actual booking.<p>3. Partner with every possible event planner, wedding planner, convention planner, trade show host, etc... that you can possibly find.<p>4. I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket though with #3. In a way you are actually competing against these folks. They already have vast amounts of data on every venue, and most likely have existing relationships established with them. You really want to target the individual, self planner market. One angle may be to go to churches and advertise in bulletins. Go to flower shops and talk to the people there. Hit other vendors and work with them.<p>5. I would work on building in additional planning features. So not only list the venues, but list other services that are nearby or have worked with that venue in the past. For example, if someone is looking at a hotel for a wedding, include options for florists and caterers. Try to create packages for the consumer, that way you are a one-stop shop and allows you to compete against the event planner more effectively.<p>6. Find an event writer at local papers and try to get them to run a story about the site/service.<p>On another note, I am not clear on your revenue model. Are you charging the venue to be listed, do you get a referral fee, do you charge the individual for something, is there an ad model? The revenue model you envision for the site may or may not impact some of the choices you make for marketing the site.<p>Anyway, I like the idea and think your site looks great.
Develop more venue niches to target appropriate locations: Weddings, Team Building, Reunions, Anniversary Parties, Brain Storming, Kids Birthdays, Work Shops, Professional Meet-ups, etc... Consider the problem a visitor to your site is trying to solve; 'I need a cool, inexpensive site for X event'.