Planesty · The short version
We built the operating system for events.
Then launched it three weeks before the world stopped gathering.
The problem
The event industry ran critical logistics through spreadsheets, emails, paper, and disconnected documents.
Event pre-planning and onsite execution wasted enormous amounts of time, resources, and money. The prevailing process was manual, static, difficult to share, and impossible to scale cleanly.
The insight
Smarter software could save organizations money while creating a collaborative environment for organizers, venues, and suppliers — one shared source of truth instead of a trail of files.
After roughly six months of ideation, we began structured learning with event organizers and hotels. We shared early designs, attended industry events, ran focus groups, and distributed surveys online and in person.
Qualitative first
Deep industry relationships gave us unusually direct access to people doing the work. Focus groups and trade-show conversations became our richest source of truth.
Quantitative support
Surveys helped identify common patterns and gave us confidence about which of the many possible directions deserved attention.
An audience before launch
Research participants became a natural community for beta testing, feedback, and eventual adoption.
The product
Planesty was a B2B SaaS platform that gave event teams, venues, and suppliers the tools to make smarter, more strategic decisions. It automated the logistical work behind meetings and events — agendas, room assignments, audiovisual needs, food and beverage, presenters, documents, and collaboration.
The proof
- Role
- Co-founder · Head of Product
- Company
- EventWaves → Planesty
- Team
- I led 6 engineers
- Conversations
- Hundreds of industry chats
- Beta
- 100+ companies
- Launch
- 300+ users
The beta was not theatre. More than 100 companies used the platform for real operational work, and their feedback shaped what shipped.
The turn
MAR 2020
After four years, we launched at a major Denver trade show with 300+ users, a ten-person team, and agreements with two global event partners. The energy was through the roof.
2020–21
At that same launch, we heard the country would likely shut down. Two days later it did. Our product served in-person events, and that industry disappeared overnight. We kept building and supporting clients, but the pause lasted too long for the company to continue.
What I keep
- 01
Obsess over the problem
Understand people deeply. Better product decisions follow when the problem, not a favorite solution, stays at the center.
- 02
A vision is a product too
Raising money is a design problem: investors are not buying today's interface; they are buying a credible picture of what could exist.
- 03
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
Stress, ambiguity, legal work, sales, leadership, and failure all became part of the job — and expanded what I knew I could handle.
- 04
Teams need shared ownership
Leading engineers and business partners across countries taught me to translate intent, invite expertise, and make decisions visible.
Four years building a software company taught me more than ten clean launches would have.