In the tech age, the hallmark of a well-organized conference is a branded mobile application for the event, through which conference-goers can chat, swap contacts and information, check out the conference agenda, register for get-togethers, and more.
Now one of Ukraine’s most promising startups has developed a customizable mobile app called Attendify to do all of that, and tap into the $30-billion-a-year events industry.
Originally founded in 2010 by Ukrainian Artyom Yaremchuk and Ukrainian expat in the United States Michael Balyasny, Attendify has become a prime example of how a local tech company can grow into a global business, with its product now used in 86 countries.
The startup’s app reportedly brings the company tens of millions of dollars a year. And it’s used by thousands of clients, including giants like Google, Facebook, Bloomberg, American Express, PayPal, and Uber.
The Kyiv Post too will now be one of its clients, using the app at this year’s Tiger Conference at the Intercontinental Kyiv hotel on Dec. 11. So how does Attendify actually work?
The app
Attendify is a mobile platform on which clients can create branded apps for their own events. The app eases networking, navigating, and schedule planning for guests.
Apps “bridge the gap between digital and event marketing” and aims to make events more engaging, Attendify co-founder Balyasny told the Kyiv Post.
“The event industry is massive and global,” he said. “We all want to meet in person, learn together, network and connect in meaningful ways. There are plenty of ways to connect online, but no real substitute for face-to-face engagement.”
“The industry will evolve, and events that don’t deliver innovative experiences probably won’t survive, but we see the industry becoming more influential in the future,” he added.
So that event attendees don’t have to carry bundles of leaflets and papers around, or have to hunt around for each class or activity scheduled at an event, the app shows the schedule, speakers’ and sponsors’ info, and provided reminder alerts from event organizers straight to users’ personal phones.
But the main feature of the app is that it has all the functions of any other social media, giving users the ability to post photos and updates, comment on posts, and message all other event participants who have installed the app.
At the same time, the social network does not reveal personal data; all communication is possible only inside the app, and nobody sees another attendee’s contacts, phone number or email address.
Having the app also helps the organizers, allowing them to trace their guests’ activities, communicate with them, and get feedback about event organization — such as guests’ ratings of speakers.
The app has 2,500 reviews in Apple’s App Store with a mark of 4.8 out of 5. It supports 21 languages, including Ukrainian, English, Arabic, French, German, and Chinese. It costs event organizers $1,000 for a license to customize the app for a particular event. Attendees can download the Attendify app for free, and then register with the event they plan to attend.
While the app is the core of Attendify’s business, the startup is now looking to offer other services like ticket sales platforms and developing websites for events that work synchronously with the app.
“The next few years are going to be exciting from a product roadmap perspective, we’re leaning away from a pure event tech solution to a hybrid event and marketing tech platform,” Balyasny said, adding that his startup wants to make the most of the opportunities available on the events market.
“If we (continue) doing our job, good things will happen,” he said.
The Kyiv Post is now one of Attendify’s clients. The newspaper will be using the app at its 7th annual Tiger Conference in the InterContinental Kyiv hotel on Dec. 11. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
Ukrainian office
Saying they are focused on growth, the startup has gone from five people on staff in Kyiv in 2012 to a company today with 70 employees across three offices: one in Ukraine’s capital and two in the United States, in Arizona and in California’s Silicon Valley, where it also has its headquarters.
Ukrainians, however, remain the core of the company, accounting for 57 of those 70 employees. These are the company’s software engineers and product designers, but also support, sales, operations, research, and app management teams.
“We’re always trying to put people in positions where they’ll be most successful and add the most value to the organization,” Balyasny said, talking about the Ukrainian team.
“I’m very proud of the team we’ve built (in Ukraine, especially of) the fact that we have people here in almost every important functional role for the business,” he added.
The company has a total of 3,500 clients (more than 99 percent are not from Ukraine, 60 percent of them are from the United States) and the app has been used for 14,000 events.
Investment
On its way to achieving such success, the company has attracted investment only twice, raising $400,000 in 2013 and then $1.7 million in 2016. The rest of the time, Attendify fueled its growth with no external funding, but by using money the founders earned from previous businesses and reinvesting money the startup generated.
The company’s main investor is a Ukrainian venture fund called Digital Future, which pumped $1.7 million into Attendify, making it the fund’s biggest single investment. Two years after this investment, Digital Future’s founding partner Oleksii Vitchenko has no regrets.
Vitchenko told the Kyiv Post he put the money first of all because he was impressed by Attendify’s team, which he described as “modest but determined.” Their results so far show they have a good future.
“This is one of the most successful tech product companies working on the global market,” Vitchenko said.
The Kyiv Post’s technology coverage is sponsored by Ciklum and NIX Solutions. The content is independent of the donors.
