Not many startups can claim Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta as paying customers, but Confetti can. And the list extends beyond his five companies with a total market value of $10 trillion. The New York-based company says it works with Zoom, Netflix, Stripe, TikTok, Shopify, Adobe, LinkedIn, HubSpot, and his 30% of Fortune companies. 500.
The total number of companies is approximately 8,000. Not bad for an events and team-building startup, as the pandemic forced much of its target market behind closed doors and forced Confetti to reinvent its business model in a matter of weeks.
Most companies would be happy to see a multi-trillion dollar technology giant on Confetti's client list. That's why it's especially noteworthy that a little-known startup can own so many famous logos.
“These companies use Confetti dozens or even hundreds of times a year for a wide variety of use cases,” CEO and co-founder Lee Rubin told TechCrunch. “These include seasonal events such as Halloween, Black History Month, and holiday parties, as well as goal-based activities such as competitive advantage, communication, and wellness.”
Currently, Confetti claims a revenue run rate of $12 million, which it expects to increase to $15 million to $20 million by the end of the year. And to fuel this growth, the company announced its $16 million Series A round of funding led by Israel's Entrée. Capital and IN Venture.
How to use
Example of a Confetti product page.Image credit: Confetti
Businesses use Confetti to provide team-building experiences for remote teams and also support hybrid.
Looking to foster friendships through virtual baking and cocktail making? Confetti has it all covered, from connecting with local suppliers to shipping ingredients directly to your employees. How about interactive games like quizzes, dictionaries, and charades? Again, Confetti organizes it all. All games are designed in-house from ideation to creation.
“The platform handles the entire event execution process,” Rubin says.
However, this was not always the case. Confetti started as a marketplace that connects businesses and event providers. However, it still placed a huge responsibility on the organizers to connect the dots and ensure a memorable event for everyone involved. This is why Confetti has moved to an end-to-end platform that organizes everything from start to finish.
“Marketplaces simply solve the problem of finding an idea and a vendor who might deliver it, but the entire burden of quality assurance and event execution still lies with the customer, who has no need to communicate directly with the vendor. Yes,” Rubin said. “Furthermore, most event providers are not corporate-specific and offer the same content to any group for any purpose. I understand that.”
Rubin also draws an analogy about how one of his customers, Netflix, started as a content aggregator and transitioned into a content producer to have more control over the products it sells.
“[It’s all about] As you build a remote or hybrid work culture, we create content from the ground up in a consistent way across all experiences,” Rubin said.
complexity
Rubin said she was tasked with organizing team-building events at a previous job, but the effort proved more difficult than she had originally imagined.
“At first I thought it would be easy, but I realized it involved so many things: coming up with ideas, looking for vendors online, negotiating with vendors, etc. The team is fun. It all takes hard work to pass the time,” Rubin explained. “So I asked myself: Is there an easier way to create meaningful events that are easy to plan?”
So in 2017, Rubin and her CTO co-founder Eyal Hakim launched Confetti, which aims to take the complexity out of organizing events and experiences for teams. But that was seven years ago for her, which is a long time ago given the world's attitude towards remote work. The pandemic has forced nearly every company to adopt remote work. That meant Rubin and Hakim had to switch things up pretty quickly.
“When we first started, we focused solely on in-person events, helping companies host events in their offices,” Rubin said. “When the pandemic hit, we had to pivot quickly, and after two exhausting weeks, we had a prototype already up and running and ready to sell. I believe this is proof that we need to stay true to ourselves and see challenges as opportunities to grow beyond our original limitations.”
Moreover, this pivot appears to have been a net benefit for Confetti in that it allowed it to tap into a larger market.
“After switching to virtual events, we realized it was much more scalable, allowing us to serve customers around the world without relying on a physical presence,” Rubin said. I am. “In a way, we have made the most of the constraints the pandemic has placed on our business.”
Previously, Confetti had raised approximately $2 million in various seed, angel, and venture rounds from backers including Correlation Ventures, Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, and Deliver Hero co-founder and CEO Niklas Östberg. With an additional $16 million in the bank, his Confetti is well-funded to, as the company says, “shape the future of remote work culture,” including supporting multi-team companies. It involves building a product around a recurring revenue model.
company account
As Confetti started working with more companies, especially in larger companies, we realized that multiple different people from different teams might be using the Confetti platform. This is a result of the product-led growth strategy the company has adopted since its inception, turning to a dedicated sales team to ensure a more consistent “enterprise” experience and offering a variety of pricing structures and packages. This is part of the reason why we have so much to offer. they come back.
“With thousands of customers now, we find that within each company, many different employees often find us separately and book completely separately,” says Rubin. he said. “To provide even more value to our customers, we decided to create a sales team for the first time. The sales team will sit down with decision makers at these companies and create a company-wide solution for team-building strategies. As a result, we have introduced a new “Corporate Plan”. This provides businesses with many additional benefits and incentives compared to pay-as-you-go plans. ”
Example of a company account.Image credit: Confetti
Currently, a large part of the services provided by Confetti are automation. This is a workflow configured to remove many of the manual steps involved in event planning and team building experiences. For example, once a business provides all the necessary details for a reservation, a host is booked (and paid upon completion), a virtual event room is set up, kits are scheduled for shipment, invitations are sent out, and feedback is provided. is required.
Rubin believes this automation is one of the differentiating factors from other players. However, it's worth noting that competitors like Luna Park, Teambuilding.com, Outback Team Building, and Marco Experiences also have the exact same prestigious clientele as Confetti. This means that organizations are not putting all their team building eggs into this industry. Same basket.
So while there is certainly competition, Confetti is pushing to position this as a stronger proposition for businesses, especially in the enterprise sector. While most of the company's experiences have traditionally been charged per event based on the number of employees, Confetti is aiming for a more sustainable recurring revenue stream.
“We already offer businesses the option to purchase Confetti credits that can be used to purchase experiences on our platform,” Rubin said. “Additionally, we are offering a subscription (with incentives) to Confetti Credits to help planners and businesses seamlessly plan and execute virtual team-building strategies year-round. As you scale, you'll become even more reliant on packages and subscriptions. [sales-led growth] motion. “