Hey @DavidSpinks, great question! There are certainly a lot of apps out there in the event space. Besides being 100% bootstrapped + profitable (we're not going anywhere) here are 4 things that are unique:
1) You can update one CMS that powers your website, mobile app, digital signage and print exports.
2) Attendees get their schedules emailed to them each morning of your Summit (can be branded as a sponsorship opportunity).
3) An actively developed API that you can use to build new ideas or connect to other event apps/services like Guidebook or Marcato.
4) If you connect with Eventbrite, after an attendee buys a ticket your attendees will be instantly redirected + logged-in to Sched and can setup their schedule based on which ticket they purchased.
I'm certain that there are more feature-rich apps out there. We try to actively focus on things that make the organizer's life easier (versus yet another networking tool). Please tweet/email me if you want to chat about CMX Summit!
So the native apps are an additional $2000 above the base costs? Is that for both platforms or each? And is it submitted to the app stores in your name or the clients?
@SacBookReviewer hey Ross! The iOS + Android apps are $2k total. We have a developer account of course but can also submit them under an existing one if an organizer prefers.
Thanks for hunting @sched! I'm the founder and happy to answer any questions and hear what you guys think. We're a small, bootstrapped team spread around 5 time zones. We're as passionate about improving events as we are about creating a company we're proud of.
@gtmcknight Awesome job, Taylor you guys seem on point with your informative website.
I have a question for you.. since you guys are so bootstrapped and remote, and since your product seems somewhat complex (it's not an Ask Ethan or Yo), how did you manage to simplify your marketing communication and content so well? I am asking as a product designer/founder who is fighting complexity every day :)
Thanks in advance.
@narekk I know what you mean. It's still hard to not mention every feature we have. I think the key is to combine the (hopefully existing) problem you are solving for people and what makes your take unique. It's obvious now but it took me a few years to get to that.
I've never thought of Sched as mainly a mobile app company, we're an event platform that connects all the services together...but most people are looking first and foremost for a mobile app for their event. And while many events end up on larger plans, nobody delivers the value we do in our $99 plan. I lead with both the price-point and the mobile app on our homepage because it's the answer to what they are looking for and something unique. It's been really successful at driving free trial signups.
Does that help?
@corbett3000 Thanks Peter, we miss DC Week! If I weren't doing Sched, I think I'd probably do experiential marketing at events, it's such a fun challenge and seeing what your team comes up with is inspiring to me.
We also have an excellent API in case you guys want to build something awesome around an event that you're attending :)
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I like this a lot @gtmcknight - would be cool for you to bring in a "nearby friends" sort of feature (like FB or Social Radar) that lets you see who is where at the event. If it's a festival I could see which friends are at a stage. It would also be neat for something like FourSquare where it can show you where the highest concentration of people are - with intelligence on who is where. Like X talk is most popular right now, in attendance are 40% Business Directors. I see you collect it for the event as a whole, but breaking it down by who is actually attending what is fascinating both for attendees and whoever is putting the event on.
Thanks @WareSarah!
We haven't fully explored the "nearby friends" idea but it's something I've often wanted at festivals too! While we do have a friend-finder to show you connections from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare that are also attending (and their schedules), exact location sharing is challenging for big festivals because the network gets so overwhelmed when there's 15,000 people in a big park. It'd get frustrating quickly if you arrived at a stage only to find out your friends had moved on to the next one.
>>Like X talk is most popular right now, in attendance are 40% Business Directors.
That is such a cool idea and I love it.
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