Big Interview |
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during it . This can help clients get more people to their events and help them with analytics which can be connected to their existing systems ,” he adds .
Jain continues : “ My main aim is to wow my clients . I want to hear the words ‘ Where were you guys six months ago , why did I not find you before ?’ I want to give them the ability to have 100 hands helping them out .”
So , how does he see Hubilo differing from other big names in VEP land ?
“ Everyone is searching for that one card which could be an ace in the pocket which differentiates them from the rest of the platforms . We have two or three bets that we are going to make in the coming year . We have a different way of approaching problems at Hubilo . Just because we have spent a lot of time in this space , about five years as founders , we have a lot of context around what are the different solutions and features that different stakeholders would require ,” he says .
Race for talent Event tech was never a hot space for investors , Jain notes . “ But it now has its own set of companies to take the industry forward . When we do that a lot of young folk will get inspired and want to jump in . Tech talent is not that difficult to find , but we need a lot of people who truly understand the problems that event managers face . That can only come from people who have been part of that space before . Those people are going to be the think tank of start ups ,” he says .
Hubilo , Jain adds , is playing its part to train the new recruits . “ We collaborate with research institutes and masterclasses . We have launched our own Submerged series where we teach the 101 of event management ,” the CEO notes and , when asked to give his overview of the events market , has this to say :
“ In 2020 virtual events were just a
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replacement for physical events because nobody had any option , but now people are equipped with [ new ] skills and will be running first-time virtual events which don ’ t have a physical event as a predecessor . When that happens your entire event strategy changes . If you are doing 10 events in a year you may do four physical and six virtual . If you are an attendee you will attend , say , two physical and eight virtual events .
“ In the next few months there will be a lot of noise around physical events … that the entire industry is coming back , but then there will be a mixed bag strategy which will include physical as well as hybrid and virtual .” Funding is clearly not a challenge but what is keeping VJ awake ?
“ I have to ensure all 350 staff have a common mission and believe in the mission and move forward . How to create a scaleable culture in a remote based environment is the challenge facing many pandemic-born companies .”
A key word Jain uses to describe the event tech market is ‘ restlessness ’. “ When a company releases new funds or releases something in the market it becomes like a table stake feature . Because the space is so new , there is no one company that you can emulate a lot of features from . Event tech is like a knife fight between companies . Only after developing features that everyone will need , will event tech companies focus on differentiation .” Jain ’ s vision is not just to be an event management software company but to create a ‘ venue ’ that can generate a lot of business opportunities and where almost a thousand events can happen in parallel . “ That is the power we would want to give to our organisers ,” he says .
What does he expect the industry to look like in 10 years ’ time ?
“ We are seeing a lot of augmented reality , virtual reality , product
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“ Everyone is searching for that one card which could be an ace in the pocket which differentiates them from the rest of the platforms .”
Below : Hubilo sees
a ‘ restlessness ’ in
the event tech
market
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launches , and tech showcases . In the next 10 years , I foresee a blurring of the lines of the physical and virtual , where people at home would be able to experience how the physical audiences will experience the event as if they are actually present .”
Does he see large technology companies moving into the traditional event organiser space ?
“ I don ’ t think that they ’ ll move into the organiser ’ s space because they ’ re going to be looking at tech platforms . At the end of the day , all event organisers try to collaborate with people who provide platforms .
“ Now there ’ s a different scenario where players like YouTube , Vimeo , Cisco would want to move into the virtual event space , because that in itself is an entire tech play . Video has become a very important part of the collaboration . One of the collaboration forms is organising virtual events for your internal employees or your external prospects or audiences , and that is where I think they are going to play .”
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