Time Flies When You’re Building a Company
20 years of hard work and passion. 20 years of drive and focus. 20 years of transforming meetings and events. In 1999, Cvent was created to address a pain. There was no promise of success. There was no safety net. Throughout the years, the journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster, filled with highs and lows. We’re 20 years strong and can’t wait to see what the future brings.
Looking Back on Our Biggest Moments
We have big things planned for the future and can’t wait to see how the meetings and events industry will evolve. Before we look ahead, let’s take a look back at some of our biggest moments. Check out the full timeline.
1999 Every Pain Needs an Aspirin
When Cvent was founded in 1999, meetings and events, which were (even back then!) a critical marketing channel, weren’t getting the same kind of attention as other leading marketing and sales efforts. The industry was ready for a major shift, an unprecedented evolution. Before Cvent, Reggie Aggarwal, our CEO & founder, was working full time as a lawyer while also organizing 50+ events a year. He was using Excel, Outlook and yellow sticky notes – the tools of the manual planner. Reggie knew that there had to be a better way to plan events. He felt the pain and was ready to create the aspirin. He had an idea to streamline the manual processes of event planning and met with future co-founder and CTO Dave Quattrone to fine-tune the idea.
Off to a Fast Start in 2000
Before the dot-com bubble burst, Cvent was growing quickly. The team went from 6 to 125 Cventers. Cvent caught the eye of Forbes, The Washington Post, and USA Today. A local success story in the making.
2001-2004 Near-bankruptcy to Turning a Profit
After the dot-com bubble burst, Cvent had to downsize, cutting 80% of the staff. Failure was right around the corner. Debt piled up, and success wasn’t guaranteed, but with hard work and a passionate team, it was possible to rebuild what had been lost. Spoiler alert: By 2004, Cvent turned a profit for the first time and things were looking up.
2008 Launched the Cvent Supplier Network
The Cvent Supplier Network connects meeting and event planners to venues worldwide and allows them to send one eRFP to multiple properties at once. This simplifies the process (forget opening dozens of browsers) and helps planners gain visibility into their meeting and event spend in order to negotiate the most competitive rates. In 2008, 50,000 venues were added to CSN by end of year. Today? There are over 260,000.
2012 Undeniable Growth
Cvent began to take off. We acquired CrowdCompass in order to offer mobile event apps to customers. That’s not all. At Cvent, we recognize the importance of hiring top talent. We hire only the top 1% of applicants. We hire those who are driven by the desire to learn - from their co-workers, their leaders, but most importantly, their customers. In 2012, we grew to more than 1,000 Cventers worldwide. What else happened in this banner year? We hosted the first annual Cvent CONNECT user conference, which today has more than 4,000 attendees.
2013 Cvent Went Public
Cvent closed $135M Initial Public Offering. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on August 9, 2013, under the ticker symbol "CVT."
2016 Cvent Taken Private for $1.65B
Vista Equity Partners added Cvent to its SaaS portfolio. Said Brian Sheth, co-Founder and President of Vista, “We see tremendous value in the cloud-based solutions that Cvent delivers to its customers in this largely untapped meetings and events industry.” Cvent also acquired Lanyon to further expand its platform.
2019 The Best is Yet to Come
This year, Cvent has grown to 4,200+ Cventers. We acquired Wedding Spot and DoubleDutch. For the second year in a row, Reggie was named Top SaaS CEO.
Bigger Company, Same Passion
Nearly 20 years after our founding, nine of the 11 core executives are still with the company. Why? Because their passion for the industry still burns. What drove Cvent in the beginning still exists today. Cvent solutions optimize the entire event management value chain and have enabled more than 27,000 customers around the world to manage hundreds of thousands of meetings and events. Just like we did in the beginning, we’ll continue to provide the aspirin for the pains that exist in the meetings and events industry. We are so proud to be 20 years strong.
Check out the full timeline infographic.
Stay tuned for a closer look at our incredible customers, clients, and more in the weeks ahead!
Celebrate with Us!
Join the celebration by sharing your own Cvent or industry story, memory, or moment with the hashtag #Cvent20YearsStrong and visit the 20th Anniversary website. The past 20 years have been truly amazing, and we look forward to the future as we transform meetings and events together!
