From supporting your favorite small business to attending a perfectly planned wedding, there are so many moving parts happening behind the scenes to make events and experiences come together smoothly. Local vendors, hosts, and event planners may make it seem easy, but until recently the tools that existed to power this group were surprisingly outdated. And while e-commerce has changed the retail landscape forever, shopping will only continue to become ever more immersive for customers and efficient for brands.
A handful of women-led start-ups are working to catapult the events, experiences, and e-commerce industry forward, and locality, sustainability, and community are at the heart of what they are doing. Here, the founders of six businesses pushing the space forward talk about their industry-altering software, platforms, and marketplaces, why they built their companies, and where they see them going in the future.
For many founders of start-ups, the journey begins with a certain frustration. Whether in their daily lives or in specific consumer-related scenarios, many entrepreneurs experience a moment when they could no longer ignore the empty space found in their respective fields. This realization acted as the catalyst in working to build a bridge — and a scalable business — across an unmistakable gap.
Lyn Johnson’s “aha moment” happened after several years of struggle as she was planning birthday parties for her four children. Whether it was an elaborate custom balloon arch or an “Among Us” birthday cake, the quest to find the appropriate businesses and services – and to find them locally – always involved several twists and turns. Johnson recounted scouring the depths of community Facebook pages and conversation forums in order to uncover the local resources she needed, many of which were small businesses generally invisible to the average consumer.
“These businesses were mostly run by women who left the traditional workforce. We needed their skill set, and they needed the business, but we couldn’t find these businesses on Google or Yelp. It was just such a painful process for us,” Johnson said. She became the co-founder and CEO of West Tenth, a modern marketplace platform based on a comprehensive small business directory. “We recognized that there was a huge opportunity to aggregate these business into a marketplace and make them more accessible to consumers like us. Local is at the heart of everything that we do.”
West Tenth creates a link between consumers and the microbusinesses hiding in their backyards. The importance of locality in e-commerce and experiences is a trend that has revolutionized what it means to be an active participant in your community. In many ways, this industry pattern paves the way for less production from big-box stores, less pressure on the environment, and more success for small businesses across the country.
Access to local makers paves the way for a greater connection within communities. But when travelers find themselves spending time away from their home base, The Host Co. provides access to hyperlocal amenities and products, directly in a guest's short-term rental, so that out-of-town visitors can experience new places for all that makes them great.
“The experience economy and the travel economy have continued to completely bloom — and blow up — especially with millennials and now Gen Z,” CEO Annie Sloan said. “We are connecting this huge stream of travelers to what they’re actually looking for, which is hyper-local services, products and activities.” Sloan says as travelers lean more and more into experience and spend less of their money on material things, it’s apparent that chain restaurants and tourist traps will no longer suffice. From local reiki healers to charcuterie board delivery services, The Host Co. gives travelers the gift of feeling like a (pampered) local in a place they may only spend a few nights.
“We are connecting this huge stream of travelers to what they’re actually looking for, which is hyper- local services, products and activities.”
-Annie Sloan, CEO, The host co.
E-commerce within home goods has taken a turn toward locality as well, with more and more adults opting to shop second-hand for furniture and decor. Whether they’re renters or even homeowners, female-founded startup AptDeco connects people to those in their area selling furniture and other home goods, and also provides the next step of support for transactions through seamless purchasing, end-to-end transportation, and assembly. Providing the capability of searching for items by zip code, AptDeco ignites a growing sense of unity and productivity within communities both big and small.
The evolution of the internet has resulted in more immersive and 3D user experiences within e-commerce, as well. This shift will completely change retail and inspire a more sustainable future. Virtual products and storefronts will change the way we shop, and there’s one female-founded start-up with a firm grip on how to best take advantage of the capabilities of augmented reality.
ALL3D is a platform for sellers to visually promote merchandise even if products don’t yet exist, therefore redefining the manufacturing, marketing, and shopping experiences. With ALL3D’s tech, sellers can virtually create and test products with consumers through incredibly lifelike renderings and walkthroughs, whether it be the couch for family movie nights, the bedside table storing your stack of books, or that standing desk you’ve had your eye on.
Meet the women-led
start-ups changing the events, experiences, and
e-commerce industry
By StoryStudio on June 26, 2023
Empowering local Connecting the unconnected.
Reframing retail
Enabling sustainability and scale like never before.
“The whole idea of physically selling products takes a long time, and each photo shoot costs
a lot. They’re not sustainable.”
-AMRA TAREEN, CEO, ALL3D
“The whole idea of physically selling products takes a long time, and each photo shoot costs a lot. They’re not sustainable,” Amra Tareen said of retail’s history. “I realized that customers are able to view [products] in their own rooms revamped with a new design and a new look, they buy immediately.”
Tareen, a “serial entrepreneur” as well as the CEO and co-founder of ALL3D, has a passion for problem-solving. Three-dimensional software is a true byproduct of what it means to leverage the technological advancements of the modern era, and it is paving the way to a smarter and more sustainable retail landscape that may create a ripple effect across multiple industries.
Making it unforgettable
The future is hyper-personal, and consumers expect seamless and custom — events included.
In the events industry, the CEO of PartySlate Julie Novack has brought venues, vendors, and planners together in a way that benefits those hosting events, whether in their own cities or somewhere they’ve never been. “I felt compelled to prove that I was the best person in the world to solve this problem,” is what Novack recalled about her journey to building the industry’s game-changing digital platform.
PartySlate offers event hosts all the necessary party pieces in a centralized digital location, from hot dog stand rentals to jazz and blues bands. The platform gives hosts the upper hand in hosting events regardless of location, further contributing to the theme of empowering local vendors in communities that people may have never known about otherwise.
Events are more thoughtful and elaborate today than ever before, and this can be credited to enhanced access to vendors, information, and above all, inspiration. The modernized approach to processing contracts, invoices, and payment is an integral component of these changes that cannot be overlooked now that event hosts are capable of so much more than before. User-friendly platform Rock Paper Coin accelerates and demystifies this process as it relates to payment and documentation for events that often mark some of the most important moments in people’s lives.
Uplifting Early-Stage,
Female-Founded Start-Ups
Female entrepreneurs with big dreams know that although the year is 2023, gender biases commonly put them at a disadvantage when it comes to venture capital funding. Last year, women-founded start-ups raised less than 2 percent of all VC funds, according to TechCrunch. A venture arm of Hearst Corporation, HearstLab, serves to close the gap in VC funding for women.
HearstLab invests in and empowers female entrepreneurs in ways that spark cutting-edge innovation under an umbrella of shared values. The partnership is one that is unique in the world of venture capital, and HearstLab’s continually active status in their portfolio companies help to propel businesses forward as they grow.
Hearst’s identity as a global media player helps guide start-ups differently from other VCs, placing them in alignment with some of the most recognizable brands in the world and at the forefront of culture as it relates to media, technology, healthcare, transportation, real estate, and so much more. To learn more about the start-ups that are making their mark, visit HearstLab’s portfolio.
SPONSORED BY HEARSTLAB
“Processes [in events] just needed to be fixed. It was not automated, it was very manual, and we just thought that there had to be a better way.”
-Elizabeth Sheils, CEO and CO-FOUNDer, Rock paper coin
“We worked in the wedding industry for upwards of 20 years before we started Rock Paper Coin,” CEO and co-founder Elizabeth Sheils said. “Our processes just needed to be fixed. It was not automated, it was very manual, and we just thought that there had to be a better way.”
Rock Paper Coin is on the front end of this curve with its secure, usable platform for vendors and small businesses to keep track of and distribute documents to customers. As the importance of virtuality continues to grow, the emergence of more ultramodern software will alter the way people plan and execute events and experiences.
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Empowering local
Connecting the unconnected.
Reframing retail
Enabling sustainability and scale like never before.