Week after week, 150-plus students would pour into a Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club meeting, and Greg Skloot would have no idea who they were. Although president at the time, keeping track of the growing attendee list became near impossible—until he created Attendware, an event tracking and sign-in software that received a $1 million boost from .406 Ventures Tuesday.
“I built the initial prototype of Attendware in August 2012, because of the pain I experienced as an event organizer and leader of a membership-driven organization,” Skloot explained in a release.
The newly-announced Series A will go toward helping Attendware expand. Already, Northeastern has become one of the startup’s highest paying customers, but Skloot says Mount Holyoke College, MassChallenge, MIT, United Way and Conventures are among others who have started using the software.
With Attendware, organizers can eliminate the stress of signing in at events, by utilizing the software’s instant name tag printing capabilities and paperless registration check-in. Users can also receive “VIP Text Alerts” in real-time, so when an important guest arrives, they know to greet them immediately. Scheduled reminder emails and surveys can also be sent to guests through Attendware automatically, and event analytics can be easily tracked over time.
“[Attendware] saved us countless hours of prep work and provided the extra high-tech touch that we strive for when putting on premium events for our alumni and the university community,” said Brian Loutitt, Northeastern’s senior director of events, in a release.
By using Attendware, organizers minimize prep time, because they're essentially turning their laptop or tablet into a check-in kiosk. And after the event is said and done, they can evaluate its effectiveness and later parse through data on new attendees.
“Our goal is to empower our customers to improve their events with tools and data,” writes Skloot and Attendware CTO Drew D’Agostino, a fellow Northeastern alum, on Attendware’s website. “We’re working very hard every day to realize that goal.”
And now, with $1 million in tow, that goal can start becoming a reality.
