In 2017, Joe Destafino accidentally double-booked a wedding at the Bella Collina Mansion, a Stokesdale venue he owns and operates.
The reason? There was no all-in-one management system for wedding venues, he said.
“I was using QuickBooks, Word, Messenger, Excel and this, that and the other,” said Destafino, who also owns other Triad wedding venues the Belmont Mansion in Reidsville and Bakery 1818 in Madison.
With a background in coding and software development, Destafino decided to make his own management software. And in January, after nearly seven years of beta-testing and using the software for himself, Destafino officially launched BOSS Cybernetics.
The response to BOSS has been so good that the company recently increased its office space in downtown Greensboro to accommodate more employees — it currently employs 11.
Starting with 70 square feet of office space in January at NCR Properties' 101 Elm building, BOSS has more-than-quadrupled its space and is on the hunt for a larger space. So far, 21 venues have made the switch to BOSS Cybernetics. They've mostly been in the Triad, but in looking to go national Destafino has added one in Ohio and one in Texas.
BOSS Cybernetics
Industry: Wedding software
Founded: 2017
Top exec: Joe Destafino, founder and CEO
Address: 101 S. Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27401
Website: bosscybernetics.com
Phone: 336-327-7447
Destafino said that BOSS – at a cost of $199 per month – does “virtually everything” for a wedding venue, which helps increase efficiency and booking rates. For example, Grove Winery and Vineyards in Gibsonville has four contracts and completed one wedding since integrating BOSS Cybernetics’ software three months ago after two years of struggling to book weddings, Destafino said.
And venues can choose what level of service they want, meaning they can use BOSS for just the venue or incorporate vendors or go all-inclusive.
BOSS also helps vendors, wedding planners and couples. Through BOSS’ app, couples can instantly book their venue, communicate with vendors, receive invoices, make payments and build itineraries, he said.
“There wasn’t anybody who did venue software that allowed for instant gratification, and I think that’s the reason we’re moving as fast as we are,” Destafino said.
To date, BOSS has been entirely bootstrapped by Destafino, who said he has invested over $500,000 in BOSS.
He said that BOSS is currently in negotiation with a chain that has 250 locations, although he declined to disclose the name. If BOSS lands that contract, the company will need to immediately hire up to 20 people, including data entry and coding employees. And even if BOSS doesn't land that contract, Destafino said the company will need to hire 20 people by year's end.
Destafino’s ultimate goal is to get just a slice – about 10,000 – of the estimated 200,000 wedding venues in the U.S. And he’s targeting 50 venues by the end of the year but may go well past that given what’s it in the pipeline, Destafino said.
So far, he’s had a 100% closing rate on getting venues to use BOSS. While most people would think this is a positive, Destafino says it’s “horrible.”
“It means I’m not reaching enough people because I have to hear the no’s.”
