1002 Laila Marshall:

Wings of Inspired Business Podcast EP1002 – Host Melinda Wittstock Interviews Laila Marshall

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Laila Marshall:

We provide that concierge level of service from the beginning. So, we work with clients, figure out exactly what they’re looking for, and we help them from day one all the way to execution. And we’re in the middle of piloting the software. So, what eventually the software is going to do is take over our role. So instead of having us help from start to finish, the software is going to be able to work with a novice event planner, start from, you know, the second of what they’re looking for, what their vision is, help them build their budget, help them build their run of show, help them source their vendors. So eventually they won’t need an outside company like us necessarily to be able to help.

Melinda Wittstock:

If you’ve ever put on an event of any kind, you know it can feel like herding cats. So many things have to come together to make it feel effortless and magical for all the guests. Laila Marshall, the CEO and founder of Beebizy, is on a mission to make events easy for businesses large and small, now transforming all the learnings from a concierge “done for you” service to a SaaS platform. Today she shares how she’s innovating in the event space, why in-person events are vital for any company in today’s digital world, and what it takes to raise money for female founders. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I believe in paying it forward, so as a five-time serial entrepreneur, I started this podcast almost 10 years ago to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb. Please take a moment, hit subscribe so you never miss an episode, tell your friends and colleagues, and we appreciate it when you help this wisdom get discovered with a 5-star rating and review. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who is busy transforming her concierge event planning company into a B2B SaaS platform to help businesses large and small pull off impactful events with ease. Laila Marshall is the CEO and founder of Beebizy, and today she shares how she has converted her deep domain expertise and experience in event planning, bolstered by customer feedback, into a new technology she is about to pilot. Beebizy’s new software aims to automate everything from budgeting and vendor selection to floor plans and post-event analytics for just about every type of event from in-store brand activations to large scale galas.

Melinda Wittstock:

We talk about why building tech solutions is most effective when it starts grounded in real-world deep domain expertise and lived customer pain points, not just a vision of features.  Laila also shares why her go-to-market on Beebizy’s new SaaS platform is starting locally with a curated vendor network in place in one market before scaling to the next, plus her experiences bootstrapping and now how other founder introductions to investors have made all the difference. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Laila Marshall.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Laila, welcome to Wings. 

Laila Marshall:

Thanks for having me.

Melinda Wittstock:

I love the idea of a B2B platform for events. I think a lot of companies are beginning to realize in our hyperconnected social world that there’s no replacement for face-to-face connections. There’s this new energy in that whole area. You have a long background in events. So, what made you jump from just doing events to creating the platform that would help people do events?

Laila Marshall:

Sure. Um, so I never thought in a million years I would get into events. I actually previously exited a company in the on-demand healthcare staffing space, and we had an acquisition and it was great and I had downtime. And so, I started to plan my son’s first birthday, and it was a nightmare trying to find all the vendors. I knew that I wanted to make a large impact using technology. And I knew that there was a big white space here in the event market. So, we created a tech marketplace to be able to quickly connect clients with vendors. And then we ended up seeing that there was a much larger opportunity with corporate.

Laila Marshall:

We started to see a lot of corporations needing the same kind of help. So, they were saying, you know, Laila, would you mind helping us? We’re throwing this massive event. And so, I started to really go extremely deep within event planning, event management, Everything within the event lifecycle. And then that’s when we were like, hey, how are these corporations managing their entire events calendar? And like you said, there’s no replacement for that human connection, those in-person events. And so that’s where we are today with our event management software.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, what does the software do? Like you mentioned, it’s difficult to find vendors. That’s really true. And doing an event is like herding cats. It all has to come together and then look effortless, right? So, what does your software do to help with all of that?

Laila Marshall:

So basically, we are the operational system for corporations. So, for example, if they are throwing 2 to 200 events a year, they’re able to manage that throughout their calendar. Across multi-users If I’m in the marketing department or if I’m within the HR department, I have access to the software to be able to see all the events coming up for the year. And then we also can manage the vendor communication, the floor plan design, the mood boards that it takes to even start an event. So, it becomes the operational execution layer for the corporate event lifecycle.

Melinda Wittstock:

It can do the calendaring of all of this, but does it help find the actual vendors and all of that?

Laila Marshall:

Yes. Because we started with a marketplace, we already have a curated vendor network of thousands and thousands of vendors. If a user or if a corporation were to walk into Be Busy, It could start from the very beginning steps. What are you planning? How large is your event? And then it’ll walk you through giving you budget recommendations, giving you vendor recommendations, helping you build out your floor plan so that you really can start from— for a novice can use our software and be able to execute an event pretty seamlessly. And it gives a team of 2 the manpower and the Swiss Army knife of a power— of a team of 10.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Having put on events years ago associated with this podcast, I did these high-end retreats for female founders. And I mean, there was so much effort that went into it, like just finding the venue and then lining up all the, you know, lining up the speakers, but figuring out the food, figuring out like the activities, figuring out like all the different things. 

Melinda Wittstock:

There’s so many different events that different companies of all shapes and sizes can have. I mean, from a gathering for their customers to an in-company event to a sales event to a retreat to like all these different things. Do you have a specialization? 

Laila Marshall:

No. So we actually work everything from a simple in-store branded activation. So, we currently are working with a large luxury retailer. They have over 11 store locations and they’re not slowing down, they’re actually expanding. And so, they’ve asked us to come on board to help them with all of their in-store branded activations, which could be just a simple vendor setup like a coffee cart they want in store to really drive traffic. But then we also do the massive galas. So, we’re noticing in the event space that typically they don’t have a full events team in-house, and that is very much our niche. We’re built for the lean team that is looking for— they don’t want to hire all of the external help and they’re looking to actually just build out the event right there in-house.

Laila Marshall:

And so back to your question, we do everything from a small single single vendor event all the way up to, you know, thousands of people. If they’re looking for a conference, if they’re looking for a gala, if they’re looking for, um, um, you know, a holiday event, we do everything in between.

Melinda Wittstock:

Okay, so is your software doing all of this, or is there a real— like, you’re a SaaS company, right? So, there’s a service element. So, tell me where the software begins and ends and where you and your team have to really provide some bespoke creativity around all of this?

Laila Marshall:

So, we started as a service-based company. Our real wedge was having me and my team there to help with everything from you know, the beginning phases of an event all the way to seeing it through to execution for the day of. But where we are today is we are actually using our software internally, and we are about to launch and pilot our software with these massive corporations. So, we’re building it truly from the inside out. My team and I, we are using it first We’re seeing what’s working. We’re seeing where the pain points are.

Laila Marshall:

And personally, I’ve planned over 500 corporate events. So, I have a pretty good finger on the pulse with where the pain points are with events. And so that was the impetus of how we built this software is we built it from the inside out and we’re using it for ourselves first.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. So you’ve got all that expertise before you even wrote a line of code, it sounds like.

Laila Marshall:

Yes, correct.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, you could replicate, you could figure out the things that the humans were doing that the software could replace. And so, where’s that line between where the software begins and ends and you still provide the service?

Laila Marshall:

Well, today, we still are providing the service with clients. So, we provide that concierge level of service from the beginning. So, we work with clients, figure out exactly what they’re looking for, and we help them from the, you know, day one all the way to execution. And where the software begins, we have not yet launched the software. So, we’re in the middle of piloting the software. So, what eventually the software is going to do is take over our role. So instead of having us help from start to finish, the software is going to be able to work with a novice event planner, start from, you know, the second of what they’re looking for, what their vision is, help them build their budget, help them build their run of show, help them source their vendors. So eventually they won’t need an outside company like us necessarily to be able to help.

Laila Marshall:

They’ll be able to manage it all in-house. And then we will be there to assist creating a concierge level or an account level service where we can help them if they have questions. But ideally, the software is going to be able to not need our help as much, and they’re going to be able to execute on the event without our help.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. So, walk me through. So, this could be very complicated software, right? Because on one hand, you’ve got a marketplace if you’re matching people to vendors, but then also just planning. You mentioned mood boards earlier, you mentioned all these sorts of things. And so, so, so when— so you’re piloting this software right now, is that right?

Laila Marshall:

Yep, we’re piloting the software.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, what are the core sort of features? Like, what are you starting out with? Because when you— I’ve built a bunch of technology businesses, and the biggest stressor is always you have your vision of what done is, but done can take years to match up with your vision. So, there’s a lot of pressure to get out there with at least something or a product. So how are you managing the software development with that in mind? Like what’s in phase 1? How do you see it moving from there? What’s the first thing that you’re likely to unveil?

Laila Marshall:

Sure. So, we have narrowed it down to 4 core capabilities. The first one is a run-of-show builder. That ends up becoming a huge headache. We actually just used this run-of-show tool internally for a very large 400-person event in Austin, Texas. We used this across 14 various vendors, the AV tech, the catering, the on-site staff help, the bartenders, and it saved us 15 hours alone. It was an extremely useful case study that we had personally using the software. So that’s the first core feature.

Laila Marshall:

The second one is the budget builder. So oftentimes corporations want to be able to know what is this event going to cost, right? Like, how much is this going to cost? What can we expect to budget for? Oftentimes, almost every single time, corporations go over budget because they want more, or they, you know, it just wasn’t, you know, what they expected or whatever. So, this will help them keep some cost guardrails within their yearly budget planning. And then the 3rd one is a floor plan builder. So again, we use this tool internally for this massive 400-person event. We are based in Los Angeles. And we were working an event in Austin, Texas. So, this was extremely helpful.

Laila Marshall:

We were able to get there the day of. We flew to Austin and we were able to have exactly where all the vendors were going to go without even being on site. So that is the third. And then the fourth is historical data. So oftentimes corporations want to know what was the ROI on this event, whatever the key metrics they’re tracking. For example, are they tracking headcount? Did we expect, you know, 400 people, 500 people showed up? They want to be able to track, you know, units sold. We work with a retailer.

Laila Marshall:

They want to know, did this branded activation actually drive more traffic, which created more revenue for the store that day. So, whatever their KPIs are that they’re tracking, the software is going to be able to manage and track that and create reporting tools for them to view.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, the analytics are very important. And then, and again, there’s so many different types of events or reasons to have events. Like, there may be an event where you’re trying to get attendance because people are paying, or you want to get people in there free to sign up for something. So how much does AI factor in what building?

Laila Marshall:

It’s extremely important. So, the next phase of our project is we’re building an agentic AI helper that’s going to start from start to finish. We are currently testing it ourselves using over 1,000 data points from all the events that we have planned to make it smart, intuitive, and know the space extremely well. So that is the next phase of our project.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, interesting. You started pure service business, and you say, okay, so I want to build this technology aspect. What was it like in that transition for you to, to like, I guess, as a non-technical founder, to really kind of master that technology when you’re building a tech team, often for women? And I know it’s my own experience too with my, the first technology business that I did years ago to be taken seriously by all the bros, right? Because they’re kind of looking at you like, what you’re telling me to do here, you know, right? Like there’s all kinds of weird dynamics.

Laila Marshall:

And yes, what have, what have been some of your experiences? Well, you know, yes, I think overall as a woman in tech, there is certainly a level of challenges you need to overcome, but I actually have been extremely lucky and I have found that they see me as a domain expert, I guess, in the sense that I’ve been in the space, I’ve worked from the ground up, and I know exactly the features to build. We also have taken a tremendous amount of time to go very deep with customer conversations to understand their unique pain points so that we can build the most efficient and scalable software as possible. But yeah, it hasn’t been easy. It’s always, you know, like there’s certainly challenges to be able to, you know, to be able to have, you know, people that are respecting you. But I think if you’re just showing proof in all of the work that you’re doing, showing the outcomes, showing the scalability, suddenly that level of respect changes pretty quickly.

Melinda Wittstock:

The domain expertise is vital because, I mean, there’s a lot of engineers who build companies but don’t have anything other than the engineering experience. And so, they build kind of features in search of a solution rather than having a solution, right, that the technology is meant to serve. And I find women tend to have mastered the, you know, really identify a problem through lived experience and then master it before adding that layer of technology, which I think, okay, I’m biased. I’m a woman. I think it’s a smarter way to build.

Laila Marshall:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

I don’t know if VCs necessarily see it that way, because obviously you’re in the middle of a seed round. You’re trying to raise money for this. Building technology isn’t cheap. cheap, even in the age of AI. So how is all that going? How do you find the fundraise?

Laila Marshall:

It’s hard. You know, I mean, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. I don’t think any founder enjoys the fundraising side of it. I really like the building side of it. I like the customer obsession side of it. And the fundraise is almost like, can we just get this over with so we could just build and scale?

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah.

Laila Marshall:

So, in terms of the fundraise, we have bootstrapped. We have incredible backers that have some angel investors, incredible strategic advisors that have been, you know, huge, huge advocates. And I think what really, really has moved the needle for us are internal— our founders that have been recommending us to investors. So instead of us going out and being like, hey, you know, this is what we’re building, we actually have outside, you know, founders that have said, hey, you really need to look at this company. You have to look at what they’re doing. I do recommend that if you do have somebody in your corner that has previously raised and has, you know, great relationships with investors, that’s really moved the needle for us.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, the warm introduction. I mean, investors, especially VC, it’s such a tight little club.

Laila Marshall:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, if you’re not part of that club, it’s very, very difficult. And this is where women, I think this, this number that it’s less than 2% of the venture money for venture-qualified businesses, i.e., businesses that could be billion-dollar businesses. And that number hasn’t moved in 30 years.

Laila Marshall:

Like, it’s, it’s crazy.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I get like, here’s where I get on my hobby horse is that there’s also research that shows that women founders drive $0.60 more in revenue on every dollar invested than male-founded teams, right? So, like we’re better investment, but somehow it’s still difficult to get these VCs to see that, right? So, does it come down to the relationship? Like if you have a warm introduction from another founder who, you know, has had a return for that, that, you know, that investor, yeah, that is definitely a leg up.

Laila Marshall:

Yeah, I mean, back to like what you just mentioned, you’re entirely right about women being an extremely good investment. So, women are building smarter, more profitably, they’re scaling in a much more efficient way. And I think that having those warm intros really has been what has moved the needle for us. And instead of cold outreach over and over and over again, which I’ve been there. Um, I think that what suddenly, um, this year we brought on more angels, and they are all vouching for us. That has been like, that’s been like the kicker, um, for us.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, yeah, 100%. So, you, you obviously spent a lot of time you know, really developing your relationships with other founders.

Laila Marshall:

Yes. I mean, I think that it’s a completely untapped network. I think that founders know the grind. They know how hard it is. They’re there to support each other. And I think that I was a part of a female founders group over, let’s see, 4 years ago. And it was at 7 in the morning every single Tuesday, and it was based in New York. So, it was 10 in the morning for them, 7 in the morning for me here in Los Angeles.

[PROMO CREDIT]

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Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Laila Marshall, Founder and CEO of event management Saas company Beebizy.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Laila Marshall:

And I would get on my Zoom, and we would, you know, connect with all these female founders. It was this awesome accelerator. And one of the women— it was maybe 30 of us— and one of the women— I assumed everybody was New York-based— and one of the women lived like 5 minutes away from me. And so, I was like, oh my God, that’s great. And we are still very close to this day. We have our breakfast hangouts, we meet up, we, you know, swap notes, we fill each other in, we give each other recommendations, we make warm intros for each other. I think that it is extremely powerful to always expand your network and to Um, tap in with other founders because no one really understands it like you do.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, yeah, 100%. I mean, that’s actually kind of why I started this podcast, actually, because, like, not only did I want to be in a position to invest in other female founders as an, as, you know, as an entrepreneur with exits, but, you know, this podcast has probably driven more than 10— yeah, no, conservatively more than $10 million to female-founded businesses over the last 10 years of like non-dilutive equity, right? Like it just basically encouraging women to buy from other women, but also just all the relationships that I’ve made as a founder talking to other founders. I just like enjoy, you know, chatting to other founders. So it, so it, it, it, that’s been my mechanism for that. And so how much do you need to raise to get this to where you want it to be?

Laila Marshall:

So, we’re in the middle of a $2 million seed round and we’re leading into our $5 million Series A. So yeah, that’s what we’re raising, closing by the end of the year. And yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s exciting. Yeah, that’s great.

Laila Marshall:

Yeah, it’s exciting. It’s definitely exciting. We’re seeing the team growth. We’re seeing the company’s growth. So that’s where it just becomes super exciting. As I’m sure you know, when you see something that starts in your head and it builds into something much bigger, there’s nothing more fulfilling.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Yeah, 100%. So, you’re located in LA. You mentioned you did some stuff in Austin. Are most of your events in the LA area or do you go all across the United States?

Laila Marshall:

So, we are primarily based in Los Angeles for now. We wanted to start locally and build out our curated vendor network here in Los Angeles, but we are actually expanding into a few test markets, which is Austin, New York, and New Jersey. So, we’re seeing some growth there as well. But we’re building efficiently so that we have a, you know, a very strong network, and then we’re kind of launching in those test cities.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, that, that makes a lot of sense.

Laila Marshall:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

I should definitely hit you up when we’re ready. I’m helping my son launch his business, which is an app that connects dog owners in real life, like events and curated walks and things like that, right? So, his whole thing is, you know, people have to get off their screens and dogs are a great permission slip to actually connect.

Laila Marshall:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, LA is actually one of our markets. So, TailsTrails will probably be having some little kind of events for dogs. I don’t know if you do anything with dogs and dog owners.

Laila Marshall:

We do, actually. We had a client call us and say, can you help us throw a birthday party for my dog? And we said, sure. And it was the cutest thing. She had all of her doggy friends came and they had special dog-friendly desserts and cakes. It was the cutest thing on the planet. So yes, we do. We’d love to help.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s amazing. Yeah, so, it launches with a waitlist and in Vancouver and Canada and LA to begin with, and, and also, uh, the branching into New York. And, and there’s going to be events large and small, so we’re always looking for partners. It’s very opportune.

Laila Marshall:

Yes, perfect, perfect, perfect place to launch in LA.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. I go back and forth between Santa Monica and Vancouver in Canada. And Santa Monica is the like dog mecca, you know, of the world. So, tell me a little bit about like what it costs and, and how you work with people. Who are your ideal clients? Who are the people you want to work with? 

Laila Marshall:

Sure. Um, so in terms of our ideal clients, my goal is to turn non-event planners into event planners in minutes. So that is our ideal customer, clients and corporations that don’t have a dedicated events team that are looking to still throw impactful events. So that’s our ideal customer and that’s our niche. And in terms of costing, it just depends on how many events they’re throwing per year, their headcount, how many people are gonna be using the software internally. So, but if they visit our website, we have our book a demo and talk with us, and we would be happy to help facilitate and put together a great recommendation for them for how they could use the software.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. Amazing. So, for people who want to find you and work with you, what’s the best way? Just go to your website, or are you on the socials?

Laila Marshall:

Yeah, so we are— they can visit our website, bebusy.com, or they can visit us on our socials. We have a really fun social page. It’s @bebusyofficial. That’s our Instagram handle, and we have fun videos and samples of our work and Who we’ve worked with. So yeah, I’d say those two are the best places to get a hold of us. Amazing.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, Layla, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Laila Marshall:

Thank you, Melinda, for having me and for putting this podcast on. It’s incredible.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Laila Marshall is the Founder & CEO of Beebizy, a B2B event management SaaS built for the lean teams running events that drive real business revenue.

Melinda Wittstock:

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Melinda Wittstock:

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