EventVue's Next Event: Deadpool. Co-Founder Shares Mistakes.

EventVue set out three years ago to transform the way people interact with and network during events. Today, sadly, they have announced they are shutting down.

In an overlay message that appears now on the main site, co-founders Rob Johnson and Josh Fraser write:

Dear customers, friends, and fans –

We have made the difficult decision to shut down EventVue.

After our recent relaunch of EventVue to be the best way to experience events in real time, we did not see enough traction to continue.

We have enjoyed the past 3 years of working with all of you and are deeply appreciative of everyone who used our product, sent us feedback, and cheered us on.

The events industry is experiencing a social transformation and we are proud of the work that we did to contribute. We will now cheer on those who are leading the charge.

If you are interested in learning from our entrepreneurial mistakes, you may wish to read the post-mortem on our blog.

Regards,
Rob Johnson and Josh Fraser

Fraser let us know about the shutdown himself via email and wrote, “hopefully other entrepreneurs can learn from our mistakes.” The Boulder, CO-based EventVue was a TechStars company in 2007, and shortly after that got its first round of angel funding.

In his lengthy and heartfelt farewell post, Johnson lays out a number of mistakes the company made over the years that led to the shutdown today. The key ones he highlights are:

Our Deadly Strategic Mistakes:

– tried to build a sales effort too early, with too weak of a product after initial financing

– waited too long to address the “nice to have” problem

– went after enterprise sales model with a non-recurring, small price

– didn’t make eventvue self-serve to let anyone come and get it

Our Deadly Cultural Mistakes:

– didn’t focus on learning & failing fast until it was too late

– didn’t care/focus enough about discovering how to market eventvue

– made compromises in early hiring decisions – choose expediency over talent/competency

He ends the post on an upbeat note, “EventVue has been a fun journey.  Thanks again to everyone who has supported us over the last few years.  You should follow us (Rob, Josh) to see what’s next.