End of Year Review

Enter the kraken! For a company whose customers predominantly run ran in-person tech conferences, a global pandemic really dragged us down. Within a 3-week period in March, between cancelled events, the shifting of in-person to online and models that mostly offered free tickets, 90% of the dependable monthly revenue that kept our company alive had disappeared.

Bright skies suddenly turned dark. We were going under.

As the business tanked, our mood sank. Instead of planning how to double our revenue, we now had to figure out how to survive. Pessimistic estimates said that a vaccine would be 18 months away. We had about enough money to survive for 6.

We had three options, it seemed: cut costs, build a new product or attempt to grind it out.

As it turned out, we did all three.

Back in January, when “coronavirus” was a headline that seemed a distant storm, we met as a company to discuss what we might do. We made plans to do something with video. As the storm approached, we discussed ideas that had bubbled up over the years, but we had said no to because we were focussing on Tito.

One was a community-building tool. Another was a live-updating event schedule app. The other was a video platform.

As it turned out again, we did all three.

And so this led to probably the darkest period of our time together as a team. March, April and May sucked us in to a whirlpool of long days, arguments and late night tweaking of details that in the beforetimes might have taken weeks to decide on. The days went by and before long, our new product took shape: Vito.

We threw everything we had as a team to build Vito, and Vito took everything we had to build. What followed its creation was what follows every instance of unrestrained productivity: burnout. We were drowning.

And so at the end of the year, we did something new again: Calm December. A “circuit-breaker” if you will. We cancelled all meetings, deadlines and workday pressure. We encouraged our team to focus on looking after themselves. Folks could do as they pleased.

We think it worked. As we get started in 2021, we’re under pressure, but we think it’s going to be good. We’re heartbroken for the year it’s been and how much pain we’ve seen worldwide.

But as 2021 begins, we meet the new year with resolve. The events world will rise again, and we’ll be ready. Vito is a new tool that will give our customers new ways of building communities online. In the depths of despair, we found new opportunities lying in wait.

We have been shaping, designing, making and iterating. We have already worked with a number of amazing folks to get Vito afloat. We‘re ready to take on the challenge of 2021. We can’t wait to share all of our ideas, our products and our work with all of our customers, old and new.

See you when the sun comes up. Stay safe. All our love.

—Team Tito