What is the core problem OneLobby is solving?

OneLobby addresses the lack of business intelligence and ROI tracking in corporate events. According to Slide 3, large enterprises spend an average of $21 million on meetings and events annually, yet they often lack data on what they get in return. OneLobby aims to provide 'Smart Events' by delivering impact metrics on sales pipelines, conversion analysis, and attendee professional profiles.

How does OneLobby generate its data?

The company uses a two-step input process shown on Slide 4: importing attendee email lists via APIs or CSV files from registration systems like Eventbrite, and granting access to CRM systems like Salesforce. Slide 5 further explains that they use proprietary algorithms and APIs from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Klout, alongside services like FullContact, to enrich attendee data.

Who are the primary competitors identified in the deck?

Slide 7 lists a comprehensive competitive landscape including Basecamp, Certain, etouches, Eved, eventsforce, EventPro, Podio, starCITE, and Ungerboeck Software. OneLobby differentiates itself by claiming to be the only platform currently offering or planning to offer 'Business Intelligence' across the entire event lifecycle.

What is the exit strategy for OneLobby?

The deck explicitly lists six potential acquirers on Slide 6, categorized by their recent financial activity. These include Eventbrite ($60M raise), Salesforce ($3.5B in marketing cloud acquisitions), Cvent (IPO at $1.6B+), Active Network ($1.2B private valuation), Jade ($130M revenue), and UBM ($1.3BN revenue). The presence of Salesforce-acquired advisors suggests a targeted exit toward CRM or Marketing Cloud giants.

What key information is missing from this pitch deck?

The deck is missing several critical components for a late-stage seed or Series A round. There is no slide detailing the actual founding team and their backgrounds, no financial projections, no current traction or user growth numbers, and no specific 'ask' regarding how much capital they are raising or how it will be deployed.

OneLobby Pitch Deck Teardown: A Data-Driven Play

OneLobby presents a case for 'Smart Events' by focusing on the lack of ROI visibility in a market where the Global 2000 spend $396 billion annually. The deck relies heavily on third-party integrations (Cvent, Eventbrite, Salesforce) to aggregate attendee social profiles and professional data. While the slides lack specific internal traction metrics or a clear financial 'ask,' they excel at defining a competitive landscape and identifying logical acquirers like Salesforce and UBM. The strategy leans on 'phenomenal advisors' with significant exit experience to validate the business model. Howev…

Key takeaways

The deck identifies a $396 billion spending gap in the Global 2000 market where event ROI is largely unknown (Slide 3).
OneLobby positions itself as an intelligence layer on top of existing platforms like Cvent and Eventbrite rather than a replacement (Slide 4).
The product uses social data from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Klout to build attendee professional profiles (Slide 5).
A detailed competitive matrix lists 10 competitors, claiming OneLobby is the only one offering integrated business intelligence (Slide 7).
The 'Potential Acquirers' slide specifically targets firms with recent M&A activity, such as Salesforce's $3.5 billion in marketing cloud acquisitions (Slide 6).
The advisor board includes founders of companies acquired by Salesforce, such as Radian6 ($350M) and GoInstant ($70M) (Slide 9).
The deck omits a dedicated team slide for the founders, focusing instead on the 'Phenomenal Advisors' (Slide 9).
There is no specific funding 'ask' or use of funds mentioned in the provided slides.

OneLobby Pitch Deck Teardown

OneLobby positions itself as a business intelligence layer for the massive corporate events industry. The deck focuses on the 'why now' by highlighting the sheer volume of enterprise spend and the lack of data-driven insights currently available to event marketers. By focusing on integrations rather than building a siloed registration tool, OneLobby attempts to sit at the center of the event tech ecosystem.

Slide 1: Title Slide

The title slide is minimalist, featuring the OneLobby logo and the tagline: "SMART EVENTS: ATTENDEE & BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE." It immediately establishes the company's focus on data rather than just event logistics. The inclusion of the URL onelobby.com provides a direct call to action for further research.

Slide 2: The Corporate World

This slide serves as the 'Problem/Opportunity' hook. It cites that 84% of event marketing executives view experiential marketing as critical. More importantly, it notes that for firms with event budgets over $100 million, 100% of them consider events critical. This narrows the target customer to high-spend enterprise organizations where the stakes for ROI are highest.

Slide 3: Market Size

OneLobby uses a top-down market approach. Citing a 2013 Frost & Sullivan study, the slide states that companies spend 1% of their revenue on meetings and events. This totals $396 BILLION in spending by the Global 2000 alone. The slide poses a rhetorical question: "Would you spend $400 BN w/o knowing what you get in return?" This effectively frames their product as an essential insurance policy for massive marketing spends. It also notes that large enterprises spend an average of $21 million annually on events.

Slide 4: How It Works

This slide explains the data flow. The "Input" side shows integrations with Cvent and Eventbrite for attendee lists, and Salesforce for CRM data. The "Output" side lists the deliverables: impact on pipeline metrics, potential sales opportunities, post-event sales analysis (conversions, new sales, CAC), and attendee professional profiles. This is a clear value proposition for a CMO or Head of Sales.

Slide 5: How We Do It

Slide 5 dives into the technical stack. It mentions proprietary algorithms and the use of APIs from LinkedIn, Klout, and Twitter. Notably, it mentions a relationship with Salesforce/Radian6 and the use of FullContact.com, even disclosing the cost of .005 - .003 cents per email address processed . While this transparency on unit costs is rare in a deck, it helps investors understand the gross margin potential of the data enrichment process.

Slide 6: Potential Acquirers

This is a strategic slide that signals the founders are thinking about an exit. It lists six companies with their recent valuations or revenue: Eventbrite ($60M raise), Salesforce ($3.5B in acquisitions), Cvent ($1.6B+ valuation), Active Network ($1.2B valuation), Jade ($130M rev), and UBM ($1.3BN rev) . By showing that the market is active with billion-dollar players, OneLobby makes a case for its own eventual liquidity.

Slide 7: Competitive Landscape

The deck includes a very detailed feature matrix comparing OneLobby to 10 other platforms, including Basecamp and Podio. The matrix is divided into "Currently built into platform" and "Upcoming roadmap." OneLobby, unsurprisingly, is the only one with a checkmark in every category, specifically highlighting "Business Intelligence" as its unique differentiator that no other competitor currently offers.

Slide 8: Long Term Vision

The vision slide is ambitious. It aims to "capture the Event Industry eco-system onto one platform." It uses high-level analogies: "LinkedIn for the event world," "Yelp for event suppliers," and "Apple’s App marketplace for technology." The goal is to move from a tool to a platform that creates "Zero Friction" and "Collaborative Event Management."

Slide 9: Phenomenal Advisors

Instead of a founder slide, the deck concludes with an advisor slide. This is a "heavy" board, featuring Marcel Lebrun (CEO of Radian6, acquired for $350M) , Jeff White (Prev. CFO of Radian6) , Jevon MacDonald (CEO of GoInstant, acquired for $70M) , and Paige Pires de Almedia (GM of E2 Conference) . The heavy presence of former Radian6 and GoInstant executives—both companies acquired by Salesforce—strongly suggests that OneLobby is being built with a Salesforce acquisition in mind.

What OneLobby Does Well

Clear Market Gap: The deck does an excellent job of quantifying the 'blind spot' in enterprise event spending. By framing the $396 billion spend against the lack of ROI data, the need for the product becomes self-evident. · Strategic Positioning: Rather than trying to kill Cvent or Eventbrite, OneLobby positions itself as a partner that makes those tools more valuable by adding an intelligence layer. This reduces the perceived 'friction' of adoption. · Social Proof via Advisors: For a startup that might lack its own massive exits, borrowing the credibility of advisors who have sold companies to Salesforce for hundreds of millions of dollars is a smart way to de-risk the investment for VCs.

What is Missing from the Deck

The Founders: There is no slide introducing the actual people running the company day-to-day. Investors fund teams, not just advisors. The omission of the core team's background is a significant gap. · Traction Metrics: While the deck explains how the product works, it doesn't say who is currently using it. There are no logos of existing customers, no user growth charts, and no case studies showing the actual ROI delivered to a pilot client. · The Ask: The deck ends without telling the investor what the company needs. There is no mention of the round size, the valuation, or how the capital will be used to reach the next milestone. · Financial Projections: There is no indication of the business model (SaaS, per-event, per-lead) or what the revenue looks like over the next 3-5 years.

What a Founder Should Copy

The Competitive Matrix: The level of detail in Slide 7 is excellent. It shows the founder has done deep homework on the feature sets of every major player in the space. · The 'Acquirer' Slide: Listing potential acquirers with their recent M&A math (Slide 6) is a great way to show investors that there is a 'way out' and that the market is currently paying premiums for similar technology. · The Input/Output Diagram: Slide 4 is a masterclass in simplifying a complex technical process. It clearly shows what goes in (data) and what comes out (value), making the product easy to understand for non-technical investors.

Frequently asked questions

What is the core problem OneLobby is solving?: OneLobby addresses the lack of business intelligence and ROI tracking in corporate events. According to Slide 3, large enterprises spend an average of $21 million on meetings and events annually, yet they often lack data on what they get in return. OneLobby aims to provide 'Smart Events' by delivering impact metrics on sales pipelines, conversion analysis, and attendee professional profiles.
How does OneLobby generate its data?: The company uses a two-step input process shown on Slide 4: importing attendee email lists via APIs or CSV files from registration systems like Eventbrite, and granting access to CRM systems like Salesforce. Slide 5 further explains that they use proprietary algorithms and APIs from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Klout, alongside services like FullContact, to enrich attendee data.
Who are the primary competitors identified in the deck?: Slide 7 lists a comprehensive competitive landscape including Basecamp, Certain, etouches, Eved, eventsforce, EventPro, Podio, starCITE, and Ungerboeck Software. OneLobby differentiates itself by claiming to be the only platform currently offering or planning to offer 'Business Intelligence' across the entire event lifecycle.
What is the exit strategy for OneLobby?: The deck explicitly lists six potential acquirers on Slide 6, categorized by their recent financial activity. These include Eventbrite ($60M raise), Salesforce ($3.5B in marketing cloud acquisitions), Cvent (IPO at $1.6B+), Active Network ($1.2B private valuation), Jade ($130M revenue), and UBM ($1.3BN revenue). The presence of Salesforce-acquired advisors suggests a targeted exit toward CRM or Marketing Cloud giants.
What key information is missing from this pitch deck?: The deck is missing several critical components for a late-stage seed or Series A round. There is no slide detailing the actual founding team and their backgrounds, no financial projections, no current traction or user growth numbers, and no specific 'ask' regarding how much capital they are raising or how it will be deployed.