Seeing Growth in a Downturn with Eran Ben-Shushan & Gigi Levy-Weiss

The NFX Podcast

In this episode, Eran Ben-Shusham, a seasoned entrepreneur, shares his company's journey through a business model pivot. He discusses the critical role of speed, execution, and strong company culture during a crisis. The conversation also delves into the shift towards virtual events, dealing with new customer needs, and the challenges of scaling during a pivot. Additionally, Eran speaks on the emotional impact of a disappearing core business and the importance of maintaining company values throughout the transition.

In the face of a global pandemic and a financial meltdown, Founders are confronted with a new reality. If you are running a startup today, this will likely be one of the most challenging climates you’ll ever face.

Launched in July 2012, Bizzabo is a SaaS All-in-One event success platform. They help organizers create successful events by empowering them to build amazing websites, sell tickets, grow communities, go mobile and maximize event experiences - using a beautiful, user-friendly platform. Despite Covid canceling all conferences and in-person events, Bizzabo was able to complete a funding round of $138 million.

NFX Partner Gigi Levy-Weiss talks with Bizzabo Co-Founder & CEO Eran Ben-Shusham about their strategy during COVID including customer acquisition, fundraising, and overall growth during the downturn. Eran shares his mindset as a company leader and how he and his team navigated the crisis to come out the other side ahead in hypergrowth mode.

Read the NFX article here - https://www.nfx.com/post/bizzabo

(0:00) Introduction to the NFX Podcast and guest interviewee, Eran Ben-Shusham (1:40) Discussion on Eran Ben-Shusham's company's initial product and business model pivot (6:09) The importance of speed, execution, and company culture during a crisis (10:30) Shift towards virtual events and understanding new customer needs (17:09) Challenges and strategies of operating at scale during a pivot (25:19) Sponsor: NFX (25:39) Emotional impact of a core business disappearing and shifting mindset to see opportunities (39:43) Importance of company values, culture, and communication in crisis management (52:40) Transitioning from defense to offense and adapting to changing business environment (1:03:50) Maintaining company's core mission and culture despite the pivot