Former event planner Cortnie Purdy-Fausner knew this struggle all too well. She was having trouble finding what she was looking for online, so in true entrepreneurial spirit, she took it upon herself to create a solution. Cortnie and her husband Donny created The Venue Report, a carefully curated site of unique venues for hosting private events. The venues they’ve curated span the globe and include everything from tree houses to teepees to industrial warehouses. Their Venue Directory fully launched in December 2014. The Venue Report offers a two-sided solution – one that benefits the venue searcher, or “Celebrator”, and one that benefits the venues. Celebrators can search based on location, celebration type, and a number of other filters. To ensure quality, each venue is vetted by the team before an invitation to join as a venue is issued. The site is invitation only, but those venues who get accepted as Member Venues have complete control over their own profiles. They update their current information, and manage and receive direct qualified leads for group bookings.
A Family-Oriented Team
The team at The Venue Report are tight-knit and celebrate the smallest of victories. They also face challenges as a team, offering support to each other when the going gets tough. According to Cortnie and Donny:
Going Against Traditional Startup Advice
They’ve considered themselves lucky to have great advisors who offer good advice. However, there are some bits of what might be considered traditional startup advice that they have not seen as a good fit for their venture. For example, they do not believe they should “raise as much money as you can at the highest valuation you can.”
San Diego: A Dream City to Startup In
The Venue Report is currently in 63 countries, 208 states/provinces, and 615 cities around the world. They’re moving into their second round of funding this month after securing a pre-seed round of over $500,000 prior to their December 2014 launch.
