If slow and steady wins the race it also can build the business. That's what the team behind Message Blocks is learning.
The Ann Arbor-based startup offers a comprehensive event-planning software platform that streamlines the event-planning process. The platform focuses on the event planner's experience, allowing users to share documents and presenters to use plug-in presentations. Message Blocks launched this platform in the fall of 2013 and has built it up ever since.
"We have kept every customer," says Len Gauger, founder & CEO of
Message Blocks. "Our retention rate is quite high."
The 2-year-old startup has also attracted new clients. It landed the Michigan Realtors Association, which is using the platform for everything from events to media releases. Message Blocks also has pilot programs with new customers underway in Michigan, California, and Washington, D.C. This year the company is looking to take on bigger events, such as concerts.
"We are looking at out-of-the-box verticals that deal with large amounts of people," Gauger says. "It's about helping their team organize better."
Message Blocks currently employs a team of seven people and is looking for a few summer interns this year. It has hired three people over the last year and is looking to add another three right now.
Source: Len Gauger, founder & CEO of Message Blocks
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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