Ricardo Sentosa – Managing Director of Venuerific – A Success Story of Navigating the Pandemic and Adapting to Change

Ricardo Sentosa – Managing Director of Venuerific Singapore

Venuerific.com is a Singapore-based online platform that connects event organizers with space owners to rent out underutilized spaces.

Background Story Of Venuerific

The story behind the creation of Venuerific.com began in 2013 when the F&B industry in Singapore was struggling. At the time, many restaurants and bars were struggling to stay afloat due to a weak economy and a saturated market. However, the founder of Venuerific saw an opportunity in the abundance of under-utilized spaces that would be perfect for hosting events.

Inspired by the success of Airbnb, the founder came up with the idea to match event organizers with space owners who were willing to rent out their spaces. This would allow for greater utilization of space and create additional revenue streams for space owners.

With this vision in mind, Venuerific.com was born. The platform quickly gained traction in the event planning industry and has since become a leading platform for venue rentals across Asia. Today, Venuerific continues to provide a simple and efficient way for event planners to find the perfect venue for their events while also helping space owners generate additional income from their properties.

Venuerific Singapore

Share With Us The Turning Point Of The Company

There was a moment early on in the development of Venuerific.com when we knew that the company was going to succeed. We had gained traction from both venue owners and event organizers who were interested in using our platform to connect with each other. This early validation was a good sign that we were on the right track.

As we continued to develop and refine the platform, we received positive feedback from our clients, who found that Venuerific.com helped them grow their businesses. This was a strong indication that our solution was solving a real problem and providing real value to our clients.

Over time, we saw our user base grow, and our platform become more and more popular. We continued to iterate and improve our offering, incorporating feedback from our clients along the way. As we saw the positive impact that our platform was having on the event planning industry, we knew that we were on the path to success.

Share Some Key Factors That Help You In Balancing All Your Endeavors

As a venture builder, balancing all endeavors can be challenging. However, there are several key factors that can help achieve this balance:

Firstly, implementing systems and processes to automate the business as much as possible can save time and resources, allowing for more efficient and effective operations.

Secondly, finding the right leaders for the right roles and empowering them to excel can create a strong foundation for the business. These leaders can help drive the success of individual ventures and overall company growth.

Thirdly, helping the team solve problems and ensuring they have everything they need to tackle the issues can reduce stress and anxiety, promoting a more productive and collaborative working environment.

Fourthly, developing a strong culture that is open, friendly, and growth-oriented can keep the team motivated and aligned with the company’s mission and vision.

Lastly, ensuring fairness in the company by rewarding the team appropriately can create a positive work environment and encourage loyalty and commitment from the team.

By focusing on these key factors, venture builders can effectively balance their endeavors and build successful ventures.

Struggles and Challenges

As a one-stop platform for all event needs, Venuerific faced several struggles when the pandemic hit. One of the major problems was that the majority of our clients couldn’t operate their businesses due to government restrictions on gatherings and events. This resulted in a significant loss of revenue for our platform.

To overcome these challenges, we took several measures. Firstly, we focused on collecting payments from clients who owed us money, which helped us tie through the first three months of the pandemic. Additionally, we focused on our video production business, which was still operating at the time, to secure some revenue.

To cut costs, we asked our team to volunteer for non-paid leave, and the founders also took no pay for 2-3 months. These measures helped us to conserve resources and manage our cash flow during this difficult period.

We also looked for opportunities to diversify our offerings and reach new customers. One strategy we implemented was to apply to be a PSG vendor, which was approved in the 6th month of the pandemic. This helped us sell to wedding and meeting spaces, which were still allowed to operate under government restrictions.

Overall,