INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook also said today that it is canceling its annual F8 conference scheduled for May over coronavirus-outbreak concerns.The last is a
Facebook will use its own tech toward this end
every functionality that a conference organizer might need in a time of a pandemic
angel investors like Kevin Weil, the VP of product at the Facebook subsidiary Calibra; Patreon co-founder Sam Yam; and Jetblue Airways
Chairman Joel Peterson.Who started it: Xiaoyin Qu, who is the CEO of the company and previously led products for both Facebook and Instagram
learning about the company from Connie Chan, the general partner who led the deal for a16z.Qu says the impetus for the startup ties to her
mother, a doctor in China who focuses on meningitis and traveled to a conference in Chicago in late 2018 where she made a connection with a
Dubai-based physician who was able to share with her some rare, valuable insight into his own work around meningitis.That might not seem so
mother could meet and have meaningful work connections with people regularly, and this would mean remotely, through digitized events.Turns
out, her timing is pretty good
Though numerous startups have launched live online events businesses in the past (many of them since shuttered), you can bet many more
organizers are thinking about exactly the type of platform that Run The World is fine-tuning right now.Though publicly launched just four
months ago, it has already hosted dozens of events and has hundreds in the pipeline, says Qu
One of its customers is Wuhan2020, a large open-source community with more than 3,000 developers who will be using the platform as part of a
long-distance hackathon that hopes to produce tech solutions to those affected by coronavirus in Wuhan.Qu also points to an elephant
conservation reserve in Laos that was recently able to raise $30,000 from donors from 15 countries in two weeks through a conference it
organized on the platform
The reserve had a constrained budget, but being able to bring together a distributed audience (beyond just wealthy donors) for nearly zero
overhead (no venue, no catering), turned it into a major success for the organization.Smaller events are finding the platform, too
In just one instance, a dating coach who specializes in working with engineers recently held a workshop
Just 40 people showed up, says Qu, but she was able to make $1,300 from the event.Run The World keeps the cost structure simple, taking 25%
of ticket sales in exchange for what it provides organizers, from the templates they can choose for their events, to the ability to sell
tickets, to processing those payments (via Stripe), streaming the event, enabling social interactions throughout the event, and helping
organizers follow up with attendees afterward.Indeed, beyond enabling organizers to reach a wider audience at perhaps a more accessible
price point, a big advantage conferred by online events is the potential for more effective networking, insists Qu
event attendee to create a quick video profile akin to an Instagram story that can help inform other attendees about who is with them
downsides to streamed live events as the world was reminded last year, when a gunman filmed the mass murder of 51 people in Christchurch,
New Zealand on Facebook Live.One could also imagine that those video profiles could attract unwanted attention to some attendees who might
rather just watch an event.These are certainly facets of the business about which Qu and Jiang are well aware
more about, it keeps things above the level, she suggests, noting that paid attendees also show up in far greater numbers.As Run The World
business picks up momentum and creates more structure around its offerings, she says
