After a Wreck in 2020, Event Business is Enroute for the Rebound in 2021

We talked to Maksym Podsolonko of Eazyplan about inefficiencies and pain points of professionals in the event business, and he had the following to say:-

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Maksym Podsolonko: The COVID-19 times have brought drastic change to our family. During the first lockdown as so many other families, we understood the value of “real” life much deeper. We ended up switching a downtown apartment for a suburban house with a large garden and buying a dog. A wonderful change triggered by sad events. However, it did influence my career negatively.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Eazyplan.

Maksym Podsolonko: The event business has been part of our family for over 12 years now. My wife and I founded Magic Day Luxury Experiences back in 2008 to provide event and wedding planning services in France. At some point, it became clear that our portfolio in the premium niche attracts a lot of requests from people who can’t afford our services and often end up planning their weddings and events themselves. On the other hand, we were witnessing all the inefficiencies and pain points of professionals in the event business. This information drove us to create Eazyplan together with my technical co-founder, Max Ivak.

How does Eazyplan innovate? 

Maksym Podsolonko: Eazyplan modernizes the way event professionals and their clients collaborate on events. The old planning process is tedious and involves a lot of back-and-forth before anything is confirmed. It is also full of redundancies and inefficiencies, causing all parties to waste tons of time and money. Eazyplan streamlines the processes, automates numerous administrative tasks and allows professionals and their clients to plan faster, more efficiently, and to always stay in control.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Maksym Podsolonko: While the coronavirus brought the actual event planning business to a standstill this year, Eazyplan, which is a Software as a Service wasn’t impacted to a lesser extent. Magic Day’s bookings were rescheduled to 2021 and the year ahead looks really busy and complicated. This is due particularly to the fact that this year we had to say goodbye to the majority of our coordinators as there was no job for them to do.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Maksym Podsolonko: The most difficult choice was to part ways with the team we worked with for so many years. We trained many of them from ground zero up, made it through the biggest and most complicated events together, and could always rely on each other. It felt like losing family members. However, we do stay in touch and hope to hire back at least some of our ex-colleagues next year.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you project yourself and Eazyplan in the future?

Maksym Podsolonko: Stress and anxiety are an inseparable part of both entrepreneurship and event planning business, so we feel used to both. The best way to deal with them is to have a clear set of goals and take steps to reach them. No matter what kind of setbacks we have, we always know where we want to be and run, go, crawl there.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Maksym Podsolonko: Eazyplan faces varied competition. There are a couple of direct competitors that build project management solutions for event pros, dozens of different project management tools, and hundreds of other tools that event professionals use to tackle different pain points. On the other hand, the biggest competitor is the “0 solution.” The absolute majority continues using spreadsheets and emails. Eazyplan does exactly what various types of event professionals need in the best possible way, and we continue working on the product based on user’s feedback to keep it on top of the game. It is positioned to be the must-have tool for the 2021 rebound when everybody in the event business needs to deliver more with limited resources.

Your final thoughts?

Maksym Podsolonko: 2020 was the most complicated year in my life. However, we live in the age of uncertainty and need to be flexible and adapt to all the challenges that are thrown our way. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger!

Your website? 

https://eazyplan.com