We were lucky to catch up with James Chapman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, James thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
We started Plain Sight to improve the way connections were made in-person, but we launched it just 4 months prior to the start of a global pandemic that prevented people from gathering in-person.
So, as you can imagine we had to learn how to pivot and do so quickly in an ever-changing world with a small team and a small budget. While the pandemic was totally unpredictable, we knew that we still had technology that we could repurpose until the time came for us to be able to use again for our core mission.
This took not only a ton of grit, but also courage to not only make the initial pivot, but to then pivot back to what we originally set out to be all along once the pandemic started to decline.
James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m the CEO at Plain Sight – the best way to attend, host or sponsor networking events. I’m a Chattanooga native that has spent the bulk of my career providing access to capital and community. Before starting Plain Sight, I cofounded Detroit Demo Day with billionaire Dan Gilbert – owner of Rocket Mortgage and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Prior to then, I ran an evening-hours workspace for freelancers and budding entrepreneurs.
I think I am most proud of all the relationships that I have help both foster and curate for others throughout my career. I love to know that I was able to help facilitate a meaningful connection – which is the very ethos of what at Plain Sight everyday.
With our technology: events can create free or paid ticketing, individuals can discover events to attend while making new connections, and brands can find event marketing opportunities that align with the goals of their organization.
Have you ever had to pivot?
We actually started Plain Sight to improve the way in-person connections are made, just four months before the start of the global Covid-19 pandemic. So as you can imagine, we had to quickly pivot a product and business that had not even been in business for 6 months yet. Not to mention, there was no line of sight to when events were going to come back, or if they were going to come back, because at that time everyone was still afraid of their groceries!
What I most proud of outside of our resilience to make it through the pandemic, is our courage to pivot back to our original vision and go all in on it. We learned a lot about ourselves during that time.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Hosting our own events! When you’re a small team with a limited budget and you need to get their product out there for people to experience, you do what you have to do. Luckily for us, our product is in the events space, so every time someone attends an event we host and use us for registration and networking, we’re able to give them the Plain Sight experience. Some of those people then go on to use us to host their own events as well as find new upcoming events even after that initial event we hosted has ended. It’s been a great strategy for us for sure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.plainsight.app/
- Instagram: @plainsightapp
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plain-sight-app/
- Twitter: @plainsightapp