There And Back Again – How Cvent’s Founder Stood By His Company, For Better Or Bankruptcy

Back in the late 1990s, in addition to working 60 hours a week as an attorney, I started the Indian CEO High Tech Council and organized networking events for local tech CEOs in Washington, DC, that had at least $10 million in revenue and 75 employees, or had raised $10 million or more in capital. I used to joke that it was a good thing I was the president of the group, because I’d never qualify for membership. Marketing to these CEOs, getting them to RSVP to the event invitations and securing their attendance was painful. I knew there had to be a way to streamline the process. Enter Cvent . I founded what is now the world’s largest event management software company in September of 1999. I was 30 years old, living at home and borrowing money from my parents to fund my dream — I was like the Indian George Costanza. Those were wild times. I wasn’t taking any salary and quickly ran up $250,000 in credit card debt; but lucky for me, as a Law grad, credit card companies practically begged me to open lines of credit with them. So, just before quitting law, I signed up for 10 cards to bankroll my idea. Everyone had a start-up back then. I thought it would be easy. It wasn’t.