Do you love throwing parties or simply catching up with friends over some wholesome fun? Do you take pride in getting people together but dread the time-consuming nature of the planning, booking venues or of risking your personal finances when people flake on their RSVPs (yes, you know there’s always that one person…)? Well if so, look no further than Host Committee, a business that makes it their business to help your party, fundraiser, or whatever other social event you have in mind succeed.
I had the pleasure of attending a dinner held by Host Committee for InSite Fellows as well as the Social Chairpersons of Columbia Business School, whom the company has been working closely with to help organize the multitude of events hosted by the business school students. Just last week, Host Committee secured Tao as an after-party venue capping off CBS’ Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship (SESF) week where CBS students raise money to support fellow students planning to take low- or no-pay social sector summer internships. Not only did Host Committee provide a DJ and photographer for the event, they also negotiated with Tao to reward Hosts a table for every 10 people they brought.
Co-founder and Director of Events, Carli Roth, was incredibly excited to announce this partnership with Tao. As excited as she was, however, I’m willing to bet that the students were even more thrilled at the chance to party at one of the hottest clubs in New York, as evident in the bottle-toting photograph below.
Host Committee was started in 2012 by Andy Russell and grew in 2013 to encompass DBD Social, a free event planning service in New York. Just this month, Host Committee also acquired Sumeria, a social discovery platform for young professionals started by our very own InSite Fellow Alex Widen. Host Committee is proud to share that the company has helped raise over $1 million for non-profits, and produced over 600 events serving more than 156,000 people since its inception.
When asked, “What’s next?” for the company, Carli Roth emphasized that she would like Host Committee to be centered on experiences and not just events. This is part of the reason why they are growing their partnerships to sporting events, concerts, Broadway plays, and other New York classics in addition to the traditional nightclub. The company also plans to launch in 1-2 more cities this year and is currently working with InSite to analyze its customer segments and identify growth opportunities.
Dubbed by Forbes as the “Uber of Nightlife”, it seems Host Committee now has exciting and ambitious plans to become the Uber of Entertainment regardless of the time of day.
Interested in partnering with Host Committee? Contact them here.
Cheryl Kongis a first-year MBA student at Columbia Business School and an InSITE Fellow. Prior to CBS, she was a relationship manager at Citi Bank.