How I Leveraged My LinkedIn Network To Create A $1.8M/Year Procurement Conference
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?
Hi Startup Enthusiasts! My name is Matthias Gutzmann and I am the CEO and Founder of DPW (Digital Procurement World). I started DPW in 2019 as the “Web Summit for Procurement”, a conference, with the idea of supporting large procurement organizations with their digital transformation by connecting them with the best new startup technologies and sharing best practices on digital procurement.
Since then, we have launched several other services built around the conference, including ScoutLab, a tech scouting, and a scaling service. Our ScoutLab team pairs large organizations including Johnson & Johnson, Shell, and Roche – with pioneering startups to help them drive tech innovation.
To get DPW off the ground in 2019, I left my well-paid job in New York, moved back into my parents’ house in Germany, and invested my entire personal savings to launch DPW.
We’ve been growing exponentially ever since, and just capped 2022 with €1.8M in revenue.
I pretty much leveraged my 20,000 LinkedIn connections, applied social selling techniques to create a buzz, and used direct email marketing to reach prospective delegates, sponsors, and startups, without making a single outbound telesales call.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
In 2019, as the head of marketing, I was researching procurement conferences to showcase my then-employer, a startup. I was frustrated by the options. The existing conferences were prohibitively expensive for a limited startup budget, lacked investors, and failed to attract an audience of startup businesses, which is critical for the development of digital capabilities and driving innovation.
Identifying this gap in the market, I left my job in New York, moved into the basement of my parents’ house in Germany, and invested my entire personal savings to launch DPW.
I used to work in delegate and sponsorship sales as well as in events and marketing for a company called Procurement Leaders. Funny enough, I'm now their biggest competitor.
Throughout those 10 years at Procurement Leaders, I learned how to:
Organize large-scale events
Sell tickets and sponsorships to those events
Market B2B events
Built a massive network in procurement
Procurement Leaders skilled my up nicely to launch DPW.
Almost every industry, including procurement, has been affected by disruptive startups that have proven to be powerful catalysts for innovation and digitalization. Yet, no conference existed to bring startups into the procurement ecosystem.
A well-known figure in the global procurement space, my experience, and vast industry network were my most powerful research tools. I spoke to several chief procurement officers, countless startups, and a handful of investors who all recognized the value of this business idea. It became clear there was much to gain and little to lose by taking the risk of running DPW.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
I initially launched DPW as a conference always with the idea of expanding into other services related to digital procurement transformation. In terms of producing a unique conference, I focused on the following industry-unique conference features:
1. Attendees
Traditional procurement conferences only attract procurement professionals. But I recognized the need for breaking this silo and for more collaboration to harness the potential of new digital technology, targeting a more diverse audience of procurement professionals, business leaders, suppliers, startups, data scientists, UX/UI designers, developers, and investors. No other procurement conference today brings this variety of people together.
2. Startups technologies
DPW was built to bring startups into the procurement ecosystem. We offered low-cost conference startup packages, a fraction of traditional event sponsorship packages, and free pitching slots on our main stage, giving delegates a unique insight into the latest procurement innovation, and startups with limited budgets the best bang for their buck.
3. Conference experience
Traditional procurement events are very corporate and stiff, often hosted at boring hotels. Aiming for a casual and entrepreneurial atmosphere, I booked the former stock exchange building, Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam for the venue. The landmark building, with its historic features, was described by one attendee as “the best event venue” he had ever been to. We introduced “startup casual” as our dress code: a new dress code for a new generation, reflecting the office vibe, which is generally youthful and energetic.
4. Lower ticket cost
Tickets to traditional procurement events typically start at 1,500 EUR. We offered a much lower priced ticket starting at 599 EUR.
I spent about 10,000 EUR on building the conference website, and because of working out of my parent’s house, I did not have any operating costs and was able to keep my expenses at a minimum.
My recommendation to anyone who wants to find a startup is to find their niche and then build a scalable business model around it. Once you have covered your niche and delivered value, your customers return.
Describe the process of launching the business.
I launched DPW from a zero start point pretty much single-handedly and with very few resources and little assistance, mainly selling my vision to prospect sponsors, leveraging my network, and applying social selling techniques to create a buzz, replacing the cost of hiring a sales representative. The uniqueness of the conference, the problem it solves, and the timing of the launch were DPW’s key success factors.
I think that my knowledge and understanding of the end-to-end process of selling, organizing, and marketing a large conference, was key. Typically you have specialists in companies (only selling tickets or sponsorships or only organizing events) not able to run all elements. In that sense, being more of a generalist was a good thing and a key to success.
I also created an advisory board of forward-thinking chief procurement officers, IT and digital growth heavy hitters, investors, and start-up founders. Their presence on the website gave DPW instant credibility.
My website was built by a guy I found on Upwork.
Then I reached out to my sponsor network to see if they wanted to support my launch event.
Since I didn't have a sales team, I pretty much leveraged my 20,000 LinkedIn connections, applied social selling techniques to create a buzz, and used direct email marketing to reach prospective delegates, sponsors, and startups, without making a single outbound telesales call.
So, it's that puzzle of things that needs to come together, and, being honest, you need a bit of luck, too. I think I launched the right conference (on digital procurement) at the right time, but I also know that if I don’t get the right level of people onto the advisory, or struggle to get my first sponsor onboard, things could have gone the other way.
Aiming to attract a global audience, I chose Amsterdam as the conference location. The “Silicon Valley of Europe,” Amsterdam is directly connected to 300 destinations worldwide and offers unparalleled amounts of history, culture, and activities. I hired a local events agency to shortlist the best venues in Amsterdam for me to look at. I then found a great venue.
I created an advisory board of forward-thinking chief procurement officers, IT and digital growth heavy hitters, investors, and startup founders. Their presence on the website gave DPW instant credibility.
I remember selling my first sponsorship to a company from Finland. At that time, I didn't even have a website and only showed them a word document with a sketch of what my future website would look like. They bought into it and eventually signed my first-ever contract. When I speak to them about this today, they keep telling me that they loved my vision for DPW and that the lack of a website was not that important.
Here is the 1:1 email convo I recently had with the CEO of my first sponsor in 2019:
Me: Sievo is a company that is very close to my heart because you were the very first sponsor that supported the launch of DPW. I remember exactly the day when I pitched the vision of DPW to Lari and Jani and that I showed them the non-existing DPW website drawn on a piece of paper over screen share. They had the guts and the courage to say yes to DPW. Not many would have done that. I will never forget that.
CEO: Didn’t know this! Proud that my colleagues had the nose and guts to make this call (which was the right one). Also, happy that DPW came along, and provided, a very required breath of fresh air to the procurement world.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
In terms of our annual flagship conference in Amsterdam, delivering a stellar experience and continuing to differentiate the event experience from other more traditional industry events has worked well. Ultimately, our conference offers attendees something they can't get anywhere else.
Of course, we keep improving the basics by asking for post-event feedback. There is no such thing as a perfect conference. DPW has not had a sales team since its inception – 95% of our growth comes from inbound traffic.
I’m a well-known figure in the global procurement space, people know me, and I came with a massive network and leveraged my 20,000 LinkedIn connections to make noise about DPW AMS 2019. I also hired a certified LinkedIn expert who didn't do anything else than post stuff on LinkedIn. At one point before the conference in 2019, I think we did 3-4 LinkedIn posts per day which is a lot, maybe too many for normal standards.
The uniqueness of the conference, the problem it solves, and the timing of the launch were key success factors. Having found an untapped niche (connecting large organizations with the best startups in procurement), and being a first-mover into this niche, has been a key driver to gauging interest in the DPW brand.
Today, DPW Amsterdam is the most startup-centric event in procurement, and our lens on the emerging tech ecosystem defines the “Opportunity Domain.” One of our USPs is giving companies access to nimble startups they can’t find on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant (see image below).
My recommendation to anyone who wants to find a startup is to find their niche and then build a scalable business model around it. Once you have covered your niche and delivered value, your customers return.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
DPW has seen incredible growth, and 2022 was our best year by far. Since 2019, we have more than tripled in revenue, capping out the year at €1.8 million. That said, our growth has been far from linear.
After a successful inaugural event in 2019, DPW lost €100K during the pandemic, and we were close to closing up shop. But we persevered through the tough times and are now much better for it!
The event itself has also grown immensely, reaching 5,000 attendees at our 2022 conference – doubling our last in-person event in 2019. Regarding the conference, I see a couple of growth opportunities:
- Find a larger venue (to sell more exhibition space)
- Expand into new corporate customer segments (from large only to large and mid-sized enterprises)
- Expand into new functional segments (from procurement to procurement and supply chain)
- Expand into new geographies (in 2024, we will launch of first US event)
Today, DPW is the fastest-growing conference and community in procurement. It has 16,000 followers on LinkedIn, and sponsorships to our annual conference sell out in a matter of weeks. We just hired our first commercial director in charge of selling our services to solution and service providers.
We keep adding new services and products around the conference, such as ScoutLab, our tech scouting, and scaling services. We are also going to create our research and trends reports to become more data-driven and build out our thought leadership in the space.
But in all honesty, how I can build a more scalable business is what keeps me up at night, and finding clarity in your strategy is always a challenge.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
Oh boy, where shall I start? The event industry has been strongly affected by the disruptive forces of COVID-19. Since the outbreak, nearly every event that was scheduled to happen was canceled altogether. These were tough times, but no matter how serious and sad all of this was, the world was not ending, and there were upsides as well.
As a single conference going into the pandemic, I had to start thinking about what’s next and what I can do right now to move forward. I know this is the mentality I will need to keep myself sane. As a former professional sports athlete, I constantly had to deal with the stress of uncertainty, and learn how to stay positive and thrive under pressure.
As overwhelming as the pandemic was, I saw it as a challenge and a huge growth opportunity for both me personally and DPW. So, lesson learned number one: stay humble and keep smiling.
In hindsight, the pandemic was the best thing that could have happened to DPW. I had to reinvent DPW, and during this process, I launched a few new services such as ScoutLab (tech scouting and scaling services), DEMO Virtual, which has become the largest startup competition in procurement today, and a membership community. I also took a bet on a few other ideas which did not work out, but I think taking a few bets here and there is ok, even if they are not working out. So, lesson learned number two: Never waste a good crisis.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
We use HubSpot for CRM and marketing automation, Slack for internal communication and collaboration, and Zoom for video conferencing.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
I love reading biographies of visionaries like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. They are leaders I’m looking up to.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Take moderate risks. I risked my career and my financial independence to launch DPW because I knew I had an idea worth fighting for. Now, we’re the most influential tech event in the industry, with some of the top names in procurement and technology vying for speaking positions – and we’ve more than tippled our revenue in the past three years. None of this success could have happened if I had stayed complacent in a “stable” job instead of risking everything to launch DPW, or if I had let my ego get in the way of a great opportunity.
So, my advice to entrepreneurs is: success comes from taking risks. That doesn’t mean you won’t encounter challenges along the way (like DPW did when in-person events shut down during the pandemic), but if you’re truly passionate about starting a new business, it can’t be done “halfway.” The best results come when you have the courage, and the confidence, to give it your all.
My other advice would be to love what you are doing. You’ll go through some tough times, and if you don't love what you are doing, you won't have the resilience to get through it. This isn’t a 9-5 job; often, you need to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can’t do that unless you love what you do.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Yes, we are looking for a Head of Marketing and a Delegate Sales representative. Reach me at matthias@dpw.ai.
Where can we go to learn more?
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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