Julie Novack is the CEO and a cofounder of PartySlate, a startup building a two-sided platform that allows event professionals to share their work and party hosts to gain inspiration from it. Because everybody has to party every once in a while.
PartySlate has raised $2.6 million from investors including Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and InvestHER Ventures.
In this episode, we talk about Julie’s motivation for starting PartySlate, the importance of throwing a great party for fundraisers, and the wildest party someone has thrown using PartySlate. Plus, we discuss how to use content marketing and promotional events to drive traffic, why you have to “super-please” one side of the market to start a two-sided marketplace, how PartySlate decides where to focus their content marketing efforts, and the biggest benefits of going through Techstars.
In addition to all that, we delve deeper into what Julie would like to see Chicago tech improve on, how we get more women involved in tech, the importance of role models for women in tech, and what made her leave a large company for the startup world. Finally, we talk about the value of dreaming out loud about your idea, the fallacy of being protective about your idea, the importance of owning and managing technology, and she gives advice for planning a great wedding.
Read more about the Chicago startup ecosystem here on Tech.Co