Company: Cvent
Company Description: Founded in 1999, Cvent is the world’s largest meetings and event management technology company and has over 900 employees worldwide. Cvent offers web-based software for meeting site selection, online event registration, event management, e-mail marketing, and web surveys, and helps over 10,000 clients in 90 countries manage hundreds of thousands of events, surveys and e-mail campaigns.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Executive of the Year - Computer Software

Nomination Title: Reggie Aggarwal, Founder and CEO

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved since January 1 2011 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

2011 was a banner year for Cvent. Throughout the year, the company further established itself as a world-class organization; and in July, founder and CEO, Reggie Aggarwal, led Cvent through its first round of funding in over a decade—a $136 million investment. This is the largest investment in the history of the meetings and events technology industry to-date, and was called the biggest U.S. software funding deal since 2007 by The Wall Street Journal.

Under Reggie’s guidance and strategic direction, the company expanded its relationships with several industry-leading organizations, including Marriott International (NYSE: MAR), Maritz Travel Company, Creative Group, and Concur® (Nasdaq: CNQR). These initiatives, among others, led to Aggarwal being selected as a 2011 Top 100 "Tech Titan" by Washingtonian magazine and being named one of the 25 most influential people in the meetings industry by Successful Meetings magazine.

However, Cvent’s success in 2011 is no small feat, considering the obstacles that Reggie faced in Cvent’s earlier days. Reggie left his job as a corporate attorney to start Cvent in 1999, and quickly grew the company from 8 to 125 employees, raising $17 million in outside capital. But the dot-com meltdown changed the game. Within months, Cvent was forced to cut 80% of its staff and had little money left. Reggie was faced with investors, partners, employees and media that started to write the company off as a probable failure. In the face of this overwhelming negativity, Reggie “doubled down,” personally guaranteed every loan and fought for Cvent’s success.

It is through his leadership and perseverance that Cvent has attained a five-year CAGR of 40% and has been profitable for the last 36 straight quarters. The company has also been a source of new jobs, despite less-than-ideal economic conditions: in 2010, Reggie hired more than 200 net new employees; in 2011, he created more than 170 new jobs (bringing the company to 900+ employees today); and in 2012, he plans to create another 200 jobs.

Reggie believes that it’s not enough to just create these new positions and hire new employees; but that he must also aid them in their professional development. So, he works hard to build a culture of intrapreneurship,” where he encourages employees to bring their ideas to life in the safety of Cvent’s already-established environment. His commitment to all “Cventers” (as he fondly calls his workforce), along with his open door policy, led to Cvent being recognized as one of the 50 "Best Places to Work in Greater Washington" by the Washington Business Journal for the third consecutive year.

In addition to the company’s dramatic growth and hiring initiatives, Reggie also continues to focus on accelerating the use and expansion of its four product lines. As an example, Reggie worked to further the use of the Cvent Supplier Network, the world’s largest free online marketplace that connects event planners with venues. As a result, the marketplace generated $4 billion in business for hotels in 2011 (up from just 60 million in 2008).

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. 

News article: TechCrunch, There And Back Again – How Cvent’s Founder Stood By His Company, For Better Or Bankruptcy
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/20/there-and-back-again-how-cvents-founder-stood-by-his-company-for-better-or-bankruptcy/
News article: The New York Times, Bootstrapping Builds Strength, Cvent Founder Says
http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2011/07/22/22venturebeat-bootstrapping-builds-strength-cvent-founder-10159.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
News article: The Washington Business Journal, Cvent Finds Foothold in Enthusiasm
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2011/06/03/company-profile-cvent-finds-foothold.html?page=all
News article: TechCrunch, Dotcom Era Survivor Cvent Raises $136 Million Round
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/20/exclusive-dotcom-era-survivor-cvent-raises-136-million-round/
News article: Corporate Meetings & Incentives, Cvent Gives Back, Supports Indian Orphanage
http://meetingsnet.com/corporatemeetingsincentives/news/cvent_supports_indian_orphanage_1121/
Podcast: International Meetings Review, The Secret Behind Cvent’s Phenomenal Growth
http://internationalmeetingsreview.com/news/2011/10/12/The_secret_behind_Cvent%E2%80%99s_phenomenal_growth?highlight=cvent
Press release: Cvent to Celebrate Headquarters Expansion with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony by Senator Mark Warner
http://www.cvent.com/en/company/cvent-to-celebrate-headquarters-expansion.shtml
Press release: Washington Business Journal Recognizes Cvent as One of the “Best Places to Work” in Greater Washington
http://www.cvent.com/en/company/cvent-best-places-to-work-2011.shtml
Press release: Cvent Receives $136 Million Investment Led by New Enterprise Associates and Insight Venture Partners
http://www.cvent.com/en/company/cvent-raises-136-million-funding-with-new-enterprise-associates.shtml
Press release: Marriott Integrates Internal Inventory System Exclusively with the Cvent Supplier Network
http://www.cvent.com/en/company/marriott-integrates-internal-inventory-with-cvent-supplier-network.shtml

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the nominee:

Reggie Aggarwal has led Cvent from a two-person person startup in 1999 to a 900-person company that has helped manage 350,000 events in 50 countries. In 2011, Reggie led Cvent through a $136 million investment, which was called the biggest U.S. software funding deal since 2007 by The Wall Street Journal. He is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Indian CEO High Tech Council (now the DC Chapter of TiE); and a graduate of the University of Virginia with his BS, Washington and Lee University Law School with his Juris Doctorate and Georgetown University Law School with his LLM.