May 2021: Bindle Monthly Update
Dear Friends of Bindle Systems:
Dear Friends of Bindle Systems:
And the beat goes on….really hard to believe we’re already halfway through May!
Lots to cover this month – everything is public and can be forwarded to anyone.
Thanks as always for your support!
Team Bindle
Positive Developments
CDC Mask Announcement
In many ways, yesterday’s announcement that vaccinated Americans can remove their masks in most settings – indoors and outdoors – was the ultimate confirmation of our founding hypothesis: the only way to safely get back to “normal” – 100% capacity with no masks – is through a proof-of-health platform. While some venues will surely interpret the announcement as an excuse to throw the doors open without any health status check at all, we think far more – especially those in our target customer segments – will view the new guidelines as a reason to accelerate their engagement with Bindle. When combined with the next two updates, it feels like this week could be an inflection point for the company.
Self-Attestation
Self-attested health certificates (vaccine records and test results) are now available on Bindle. This has been the most requested feature from our customers – by far – and we’re excited to have it available on both iOS and Android. Please give it a try by tapping the “+” sign on the My Certificates tab and let us know what you think!
Signed Vaccine Contract
While we obviously believe in the need for self-attested certificates, we are also always striving to verify health records with provenance and chain-of-custody back to an issuing medical authority. One example of this commitment to verified credentials is the contract we recently signed with STChealth, a leading software provider in the immunization space. The partnership, which we expect to announce publicly before Memorial Day, will enable Americans in participating states to claim their vaccine record from their local immunization registry and create a verified vaccine credential on Bindle. Very exciting!
Universal Verification
With more and more health passes being announced around the world, and as global standards for health passes are finalized, there is a clear and growing need for venue-side software that can a) easily read/scan all of these various QR codes, b) help a venue manage constantly evolving government guidelines, c) adhere to government-mandated contact tracing requirements. In the months ahead, you will see us place an increasing emphasis on this side of the product development pipeline.
Live Events
As the vaccine rollout continues in the US, an increasing percentage of our pipeline is in live events (concerts, music festivals, film festivals, conventions, business conferences, etc) so we’re excited to be proving our business model (and our disruptively low pricing) in this sector. This past weekend, events using Bindle were literally held from coast to coast (the Sierras to SoHo!) and we’ll be announcing a new GM for this line of business soon. We also got a kick out of this event poster that was sent to us from California – check out the fine print! 🙂
Return to Work Starting to Scale – Envoy Integration Complete
Over the past 2 weeks, 1400+ health certificates were issued to just one of our return-to-work customers, a Fortune 500 consumer brand. We expect this part of the business to grow significantly during the Summer and Fall, as more and more companies bring employees back to the office. As part of our 2021 Return to Work plans, we’re also excited to have recently completed our integration work with Envoy, a software platform in use by 14,000+ offices around the US.
Commercial Pipeline
Activity on the BD/Partnership front has increased markedly over the past 90 days. Just a few examples:
Signed MOU with a national EMR platform that works with hundreds of colleges and universities.
Active promotion and co-marketing to over 40,000+ US catering and corporate event locations.
Negotiating an MOU with a large global ticketing platform in use at hundreds of venues.
One of the largest live events companies in the US is actively engaged and requesting volume discounts.
A senior executive from the largest independent music management company in the world just joined our advisory board.
Team Additions
Industry Advisory Board – Live Events
Aaron Kayce
Aaron’s passion is live music. As a seasoned Talent Buyer, venue General Manager, Band Manager and Business Consultant there isn’t much he has not done in the music industry. Aaron believes that music is a powerful force that can change lives. Through his most recent (pre-Covid) roll as a Live Nation General Manager at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD, Aaron was responsible for bringing over 200 concerts a year to the people of his community and managed a business with over $8M in revenue. Prior to his work with Live Nation Aaron orchestrated a $1M turnaround at Bob Weir’s Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA where he booked 300 concerts a year and rebuilt the brand and business from the ground up
Greg Doran
Greg joins us with decades of experience that includes data science, analytics, marketing and live entertainment. He started his career as an engineer (formerly known as a developer and before that, a coder) at Linkshare before it was sold to Rakuten. Greg left to start and oversee one of the largest divisions at Major League Baseball with a focus on fan analytics and digital marketing, serving the league, its partners and all Major League Teams. He left MLB and moved on to become the CEO of Ticket Evolution, selling hundreds of millions of dollars annually to sports, concerts and performing arts.
Adam Haft
For more than 25 years in the live event and music business, Adam Haft has held senior roles in A&R, artist management, and promotion. As an A&R executive for Mercury Records and Universal Music Publishing, his signings included multi-platinum acts Godsmack and Three Doors Down, along with the critically-acclaimed alt-country trailblazers, The Honeydogs. As a manager, Adam has worked with a roster of popular musicians, including Billy & the Kids, the solo band of Grateful Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzmann, along with 200 shows/year touring band, New Monsoon, who sold out the Fillmore and played Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Jamcruise, and several other big name festivals. Adam’s passion for live events and music also led him to create, produce, and promote the music festival Las Tortugas in Yosemite National Park, which sold out every year with top notch bands and solo artists. An active evangelist for Bindle and member of Bindle’s Industry Advisory Board, Adam provides strategic advice on market development, as well as senior introductions to prospective partners and customers.
Industry Advisory Board – Production Studios
Deana Concilio -Lenz
Deana Concilio -Lenz began her career creating and directing stylized content, music videos and biographical pieces for Sony Music Entertainment,where she was the Director for the Creative Services Department for 7 years then moved onto joining Clive Davis when he started J.Records. This foundation is how she built her media company, DCL Media. She produces and directs inspiring content – long and short form – for music, fashion, digital, non profit and cause related clients. She was also head of production at AOL Studios. Her clients include AOL, Columbia Records, Make A Wish International, Marlo Thomas, Novartis, RCA Records, Recording Academy/Grammys, Save The Children, St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and U.S. Ski Team. Deana founded the Concilio Scholarship Fund in memory of her late mother for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
Veronica Owens
Veronica is a film industry veteran and Tech Entrepreneur. Co-founder of the platform “TiM” which digitized the paper processes of onboarding and paying crewmembers, and became the standard software for companies like HBO, Disney, etc. Post-Acquisition she worked as Director of New Product Development for one of the largest payroll companies in the film industry until they were also acquired for their technology and innovative software. Now, she supports the highest-of-integrity executive teams and start ups specializing in tech, wellness and/or sustainability — those contributing to building a regenerative future for people and this planet.
MATERIALS
