The Nashville-based company, whose software is used to manage in-person events like concerts and corporate conferences, has hired execs in five key areas while adding project management, logistics and inventory capabilities to its platform

LASSO, the software platform for managing live events, announces the appointment of five veteran software industry executives to leadership positions within the company: Julie Edwards (Vice President of Customer Success); Christy Petrosso (Sr. Vice President of Product and Data); Danielle Porter-Condon (Vice President of Marketing); Kevin Wilson (Vice President of Technical Operations); and Anthony Zhang (Vice President of Sales).

The appointments continue a pattern of momentum for LASSO, which grew 450% over the past three years while expanding its product suite and catching the attention of industry watchers. In 2023, LASSO added project management, logistics and inventory capabilities to its platform, which already included tools for event scheduling, onboarding, time tracking, travel, payroll management, and a Crew Marketplace. It also launched a mobile app, was named a top workplace by BuiltIn and included on the Deloitte Fast 500 and Inc 5000 lists.

LASSO's success is being driven by an increase in consumer spending on live events. "Anything live, anything experiential is just going through the roof," said Jessica Reif Ehrlich, a Bank of America analyst who labeled the dynamic as "funflation" in a September research note. According to Emergen Research, the worldwide event management software market reached a value of $7.43 billion in 2022. Emergen projects that the market will experience a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 12.8% through 2032, when it will be valued at $24.45 billion.

The new executives hired by LASSO come from a handful of successful startups based in the Southeastern United States. Edwards and Wilson were at BoomTown in Charleston; Petrosso was at Vizbii in Charleston; Porter-Condon was at Built Technologies in Nashville; and Zhang from a number of successful SaaS companies, including SalesLoft in Atlanta. The majority of LASSO's team is based in the Southeast. The company also boasts a 45% female team, well above the technology industry average.

"We're excited to add Julie, Christy, Danielle, Kevin and Anthony to our leadership team," said Clay Sifford, CEO of LASSO. "They are proven software industry leaders with long track records of growth and company success. Over the past year we've worked incredibly hard to expand our platform to include the tools our customers need. The response thus far has been very positive, and we look forward to building on this momentum in 2024."