If someone came to you and told you that doubling your revenue over the course of a year would be possible by simply doing this *one* thing— what would you do (after a happy dance)? You’d likely say, “Tell me more”. When Igor Vlasenko, CEO and co-founder of Rent for Event, learned he was qualified to receive a Stripe Capital Loan as a Goodshuffle Pro user, he did exactly that. After using his first capital loan for marketing purposes, Igor and his business partner, Dzmitry Khmialeuski,  doubled revenue in 2020 (and saw continued growth afterward). By investing in marketing, Rent for Event also:

• Increased business inquiries and bookings
• Retained all staff members during COVID-19
• Hired even more talented team members
• Expanded their inventory collection

Who is Rent for Event?

Rent for Event is a full event production and A/V equipment rental company based in Los Angeles, California. They currently provide full event production services in 10 major U.S. cities such as New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, and Dallas (they also offer touring for some major clients). With more than 15 years of experience, the team has served more than 2,500 clients and completed over 7,500 events. They’ve served clients such as Netflix, Disney, Marriott, and more with high-quality, professional events. As Goodshuffle Pro users since 2019, they’ve utilized our easy online payments feature for speedy payments. This also made them eligible to qualify for the Stripe Capital Loan program.

Money was on the mind: especially during the pandemic

2020 was a tough time for the events industry, to say the least. As Igor and his team were strategizing about how to keep Rent for Event stable during COVID-19, he knew he needed more money before anything else. His plan was to increase revenue through more bookings, which he would secure through powerful marketing. As Igor says, “Marketing is the most important piece of business. Without marketing, you can’t grow.” He knew that increased revenue would also allow him to pay his current team members and bring on new ones to successfully execute all their events.

When it comes to marketing, Rent for Event is everywhere: they invest time and money into Google Ads, SEO, email marketing, blogging, and more. Money was tight in 2020, though, and Igor needed a new source of funds to generate the revenue he was looking for.

In came capital loans

Igor had accepted a few financing offers before, but had never taken one through Stripe. Goodshuffle Pro’s partnership through Stripe offers a unique opportunity to our users: when you process payments within Goodshuffle Pro’s integrated system, you can begin the eligibility process for a Stripe Capital Loan. One day as Igor visited his email inbox, he had an exciting surprise: a Stripe Capital Loan offer was waiting for him! After deliberating with his team, he accepted the offer. The money hit his bank account within three days— that’s some fast cash.

While there are lots of ways a capital loan can empower event rental companies, Igor knew his smartest business decision was to put this loan towards marketing. He explains his strategy, “Because we spent money on marketing during COVID-19, we stayed in business. Everyone stopped advertising, but we didn’t. We stopped all other costs, except for marketing. After paying our employees, we only had a couple of thousand dollars left. We put all of this into marketing, gained multiple new clients, and doubled our revenue over the course of 2020. With all this money coming in, we were able to bring on even more talented team members to execute even more events.”

The Stripe Capital Loan program worked well for Rent for Event, so when the opportunity to accept another one arose, Igor eagerly accepted. This time, he put the funds towards purchasing new equipment for an exciting months-long event his company had been invited to do. As he says, “There’s no way we would’ve been able to do this event without the loan. We doubled our revenue during the months this event was running, all thanks to Stripe Capital.”

In order to determine which inventory to purchase in the first place, Igor used Goodshuffle Pro’s powerful reporting features. Learn more about how to uncover how many times an item was rented, how much money you’ve spent on subrenting an item, how much revenue an item has earned you, and more.

Are capital loans right for your event business?

Igor put his loan towards marketing, but capital loans can be used for a variety of different investments. As Igor says, capital loans are a big decision for any event business. You only want to accept if you know you’ll be able to pay it back. Most event professionals find them worth it because you get:

• An easy acceptance process (as a Goodshuffle Pro user utilizing online payments, you can start to be automatically evaluated for a Stripe Capital Loan)
• Fast access to financing (within one week!)
• Flexible repayment options (make payments as a percentage of your sales)

Goodshuffle Pro’s Stripe Capital Loan program was a no-brainer for Igor and his team. The added marketing from his first loan led to more events and doubled revenue. The added inventory from the second loan helped his team keep up with demand and generate new interest. He continues to see the program pay for itself. He encourages other event professionals who are deciding whether or not to accept a capital loan to be on top of their finances, do their research, and closely weigh the pros and cons. When asked if he’d accept a third capital loan, he says, “Of course!”

Loans are issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank. All loans subject to credit approval.