What are the common first-founder pitfalls, and how can you avoid them?

Starting an event business may look straightforward from the outside, but those with hands-on experience know that the reality is far messier and far more humbling. 

Pablo Martin has spent over 20 years building, scaling, and exiting B2B events businesses across five continents. From his early career at Aspermont & Beacon Events through to co-founding 121 Group, which was acquired by Hyve Group Plc in 2021, Pablo has seen firsthand what separates the events that grow into institutions from the ones that quietly fold after year one.

In this post, he shares the lessons that usually only come the hard way: the venue contracts signed too soon, the dates that clashed with a public holiday nobody checked, the first hires that set the wrong tone. Read on to discover the most common founder pitfalls to avoid. 

What are the top 2 or 3 pitfalls you see first‑time event founders make? And how could they be avoided?

One of the biggest pitfalls is taking too much space too early. It’s tempting to go big, but empty square metres kill the atmosphere, and you end up paying for space you don’t need. Starting tighter creates buzz and gives you room to grow once demand is proven.

Another common mistake is underestimating how long it takes to build the right audience and get companies over the line. You can’t rush that process. It takes months of data building, conversations, and nurturing.

And then there’s hiring. Getting your first few hires right is absolutely critical. Early hires set the tone, the pace, and the culture. If you get that wrong, the impact compounds quickly, and you can waste a huge amount of time.

What’s the most costly mistake a founder can make?

Timing. Getting your dates wrong can be brutal. 

A competitor event, a national holiday, or even a state‑level bank holiday can wipe out your attendance. We had a situation at 121 where we scheduled an event on a Monday that clashed with Victoria Day in British Columbia. A lot of our clients were based in Vancouver and already travelled constantly, so asking them to give up a rare family weekend was a non‑starter.

That’s why having a really detailed internal events calendar, with global and regional holidays mapped out, is essential.

The other costly mistake is over‑committing on venue payments before you’ve validated demand.

What’s a venue‑related mistake you’d warn every first‑time organiser about?

Founders often lock themselves into aggressive minimums — day delegate rates, hotel room blocks. It’s far safer to start smaller and scale up if you need to. If you end up full and have to turn a few people away, that’s not a failure. It actually creates demand for the next time. A bit of scarcity can be great marketing.

What’s a common mistake new founders make when pitching to event organisers or venues?

They over‑pitch. They get excited and start talking up the event so much that they accidentally bid themselves up. Venues respond better when you balance ambition with realism. 

Show that you’re excited, but also show that you understand the commercial realities and you’re building sustainably.

What’s something small operationally that can turn into a big problem on the day?

Registration is a big one. If check‑in isn’t smooth, you start the day with queues and frustration.

Speaker timing is another. If one person runs over, it snowballs and annoys everyone else. Countdown clocks and a firm buzzer make a huge difference.

Then there are specific things to the area, or venue or circumstance. We used to run an event in a marquee in South Africa in 30‑degree heat. If your generators or AC fail, you’re in big trouble. And always have enough food. Nothing derails an event faster than guests who are hot and hungry.

Where do first‑time founders most often overspend or underspend?

Food and beverage is a big one. It’s easy to overspend without realising how much waste you’re creating. But at the same time, the basics matter — a good lunch and a drink in someone’s hand during networking goes a long way. The key is knowing your numbers, so you’re not literally throwing profit in the bin.

Founders also tend to underspend on marketing and data build, especially paid channels that actually drive predictable attendance.

How did you navigate the seasonality of the events industry as a new business?

We treated seasonality as something to plan around, not something to react to. 

You have to map out your sales cycle and avoid trying to sell during dead periods like the summer holidays. The best venues get booked early, so you need to be ahead of the curve. And when you’re launching, things are rarely perfect. 

You probably won’t get your ideal venue, your lead time will feel too short, and you’ll have to make a call before everything feels ready. At some point, you just have to commit, but only after giving your team the best possible chance of success.

If you could redo your first event, what would you do differently?

I’d enjoy it more. The first event is full of creativity — the first sponsor win, the first keynote, the first time the room fills. Later, when everything is running smoothly and at scale, the buzz fades and you’re mostly dealing with people problems. 

The early chaos is actually the fun part. I’d soak it in more.

Looking back, what did you think was a pitfall that actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise?

Filling out a show and having to turn down business. At the time, we would have loved the extra exhibitors and the revenue. But turning a bit of business away created huge word‑of‑mouth momentum. It signalled demand and exclusivity, and that kind of marketing is priceless.

The mistakes Pablo outlines here came from years of doing it, getting some things wrong, and building better processes as a result. That kind of experience is hard to shortcut, but having the right people around you early on can make a real difference. Manta Media Capital works with event founders at exactly that stage, bringing genuine industry knowledge to the table alongside the capital. If that sounds like the kind of support you're looking for, it's worth taking two minutes to apply for funding with Manta Media Capital.