"It’s not a failure if you learn from it."
ValiantCEO Magazine is excited to introduce David Yeom, the CEO of Evite, a leader in online invitations.
Despite joining the company during the pandemic when events were non-existent, David took strategic risks and made necessary pivots that led to Evite’s rebranding, enhanced user experience, and the development of their commerce offerings.
Under his leadership, the company has become profitable, modern, and experienced record growth.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
David Yeom: I joined Evite, the leader in online invitations, as CEO in 2020, during the height of the pandemic. I knew we’d eventually be able to celebrate in person again, so I took a risk and joined an event-based company when there were no events!
I made strategic pivots right away and led Evite’s rebrand, focused on enhancing the user experience and started building up our commerce offerings. Evite is now profitable, modern, and has been experiencing record growth
In the past year, what is the greatest business achievement you’d like to celebrate with your team? Please share the details of that success.
David Yeom: That we’ve continued to navigate through the most disruptive period of our 25-year existence. During the pandemic, we lost 90% of our user base due to in-person events being canceled. But, today Evite has never been healthier with high levels of active users, revenue and profitability.
That takes a lot of resilience and drive from our entire team and it’s certainly paid off as we’ve not only been able to completely bounce back, we are now thriving in this new era. That’s something to celebrate.
What advice do you wish you received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
David Yeom: That it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s not a failure if you learn from it. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we’re human and to not be too hard on ourselves. If we make a mistake, don’t dwell on it for long, understand why you made that mistake, learn from it and push forward.
Remember to give yourself some credit for all the good decisions you make on a daily basis and what got you to where you are today.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
David Yeom: I actually think we are going to see more people congregate and meet in person, shop at brick-and-mortar, and work in the office since there has been such a lack of in-person connection over the past few years.
We’re the pioneer and leader in online invitations and we’re seeing heightened demand for accessible, well-designed and convenient digital invites. These invites are driving in-person events and I think we’re going to continue to see in-person celebrations continue to rise.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
David Yeom: I’m seeing that it’s difficult to maintain great company culture while working remotely. We strive to build a collaborative, convenient and fun environment that encourages and promotes communication and new ideas.
Our top priority is ensuring that our amazing team enjoys an environment made for innovation, creativity and collaboration while working in a hybrid model.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
David Yeom: Positivity. As an entrepreneur, you have to be an optimist and I’m such a believer in the power of positivity. I’ve seen its impact firsthand. Promoting positivity brings energy, is infectious to the rest of your team and always leads to incredible feedback.
Celebrate wins; whenever there is a reason to recognize teams or an individual whether it be shipping a project, taking initiative, or achieving great business results, do it.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
David Yeom: The power to eliminate commuting for anyone who works in-person so they don’t have to endure traffic or congestion while commuting or traveling for business.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank David Yeom for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with David Yeom or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
