Smeetz: Meet the Venture Leader Technology revolutionizing revenue management in the attractions industry

Meet Alexandre Martin, CEO and co-founder of Smeetz. The startup is leading the way to the future of revenue management in the attraction industry: its AI-powered commerce platform captures data points along the customer journey to drive revenue growth and optimize operations for amusement parks, museums, music venues, and family entertainment centers. Alexandre will be joining nine other tech innovators on an investor and business development roadshow in Silicon Valley next month.

 
Name: Alexandre Martin
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Nationality: Swiss
Education: HEIG-VD, BSc in Economics, in 2011
Job title: CEO & Co-Founder
Number of employees: 45
Money raised: USD 7 million
 

"The industry needed to adjust and opt for revenue management like it was already the case in other verticals of the hospitality industry."

Whom does your product or solution help, and how?
Smeetz is revolutionizing the way attractions and cultural venues operate with our cutting-edge unified commerce platform. Our platform offers a powerful and modern back-office suite that streamlines and automates many of the tedious and time-consuming tasks that organizers have to deal with on a daily basis.

Additionally, our platform is packed with AI-driven sales optimization tools, such as predictive analytics and dynamic pricing, that help businesses maximize revenue, smooth attendance, and plan inventory and staffing. To top it off, our platform offers an omnichannel reach, ensuring that businesses can reach customers wherever they are and however they prefer to shop.

How did you come up with the idea for your startup?
With my background in finance, it didn't make sense to have prices that stay the same irrespective of the time of the day, the day, or the weather forecasts. The industry needed to adjust and opt for revenue management like it was already the case in other verticals of the hospitality industry.

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
Our top three customers are The Crocky Trail (UK), Jump Spot (CH), and Equilibre Theatre (CH). To date, the majority of our customers are located in Switzerland, representing 70% of our clientele. Our French customers make up a portion of our customer base at 8%, followed closely by our British customers at 6%. The remaining 16% of our clients are spread out among various countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.

We list more than 60k potential customers in Europe, and 360k worldwide, for a SAM of USD 80 billion. Our solution allows our customers to get into the world of AI sales optimization to generate more revenue, smooth attendance, and plan staff and supplies with dynamic pricing models, simplifying sales operations.

How do you think the Venture Leaders roadshow will help you achieve your vision?
Participation in the Venture Leaders program will provide valuable guidance and feedback on various aspects of Smeetz, including business strategy, product development, and fundraising. Indeed, participating in the program will help us to get in front of potential investors, customers, and partners, helping to increase visibility, generate interest, and validate the potential of our product. These can help to accelerate the development of Smeetz and understand the specificities of the US market.

What excites you most about your work right now?
Growing the company internationally, with customers in multiple markets; making the product better and better every day, following our long-term vision for the industry; seeing the team getting sharper by the day; and closing new deals.

How did you go about building your team?
Step by step. We acquire the right talents at the right time, are super selective in interviews, and emphasize the right mindset that aligns with company values.

What are your team's key achievements to date?
Our platform is fully functional and we work on developing new features aiming to satisfy new trends and target market needs.
We have increased our TTM revenue to USD 811k in 2022 (+70% CAGR), while the ARRs value of customer books has just reached $2.1m (+91% CAGR). We also strongly increased our GTV to 20.3 million in 2022 (+69% CAGR) and ARPU to USD 6.6k (+10%) with the latest average contract value at USD 103k. And, we opened the UK, DACH, and French markets with local sales teams, expanding our visibility abroad.

Is there a key principle or value that guides you as you build your company?
We have many actually (see here). It's super important that everybody is aligned.

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder?
Having a product that's used daily by hundreds of customers, a product that improves the day-to-day operations of customers and that makes our customers generate more growth.

How do you stay on top of industry trends?
By reading a lot (blog posts, product news, etc.), exploring other software in other verticals/industries, and talking to customers.

What did you want to do with your life at age 12?
I wanted to be an astronaut, travel to space and explore the universe.

What is your favorite book?
Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It gives a sense to all that we do, and how we communicate it.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Venture Leaders Technology 2023 were chosen from over 150 applications by a jury of investors and technology experts. The roadshow in Silicon Valley, one of the world's most important tech hubs, provides a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to accelerate their startups' expansion in the US while expanding their professional network and profiting from workshops with investors and industry leaders. This year's Venture Leaders Technology is co-organized by Venturelab and supported by Canton of Vaud, Canton of Zürich, EPFL, ETH Zürich, Kellerhals Carrard, and Rothschild & Co.