From left to right: Morgan McMeel (Senior Advisor), Tamas Ahn (Co-Founder), Paul Stasik (Co-Founder), Alex Manafi (Co-Founder).
Just last year, the three Speakeasy founders, Paul Stasik (23), Tamas (23), and college student Alex Manavi, met on campus. A software-as-a-service company that helps venues with payments and booking optimization, the startup has gained a client portfolio that includes some of the biggest names in hospitality across eight major cities.
The Maroons spoke with Manaphy and Stasik. Manafy declined to share his school year.
Speakeasy's primary purpose is to help venues improve their operational efficiency. The streamlined software provides a platform for managing online, at-home and on-premises sales, which in turn allows venues to attract high-value repeat customers. Customers maximize their revenue by consolidating access to premium access, coverage payments, and bar tabs, all through the Speakeasy website or app.
“Our goal is to make live entertainment, and the entertainment industry, better off… If (our clients) can extract better value from their resources… we help them save in areas where they shouldn't be losing, and we hope that's done through efficiency improvements.” “With the value that Speakeasy creates, the industry as a whole improves,” Stasik said.
“With the Speakeasy door product, there's really nothing like it that uses the technology that we use, and we keep our fees low and focus on adding value up front,” Manafy said. Despite being in their first year of operation, the three founders have already secured more than 20 notable clients, including TAO Group Hospitality, Groot Hospitality, and Forward Hospitality.
The founders attribute their startup's rapid success to the close relationships they establish with their customers. “We build very much around the needs of our customers. We communicate very frequently with the places and people we work with, asking them for feedback… This allows us to better understand the needs of each place and then add more value,” Manafy said. The startup adds value to the places it operates, Stasik said. “The annual value we generate can reach $750,000 for one place.”
“If you're an owner or operator and you want to streamline your operations, increase revenue monthly, and increase the data you have, this is the sell,” Manafy said.
Another key aspect of the startup is the founders' business philosophy, a model that prioritizes the financial success of their clients before their own profits. “We don't charge a monthly fee. We really only make money if our customers make money. I think that's what all software services should be like: Your customer does well, you do good,” Stasik said.
Speakeasy is “currently closing a strategic investment round from several prominent entrepreneurs and major names in entertainment, some of whom are professional sports team owners, University of Chicago alumni, and prominent founders of PE (private equity)-backed companies,” Manafy said.
Looking to the future, Speakeasy helps its clients launch their businesses in Las Vegas, the startup's ninth city. “Launching in Las Vegas is a big deal for us, with two of the largest hospitality groups in the world,” Manafi said.
Additionally, Speakeasy just released a new feature designed for direct payments – where patrons can purchase tickets, bar service and express entry, all from a QR code located outside the venue, without having to download the app. On the location side, the platform allows them to change prices in real time.
In envisioning the company's future and long-term plans, Stacek has ambitious goals.
“However, many years from now, if you are running a live entertainment venue, Speakeasy is a key part of operations and is a key part of how guests interact with the venue.” Furthermore, Manafy said the ultimate goal is to “continuously add value and improve it on many different fronts, whether it's places, features or even spin-off industries.”
While Speakeasy's product has certainly changed as the idea has evolved, the people pushing the startup have remained constant. The three founders credit each other for the product's success. Speaking of Stacek, Manafy said: “He is the smartest person I have ever met – at analysis, at understanding the drivers behind results, both in the industry and outside of it.” In a similar vein, Stasik said, “Alex (Manafi) brings that creative side, that deep understanding of the industry, being someone who succeeded in it early on himself,” referring to Manafi’s experience organizing concerts and events in the past.
Along with the three founders, Speakeasy has had help from senior advisor Morgan McMeel since the startup was just an idea in late 2019. McMeel, who currently serves as VIP Marketing Director at Tao, has been involved in the live entertainment industry for more than 20 years. One client who Stacek and McMeel pitched to referred to McMeel as a “Chicago institution.”
The founders also discussed the role UChicago played in shaping their team and making connections with key individuals like McMeel. “The UChicago name was a very major factor in why he (McMeel) pursued us. He said if we didn't go to UChicago, he probably wouldn't talk to us,” Stasik said.
“There are a lot of great people at this school. I was lucky enough to be around two of them, who pushed me, motivated me, and took a chance on me,” Manafy said of the co-founders.
