Our Story
In 2012, after more than 13 years in the B2B conference industry, me and my good friend, Matt Godson launched Momentum Events. We felt the industry deserved a better quality of conferences that didn’t cost an arm and a leg and a company culture that truly valued the mental health and wellbeing of all team members.Â
Rather than invest our capital in fancy offices, Momentum built an industry-leading technological platform and incorporated a novel approach towards digital collaboration that enabled us to create a high-performing, distributed workforce. This approach, and the money saved in rent, helped us deliver truly valuable event experiences at a fraction of the cost of our competitors.Â
After successfully developing conferences for multiple industries including legal, financial services, marketing and technology, Momentum’s growth began to accelerate. During this time, we were fortunate enough to participate in many exciting and memorable experiences including half a dozen bell-ringing ceremonies at the Nasdaq, launching the first conference for American businesses on opportunities in Cuba, a mere 14 weeks after President Obama’s December rapprochement announcement, hosting an executive summit in Havana, partnering with organizations including The Wharton School of Business, and so much more.Â
Unfortunately, tragedy struck on July 31, 2017, when my dear friend, and co-founder Matt Godson passed away from an extremely rare form of brain cancer, Gliomatosis Cerebri. To say this was a challenging time would be an understatement.
I didn’t go to business school, but I can only assume that they don’t teach you how to handle a situation like this, especially when your company is still in its relative infancy. Over the course of the next 12 months, I navigated this extremely challenging and highly emotional time to ensure the survival of my business which had suffered a potentially fatal blow.
Fortunately, stability was achieved, and I realized that in order to bring Momentum back on the pathway of growth and profitability, I needed an experienced partner by my side. In the summer of 2018, Bryon Main joined the organization as COO and Co-Owner, having most recently navigated a strategic acquisition of his then 12-year-old event company, ExL Events, by Questex Media Group.Â
Having worked together more than 20 years prior, and sharing a mutual friendship with our lost friend Matt, Bryon and I capitalized on our complimentary skillset, personal friendship and shared vision to bring Momentum back to growth.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, our business was certainly impacted, but the lessons we learned and the experiences we gained from the battles we fought in the prior years enabled us to not only survive a once in a generation disruption, but to thrive.Â
Momentum continues to grow vigorously every year, and I have no doubt that the best is still yet to come.Â
Thank you for letting me share my story.
Sincerely,
Benjamin J. Greenzweig
CEO, Co-Founder
Momentum Events