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September 21, 2000

Ten Fast Facts: Senada.com

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Senada.com

WHO:
A privately held online event communications company founded last year by Daniel Arnall and Gregory Brown.

WHAT:
Enables individuals and organizations to send and receive announcements and invitations via e-mail.

WHERE:
Seattle.

Fast Fact #1: It's free.

Comment: At least for personal invitations and announcements. Organizations must pay Senada.com a per-recipient fee.


Fast Fact #2: Arnall and Brown cooked up Senada over beer and pasta.

Arnall and Brown
Daniel Arnall and Gregory Brown

Comment: The two friends were hungry for new opportunities after exiting previous jobs. Brown knew e-commerce software development. Arnall brought online marketing experience. Together, they concluded there was a demand for "one-to-many" communication and that providing such a service would create a "context for e-commerce."

Fast Fact #3:  Senada.com introduces senders and recipients to targeted business partners.

Comment: Senada provides its partners a chance to reach the exact people most likely to be in the market for their products. That's what Brown and Arnall mean by creating a context for e-commerce. For example, people receiving invitiations to a wedding also see ads and links for Senada partners such as thegift.com. People sending invitations to the company Christmas party encounter businesses such as Liquor by Wire. And when Senada's partners make a sale, ka-ching, Senada collects a transaction fee.

Fast Fact #4: The announcement of additional partnerships with telecom companies could come any day.

Comment: Senada.com is the first online event announcement company that allows users to send, receive and respond via wireless devices. Arnall says Senada will license its services to wireless companies here and abroad. "Wireless is the most exciting part of our business because what's happening in wireless is what was happening on the Internet in 1995," he says.

Fast Fact #5: Senada is a common female name in the Balkans meaning "someone you can count on."

Comment: Brown and Arnall put together a list of 50 possible domain names, then sent it to friends and family for a vote. Senada won.

Fast Fact #6: Senada.com offers numerous categories of event communications.

Comment: Users simply log on to the company's Web site, click on a category and  fill in the blanks. The Senada.com Personal line includes greetings and announcements for everything from class reunions to back yard barbecues. The Senada.com Professional line ranges from political fund-raisers to corporate conferences. Users can customize their invitations, even adding photos and logos. They can also build and maintain recipient lists.

Fast Fact #7: Approximately 1.5 million people have received a Senada.com personal message.

Comment: That includes many of Arnall's buddies. When he's stuck in traffic, he uses his cell phone to invite his friends to meet for a cold one via the Senada Mobile Messenger service. "After the barge ran into the 520 bridge, that's what I was doing, organizing my social life," he says.

Fast Fact #8: Senada's services don't end once the invitations or announcements are sent.

Comments: Hosts and planners can choose from a variety of tools to help them manage their event online. Senada's proprietary technology can track RSVPs, sell tickets, process registration, take polls and send reminders.

Fast Fact #9: Senada.com has raised an undisclosed amount of private funding.

Comments: The original management team raided their own piggy banks to launch Senada, but the 23-employee company now is backed by several angel investors and venture capital firms, including Cascadia Capital, Madrona Investment Group, eFund and Alchemy Partners.

Fast Fact #10: Senada already has caught the eye of several potential buyers.

Comment: Eventually, it just might say yes. Arnall predicts the company is likely to become part of a "large global organization" somewhere down the line.



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