With a build-it-and-they-will-come zeal, Millennial entrepreneurs Christopher Kelly and Ryan Simonetti developed a new kind of conference center in 2009—one based on a full-service hospitality model (think boutique hotel). The goal, says Kelly: to support the needs and aesthetics of both young start-ups and traditional businesses “from Google to Goldman.”
Three years later, with three Manhattan locations—all retrofits of existing office space—the New York–based venture (at the time called Sentry Centers) reported a growth rate of 3,463 percent, with revenues exceeding $15 million in 2012. Poised to expand after securing $10 million in financing last year, the partners renamed the company Convene, to better convey its mission, which, Kelly explains, “is to bring people together.”
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