The Greater Women’s Business Council LACE (Ladies Achieving Continuous Excellence) Awards is a black-tie event that celebrates, recognizes and awards both corporate partners and women business enterprises (WBEs) that made major contributions to the mission of GWBC.
LACE Awards are given to companies or individuals for their outstanding contributions in supporting women-owned businesses through mentoring, coaching, world-class supplier diversity initiatives and providing procurement opportunities. The 2024 LACE Awards took place on Friday, November 1, at the Georgia Aquarium.
Sed Joseph, Founder and CEO of StageWing, helps turn up the volume on life’s celebrations.
She also helps DJs and small A/V companies grow their businesses by connecting them to clients looking for services and equipment support for live and virtual events.
Connect with Sed on LinkedIn.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for GWBC Radio’s Open for Business. Now, here’s your host.
Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, broadcasting live from the Georgia Aquarium. I’m so excited to be at the GWBC 2024 LACE Awards, and so very excited to be talking to the DJ of the dessert portion of the evening, Sed Joseph with StageWing. Welcome.
Sed Joseph: Thank you. Hi.
Lee Kantor: Hey, how are you?
Sed Joseph: Pretty good. I’m excited for tonight.
Lee Kantor: I know. It’s going to be a big night. A lot of ladies here that have done some amazing things.
Sed Joseph: Excellent. And I’m paired with the dessert tonight, so I’m really going to get a lot of good attention.
Lee Kantor: So, tell us about StageWing.
Sed Joseph: Yes. So, StageWing, I’m the founder of StageWing. We are a platform where DJs and A/V professionals list their gear, and we have event planners and other A/V professionals who actually rent gear from us. So, think of us like the Airbnb but of lighting and sound equipment.
Lee Kantor: So, you have a marketplace that matches people with equipment with people who need equipment?
Sed Joseph: That’s exactly right, yes.
Lee Kantor: So, what was the genesis of the idea?
Sed Joseph: Well, as you know, I’m a professional DJ, and one of the biggest pain points that we have when we’re traveling, going from state to state, is to find where the equipment is going to come from and source it. You definitely don’t want to travel with turntables on a plane or anything like that. So, it’s a much easier community where you can easily find the equipment that you need. So, yeah, it just came out of that pain point. I talked to some of my friends in the industry and that’s how it came about.
Lee Kantor: So, you have a website? So, are you a technologist? You knew how to make a website that did that? That seems like a pretty big lift.
Sed Joseph: I am far from a technologist. Actually, I came up with the idea and I talked to a couple of friends of mine, and there were some no code, low code options out there that I started off with, the very first version of it. But since then, I’ve paired up with my tech team, and so now we have a full product at stagewing.com.
Lee Kantor: Is it all over the country or is it primarily in Georgia or the South?
Sed Joseph: Great question. We’re in 12 states right now. Yes.
Lee Kantor: So, what comes first, the people with equipment or the people who need equipment?
Sed Joseph: Actually the people with equipment.
Lee Kantor: That’s harder?
Sed Joseph: You really need the equipment on the site first. But, yeah, once we have the equipment there, like in Atlanta, that’s our biggest market right now, but we have people in Athens, and we have folks in Houston and Orlando, Miami, New York. So, yeah, having some equipment on the site makes it a lot easier for people to find us.
Lee Kantor: So, say you want to go to a new market, how do you kind of begin the process to, you know, have people put their stuff on?
Sed Joseph: That’s a great question. So, usually what I do is I travel there or either I find someone who travels there often, and they usually pair me with someone who’s already there, have a business viable already there, which is to help bring more customers their way.
Lee Kantor: And then, say that I have a son in Chicago – and I don’t know if you’re in Chicago or it’s on your roadmap.
Sed Joseph: Yeah, that’s on our roadmap. You’re right.
Lee Kantor: That’s a good place to be. So, would he have friends that are kind of entrepreneurs, or is this like big production companies that have warehouses full of equipment that you would partner with?
Sed Joseph: It’s both. It’s both, yeah. It’s the mom and pop who have a whole bunch of equipment just in their garage.
Lee Kantor: In their garage, right?
Sed Joseph: Exactly.
Lee Kantor: So, they can just list it and then if somebody needs it, like, how do they do the handoff?
Sed Joseph: So, the great thing about it is that we call ourselves almost like the DoorDash of DJ gear and lighting and sound, because the person who lists the equipment can also handle the delivery, the setup, all of that’s included.
Lee Kantor: That’s included in the price or that’s negotiated?
Sed Joseph: They can actually put that on our site as an add-on. So, if they’re interested in doing that, that’s —
Lee Kantor: So, it would be like X number of dollars for a turntable and X plus X or X plus Y for delivery setup?
Sed Joseph: That’s exactly right. And if you’re not interested in ever moving, like let’s say you got a big sub in your basement – a subwoofer for those who may not know what sub means. It’s a very heavy piece of equipment – then you can always say pick up only and then just let the renter decide if they want to pick it up from you.
Lee Kantor: And then, how do you handle kind of, “Oh. Well, that fell off the table and we have some breakage”?
Sed Joseph: Yes, yes, yes. So, currently it is on our equipment providers to have their own insurance, which most people do. But the future – I’m going to give you a little taste of what’s happening in the future – we have an insurance partner now that we’re working with to provide that as an additional add-on.
Lee Kantor: Because a lot of those marketplaces have some sort of an insurance provider, and that just built into the fees of the transaction.
Sed Joseph: Yeah, that’s exactly it.
Lee Kantor: So, what do you need more of? How can we help?
Sed Joseph: Oh, definitely what are you doing right now, I’m just so grateful that I’m on the station with you all and speaking with you. So, just spreading the word about us, I think, is really going to help us. You know, that’s the biggest thing, is that more eyes on our brand.
Lee Kantor: And then, if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?
Sed Joseph: Oh, great. Thank you for that. They can connect with me directly via email, which is said sed, S-E-D, at stagewing, S-T-A-G-E-W-I-N-G, .com, or I’m also on LinkedIn, Sed Joseph on LinkedIn as well.
Lee Kantor: And what about any of the socials, Instagram, they could find you in other places?
Sed Joseph: Yes. As a DJ, I’m Sed the Saint. That is my DJ name. That’s my stage name. And, also, they can find us @stagewingapp, A-P-P, on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, everywhere.
Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.
Sed Joseph: Thank you so much. This was fun.
Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, back in a few at the Georgia Aquarium for GWBC 2024 LACE Awards.
