Jon Stojan
Lou Paris was at a crossroads. Business was good for Lou Paris’ mobile DJ business. Getting back into the scene after a long hiatus, he quickly grew his business from a 10-wedding side hustle in his first year to 36-wedding income source in year two. Rapid growth made Paris realize that he needed a productivity platform to better manage customer relationships and other parts of his burgeoning business. With his experience in his IT career he knew that there were options, but finding the right solution wasn’t easy.
“They were either too generalized and complicated, or were dated and missing important features,” noted Paris. “The platform I started with was so byzantine, that a cottage industry formed around it to help people set up fundamental features.”
The Cue for cue
Leveraging his two-plus decades in IT, Paris started offering suggestions and requesting improvements from the developers of his adopted solution. His input was met with resistance, and eventually he was told, “If you think you can do a better job, build your own platform.” From this challenge, cue was born.
cue is a B2B2C SaaS productivity suite designed from the ground up with event businesses in mind, and it includes the features that Paris and other event professionals found lacking in other platforms, starting with simplicity.
Lou Paris’ DJ Roots
Paris was a sophomore in high school when his passion for ‘all things music’ inspired him to start DJing. That passion turned jobs in college radio, commercial radio and the club scene. For a while, he worked his day job in IT and continued DJing at night and on the weekends. After meeting his wife, however, Paris left DJing behind to focus on his day job which included major roles for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) along with other agencies.
After a 13-year hiatus to build a career and start a family, Paris dipped his toes back into the DJ scene. Rather than return to the clubs and radio stations of his younger years, he started working weddings and other events. When he couldn’t find a solution to help him better run his business, he reached out to the event professional community, and found he was not alone.
“The audience for a platform like cue is creatives who want to give everything a personal touch, but are not necessarily interested in the rigmarole of running a business day-to-day. Recently, we commissioned a survey with DJ Expo (DJX); more than half of the respondents cited “complexity” as the primary reason for not utilizing an event management platform.”
cue, on the other hand, is designed for every device and operating system which minimizes complexity. It offers a seamless mobile experience without the need for a separate app. Its browser-centric design facilitates a new way to manage timelines, combine contract details, record milestones and acts as a repository for simplified data collection.
Harvest of Sound
Along with his extensive experience in the wedding and DJ industry, Paris leapt into the event planning arena with The Harvest of Sound Expo. Going into its third year, the grassroots event founded by Paris’ friends Chris and Tyler needed someone with technical and organizational expertise, and Paris was the perfect fit.
Utilizing cue, Paris helped execute a successful three-day event centered around the newest and best innovations in the industry. He adds that he could easily share his presentation on his YouTube channel with the cue platform.
“Sharing my passion around all things DJing and music was right down my alley.” Paris noted. “Looking ahead to the fourth year, we will continue a smaller, superior event that is highly organized, informative and engaging. cue will help us do that.”
The future of cue
“What drives me, what gives me that focus, is seeing the success of the events that I’m able to do and then elevating cue,” said Paris.
“And I want to make both of them even better.”
That commitment to excellence guides cue’s journey and is reflected in Paris’ aspirations to redefine event management. From inception to broader industry applications, the platform’s evolution positions cue as a disruptive force in event tech innovation that will transform how professionals manage leads, events and their businesses.
“I am as passionate about bringing these solutions to the event industry as I am about seeing my wedding clients happy.”