Onward and Upward

July 22, 2014

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Four years ago, we heard cries for help from our fellow man.

"Save us!" they yelled. "There is nothing to do! We are drowning in the emptiness!!"

"Nothing to do!?" we replied. "Nonsense! There is plenty to do if you know where to look."

"But where? Where do we look?? Please, have mercy! Show us all of the things there is to do!"

These pleas for entertainment salvation moved us. They sparked a flame deep within our being and inspired us to show the people of planet Earth that there are indeed many things to do if one is willing to search for them. To help the masses, all it would take is the perfect event discovery solution.

And so, we embarked on an expedition to liberate mankind from the pitfalls of boredom. We began working around the clock to create the easiest, most enjoyable place for men, women and children of all ages to find and share local events. It was a journey of epic proportions, and one poised to change the world forever.

Our odyssey took us to many lands and introduced us to other travelers on their own campaigns of deliverance. We greeted each other with open arms, shared food and wine and stories of legend, played music and sang songs, and eventually parted ways to continue upon our respective quests.

It wasn't long before our pilgrimage yielded results. "It has been done! We give you ... Local Ruckus! Finding things to do will suck no more!!"

However, during our expedition we discovered an even greater problem. It is the small businesses who host the amazing events that are suffering the most.

"Oh my, what are we to do!?" they wailed. "It is so costly and time consuming to advertise our events. Where can we market our events quickly, easily, cost effectively, and ensure more people are able to discover them!? We are lost, dear countrymen."

Not ones to shy away from those in need, we agreed to help our friends in distress. Challenge accepted!

One year later, we completed our trek and released to the SMBs of the Silicon Prairie one solution to rule them all. Enter ... Hoopla.io: The Easy Button for Event Marketing.

We did it! The world is right once again. The people are busy and having fun. The businesses are thriving and making money. We can now all be at peace.

Or so we thought...

Friends, today marks the end of the storybook dream. Hoopla.io and Local Ruckus are closing their doors.

The fantastical tale above is truly sensational, but the problems contained within are real. Finding things to do does suck, and marketing for small and medium businesses is often costly, time consuming and quite the confusing process.

Our mission was to tackle and solve these problems, however, for a number of reasons we were unable to reach our goals and milestones. Despite the hustle, tenacity and dedication shown by our entire team, the problems proved to be too great for us to resolve.

But all is not lost. The entire team is hard at work on a variety of other projects, and the lessons we all learned are worth their weight in gold, silver and many, many Chipotle burritos.

We would like to thank our friends, family, customers, advisors, mentors and fellow Kansas City Startup Villagers for their support, encouragement and belief in us during our journey. Words alone cannot express our gratitude, so we promise to give you each many hugs when we see you in person.

Onward and upward…

Adam & Matthew
Co-founders
Hoopla.io & Local Ruckus

P.S. For a great read about why it's so difficult to solve the event discovery problem, check out Plancast's post-mortem expertly written by Mark Hendrickson.