Article #1: Growing sustainably
The road to building a great company and developing game-changing products is a long and bumpy one. There are challenges and uncertainties to be overcome at every turn, and even rerouting as you navigate around unforeseen roadblocks and ever-changing landscapes. However, as Wiz-Team’s founder and CEO Johann Woringer knows first-hand, it’s also a journey full of growth and rewards.
Following a record-setting year and a special 10th anniversary celebration, we caught up with the Swiss mastermind behind Wiz-Team to talk about what began as an idea just over 10 years ago and turned into an extraordinary decade-long entrepreneurial journey, and give us a hint of what’s to come.
Identifying a gap in the market
“Wiz-Team is the result of at least five jobs I had in the past” begins Johann. Like others before him, the event manager turned tech entrepreneur saw what was missing and built a solution to fill the gap.
“Before starting Wiz-Team, I was working for a professional conference organiser, and they hired me to do data management for corporate events and incentive travel. We were looking for a solution on the market to help us manage the data we collected. We didn’t find anything, so I said, ok, I’m just going to build it myself, and I started building applications on a small database system for our own professional needs.”
Wiz-Team’s founder would soon realise that he was not the only event manager interested in having such a data management tool at hand. Fellow event organisers and professionals were quick to notice and enquire how they too could have access to such a system. Encouraged by the apparent demand for and interest in what he was developing, Johann decided to make the entrepreneurial leap and armed with his ideas, an innovative digital solution in-the-making, and a portfolio of clients, Wiz-Team was born.
“What started as a goal to make my personal day-to-day life easier as an event manager has grown beyond my wildest imagination. Here we are, 10-years later, serving and empowering event managers around the globe.”
A slow but steady growth
Wiz-Team has come a long way and, ten years on, has established solid foundations and grown to do much more than build smart event management software. It pairs technology with its operational know-how and offers class-defining, highly effectiveservices to some of the world’s largest event organisers, international sport organisations, non-profits, and government institutions.
“In 2022, we delivered the Commonwealth Games and the FIFA World Cup, which are two of the biggest sport events. In terms of scale, that really elevates us to another level” shares Johann.
This year, Wiz-Team will continue to up its game with a summer calendar filled with major sport events including: the Special Olympics World Games, the ANOC World Beach Games, the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as multiple events for European institutions, to list but a few.
From delivering major events and securing long-term partnerships, to developing and releasing new products, growing its team, and doing all it can to help its Ukraine-based colleagues stay safe and well – Wiz-Team is slowly but surely confirming its position as a people-centric company and leader in smart event management solutions.
A strong foundation for a bright future
Today, Wiz-Team is moving into the next chapter of its business. The goal is clear: build “the Wiz-Team of tomorrow”, grow the company, and “still have fun in what we’re doing”.
“We’ve got a lot to continue to learn and build, but we have won several very large projects going from 2026 to 2032 and I am eager and excited for what’s to come!” concludes Wiz-Team’s CEO.
In the business world, there’s a lot of talk about growth accelerators and scaling up as quickly as possible. However, for some start-ups, like Wiz-Team, smart, gradual, and grounded growth has proven to be a great foundation on which to build a strong and profitable future.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more about Wiz-Team’s entrepreneurial journey from its growth to related learnings and ambitions for the next decade, so stay tuned.
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