Building the Trust to Run: How Dakota Started Its Events Program with a Single Event
Hosted by Catherine Begier, Chief Marketing Officer and Dominique Mortelliti, Account Executive & Studio Sales Representative
Watch on YouTube | Listen on Spotify
Executive Summary
Dakota now runs about 30 client events a year. Five years ago, it ran one, with no plan for a second. Episode 1 of the Dakota Events Playbook breaks down why the biggest obstacle to a firm's first event usually isn't budget or venue, it's skipping the "why" and getting buried in internal approvals before a single decision gets made. Catherine Begier and Dominique Mortelliti walk through Dakota's $150-per-person budget parameter, how they staff an event by role rather than seniority, and why a fire alarm going off for the first hour of a recent London event didn't derail it. The through-line: a firm earns the freedom to run an events program by starting small and proving its judgment, not by planning a large one from day one.
Post-Call Notes
Products Discussed
Curated business travel guide for investment professionals: hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, and event venues across 20+ global cities. Built from Dakota's own event and travel history, including the venues referenced in this episode.
4 Takeaways From This Episode
1. Answer the "Why" Before the Logistics
Most firms jump straight into venue and date before answering who the event is for, what it's meant to accomplish, and why it's worth the expense. Dakota learned this directly: planning its first data summit stalled until the team stopped and defined the goal before touching logistics.
Why it matters for fund managers: A documented "why" is the reference point when internal disagreements come up later. Teams that skip this step end up relitigating the same decisions mid-planning, which is what actually kills timelines, not the events themselves.
2. A Fixed Per-Person Budget Creates Speed, Not Limits
Dakota caps spend at $150 per attendee. That figure, multiplied by expected headcount, sets the budget for every event without a new approval cycle each time. It also nets out at the portfolio level: a $175-per-head night in New York gets offset by a lower-cost market like Minneapolis, so the annual total still lands on plan.
Why it matters for fund managers: A firm that has to seek sign-off on every line item will always be slower than one operating inside pre-set parameters. The number itself matters less than having one.
3. Staff the Room by Role, Not by Who Wants to Go
Dakota's core team at any event is deliberately narrow: the account executive and BDRs covering that territory, the CSM with the most clients in the market (or a substitute), and one person managing venue logistics. Everyone else is a bonus, not a given.
Why it matters for fund managers: Understaffing is the more common failure mode than overspending. A room full of prospects and clients with too few of your people in it is a missed relationship, not a cost saved.
4. Trust Compounds, Internally and Externally
Dakota's team still references planning notes from its first five events in 2021. Starting with one well-run event, documenting it, and building a repeatable process from it is what earned the team the room to make decisions without sign-off five years later. The same pattern holds with attendees: a well-run first event creates a base of people who show up to the next one.
Why it matters for fund managers: A firm doesn't need a 30-event vision to get started. It needs one event, run well enough that the internal team and the room full of guests both want a repeat.
What This Means for Your Firm
- Write down the objective for your first event before you contact a single venue. Revisit it when the team disagrees on a decision.
- Set one budget parameter (per head or per event) before you start sourcing venues, not after.
- Define who from your team attends by function, not by interest, and don't understaff the room.
- Expect something to go wrong on site. Build a culture where the events team solves problems and the sales team stays on the floor, rather than stopping to debate in the moment.
Future episodes of the Dakota Events Playbook move from getting started to execution: venue sourcing, run-of-show, and how Dakota staffs and manages events on the day.
Episode 2 Airs at 1pm on September 9, 2026
30 mins. Practical execution tactics for running a client event: venue sourcing, day-of logistics, and staffing. No pitch. Built for investment firms figuring out how to run their own events program.
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