Two Business Models, One Core Competency: How to Build a Scalable Platform Model from Your Core Business
From Event Company to Scalable Platform: How smartvillage Is Rethinking an Entire Industry
Many companies grow by opening more locations, hiring more staff, or tapping into new markets. But sustainable scaling doesn’t come from size alone—it comes from a business model that evolves intelligently. In the podcast “Hope Is Not a Strategy,” Lukas Koppitz, founder and CEO of smartvillage, explains how an idea for modern B2B event venues evolved into a company with multiple locations and a completely new growth strategy.
Customer Experience as a Strategic Competitive Advantage
For Lukas Koppitz, the customer experience doesn’t begin when guests enter a venue. Every touchpoint—from the initial inquiry through the booking process to the event itself—shapes how a company is perceived. That’s exactly why smartvillage has consistently prioritized customer experience and deliberately set itself apart from traditional event venues. The goal has never been to please every customer, but rather to appeal specifically to companies that place a high value on high-quality events and extraordinary experiences.
Growth Through Focus Rather Than Hasty Action
Many companies try to grow by constantly coming up with new business ideas. Smartvillage deliberately chose to take the opposite approach. Instead of expanding into numerous business areas, the company consistently focused on a single core competency: exceptional B2B events. This clear focus enabled the company to standardize processes, build expertise, and develop a strong brand. The most important lesson: Mastering a few things to a high standard lays the foundation for sustainable growth.
Data as the Foundation for Better Decisions
Another key to success is the consistent digitization of all processes. Over the years, smartvillage has collected data throughout the entire customer journey—from the initial inquiry through the booking process to post-event feedback. This yields valuable insights into customer behavior, capacity utilization, sales, and marketing. Data is not collected as an end in itself, but rather serves as the foundation for better decisions, more efficient processes, and a continuously improving customer experience.
Expertise Becomes a New Business Model
smartvillage’s next strategic move is particularly exciting. Instead of operating only its own venues, the company is now applying its expertise to hotels and their conference facilities. “smartvillage as a Service” creates a scalable model that leverages technology, processes, and sales expertise to make existing conference centers more successful. As a result, smartvillage is increasingly evolving from an operator of its own event venues into a platform that makes its expertise available to other companies as well.
People remain the most important factor for success
Despite all the digitalization, Lukas Koppitz repeatedly emphasizes that growth is not possible without the right people. Technology can improve processes and support decision-making—but a strong team with diverse perspectives and shared values remains crucial. Especially during difficult times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, trust, collaboration, and a clear shared vision were the foundation for the company’s continued success.
For whom this episode is worthwhile
This podcast episode is aimed at entrepreneurs, CEOs, and strategy leaders who want to scale their businesses sustainably. It powerfully demonstrates how a consistent focus, an excellent customer experience, and data-driven decisions can create new growth opportunities even in an established industry—and why the biggest innovations often don’t come from entirely new products, but rather from the intelligent refinement of an existing business model.
🚀 Listen now and find out how smartvillage turned an event venue into a scalable business model.
SHOWNOTES
Lukas Koppitz https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-koppitz-657b35134/
smartvillage https://smartvillage.com/
Christian Underwood https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianunderwood/
Strategic Decision Intelligence: https://strategicdecisionintelligence.ai
Magazine “Hope Is Not a Strategy” https://shop.strategyframe.ai/products/hoffnung-ist-keine-strategie-ii-1-strategic-decision-intelligence
All links https://linktr.ee/strategyframe