This is where Groupize hit its first classic WFIO moment (see  "Hard Thing about Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz). During the summer of 2015 Charles and his Board, including Thayer Ventures, came together to rethink the problem. It was clear to all stakeholders that the market was large and the pain real. The challenge for Groupize was to zero in on the stakeholders who possessed the desire and had the means to act. The supply side agreed that a solution was needed but it simply didn't rise to a high enough level on the priority scale. That's when Charles dug in to the demand side of the problem and set out to meet with small group organizers at fortune 1000 companies and corporate travel agencies.

The process not only confirmed the scale of the pain but also illuminated other problems that Groupize tools might possibly solve by introducing discipline and workflows to manage their small groups and simple meetings. First, most large corporations work with travel management companies (TMC's) or mega-agencies with negotiated supplier rates; yet those providers struggle to connect their client's small group and meetings travel activity with their core services. Second, and particularly of concern, in these uncertain times, large corporations have elevated their focus on "duty of care", a responsibility to know where their employees are at any given time, and small group and meetings attendees often slips through the cracks. Finally, large corporations struggle with policy compliance when their employees travel in small groups outside of centrally managed events.

Charles found acceptance in the corporate travel space, both directly with the corporations themselves and with the major TMC's and mega-agencies. As it turns out, the CFOs and Travel Managers at major corporations were demanding solutions to fix their problem of a complete lack of governance on what is a sizeable amount of their travel spend and, therefore, were prepared to prioritize solutions to the problem. Groupize had found its buyer.

Today, the Groupize Strategic Management Platform is the first solution for enterprises to source, book, track and manage small group bookings and all requirements for simple meetings in one application. The intuitive user experience is designed for the occasional travel arranger such as admins and sales teams, as well as professional planners and procurement staff. Ideal for work crews, consultants, sales and marketing teams, off-sites, etc., Groupize products also enable self-book features for room blocks between 2 and 10 rooms in real time at over 150,000 hotels including access to pricing and negotiated rates, combined with an eRFP solution for meetings space and food & beverage needs.

Groupize is now focusing on white-label solutions for TMC's and mega-agencies that enable these clients to offer management tools to their corporate clients- "powered by Groupize". Groupize tools include not only room block management but administrative applications including an RFP product and collaboration tools that connect participants and suppliers alike. Target customers in the pipeline include American Express, Carlson, HRG and Travel and Transport. Customers include Travel Leaders Group (4th largest in the world) and certain BCD agencies. In addition to the Agency channel, Groupize is starting to focus on direct sales to large organizations. The company is working on a large deal with Concur that will integrate the Groupize platform into Concur's own platform as an independent application exposing the solution to some 30,000 corporations and 3 million personal assistants.