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About Us
Who, what and why…
the 411 on pingg.
Background
pingg is the result of a few of us socially-conscious, design-oriented, tech-geeks who couldn't find an online invitation website that fit our needs aesthetically, functionally or personally. What we realized was that although it seemed easy and cost-efficient to send online invitations, the final resulting invitations felt impersonal, uninspiring, and didn't represent us or the events we were throwing.
In our minds, using the web shouldn't detract from the overall look and feel of the invite - in fact an online invitation site should allow you, the host, to have more options (more options for design, more ways to send the invitation, more ways to customize or personalize your event web page) and should make it easier to manage your entire event, allowing your invitation and event to be something uniquely yours.
Our goal, simply put, was to simulate the creative experience of sending traditional paper invitations, even allowing hosts to send actual paper invitations, while providing hosts with all of the benefits and options that should come with the ease of online management.
Welcome to the world of pingg - an invitation creation and event management site that brings style, functionality and personality to events you plan on the web.
About pingg
pingg is an invitation creation and event management site. We bring style, functionality and personality to events you plan on the web. With pingg, hosts can create stylish online invitations, choose how to send their invites - online (via email, social network or mobile text) or print (pingg will print, stamp and mail the invitations for you), customize their own event web page and manage all guest communications from one location. With its stylish designs, integrated print and online features, personalized event web page and easy to use tools, pingg will change the way you create and plan your event on the web.
team
Lorien Gabel
Co-Founder, CEO
@lorientree
Lorien is an entrepreneur and lawyer who was born in Malaysia while his dad was curing tropical diseases with the Peace Corps. Off to a cool start, he spent the next few years of his life in Hawaii, San Diego, India…before settling into the much more exciting, colorful and exceedingly polite land of Canada. more »
In 1994, at the age of 24, when Lorien's younger brother Matt asked him to run his bourgeoning internet company, Lorien did what any self-respecting lawyer of 6 months would do -- he quit. He moved the company from their parent's basement and over the next four years managed the growth of Interlog, one of Canada's first commercial ISP's, to over 150 employees, 65,000 customers and annualized revenue exceeding $12M. The company was then acquired by a large multinational telecommunications provider. Determined not to be one hit wonders, Lorien and Matt teamed up again and co-founded Bird on a Wire Networks - a managed web hosting and data-center provider which was one of the first of its kind in Canada. Within two years, the company was acquired by AT&T Canada.
In 2003, Lorien moved to New York City. When not snowboarding or surfing, Lorien has been known to run divisions of Fortune 500 companies (Micron), spearhead the exponential U.S. growth of a UK based tech company (MessageLabs) as Global VP, Business Development, serve on the advisory board of a number of start-ups (including Canada Web Hosting) and whip up a mean breakfast of Spanish eggs.
Lorien has a LLB from Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member in good standing with the Ontario Bar. He resides in NYC where he can be seen running along the west side highway listening to the latest DJ mix or a CBC Canada political podcast.
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Matt Harrop
Co-Founder, CTO
Matt is an entrepreneur who was born on a mountaintop, near a town called Rock Creek, somewhere in British Columbia, Canada. For the first five years, his family did not have running water or electricity. Thankfully his parents decided to return to civilization and relocated to the thriving metropolis of Toronto. more »
In 1993, at the wise age of 18, Matt dropped out of high school to start his first internet company, Interlog, in the basement of his parent's house. The kicker…it actually worked, growing to 150 employees and 65,000 consumers before it was acquired by PSINet a publicly traded multinational ISP. So did his second company, Bird on a Wire Networks that he co-founded with his brother Lorien. It was acquired by AT&T Canada. Matt, Chief Technology Officer of both companies, as well as pingg, is your prototypical self-taught technology whiz.
Fresh from his successes on the information superhighway, Matt set forth to conquer the elements, water and air. He dyed his hair blue, trained for a pilots license, built an ultra light aircraft, joined the crew of Challenge Team Spirit, a 72-foot cutter, in a trans Atlantic yacht race and then spent three years sailing across the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans with his then girlfriend (and now wife) Melissa.
Matt is sometimes affectionately referred to as “Matt-apedia” because he seems to know everything from strange ingredients in toothpaste, to how to fix a diesel engine, to the philosophy of Kierkegaard. He currently lives in Toronto where pingg's development office is located.
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Margo Spiritus
VP, Marketing & Business Development
@margospiritus
Margo heralds from Newport Beach, CA where instead of dreaming of white sands or white picket fences, she dreamt of the White House. Thus began her career in the West Wing of the White House where she was spoiled by the site of marines saluting every morning as she walked up the front driveway. As a member of President Clinton's Scheduling & Advance staff, she was responsible for helping to coordinate and execute everything from Oval Office meetings to official White House travel overseas. more »
Most recently Margo was the Vice President of Marketing at CSTV Networks Inc., which was acquired by CBS in Dec. '05 for $325 million and is now known as CBS College Sports. In that role, Margo was responsible for developing integrated marketing campaigns for CSTV's cable sports network, its 215 college athletic websites, its 100-plus broadband channels as well as other CSTV media platforms. As an original member of the eStyle Inc. team (www.babystyle.com), a company which raised $90 million, Margo, as the Director of Marketing & Communications, was instrumental in helping to build the brand which today boasts a robust e-commerce and catalog business in addition to 20 free standing stores.
Margo currently lives in NYC but she frequently takes breaks from city life and heads out west to hike, bike, ski (as long as it's sunny and above 30 degrees) and golf (as long as she doesn't have to wear argyle). She still gets excited about walking into work every morning even though the pingg staff refuses to salute her. They do however buy her coffee.
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