Zen planner.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: SMALL BIZ TECH STARTUP

BY ERIC PETERSON

INITIAL LIGHTBULB:

Ben Pate started Zen Planner in 2006 after realizing how much of a pain point scheduling was for the martial-arts studio where he was a student. Due to a lack of effective booking software on the market, he developed his own in Zen Planner.

With a resume that includes stints at General Electric, Avaya and PaySimple, Jeff Gardner came aboard as CEO in 2011. "I fell in love with what Zen Planner was doing," Gardner says. "I've always had a passion for technology, but my big passion has always been fitness."

Today the company has 34 employees and Pate serves as CTO.

IN A NUTSHELL:

Zen Planner makes scheduling software for member-based businesses or groups, with an emphasis on fitness and wellness facilities. Customers include martial-arts, yoga and pilates studios as well as tutors, churches and social clubs. Subscriptions start at $55 a month.

Explains Gardner: "Our focus is on managing classes, schedules and event management."

The platform is something of a one-stop shop for its customers. "What we see is these small businesses spend a ton of money on different tools," Gardner says. "It's really complicated and it's really expensive."

Conversely, Zen Planner offers a singular solution that handles scheduling programs, marketing, customer relationship management, payroll and online payments. The company has also developed special feature-sets for different customer categories, like workout tracking for CrossFit gyms and belt tracking for martial arts.

"It helps you manage prospects all the way to them becoming customers," says Gardner.

And the...