Three people, one AI agent, and a maritime defense conference with the Navy League. This is how small teams are now launching profitable events from zero. Brian D'Erario is co-founder of Kerri, a holding company for B2B media and events that partners with niche creators and associations to launch conferences from scratch. The conversation covers his path from The Wall Street Journal to Morning Brew to Archaea Media Group, the launch of the Kinetic hardware engineering conference, the upcoming Ironclad Maritime Summit with the Navy League, and how his team's AI agent, Kerry, handles operations, outreach, and logistics behind a three-person events team. What You'll Learn Room composition: Getting the right people in the room matters more than ticket sales or sponsorship, which both follow downstream of content and network.Zero-to-one launches: Small, focused first events, like Kinetic's 325 attendees and 27 sponsors, outperform trying to go big immediately.No tech debt as an advantage: Starting without a legacy CRM or existing software stack lets a new company build AI-native operations from day one.AI agents in events: An AI agent can run outreach, newsletter inventory, and booth planning, leaving content and direct sales as the two functions that stay human.Association partnerships: Groups with strong networks but no events expertise, like the Navy League, are prime partners for teams that know how to launch and profit from a show.Sponsor satisfaction is inflated in year one: An 80% satisfaction score from a first-year event should be read cautiously, since sponsors tend to be more forgiving on a debut show.Personalization at scale: AI makes it possible to give every attendee a personalized manifest of sessions, speakers, and relevant sponsors, even in a 10,000-person conference.External shocks can derail a launch: A Lunar and Mars Summit was hit by a government travel ban and a leadership change days before the event, showing how fragile a first-year launch can be.Time-Stamped Highlights (00:00) The Content Engine Your Conference Already Has(01:19) From The Wall Street Journal to Morning Brew(01:58) Launching B2B Summits Coming Out of COVID(02:31) Zero to One at Archaea Media: Space, Defense, and Nuclear(03:13) Building Kerri as a Holding Company for Niche Media(04:19) Hardware FYI and the 20,000-Engineer Newsletter(04:49) Kinetic: 325 People, 15 Booths, 27 Sponsors(05:04) "Making the Room Correct" as the First Rule of Launching(05:26) Ironclad Maritime Summit With the Navy League(07:26) Meet Kerry, the AI Agent Behind the Company(07:45) What Stays Human: Content and Sales(08:43) Three People, One Show, an 80% Satisfaction Score(10:11) The Lunar and Mars Summit That Hit Every Headwind(11:55) South by Southwest and Why Decentralized Events Work(13:02) Closing Thought: Content, Network, and Making People Feel Seen Guest bio Brian D'Erario is a co-founder at Kerri, a B2B holding company that builds events and media products with niche creators and associations. He previously worked in media and events at The Wall Street Journal, Morning Brew, and Archaea Media Group, where he helped launch space, defense, and nuclear-focused conferences from scratch. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-d-erario-4b0b23121 About the Podcast Eventapalooza is a conversation series with the people building, running, and reinventing live events, covering the strategy, technology, and production decisions behind them. Host bio Tim Arthur has over 20 years of experience producing video and live events around the world. He works across marketing, technology, and production, and currently leads content at E3 Webcasting, helping event producers and associations broadcast and record their events