Ops & Supply

How to vet and onboard vendors as Event Agency Founders

Ops & SupplyFor Event Agency Founders3 apps12 steps~24 min to set up

You're juggling vendor relationships across 15-tab Gmail threads, a shared Google Drive folder of contracts nobody's updated since last quarter, and a spreadsheet you manually update every time a quote comes in. Before a 200-person corporate gala, you've got a florist who hasn't returned a contract, a caterer whose insurance certificate expired, and an AV company whose deposit is overdue — and you're discovering each of these problems one email at a time. There's no system that tells you which vendors are fully onboarded, which are partially onboarded, and which are a liability. You find out at the worst moment.

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Ops & SupplyFor Event Agency Founders3 apps12 steps~24 min to set up

Outcome

What you'll set up

A vendor tracking app that shows every vendor's onboarding status — quote received, contract signed, deposit paid, insurance on file — across every active event, built around how your agency actually categorizes vendors

Automated email-to-task flows that catch outstanding vendor items from Gmail threads and surface them before they become day-of surprises

A vendor contract workflow (coming soon: Contract Lifecycle Management) that handles drafting, e-signature routing, and expiration tracking so nothing lives in a Google Drive folder again

The Starch recipe

Apps, data, and prompts

The combination of Starch apps, the data sources they pull from, and the prompts you use to drive them.

Apps used

Project Management Task Manager Contract Lifecycle Management

Data sources & config

Starch syncs your Gmail data on a schedule so the agent can read vendor email threads and pull outstanding action items into tasks. Connect Google Calendar from Starch's integration catalog — the agent queries it live to match vendor deadlines against event dates. HoneyBook and Dubsado are reachable via browser automation if you want to pull existing vendor records without a direct API. Contract Lifecycle Management (coming soon) will add scheduled sync for contract status and e-signature workflows. The Project Management app runs natively in Starch — no external connection needed.

Prompts to copy

Build me a vendor onboarding tracker for my events agency. Each vendor needs: name, category (catering, florals, AV, photography, rentals, entertainment), assigned event, quote status, contract status, deposit due date and amount, deposit paid date, insurance certificate on file (yes/no/expired), and notes. Show it as a kanban where columns are: Contacted, Quote Received, Contract Out, Contract Signed, Fully Onboarded. I want to filter by event and by vendor category.

Create a task for me to follow up with Bloom & Co Florals on the unsigned contract for the Hartwell corporate dinner — due tomorrow, P1.

Show me all vendors across active events where contract status is not Signed or deposit is overdue as of today.

Run these in Starch → or paste them into your favorite agent

Walkthrough

Step-by-step

1 Start with the Project Management app and describe your vendor onboarding stages: 'Build me a vendor tracker with kanban columns for Contacted, Quote Received, Contract Out, Contract Signed, and Fully Onboarded — with fields for vendor category, assigned event, deposit amount, deposit due date, and insurance certificate status.'

2 Manually import your current active vendor list or describe it in chat: 'Add these vendors to the Hartwell Corporate Dinner event — list each with their current onboarding stage.' Starch creates the cards.

3 Connect Gmail so Starch syncs your vendor email threads on a schedule. Ask: 'Scan my Gmail inbox for any emails from vendors in the last 14 days where a contract, quote, or deposit is mentioned and create tasks for any unresolved items.'

4 Set up a weekly automation: 'Every Monday at 8am, check the vendor tracker for any deposits due in the next 7 days or contracts that have been out for more than 5 days without a signature, and create a P1 task for each one.'

5 For each new event, describe the vendor roster you need: 'Create vendor onboarding cards for the Marchetti wedding — I need a caterer, florist, photographer, DJ, and rental company. Set all to Contacted stage.' Use this as your pre-event vendor checklist template.

6 When a quote comes in, update the card via prompt: 'Move Apex AV to Quote Received for the Hartwell dinner, quote amount is $4,200, add note that they need final headcount by March 10th.'

7 Track insurance certificates with a saved view: 'Show me all vendors where insurance certificate is expired or not on file across all active events.' Run this before signing any contract.

8 When Contract Lifecycle Management launches (coming soon), route vendor contracts directly through Starch for drafting, e-signature, and renewal tracking — so the contract status on each vendor card updates automatically when they sign.

9 Use the Task Manager for personal follow-ups that don't belong in the shared tracker: 'Remind me to call the Hartwell venue coordinator Thursday afternoon about loading dock access for the AV crew.'

10 Build a vendor summary report per event: 'For the Hartwell Corporate Dinner, show me a summary of all vendors — onboarding stage, deposit total paid vs outstanding, and any missing insurance certificates.' Share this with your coordinator before each site visit.

11 At event close, run a post-event vendor rating prompt: 'Add a performance notes field to each vendor card for the Hartwell dinner and let me rate them 1–5 with notes. I want to build a preferred vendor list from this over time.'

12 Build a preferred vendor library: 'Create a separate view showing all vendors rated 4 or 5 across past events, grouped by category, with their average rate, last used date, and contact email.' Use this as your go-to sourcing list for new events.

See this running on Starch

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Worked example

Hartwell Financial — March 2026 Corporate Gala (180 guests)

Sample numbers from a real run

Apex AV (audio/visual)	4,200
Bloom & Co Florals	3,800
Harvest Catering Co.	22,500
Lux Rentals (linens, furniture)	6,100
Studio Gallo Photography	3,500

Three weeks before the Hartwell gala, you ask Starch: 'Show me all vendors for the Hartwell event where something is missing — unsigned contract, unpaid deposit, or no insurance certificate.' Starch surfaces four issues: Bloom & Co has a contract that's been out 9 days unsigned ($3,800 florals); Harvest Catering's deposit of $11,250 (50% of $22,500) is due in 48 hours with no payment recorded; Lux Rentals' liability insurance certificate expired in January; and Studio Gallo hasn't responded to the final headcount email sent 6 days ago. Starch creates four P1 tasks, each with the vendor name, event, issue, and a draft follow-up email pulled from the Gmail thread. You spend 20 minutes resolving what would have taken two hours of inbox archaeology. Bloom & Co signs the same day after your coordinator sends the reminder. Harvest's deposit clears the next morning. Lux sends an updated certificate. Studio Gallo confirms headcount. The gala runs without a vendor-related surprise — which, in your world, is the whole job.

Measurement

How you'll know it's working

Vendor onboarding completion rate per event (% of vendors at Fully Onboarded stage 2 weeks before event date)

Outstanding deposit value across active events (total dollars owed to vendors not yet paid)

Average contract turnaround time: days from Contract Out to Contract Signed by vendor category

Insurance certificate compliance rate: % of active vendors with current, non-expired certificates on file

Preferred vendor reuse rate: % of events where at least 3 vendors came from your rated vendor library vs. new sourcing

Comparison

What this replaces

The other ways teams handle this today, and how the Starch version compares.

Google Drive + Gmail + spreadsheet

Zero cost and zero friction to start, but you're manually updating a spreadsheet from email threads — there's no alert when a contract goes unsigned for 10 days or a certificate expires.

HoneyBook vendor management

HoneyBook handles client-side contracts and payments well, but vendor onboarding tracking is thin — it's not built to track insurance certificates, deposit schedules, or multi-vendor status per event in one view.

Dubsado

Strong for client workflows and contracts, but Dubsado is client-facing, not vendor-facing — you'd still need a separate system to track what vendors owe you versus what you owe them.

Airtable custom base

Airtable gives you the flexibility to build exactly this structure, but you're maintaining the schema yourself, writing your own automations, and there's no AI that reads your Gmail threads to surface what's overdue.

Cvent / enterprise CLM tools

Built for teams of 20+ with a dedicated ops person — the configuration time and licensing cost don't make sense for a 2–5 person agency doing 30–60 events a year.

On Starch RECOMMENDED

One platform — project management, task manager, contract lifecycle management all running on connected data. Setup in plain English; numbers stay current via scheduled syncs and live agent queries.

Try it on Starch →

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can Starch actually read my Gmail threads to find vendor follow-ups, or do I have to enter everything manually?

Starch syncs your Gmail data on a schedule and the agent can scan threads for vendor-related items — unsigned contracts, pending quotes, overdue deposits — and turn them into tasks. You still review and confirm; Starch does the triage. The Gmail OAuth consent screen currently shows the underlying connector's name rather than Starch's — that's on the roadmap to fix, but it's worth knowing before you connect.

My vendor contract workflow currently lives in HoneyBook. Can Starch pull that data in?

HoneyBook doesn't have a direct scheduled sync in Starch today, but Starch can automate HoneyBook through your browser — no API needed. That means it can navigate your HoneyBook account and pull vendor or contract data into your Starch tracker. For a clean two-way sync, the practical move right now is to run vendor onboarding tracking in Starch and use HoneyBook for what it does best on the client side.

What about the Contract Lifecycle Management app — when can I use it?

Contract Lifecycle Management is coming soon — it's in development and not available yet. It'll handle drafting, e-signature routing, multi-party signing, and renewal alerts. You can request beta access to get notified when it launches. In the meantime, the Project Management app handles status tracking (is the contract signed?), and you can manage the actual contract document in your existing tool while Starch tracks the workflow.

Is Starch SOC 2 certified? I have corporate clients who ask about data security.

Not yet — Starch is not SOC 2 Type II certified today. If a corporate client requires SOC 2 compliance for any tools that touch their data, that's worth flagging before connecting sensitive vendor or client information. Starch is honest about this: it's on the roadmap, but it's not a credential Starch holds today.

Can I build a vendor tracker that also tracks what each vendor charges across events so I can benchmark rates over time?

Yes. Describe it: 'Build me a vendor rate tracker showing each vendor's name, category, event history, rate per event, and a calculated average rate across all events. I want to see who's gotten more expensive year over year.' Starch builds the surface. The data lives in Starch and updates as you add vendor records — it's a live view, not an archived data warehouse, so it reflects your current tracker state rather than deep historical exports.

I use Airtable today for vendor tracking. Would I have to rebuild everything from scratch?

You can connect Airtable from Starch's integration catalog — the agent queries it live when your app runs. So you could have Starch read your existing Airtable vendor base and surface tasks or summaries without fully migrating. If you decide to move the tracking into Starch natively, the Project Management app is the right base — describe your current Airtable structure and Starch will recreate it with fields and views that match how you work.