Why Flex?
Because Your Success Is Our Flex
Our Story
The Flex story really begins with CEO Chris Stein’s very first show in 8th grade. Seeing Elvis Costello sparked a flame that led to 50+ Grateful Dead shows and he even planned his honeymoon around the Womad festival where he and his new bride took in Peter Gabriel, Sinead O’Connor, Ziggy Marley, and more.
It was this passion that led him to a career in the live events industry. Chris began his career setting up and mixing smaller concerts, where he learned the importance of doing whatever it takes to make an event successful. Year after year, show after show, Chris developed expertise in intelligent light programming, rigging, and controlling and maintaining rental assets. He built his reputation on planning and executing flawless events throughout the US and abroad.
Chris Stein
Chief Executive Officer
“What I loved most about live events is helping connect an artist or presenter with their audiences,” explained Chris. “Doing our job well, meant an audience was able to get lost in the messages, feelings, and emotions conveyed from the stage–no matter the size of the venue.” Chris took this responsibility seriously, and obsessed over every detail–large or small–to reduce potential issues before he ever set foot in a venue, “It was in the details that the standard of excellence was set. I’ve always lived by the saying, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
"Nothing was up to my standards.
We needed something better."
As Chris spent more of his time managing inventory to grow his employers’ businesses, he realized the tools that may have been fine for managing a single show, were not designed to scale for complexities of managing ten events at a time.
The asset management software market was new and Chris researched and implemented nearly every rental and asset tracking software solution in the market. Nothing combined and incorporated the underlying needs of the business with the right technology. Chris explains,
“Simply, none of the solutions were built for our industry from the ground up. They didn’t speak our industry’s language and nothing solved for getting the focus where it mattered most, creating great experiences.”
Born out of necessity
In 2009 Chris founded Flex Rental Solutions and immediately established the company as the industry’s fastest growing platform. Chris imagined crafting a groundbreaking solution that not only served the industry’s ongoing evolution, but offered a scalable and flexible platform that helped customers imagine their own future growth.
Fast forward to today and Flex customers have scanned more than 250,000,000 assets into and out of their warehouses. Tens of thousands of assets that have enabled the productions of the biggest concert tours, awards shows, trade shows, sporting events, charity galas and more. They have been part of the events that have created some of our most important memories.
“Flex allowed us to get our people up to speed quickly, and more importantly, foster faster career growth. Flex actually helped us grow our company by making it possible to expand into new locations and create more jobs.”
The power of Flex
Customers are often surprised by the power Flex has beyond enabling proper asset management–including business development, corporate expansion, and even training personnel.
With “innovation through iteration and continual improvement” as a core value, Flex was first-to-market with barcode scanning, free scanning in/out, and was an early mover in enabling RFID capabilities. Using lessons learned from its own best practices and the grueling live events testing ground, the company has also launched new products for new markets like enterprise asset management.
This is exactly why we say
“Your Success Is Our Flex.”
I used to get a huge rush from the part I played in helping create a memorable show — And I still get that rush when our clients succeed. At the end of the day, we’re here to help create memorable experiences.
Chris Stein
Chief Executive Officer
