Case study
Sunny's Markets is a recurring market series in Charlotte and Kannapolis, North Carolina — a monthly calendar of vendor markets at venues like Camp North End and the Atrium Health Ballpark. It's also the reason Tentpole exists.
Before Tentpole, running each market meant the same pile every month: vendor applications scattered across DMs and email, booth maps drawn by hand and redrawn after every change, payment chasing, and writing the same "you're approved, here's your load-in" message dozens of times — each one personal, because vendors are people, not entries.
Applications: vendors apply through one form with their booth profile attached — photos, category, Instagram. AI pre-scores every application against the event's vibe and category mix, so the best fits float up.
Booth maps: drop the squares, hit auto-assign, and every approved vendor gets a spot — with no two vendors of the same category side by side. The day-of print sheet matches the map, always.
Messages: every vendor conversation lives in one inbox. AI drafts replies in Moon's actual voice, trained on her real messages — she approves, edits, or skips. Nothing sends itself.
Money: booth fees collected on card, paid straight to the market's bank. No invoices, no chasing.
[X] vendor applications processed · [X] markets run on the platform · [X] hours of admin saved per event — numbers update as the 2026 season runs.
"We talked to dozens of organizers running pop-ups, weekend markets, and multi-day festivals before we built a single feature. Then we kept talking."
— Moon, founder of Sunny's Markets & Tentpole
Most software companies find a customer to validate them. Tentpole's first customer is its founder — every feature got tested at a real market with real vendors and real weather before it shipped. If something didn't survive a Saturday at Camp North End, it didn't stay in the product.
Run your market on Tentpole →