Step Out Buffalo

What Step Out Buffalo does

Step Out Buffalo is a privately held, bootstrapped local digital media and events company founded in 2013 and headquartered in Buffalo, NY. It operates a WordPress-based content platform (stepoutbuffalo.com) that aggregates and curates events, restaurant and bar guides, attractions, shopping, lifestyle content, getaway ideas, and community news for residents and visitors across the Buffalo and Western New York region, including Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, and the Southern Tier counties. The company runs a daily email newsletter and maintains active social channels on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X, using SEO-optimized editorial content as the primary audience acquisition mechanism.

The business operates a two-sided model: a free consumer-facing content platform and a B2B advertising arm. Local businesses and event organizers pay for visibility through Step Out Media Co (stepoutmedia.co), a wholly-owned advertising subsidiary, via self-serve business listings, event submissions, deals/discounts postings, and direct advertising placements. In parallel, Step Out Buffalo produces and operates several owned signature event properties — Whiskey Riot (an annual bourbon/whiskey tasting), Makers & Shakers boozy artisan markets (Fall and Easter editions), Buffalo Flea artisan market, and The Crawling Dead Halloween Bar Crawl — which extend monetization beyond digital advertising into ticketed live experiences.

The company is small (1-10 employees), founder/owner-operated with no disclosed venture capital or private equity investment, and operates a regional content-plus-events stack supported by a self-serve SMB portal (business listings, event listings, deals, and community update boards) plus user accounts enabling saved favorites. There is no evidence of proprietary AI/ML technology; the platform is built on a standard WordPress CMS, with website development and hosting attributed to SM-Blu Digital.

Name

Step Out Buffalo

Legal name

Step Out Buffalo

Website

https://stepoutbuffalo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Step Out Buffalo is a bootstrapped Buffalo, NY-based local digital media and events company that publishes curated guides, event listings, and lifestyle content for Western New York consumers and monetizes via SMB advertising (Step Out Media Co) and owned signature events such as Whiskey Riot and Buffalo Flea.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Digital Media and Events

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (54181), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Local & City Guide Content Aggregators (MPACAKAJ)

Keywords

• Local event listings
• Community media platform
• Event discovery guides
• Lifestyle content publishing
• Local business advertising

Headquarters

HQ city

Buffalo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Sponsorships: Local businesses pay to advertise on the platform through stepoutmedia.co. The platform offers business listing options where companies can pay for visibility to the Step Out Buffalo audience.
2. Business Listing Services: Local businesses can list events, deals, and community updates on the platform for a fee, generating revenue through directory and listing services.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Step Out Buffalo publishes and operates a curated local media platform covering events, restaurants, shops, attractions, and lifestyle content for residents and visitors in Buffalo and Western New York. The company sells advertising placements to local businesses through its Step Out Media arm (stepoutmedia.co) and produces signature owned events including Whiskey Riot, Makers and Shakers, Buffalo Flea, and The Crawling Dead Halloween Bar Crawl.

Product overview

Step Out Buffalo operates as a local events and lifestyle discovery platform for Buffalo, NY and Western New York, offering a unified content platform that combines event discovery, business listings, and lifestyle content. The core Step Out Buffalo platform serves as the central hub for events, restaurant guides, shopping recommendations, getaway suggestions, and lifestyle content. Self-operated branded events include Whiskey Riot (bourbon tasting), Makers and Shakers (boozy artisan markets), Buffalo Flea (artisan market), and Crawling Dead (Halloween bar crawl). Supporting modules include the Step Out Media advertising platform for business sponsorships, business listing submissions, event listing management, deals and discounts postings, and community update boards. User accounts enable personalization through saved favorites and listings management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Whiskey Riot: A boozy artisan market event featuring whiskey tastings, live music, and local vendors
• The Crawling Dead Halloween Bar Crawl
• Easter Makers + Shakers
• Buffalo Flea

Products and services

• Step Out Buffalo Main Platform

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Whiskey RiotcoreOthersStep Out Buffalo produces and operates the Whiskey Riot event series, including Fall Makers and Shakers, The Crawling Dead Halloween Bar Crawl, and Easter Makers & Shakers boozy artisan markets. These are signature owned events that drive community engagement.
• Buffalo FleacoreOthersStep Out Buffalo partners with and promotes the Buffalo Artisans & Flea market, a local artisan and flea market event featuring regional vendors and makers.
• Step Out MediacoreGTM or Marketing PartnerRelated advertising and media company (stepoutmedia.co) that handles business advertising sales for the Step Out Buffalo platform, monetizing the local audience for partner businesses.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Axios Local: Axios operates local digital news editions across multiple U.S. cities with a Smart Brevity newsletter format; broadly incumbent as a local digital media brand monetized through advertising and events.
• Thrillist: Thrillist is a national digital media brand covering food, travel, and things to do; broadly incumbent in the city-guide content category and competing for the same national/local advertiser budgets as Step Out Buffalo.
• Yelp: Yelp is a dominant local business directory and reviews platform with national scale; broadly incumbent in the same local advertising and business discovery category where Step Out Buffalo competes for SMB marketing dollars.

Direct peers

• Hoodline: Hoodline is a hyperlocal digital news and content aggregator that publishes curated local stories across multiple U.S. metros; it is directly comparable as another city-by-city content platform monetizing via local advertising and stories about dining, events, and neighborhood life.
• Patch.com: Patch operates a network of hyperlocal news and community sites across thousands of U.S. towns; it is directly comparable as a hyperlocal editorial platform monetized through local business advertising and event/community listings.
• Eventbrite: Eventbrite is a leading consumer event listing and ticketing platform; comparable to Step Out Buffalo's event-gate and event listings functionality, though operating at vastly larger scale and without the editorial/dining discovery layer.
• Time Out: Time Out publishes curated city guides covering things to do, restaurants, nightlife, and events globally; directly comparable as a city guide content brand monetized through local advertising, listings, and ticketed events.
• The Scout Guide: The Scout Guide produces curated city-by-city guides to local businesses, restaurants, and lifestyle offerings; comparable as a curated hyperlocal discovery brand monetized through local business partnerships and listings.
• Do502 / Do617 (DoStuff Media): DoStuff Media operates a portfolio of hyperlocal "Do[City]" event and things-to-do sites in mid-sized U.S. and global cities; directly comparable as a multi-city local events and content platform monetized through event listings and local advertising.

Regional players

• Visit Buffalo Niagara: Visit Buffalo Niagara is the regional destination marketing organization for the same Buffalo/WNY market; comparable as a Buffalo-focused tourism/events content platform, though operating as a nonprofit DMO rather than a commercial media business.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/StepOutBFLO
• Facebookfacebook.com/stepoutbuff
• Instagraminstagram.com/stepoutbuffalo
• TikToktiktok.com/@stepoutbuffalo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/step-out-buffalo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Step Out Buffalo