20 Years of Powering Play, Fueling Growth, and Building What’s Next
Two decades ago, we set out to make running a rental business easier. Today, over 5 million booked events later, we’re just getting started.
In 2006, InflatableOffice was born out of a simple, everyday reality: running an inflatable and party rental business was exhausting, manual, and complicated. Our founders, Tim Beck and Joel Aemmer, built InflatableOffice as operators themselves, driven by a mission to help rental companies eliminate administrative bottlenecks, maximize profits, and reclaim their free time.
What began with two people and a handful of early adopters has grown into the leading operating system for the event and party rental industry. Over the past 20 years, we’ve partnered with thousands of rental businesses, powered more than 5.1 million booked events, and delivered 200+ continuous software releases.
But this 20-year milestone isn’t just about looking back at where we started, it’s about celebrating the incredible community that brought us here and shaping the next era of rental technology. With purpose-built AI tools, seamless partner ecosystems, integrated insurance solutions, and automated operations, we’re committed to powering your growth for the next 20 years and beyond.
Built by Operators, for Operators (Our Roots)
We didn’t design InflatableOffice from an ivory tower, we wrote it while hauling inflatables, coordinating delivery crews, and answering frantic weekend customer calls. From day one, our core purpose has been giving rental entrepreneurs the exact tools they need to operate efficiently and scale profitably. Twenty years later, that operator-first DNA remains at the heart of every line of code we write and every feature we develop.
Two Decades of Impact & Scale
A quick look at how a small start grew into an industry-wide movement.
An Unstoppable Community of Creators & Entrepreneurs
Software is only as strong as the people who use it. Over the last two decades, InflatableOffice has evolved into a thriving ecosystem including thousands of community members, add-on creators, and white-label innovators. Through IO University, peer mastermind groups, and shared templates, our users don’t just run businesses—they elevate the entire party rental industry together.
Tomorrow’s Technology, Tailored for Party Rentals
Managing a modern rental company shouldn’t require juggling dozens of disconnected apps. We are infusing cutting-edge AI directly into your daily back office—from IO Assistant for instant Q&A and automated natural-language reporting, to smart SEO item descriptions, auto-drafted customer messaging, and real-time call transcriptions. We do the heavy lifting behind the scenes so your team can focus on delivering memorable experiences.
Looking Ahead: What the Next 20 Years Look Like
The rental landscape is evolving rapidly, and we are building the comprehensive ecosystem to keep you ahead of the curve. From simplified one-click event insurance and easy applications with Really Easy Insurance and transparent payment processing freedom, to multi-location expansion and automated crew scheduling, InflatableOffice is expanding from a booking platform into your all-in-one business growth engine.
A 20-Year Q&A with
Founders Tim Beck & Joel Aemmer
“When we started, our goal was simple: give operators their time back and help them run a more profitable business.
Twenty years later, the tools are smarter and the scale is bigger, but the mission hasn’t changed.”
Dive into our anniversary retrospective to discover behind-the-scenes stories, early breakthrough moments,
and Tim and Joel’s vision for the rental business of 2035.
We wanted to create a system that made party rental companies more efficient and able to sell more. Our focus was giving them tools to maximize their profits.
It’s similar today, but the tools have just gotten more sophisticated.
We’ve added so many features that knowing what to use and how to use it is a serious challenge.
Tim: I always had a big vision for InflatableOffice. My vision is still big for it, so I’d say I haven’t hit that point yet and may never.
Joel: No one moment; rather, it has finally become what was envisioned.
Tim: Probably the story of my rental company. I wrote IO because I was a rental operator. I wanted higher profit and more efficiency. Using IO, I was able to grow quickly and sell the company because I was able to show how well it was operating.
Joel: An early customer was excited by how much more free time she had because the software made managing her business easier.
Tim: The workforce has become really difficult. Our users struggle to find people that want to work and work well. Also AI is changing so much, and it’s just starting.
Joel: Backyard events became bigger than corporate events.
Tim: Inflatables are still popular.
Delivery planners, built-in business phones, websites that sync data, so many things.
Delivery planning is probably one of the biggest examples. Today, operators can also have their website sync directly with inventory, manage business phones inside their system, and automate things that would have seemed incredibly advanced when we started.
Tim: We are building a platform that the users will design unique to themselves that will integrate with everything and be the hub of the industry.
Joel: Business intelligence tools
Similar to now, but very professional and consolidated.
Tim: I hope we are the single biggest contributor to the advancement of the industry in nearly all areas. When I say all areas, I mean all areas.
Joel: It helped small business owners to be more efficient and profitable.
Self-scheduling workers & Inventory conflict checking
Sharon B. said: InflatableOffice changed not only my business, but also my personal life (as it gave her more free time by automating busy work).
Tim: I really like to see all of our partners building off our platform and making things that we do even better and creating things that we don’t do, that enhance our users’ experience.
Joel: Seeing clients easily launch multiple websites.
Tim: One time, way back when it was just Joel and I, Joel left for vacation but released some bad code before he did. One of our users triggered it and all rental items went missing. I found out at 2am and got to learn for the first time how to take our service down, import a backup database, and then run all commands for the database since the backup up to the one that caused the issue.
It was then that we had a number of policy changes to prevent that in the future.
It’s fun work to work in fun!
75% of it. We have to do things for us to manage things and keep things updated and such, but mostly we are doing what users want.
A lot! I’ve been there. It’s a time-sensitive industry, which means it all has to work when it is necessary.
We always care about our users and do our very best.
Workers, mobile use, incorporation of AI, safety, and insurance, to name a few.
Many, but Insurance is one that still bothers us.
Get the right software!
Here’s to the Next 20 Years of Fun, Growth, and Partnership!
Whether you’ve been with us since version day one or just joined the IO family this season, thank you for trusting us with your business. Ready to experience what’s next?
