If you’ve planned an event on the web recently, you may have organized it via Eventbrite. The platform has been used to sell more than 36 million tickets to hundreds of thousands of events. Eventbrite lets you offer tickets at different prices and is integrated with social platforms to help users get the word out about your event, and eventgoers can pay via PayPal or Google Checkout.
Mashable spoke with Hartz about how she found herself in tech, what it’s like to work with her husband, and how they’re outrunning the big players in the ticketing business.
Name: Julia Hartz, 31
Company: Eventbrite
Year Founded: 2006
Employees: 170, but will “definitely be 200 by the end of 2011?
What was the inspiration for starting Eventbrite?
The inspiration for starting Eventbrite was technology, it wasn’t even a really dramatic thing. I think it’s a common experience to have been frustrated by Internet ticketing. Kevin [Hartz, my husband] and I were actually more excited about how we could empower anyone to host an event and sell tickets online. It’s a very large market, and being able to create a platform where anyone could sell tickets to any event basically democratizes the ticket industry.
Any technology for ticketing was reserved for the big guys or really large events. We used PayPal as an easy way for us to create a platform where anyone could sell tickets and get paid for them. We wanted features that we thought would be really helpful — some people are selling tickets for maybe their first event ever — so we focus on ease of use. We wanted anyone to use it, from knitting clubs to professional promoters.
In keeping with our focus on supporting organizers of all sizes, building communities around events and creating a platform that is flexible and easy to use, we place a great emphasis on making it easy for non-profit organizations to use events as a way to raise money and awareness for their cause. Eventbrite for Causes is a program that gives a discount [on the Eventbrite commission], and we provide them with a lot of different insights into fundraising and connections to the non-profit community in their location to really help them understand how events can be a successful fundraising tool.
I’ve been on several boards, and fundraising is always seen as a necessary evil. We show them what kind of benefits they can reap from having a physical, live event — it’s beyond selling tickets, it’s raising awareness and raising money at the event. That’s been really successful for us instead of just waiving fees.
You were a TV executive prior to Eventbrite – what drew you to the digital and social world?
What really drew me to tech was velocity and meritocracy. It’s was very different from Hollywood in that if you work hard, you’re applauded for working hard.
Entrepreneurship is a tough job and you also work with your husband. How do you two make a good team and is it hard to work with your spouse?
We started working together when we were engaged, and it was actually a precarious situation. I was in L.A. working in TV, and he was in San Francisco working at a startup. After we got engaged, he sort of persuaded me to move to San Francisco and get into tech — he wanted to go back to startup mode. We got together and went heads down on the product, so our relationship has really developed in tandem with Eventbrite. I’d be more worried about the time in the future when we don’t work together, because it’s kind of the only reality you know. We have complementary skills, and that’s why it works. In any partnership, and definitely in a startup, you want complementary skills and hats that don’t overlap too much so you can get from point A to point B three times faster. He has a broad view and is extremely analytic and always charting new territory. For me, I have an incredible intuition and gut, and I connect with people and have a knack for creating culture and having a team. We work really well together — we divide and conquer. And even though we spend all day together, we still have a lot to talk about when we get home.
That’s a lot of you and Kevin and Eventbrite time. Do you ever turn it off?
The only time we turn it off is when we’re with Emma. She’s three-and-a-half, and very good at telling you to close your laptop. Those few hours a day when we can have quality time with her, we don’t talk about work — it’s a really nice balance. And we do try to get away every now and then and unplug. But when you’re an entrepreneur and the founder of a company, you have so much love for the company that you don’t feel like it’s work. Right after I gave birth, I had my laptop in my hands!
Emma doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, but she feels a part of the team, she’s on the journey with us. It’s not often that we turn it off, but we definitely prioritize, and we can’t be constantly working.
How do you inspire your team and where do you look for inspiration?
Kevin and I both inspire our team by our true intentions. Over the last five years, and especially in the last 18 months, we’ve been embraced by the tech community and startup community. You start to realize that there are a lot of different ways that you can do the wrong thing. Kevin has taught me to always stay on the right side of the line — never do anything you wouldn’t want to announce to the company at an all-hands meeting. They can feel your integrity, and I think it fires the team. The majority of the team has been here long enough that they know Kevin and I will always do what’s right for the team. I think that inspires the team to work hard and focus because they know that we would die for the company in all the right ways — to disrupt the industry and make everyone proud of their hard work.
“The only common thread that we all have is the ability to initiate and tolerate fun.”I get inspired by talking to people here and talking to my team. Whenever I find a free moment, I find myself in a great conversation. It happens organically, I rarely have to seek them out, and it’s nice to be able to understand where people come from. I come away from meetings with a million ideas, and there are not enough hours in the day to implement them. It’s important to find quiet moments in every day as well. It also happens a lot in the shower, in those few minutes.
What was the biggest challenge in launching and building Eventbrite?
One of the biggest challenges for a company that grows quickly is to stay focused, and I think we’ve done a great job of it. But with more funding and talent, you start to feel the pull in different directions and the endless possibility, so I think it’s been a constant battle to stay focused. At one point, I thought, “God, mo’ money mo’ problems!” It’s hard to say no and close a door, but at the end of the day, you need to do what’s right.
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made with Eventbrite and how did you learn from it?
In the beginning, we were too cautious. We thought that if we made changes to our pricing that our customers would up and leave — we didn’t give ourselves enough credit. So we took a while to make changes, but in the end, we didn’t lose any customers and the conversations went up.
What was the turning point in the Eventbrite story?
One of the inflection points was when we implemented Facebook Connect — we were one of the first API partners — so you could automatically publish an event to the Facebook news feed. This was a behavior we observed our event organizers doing, and then we got to capitalize on it. It was like all the stars aligned. We started seeing Facebook in our top 10 referrals. Facebook is now the #1 driver of traffic to our site. Those opportunities to take advantage of acute observations can be a gamechanger.
Do you take time to meet with other entrepreneurs?
We’ve been all about community and collaboration since day one. We started in this small office that was kind of a haven for new entrepreneurs — not an incubator, but a sort of collective with 9 or 10 companies, like Tripit, Boxee and Zynga. We believe in communication and collaboration and the sharing of ideas — we’re extremely transparent. We have a great community, and that has been our village. Whether it’s entrepreneurs sharing ideas, our incredible roster of advisers, or people who Kevin’s invested in, all of whom are friends of Eventbrite, and we share ideas all the time. Anytime people come with a problem that we cannot readily solve, there’s always someone we can connect them with.
What company culture do you strive for?
Diversity is big into our culture — we don’t just hire one type of person. The only common thread that we all have is the ability to initiate and tolerate fun, so it’s a very lively space. We have a lot of fun while getting the work done. You couldn’t hack it here if you get annoyed by people smiling. It’s a friendly culture, and there are no assholes here. It doesn’t matter how smart you are — if you’re not going to be a team player — you won’t last. It sounds cliche, but its true. No egos here.
What’s the next step for Eventbrite?
I think the next step for Eventbrite is that we’re going to expand internationally. And we’re having our second baby on New Year’s Eve.
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