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Oct 20, 2017 · 28m · 20vc

20VC: Eventbrite Founder, Julia Hartz on The Lessons Learned Scaling Eventbrite to Unicorn Valuation & $3Bn in Gross Ticket Sales

Julia Hartz · 19m spoken Harry Stebbings · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, Harry Stebbings interviews Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, about scaling the platform to over $3 billion in gross ticket sales, managing co-founder dynamics, transitioning into the CEO role, and expanding the business globally.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 25.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 1.2 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 0.5 Harry pushing back 0.5
05100:0010:0020:002:30–9:55 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Podcast Destination Audio Transition Harry asks Julia about her origin story and interjects with light humor, such as identifying the wedding passage as Corinthians. Julia details her transition from TV development to co-founding Eventbrite with Kevin.9:58–13:14 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Co-Founding Dynamics and Partnership with Kevin Hartz Julia explains the complementary dynamics between her operational mindset and Kevin's natural entrepreneurial drive. Harry prompts her on scaling and personal evolution without challenging her statements.13:18–17:22 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Early Traction and Category Expansion Breakthroughs Julia shares early traction milestones like speed dating organizers and TechCrunch Disrupt. When Harry quips that Julia seems like the better CEO, she gently refutes the premise and praises Kevin.17:23–20:47 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Balancing Short-Term Operations with Long-Term Platform Vision Harry asks Kevin's submitted question regarding balancing long-term vision with short-term metrics. Julia educates the host on innovator's dilemma and Eventbrite's strategy across its $3B gross ticket sales platform.20:47–25:15 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Quickfire Round: Books, Productivity, and Leadership Insights During the quickfire round, Julia claims San Francisco is the best city in the world, prompting Harry to playfully push back on behalf of London. Julia stands her ground while discussing productivity and leadership.25:19–26:22 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Eventbrite's Five-Year Vision and Global Roadmap Julia outlines Eventbrite's 5-year roadmap towards becoming a global platform for live experiences. Harry listens intently and wraps up the interview.2:30–9:55 · Guest teaching 2/10 Podcast Destination Audio Transition Harry asks Julia about her origin story and interjects with light humor, such as identifying the wedding passage as Corinthians. Julia details her transition from TV development to co-founding Eventbrite with Kevin.9:58–13:14 · Guest teaching 2/10 Co-Founding Dynamics and Partnership with Kevin Hartz Julia explains the complementary dynamics between her operational mindset and Kevin's natural entrepreneurial drive. Harry prompts her on scaling and personal evolution without challenging her statements.13:18–17:22 · Guest teaching 2/10 Early Traction and Category Expansion Breakthroughs Julia shares early traction milestones like speed dating organizers and TechCrunch Disrupt. When Harry quips that Julia seems like the better CEO, she gently refutes the premise and praises Kevin.17:23–20:47 · Guest teaching 3/10 Balancing Short-Term Operations with Long-Term Platform Vision Harry asks Kevin's submitted question regarding balancing long-term vision with short-term metrics. Julia educates the host on innovator's dilemma and Eventbrite's strategy across its $3B gross ticket sales platform.20:47–25:15 · Guest teaching 2/10 Quickfire Round: Books, Productivity, and Leadership Insights During the quickfire round, Julia claims San Francisco is the best city in the world, prompting Harry to playfully push back on behalf of London. Julia stands her ground while discussing productivity and leadership.25:19–26:22 · Guest teaching 2/10 Eventbrite's Five-Year Vision and Global Roadmap Julia outlines Eventbrite's 5-year roadmap towards becoming a global platform for live experiences. Harry listens intently and wraps up the interview.2:30–9:55 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Podcast Destination Audio Transition Harry asks Julia about her origin story and interjects with light humor, such as identifying the wedding passage as Corinthians. Julia details her transition from TV development to co-founding Eventbrite with Kevin.9:58–13:14 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Co-Founding Dynamics and Partnership with Kevin Hartz Julia explains the complementary dynamics between her operational mindset and Kevin's natural entrepreneurial drive. Harry prompts her on scaling and personal evolution without challenging her statements.13:18–17:22 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Early Traction and Category Expansion Breakthroughs Julia shares early traction milestones like speed dating organizers and TechCrunch Disrupt. When Harry quips that Julia seems like the better CEO, she gently refutes the premise and praises Kevin.17:23–20:47 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Balancing Short-Term Operations with Long-Term Platform Vision Harry asks Kevin's submitted question regarding balancing long-term vision with short-term metrics. Julia educates the host on innovator's dilemma and Eventbrite's strategy across its $3B gross ticket sales platform.20:47–25:15 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Quickfire Round: Books, Productivity, and Leadership Insights During the quickfire round, Julia claims San Francisco is the best city in the world, prompting Harry to playfully push back on behalf of London. Julia stands her ground while discussing productivity and leadership.25:19–26:22 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Eventbrite's Five-Year Vision and Global Roadmap Julia outlines Eventbrite's 5-year roadmap towards becoming a global platform for live experiences. Harry listens intently and wraps up the interview.2:30–9:55 · Harry pushing back 0/10 Podcast Destination Audio Transition Harry asks Julia about her origin story and interjects with light humor, such as identifying the wedding passage as Corinthians. Julia details her transition from TV development to co-founding Eventbrite with Kevin.9:58–13:14 · Harry pushing back 0/10 Co-Founding Dynamics and Partnership with Kevin Hartz Julia explains the complementary dynamics between her operational mindset and Kevin's natural entrepreneurial drive. Harry prompts her on scaling and personal evolution without challenging her statements.13:18–17:22 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Early Traction and Category Expansion Breakthroughs Julia shares early traction milestones like speed dating organizers and TechCrunch Disrupt. When Harry quips that Julia seems like the better CEO, she gently refutes the premise and praises Kevin.17:23–20:47 · Harry pushing back 0/10 Balancing Short-Term Operations with Long-Term Platform Vision Harry asks Kevin's submitted question regarding balancing long-term vision with short-term metrics. Julia educates the host on innovator's dilemma and Eventbrite's strategy across its $3B gross ticket sales platform.20:47–25:15 · Harry pushing back 2/10 Quickfire Round: Books, Productivity, and Leadership Insights During the quickfire round, Julia claims San Francisco is the best city in the world, prompting Harry to playfully push back on behalf of London. Julia stands her ground while discussing productivity and leadership.25:19–26:22 · Harry pushing back 0/10 Eventbrite's Five-Year Vision and Global Roadmap Julia outlines Eventbrite's 5-year roadmap towards becoming a global platform for live experiences. Harry listens intently and wraps up the interview.

speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Harry 93.8% · guest 6.2%0:00 · Harry 93.8% · guest 6.2%3:00 · Harry 2.3% · guest 97.7%3:00 · Harry 2.3% · guest 97.7%6:00 · Harry 0% · guest 100%6:00 · Harry 0% · guest 100%9:00 · Harry 16.9% · guest 83.1%9:00 · Harry 16.9% · guest 83.1%12:00 · Harry 12.2% · guest 87.8%12:00 · Harry 12.2% · guest 87.8%15:00 · Harry 15.4% · guest 84.6%15:00 · Harry 15.4% · guest 84.6%18:00 · Harry 7.4% · guest 92.6%18:00 · Harry 7.4% · guest 92.6%21:00 · Harry 27% · guest 73%21:00 · Harry 27% · guest 73%24:00 · Harry 32.4% · guest 67.6%24:00 · Harry 32.4% · guest 67.6%27:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%27:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 21:57 Julia defends San Francisco as the best city

Julia firmly asserts San Francisco is the best city in the world and lightheartedly dismisses Harry's attempt to champion London.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 22:02 Harry challenges San Francisco assertion

Harry playfully pushes back against Julia's claim about San Francisco by insisting London has far better mojitos and offering to show her around.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 17:42 Julia explains managing the innovator's dilemma at scale

Julia educates Harry on how Eventbrite manages its core $3 billion ticketing volume while avoiding the innovator's dilemma through strategic resource allocation into future platform features.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 5:52 Harry identifies Corinthians reference

Harry demonstrates quick knowledge by correctly identifying the biblical passage from Corinthians when Julia struggles to remember the name during her wedding story.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Podcast Destination Audio Transition 1200 Harry asks Julia about her origin story and interjects with light humor, such as identifying the wedding passage as Corinthians. Julia details her transition from TV development to co-founding Eventbrite with Kevin.
Co-Founding Dynamics and Partnership with Kevin Hartz 1200 Julia explains the complementary dynamics between her operational mindset and Kevin's natural entrepreneurial drive. Harry prompts her on scaling and personal evolution without challenging her statements.
Early Traction and Category Expansion Breakthroughs 1211 Julia shares early traction milestones like speed dating organizers and TechCrunch Disrupt. When Harry quips that Julia seems like the better CEO, she gently refutes the premise and praises Kevin.
Balancing Short-Term Operations with Long-Term Platform Vision 1300 Harry asks Kevin's submitted question regarding balancing long-term vision with short-term metrics. Julia educates the host on innovator's dilemma and Eventbrite's strategy across its $3B gross ticket sales platform.
Quickfire Round: Books, Productivity, and Leadership Insights 2222 During the quickfire round, Julia claims San Francisco is the best city in the world, prompting Harry to playfully push back on behalf of London. Julia stands her ground while discussing productivity and leadership.
Eventbrite's Five-Year Vision and Global Roadmap 1200 Julia outlines Eventbrite's 5-year roadmap towards becoming a global platform for live experiences. Harry listens intently and wraps up the interview.

Statements from this episode (9)

Disclosure
Julia Hartz took a pay cut to join Current TV's founding team
“I was making 80,000 dollars at the time and they offered me 50,000 dollars.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 7:53
Disclosure
Eventbrite was bootstrapped using all of Julia and Kevin Hartz's savings
“Why don't we try to do something together and you can make no money and we could put all of our money, all of our savings into bootstrapping a company.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 8:53
Opinion
Ticketing was an abysmal, unexciting industry when Eventbrite launched
“We want to create a horizontal platform in an abysmal industry. Like ticketing was just not something that people got excited about.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 11:56
Disclosure
Eventbrite bootstrapped for three years to test the co-founders' working relationship
“I mean, we bootstrapped the company for three years, so we didn't need to really go out and present ourselves as a co-founding couple until we really kind of had a good sense of how we worked together.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 12:12
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eventbrite's earliest primary users were tech bloggers
“When we first started, we were used primarily by tech bloggers.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 13:25
Assertion Supported
Eventbrite's co-founders worked the door at the first TechCrunch Disrupt
“Kevin and I actually printed out the guest list for the first TechCrunch Disrupt, and we worked the door.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 13:37
Assertion Supported
Eventbrite's original platform was built on the PayPal API
“Because we built the original Eventbrite platform on, on the PayPal API. We had international business.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 14:13
Assertion Partly supported
Eventbrite processed $3B in gross ticket sales in 2017
“So, it's valued at a little over a billion dollars. It's Generating three billion in gross ticket sales this year. We'll sell two hundred million tickets, but two hundred million tickets will be transacted in total on the platform this year by, you know, 800,0…”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 17:54
Disclosure
Julia Hartz killed the "What Would Kevin Do" mindset upon becoming CEO
“I had to actively tell myself that on January first of this year, I was actually never, I was going to stop saying what would Kevin do? So I killed WWKD and I had to start making my own decisions.”
Julia Hartz Oct 20, 2017 ▶ 22:44
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