← Young and Profiting with Hala Taha
Young and Profiting with Hala Taha
Julia Hartz: How to Build, Scale, and Exit a Billion-Dollar Startup From Scratch | Entrepreneurship | E398
01:18:36
Loading summary
Transcript143 lines
- [00:03]
A
Hey Young and Profits. When I think back to the early days of YAP media, I was way too scrappy. I'm talking about working out of coffee shops, bouncing between public WI FI networks and hotspotting from my phone just to get through on a client call without the connection dropping. But looking back, it was actually adding a lot of unnecessary stress because you realize pretty quickly your business is only as strong as your connection. It's how you run meetings, serve clients and keep everything moving. And that's exactly why I wish I had AT&T business back then. AT&T business is a reliable provider for small business owners. For Small Business Month, we celebrate small businesses by helping them run better. This means reliable uptime, easy switching, smart communications. You need a provider that is as serious about your success as you are. Like AT&T business built to work. Get AT&T business@business.att.com that's business.att.com Today's episode is sponsored in part by Shopify, Quo, Indeed Fabric and Zocdoc. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business. Start your $1 per month trial at shopify.com Profiting Quo is an AI powered phone system that brings your calls, texts and contacts together in one place. Try quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com Profiting indeed helps you attract, interview and hire talent all in one place. Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com podcast protect your family with term life insurance from Fabric by Gerber Life. Apply today in just minutes@meetfabric.com Profiting ZocDoc is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality in network Doctors. Go to Zocdoc.com profiting to book a doctor today. As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or@younginprofiting.com deals.
- [01:58]
B
We were processing more refunds than revenue. Our tableau dashboards broke because our revenue was negative. 14 years in the making was actually completely gone in 14 days. Wild Julia Hartz is co founder and former CEO of Eventbrite. She helped turn a bootstrapped idea into a household brand through grit, vision and relentless execution. I wasn't thinking that in my life I would be part of starting a company. Certain people come together, call it fate, the universe. Those people may have complimentary skill sets such that they're able to create something magical. Changing the company was a non negotiable we couldn't actually keep going. I started with a corner core question, which was, given what we know about this business, what would we do if we could do it all over again?
- [02:50]
A
You said entrepreneurship is like it's kind of in your head. What did you mean by that?
- [02:54]
B
A lot of people feel ownership for a company no matter what their title is. I realize that now more than ever. While it's incredibly valuable to have a founder running the company, you have to be leveling up every single day.
- [03:08]
A
What is like your top three pieces of advice for entrepreneurs tuning in right now who want to build a company? As big as Eventbrite is, I can't
- [03:18]
B
stress enough the importance of yeah fam.
- [03:22]
A
What does it take to build a company for 20 years, take it public, watch it nearly disappear overnight and still come out calling it the honor of your life? Few people can answer that question better than Julia Hartz, the co founder and former CEO of Eventbrite, the world's largest and most trusted events marketplace. In this episode we unpack how Julia built Eventbrite from scratch, led it through a crisis, and came out with a deeper understanding of what it really takes to build a company that can evolve beyond you. You'll hear the hard earned lessons on leadership, culture, resilience, reinvention, and how to make tough decisions when everything is changing fast. If this is your first time here, welcome and make sure you follow the show and come back every week for more conversations like this. Julia, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.
- [04:10]
B
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
- [04:12]
A
I'm so excited for you to be here. I have been a long time user of Eventbrite and what you've built is just so incredible. So I'm just so excited to pick your brain and learn from you. And my first question is really about your character and like how you see yourself. So you went from working at the Ugly Mug when you were 14 years old to then creating Eventbrite, which you exited, you built into a huge company, sold billions of tickets. What's the through line from the girl who worked at the ugly mug at 14 to the woman who is sitting here today?
- [04:49]
B
I think the through line is hard work and an attention to what others need. And I'll tell you a quick story that was pretty impactful at the Ugly Mug. So the Ugly Mug was this craft coffee shop that opened in my hometown of Santa Cruz, California. It was the sort of the first of its kind. This guy came to town with this really fancy Italian manual espresso machine and a Collection of ugly mugs. And I was the opening shift on the weekend. So 5am on a Saturday was my gig. And there was a woman who would stand, stand outside and wait for us to open. And she'd come in, she'd be the first to order her coffee. And no matter what I did to try to get her order right, she had a complaint and she was vicious. And I remember being so frustrated and downtrodden and coming home and talking to my mom and saying, I just can't make her happy. And my mom said, you know, maybe you should try to strike up a conversation. Maybe she's lonely and she's looking for someone to talk to. So I stood, stole my parents Sunday paper the next day and took it in and put it on the counter and waited for her. And then I picked some random story out of the Santa Cruz Sentinel and started to get her to talk. And from that point forward, she was a totally different customer. And I feel like that through line for me has always been about learning through, you know, my mom, how to use our empathetic skills to understand what people want. And then. And then kind of like a thread, you know, weaving that through everything that I do and then just really working hard. And I think part of what makes me me is that I have been working since I was a teenager with almost no gaps.
- [06:35]
A
I love that. And I can't wait to talk to you about building company culture, because I know that's so important to you, and I know a lot of what you just talked about is probably ingrained in your strategy for building company culture. But before we get there, you've got four kids. You've called Eventbrite your fifth child, my firstborn. And I know that you just recently, you know, exited, stepped down as CEO, which must have been a huge deal. So what does Eventbrite mean to you?
- [07:01]
B
Well, you know, Eventbrite is 20, and that's a huge age. It's an age that many people are flying the net, flying out of the coupe. And so I sort of feel like, you know, if I were to personify Eventbrite, I would say that I was one of three people that helped bring it to life. You know, when Kevin and Renaud and I got together to start Eventbrite, we really were coming at it from such different perspectives and different points in our lives. I had just come from Hollywood, where I'd been working in television development at FX and mtv. And I came to it with this notion of, you know, people getting together in real life around things that they're really, really passionate about have. It gives you an opportunity to create indelible memories. And I had been on a, a documentary show that we were piloting where we went around to different fandoms in the country. And I'll never forget going to these meetups that I, where I had no authority nor any clue what they were talking about or passionate about. But these were total strangers that were creating these unbelievable connections in real life. So I thought there was something behind that. Kevin came to it from a serial entrepreneur's perspective where, you know, he had built a business in, in payments and microtransactions to help immigrants send money back to their, to their families. Better, faster, cheaper than, than the incumbents. And so he was really excited about democratizing industry. And then our third co founder, Renault, our cto, really came to it from a place of turning passion into profit. He, during, you know, his off hours, is a prolific photographer and he wanted to build a platform where people could share their skills and their passions, but also make money doing that. And so I think that, that for us, you know, it was, it was definitely a classic startup story where we were in a windowless phone closet in a warehouse with no money and just bootstrapping this idea. And I think we were really incredibly sure that we wanted to build something that brought people together in real life before, you know, we ever had to worry about not being together in real life. So we were prescient in that way.
- [09:18]
A
So cool. There's, there's so much to unpack there. I can't wait to hear about your boot, like, you know, your first two years and like the struggles and challenges and how it grew from there. When it comes to your company and you as an entrepreneur, you actually say that you're, you're not a lemonade stand kid. You didn't, you didn't start creating businesses. Your husband, who is your co founder, Kevin, he was, you know, the serial entrepreneur. You were working in corporate and tv. And so how did you learn entrepreneurship? And what do you have to say to the folks out there? Because this is an entrepreneurship show about being able to learn the skill of being an entrepreneur.
- [09:54]
B
I think that the first thing is that you don't have to be born an entrepreneur. You don't have to be fit the mold. I certainly didn't. I grew up in a small town. I was a ballerina. I worked hard. But also being a performer, you learn how to take feedback and make adjustments. But I, I, I, I wasn't thinking that in my life I would be part of starting a company. And I just didn't know what I didn't know. I think we know so much more about entrepreneurship now, 20 years later. Uh, but I think that, you know, you don't have to have started a company in college to be a successful entrepreneur by any means. I think what happens is that certain people come together, call it fate, you know, the universe. And those people may have complimentary skill sets such that they're able to create something magical. And for me, I'm really great at systems thinking, and I'm really great at. At understanding what people want. And when I met Kevin and Saul, you know, lived vicariously through him. We. We met at a wedding and. And we're. We're dating. So, you know, I feel like it opened my eyes to the world of tech and the world of entrepreneurship and the. And that what drew me in was the velocity. And I'll never forget that first day, you know, opening my laptop and thinking, like, what now? And I'll never forget that moment and then understanding the immediate allure of building something from scratch. And for me, it connect the dots for me as to why I didn't love school, because I love to learn by doing.
- [11:44]
A
Yeah.
- [11:44]
B
And so getting my hands dirty and diving into something I didn't understand and figuring it all out on the fly for the last 20 years, it's not like I woke up a month ago and went, well, I've got it all figured out. I think that's the best part of being an entrepreneur.
- [12:00]
A
Yeah.
- [12:00]
B
Is. Is not ever knowing and constantly learning and iterating. And I mean, that's just. That's the best.
- [12:09]
A
Yeah. It's so exciting. It's. It's so stimulating every day where you just are, like, learning something new, solving problems. So you started your career off in tv.
- [12:22]
B
Right.
- [12:22]
A
And I'm always thinking about how skills that you gain in life, you always end up using the skills that you've acquired. And especially in today's world of AI and creator entrepreneurship being so popular, your unique skill set is just like, so important. Like, it makes it uniquely you. It's how you differentiate against AI, which can replicate a lot of tasks, but. But it can't replicate your lived experience. Right. So you being in TV and being a part of, like, hit shows like Jackass, how did that shape your skills as an entrepreneur? The opp. The opportunities you were able to see before everybody else was able to see it. What were the ways that it kind of inspired you to start Eventbrite?
- [13:08]
B
Well, I had, I think A very lucky and fortunate career in television in the span of only, say, five years. So it was a very short span of time between the time that I graduated to the time that I started. Vemp right at 25. But I was also interning throughout my entire college time. And so, you know, roughly nine years in Hollywood, being able to see some of the absolute best content being made. My first internship was on the set of Friends. Then, you know, I did a few other internships to try to figure out what I wanted to do and just to learn and what I didn't want to do. And then I. And then I found MTV and I found this, this department. It was one of four series development departments at mtv. There were two on the west coast and two on the east coast. And I was an intern there when the Jackass team sent in their pilot. I think that what I learned in that experience was how you can have a. An idea that is so groundbreaking and potent and clear. I mean, these guys were sure of what they wanted to do. The best part of working on that show were the weekly legal OSHA Standards and Practices conference call that we would have where I was on the creative side, but the guys would be, you know, in their space on a conference call, and they would have to describe in great detail what they wanted to do. And they would fa this totally dates me. But they would fax over, you know, maybe four pages, single line spaced of all of these ideas they had. And then the experts would have to go around and debate how they would actually be able to do these things. And, you know, it wasn't lost on us that we were sort of killing the magic as it were, you know, as we, as we were trying to recreate their ideas in a way that actually worked on, on cable. But. But that definitiveness of what they wanted to do was what I learned. Like, never get in the way of a creative idea and always find ways to enable that. And then at fx, I again, happen to just be in the right place at the right time when John Landgraaf was just taking over. And I think that era of television is unparalleled. And I, you know, it's a long time ago, but I remember these meetings where I'd be almost a fly on the walls. The. As the most junior person in the room listening to the creative depth of this team and what they eventually brought to air was such high quality. And, you know, that doesn't just happen.
- [15:55]
A
Yeah.
- [15:55]
B
And I think we're creating content at an unprecedented rate and volume today. But when you really think about the things that are category defining. Those tend to be things that have been getting worked out and worked on for many, many years.
- [16:11]
A
Yeah, totally. I totally agree with that. So I know that you started Eventbrite in 2006 or so.
- [16:19]
B
Yeah.
- [16:19]
A
What was the world like back then and what gap did you see that you wanted to fill?
- [16:25]
B
Okay, so I always feel really old when I describe this because it's hard to believe, but there was really no self service option to sell tickets to events. You had RSVP tools like Evite and you had large, you know, dinosaur incumbent solutions that were super expensive and practically on prem. So we were the first open platform for anyone. And some of the principles that we started with I think really defined what Eventbrite has become, which is we wanted Eventbrite to be as easy to use as Gmail. So we would test our every feature on Kevin's father and he was like our biggest alpha tester. We would, we wanted Eventbrite to be completely self service and that's hard to do with a payments transaction platform. And we move billions of dollars in microtransactions. The average ticket price is less than $50 on Eventbrite and we're doing multiple billions of dollars a year. But we didn't want to make it so hard to sign up that you know, you'd have this barrier. We wanted to lower all the barriers. And so we created a platform that on the back end could do a lot of the heavy lifting and fraud detection. But also on the front end it could be super simple. Just needed to set up your account and start selling tickets. Then we also wanted to be horizontal. We did not want to specialize in any single vertical of event and we type of event. And we also didn't want to just be in the US or in, you know, a few different, different countries. We, we launched on the PayPal API. So that allowed us to be in like 180 countries from the beginning. And the final thing that, that you know, that we did, I would say that was against the grain of, of common wisdom was we just undercut anyone else that was doing ticketing price wise. And we made free tickets free. So we only charged creators on the paid tickets that they were selling. And those decisions in the early days, well sort of like somewhat inconsequential because we were such a small company and we bootstrapped the company. So we sort of were just like, ah, what happens if you put a zero in the ticket price box? There's no fee. Okay, let's just do that. It'll like really annoy our competitors. Yeah, that ended up being such a huge part of the growth model of Eventbrite. So I think the, I think the moral of the story is like, wherever you're starting now, now in five years, it'll feel like 20 years ago, but you'll look back and go, oh my gosh, that was so provincial. But also the decisions you're making now, if they're, if they're strong and principled, they will be the backbone of your company and of your culture, really. And so we were kind of the only game in town and we started to really see growth and traction in bloggers and tech bloggers in SPE in particular, who were using Eventbrite for paid beat ups. And then I'll never forget the day we'd built this, this really kind of, you know, primitive map to show where the tickets were being sold on Eventbrite. It was a digital map, but it would, it would, it was on a screen in our tiny little office and it would show the logo of the event and, and where the ticket purchase was being made from. And I'll never forget when New York started to light up. And that was the first time that we were sort of getting out of the Bay Area in our little bubble. And it was for speed dating events. Oh, and I remember thinking like, oh, wow, that's a totally different genre than tech meetups. There's probably a joke in there somewhere, but like, wow. And you know, we were sort of off to the races at that point. So we, we bootstrapped until. And we had, we had friends and family support, but we bootstrapped until we really had product market fit. And then, and then we raised at that point.
- [20:38]
A
Yap Gang. As yap media has grown, we've gotten more and more applicants for every role, which sounds great, but in reality, most of them are not a fit. That's why we love using Indeed sponsor jobs. Sponsoring your jobs boosts it in these search results so the right candidates actually see your post. Instead of just getting more applicants, you get people who match the skills and experience that you're looking for. And get this, sponsored jobs are 95% more likely to report a hire than non sponsored jobs. Or according to Indeed data, if you're hiring right now, don't leave it up to chance. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status that it deserves. Indeed.com podcast I Again, that's Indeed.com podcast. Just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed. Sponsored Jobs. Yeah fam. Raise your hand if you've been putting off a doctor's appointment. Yeah, same. And for me it's even worse because I'm always traveling, bouncing around cities and so I, I don't really plan my health care weeks or months in advance. Most of the time I wake up and think I better go to the dentist and if I don't go right then and there in the next day or two, it can easily turn into months. That's exactly why I've been using ZocDoc for years. And honestly, over 15 years now, it is the main way that I schedule my health care. ZocDoc is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality and network doctors so you can find somebody that you love. I just open it up, search what I need, see the real reviews, check availability and book an in person or video visit instantly most of the time that same day. At this point, ZocDoc is quite literally the way that I handle all of my healthcare needs and I love that I get to see all the doctors that I visited and it's just saved in my profile and it's like my go to place to understand what are the doctors that I've seen in every city so that I could just go back to the same doctor so they have my information. So stop putting off these doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com profiting to find an instantly book a doctor that you love today. That's z O C doc.com/profiting zoc doc.com/profiting Again, that's zocdoc.com/profiting. And thanks to Zocdoc for supporting this message. Yeah fam, I'm all about doing health resets. I'm on a health kick this year. I tried juice cleanses, cutting sugar completely, even intermittent fasting, but they didn't stick for me because they were just too hard to follow, too strict. And so I was on the hunt of a way to lose five pounds transparently. That's how I came across Prolon. So me and my boyfriend have been together for about a year and we gained some weight over the holidays. We're just like in love and eating too much, going out to eat and just like in this puppy love stage where we're gaining some weight and we both wanted to lose weight. And Prolon is what I came across. It gives you a total reset and it prevents you from losing muscle mass. It's a five day nutrition program with plant based soups, snacks and beverages that keep your body in a fasting state while still nourishing you. And that's what helps support cellular rejuvenation and renewal. But the biggest thing for me is how easy it is. Everything is prepackaged and labeled day by day, which is great for somebody like me. So you know exactly what to eat, when to eat. No prep, no planning, no guesswork. It just puts you in the right fasting state so you can lose weight and reset your body. Are you ready to lose five pounds and for your own reset? For a limited time, Prolon is offering young and profiting listeners 15% off site wide plus a 40 bonus gift. When you subscribe to their five day program, just visit prolonlife.com profiting that's P R O L-O-N L I F.com profiting to claim your 15% discount and your bonus gift. That's prolonlife.com profiting prolonglife.com/profiting there's so many lessons for entrepreneurs in what you just said. So you tried to make it super user friendly as easy as Gmail. You had your husband's father testing it to make sure that even like an older person who wasn't tech savvy would be able to buy tickets on your platform. You had this guiding principle to democratize events and so that's why you decided on the 0 fee also. Right. So it was that like core value that actually helped really spread Eventbrite by word of mouth. Like I remember hearing about it probably like 2010, I was having events on Eventbrite. I had a little glass and I was using it and like everybody knew about it and it was like this cool platform. Like you said that it was just like free so there was no barriers, it was easy to just get hooked on it. And then you became like the household name of community event ticketing. And it was because you put it community first, not not monetization first.
- [25:47]
B
Right.
- [25:47]
A
So talk to us about the importance of finding product market fit and how and when you decided like okay, we this is really sticking and working. And then also like some of the thought behind like how to keep lowering those barriers to entry so that more people use it and spread it.
- [26:06]
B
You know, I think, I think there's, there's a lot of virtue in if you can, you know, being capital efficient. I think we're entering a period of time where that actually will be put to the test in a major way. Because while we're gaining massive efficiency and scale in creating new ideas, the cost to do it is so high, right with gpu and that will come down over time. But the computer is really a barrier. We didn't have a lot of barrier. The only barrier we had was could we put food on our table. And thankfully we figured out how to, you know, make do. But it allowed us to not be kind of distracted by maybe other people's agendas. And you know, and then when we did raise our first round of institutional funding, it was from Sequoia Capital roll up both. That was our earliest investor and board member for 14 years. And you know, we were really sure of the people we chose to be on this journey with us on the board investing in the company that they were value add and not valued, you know, extracting in terms of their agendas or their ideas. And that's totally possible. I mean, I think that, you know, oftentimes you hear the kind of age old story of a board not being fully aligned behind the entrepreneur and they all have their own agendas. And especially, especially if things go well, it's like, you know, everybody's got an agenda. And I just think, I don't think that has to be the case. I think if you really are thoughtful about the people that you, that you bring into the fold and put, asked to put on your team's jersey like you can, you can really, really get far and stay true to your principles. But I think that, that you know, the way that we built Eventbrite was this, this kind of perfect blend of, of who we were as founders. And I'm really proud of that because I think, you know, right around 2010 we were ready to go from a team, like a two pizza team to a, you know, full fledged company. And I remember the 2006 vintage companies had all gone through, either they hadn't made it or they'd all gone through hypergrowth challenges. And I remember thinking, wow, this seems inevitable that we're going to lose our culture, something's going to go wrong, we're going to scale too quickly and the wheels are going to kind of come off the bus. And I remember thinking, well, I feel for this company as I feel for my own human child. We had a two year old at that point and I thought there is this like unconditional love that I have. So I think what I'm going to do is die trying to make a great company alongside a successful business. And I think that commitment was really supported by Kevin and Renaud and I think it, it made a huge difference and helped Eventbrite become what it is today. And you know, obviously it tickles me Ping to hear you say it's a household name.
- [29:10]
A
Yeah.
- [29:11]
B
But I think it's like that didn't come easily and it didn't come from a way of. We were sitting in a room going, how do we scale? It was like very human.
- [29:21]
A
Yeah. So let's dig deep on the company culture part because you've won like so many awards of having such a great company to work at. Talk to us about leading up to Covid, what your company culture was like. What were some of the values that you were instilling? I know that you weren't the CEO, I believe at that point, or right before COVID you became CEO. Yeah. So. And you were really leading the culture and the people. So talk to us about what your strategy with that.
- [29:47]
B
Yeah, well, a few things. I mean, you know, we. So Kevin was CEO for the first 10 years and then I was CEO for the second 10 years. I'm really proud of the fact that we're still married. That's not an easy feat. And we, we loved working together the first 10 years. It was phenomenal because we again, are really complimentary in our skill set. So we just divided and he was
- [30:10]
A
like product and you were more people.
- [30:12]
B
Yeah, I was marketing and customer service. He was product. And then as we scaled, I became more, I guess, culture. And I don't know, my title was incredibly nebulous. It was president, which I was sort of confused by. But I would have been intern if I could, if I could have done that first. When I took over, it was like about a thousand times harder than I expected. You know, he had made it look so easy. And I, to this day, I'm not over the fact that, you know, he just didn't. Didn't really tip his hand onto how, how challenging it is to be a CEO and how mental it is. Like the most, the biggest challenge is yourself in your own head. He did it with such ease. And then the second thing was, you know, thought of our culture as sort of like building Legos. You know, it's, it's. You're like laying if you lay the right foundation, you can build a lot of different things on top of it. But sometimes you like build a tower that's way too high, like falls over and it's really about sort of that the other supporting LEGO structures that you can actually have a culture that's sustainable but also can go through hard times. And so right when I took over as CEO, when I stepped in in 2016, it was like the good times were rolling. We were, you know, a private company eyeing an IPO about to acquire our largest competitor in music. Somebody had written an article about our company that said we were like the Disneyland of startups. When you walked into our office, like everything, I just, I definitely understand the art of energy and gathering and you know, and man, like the minute I maybe perhaps feel felt like. I don't think I ever felt like we had it made. I think I'm always healthily paranoid, but I mean, that was like a very fleeting moment because we acquired this big competitor that was like oil and water, culture wise. I was completely naive and thinking that, you know, oh, we can just come together, it'll be Kumbaya. Not. That was not the case. It was incredibly difficult. And then we prepared to go public. We went public and then we were like a new public company stumbling in the public markets, you know, trying to do a lot of things. And I kind of, I, I came into, came into 2019 and then transitioning into 2020 feeling like we were spinning five plates with the right hand and like patting our stomachs with the left and it was just. And like standing on one leg and it was a lot. And we needed to simplify and we needed to focus. And so 2020 was our focus year. It was just like, we know what we need to do, we know how to get there. Let's stop doing all this other really cool, bright, shiny object stuff because we've really got to get back to basics. And then March 4th of 2020 happened and just. Yeah. So it felt like, you know, I think what people like maybe don't know is like we weren't in great shape going into Covid. We were like going. We had gone through a really tough year.
- [33:31]
A
Yeah.
- [33:31]
B
And we, but we were, we were stronger and leaner and fitter, so to, so to speak, going into 2020, which actually helped us tremendously when we had to completely reset and reimagine the company.
- [33:43]
A
What was going through your mind and what were some of the things that were happening once events stopped and what did that mean for how you had to like Think about your company, restructure your company, rethink company culture. And also, I know that you got a lot of scrutiny online for, for the layoffs and things, so. So talk to us about that.
- [34:03]
B
Yeah, I mean, you know, certainly I, I have a lot of empathy for people who live in the future whose job it is to be futurists, especially when people are unwilling to believe them, because that's only happened to me once. And you know, we had the benefit of having. We having been close to the head of the infectious disease department at ucsf, Joe derisi, who is a phenomenal scientist and public health expert, having people around us who maybe are on the slightly more paranoid side, weren't sure exactly what was going to happen, but knew how we needed to handle it if it were the worst that we could possibly imagine. And it was the worst that we could possibly imagine. And I have to say, Kevin was there for me the whole time. He dropped everything he was working on and he has a sense of urgency and decisiveness that is second to none. So what I was thinking was this is going to be really bad and we need to move very quickly for a number of different reasons, but not least of which to be able to help our creators rebuild their businesses.
- [35:29]
A
Yeah.
- [35:30]
B
Now there was a moment of time, about two months where our customers did not understand what we saw. And that was really hard because we had to make changes pretty immediately to help them save their businesses. And they didn't even. It's not that they didn't have the intelligence, but they just didn't have the information that we had. There was like asymmetrical information and willingness to believe.
- [35:58]
A
Like they didn't. They thought events were going to continue or this was temporary or something. Like everybody thought that.
- [36:03]
B
Right. And it's not that we had like, you know, security level information. We just were listening to the worst case scenario and had wise people around us telling us there's no like, downside to believing the worst case scenario, especially when you're facing something that could be so, so crushing. I mean, the whole basis of our business went away like 14 years in the making, was actually completely gone in 14 days.
- [36:35]
A
Wild.
- [36:35]
B
We were processing more refunds than revenue. Our tableau dashboards broke because our revenue was negative. And they didn't. We hadn't accounted for that in the configuration. And again, we had to be the bearer of bad news in such a critical time when everyone was so scared and confused anyways. Like, never underestimate the human's ability to be optimistic, you know, and Cling to hope. And then, yeah, we had to kind of be like, no, it's. This is going to be bad. You need to not pay your vendors or your venue right now. You need to think about how you're going to refund your fans. You know, changing the company was a non negotiable. We couldn't, we couldn't actually keep going.
- [37:21]
A
Yeah.
- [37:22]
B
The way that we were. And I wanted our actions as it came to company to be really intentional and thoughtful. And I wanted us. I knew that we would have to change the size of the company during a really scary time. And so I started with a core question, which was, given what we know about this business, what would we do if we could do it all over again? And I asked my team that and the executive team at the time was a mix of tenured people who'd been there from the beginning, who had just arrived, who had perspective from different companies. And we wrote down a one pager that basically described what we would do if we could do it all over again. And the punchline was, we get to do it all over again if we make the right decisions here. So let's go do this. And we built the company to that model. And, um, you know, a lot of it was getting back to the basics. A lot of it was getting back to the core principles of the company. This is entail as old as time. You scale you. You let ambition take you into new areas, you get more complicated, you start, you know, bolting things on. We had a lot of cleanup to do and so that's what we really focused on. But first we had to throw away our product roadmap and just help our customers and help our creators figure out a pathway forward, which included online events, which included, you know, offering credits to their customers alongside refunds, which included how do you create community, branding and togetherness in a time when everybody has to be apart? Um, and that really took us through, you know, much of 2020.
- [39:02]
A
Yeah. And, you know, Covid lasted a pretty long time. I remember, really, I started my business in 2020. It's really funny to think how 2020 was so detrimental to some businesses, but then gave so much opportunity to other businesses. Like, for me, I had my podcast for a couple years and then I started my. I quit my job and started my social media podcast agency at a time where everybody wanted social and podcast. So it was like million dollars, like right away in revenue. In revenue. Like before we even hit a year with my agency, like, it just took off and I was doing a Ton of online events at that time, like Clubhouse was really popular and just like all these sort of like webinar type events. And I'm sure Eventbrite was supporting creators doing that. But now fast forward 2026, everyone is like clamoring for these like in person events and it's becoming more of a trend than ever. Even though there's so much opportunity online for creator entrepreneurs and making money online, there's also a lot of opportunity right now for live events. And I'd love to learn from you. What are some of the trends that you're seeing in the live event space and why is it something that people who have a lot of followers, creator entrepreneurs, something that they should really think about?
- [40:20]
B
Well, I mean I, I would start from like kind of a heady place, which is, you know, in ma's hierarchy of needs, you have the physiological needs. So food, water, air, you have a need for security and shelter and right above that you have a need for connectedness. And the reason why I bring that up is not because it looks good on a honest strategy deck, it's really because in the span of 20 years we have seen several technological advances and revolutions and pivot points that, you know, for all intents and purposes could have driven us farther away from being together in real life. And through all of those, whether it's social media, mobile phones and how much content, you know, we're watching and, and, and scrolling through virtual reality, global pandemic now, AI, it's all of these things have been enablers of bringing us together and also have driven up the premium value of live experiences. People want to or are can now find their people and find their niche online. It's incredibly accessible to find your people now, but it drives this desire to want to then meet them in the flesh. And it, I think there's a combination of a few things going on. One is the old adage of you don't know what you got till it's gone.
- [41:55]
A
Yeah.
- [41:56]
B
And I would say for rich countries, the taking away of liberties and being able to be together momentarily or that stress that got put into the system of being together made people realize how important it is to be in, in real life. And I also think, you know, I think about the story that happened on Eventbrite, which was an incredible creator. Radha Agarwal started a company called Daybreaker. Prior to Covid, they were doing early morning raves where I've heard of total like epic events where it's like 5am and it's sunset on the sun Coffee and stuff. Yeah, like coffee, kombucha, but just like total parties. And they were doing like a thousand people in multiple cities. Covid hits. And they set up a studio kind of like this, you know, in New York, which is like total nightmare. And they start live streaming these Sunday morning dance parties. And within a few months, this had grown to a global party of over a hundred thousand people a week.
- [43:12]
A
Wow.
- [43:12]
B
Of all ages. You know, people who just wanted to feel that connection and that magic and were like stuck at home with their kids. And it became this ritual and they became a totally different company out of COVID So to your point, they built a multimedia platform and their business became massive. And I think that, that, that idea of, you know, accessibility and bringing these otherwise pretty exclusive events, you had to live in like a cool city and kind of be in the know to the masses. Opened an opportunity and open people's eyes to what could, what could happen in the future.
- [43:47]
A
Yeah.
- [43:47]
B
And now I think, you know, we have this almost like renaissance coming out of this pandemic. We've seen this before, so big, big, massive pandemic. And then this renaissance period of creativity and connection that I think is going to breed a whole new generation of live experiences that kind of cross the transformation transom of, you know, I'm a passive participant to. I'm in the middle of this storyline.
- [44:14]
A
Yeah.
- [44:14]
B
And that's, I think, what people are looking for. And we see it time and time again continue to reinvent itself and grow in strength.
- [44:22]
A
Yeah. So for somebody who's really interested, like you mentioned, there's this huge opportunity in creating experiences and actually not just like talking to people at an event, actually bringing them in so they're like actually participating. What are some of the coolest events that you've seen or opportunities for entrepreneurs when it comes to throwing these, these new types of experiences?
- [44:43]
B
Well, I think the authority on this, in my opinion, is a woman named Priya Parker. She wrote the Art of Gathering. And she is, you know, I think one of the foremost experts on, on sort of social dynamics and how to create a memorable connection. And she's done this through, you know, conflict resolution, but she actually like applies it to sort of any, any genre. And so I highly recommend checking out her work.
- [45:12]
A
I gotta interview her. She sounds interesting.
- [45:13]
B
She's incredible. And she talks about generous authority of hosting and just the job of a host and how important that is. And I think so often we get to about 10 or 20% of what that, that role actually is. And I think the coolest Events that I have found on the platform and otherwise have been experiences where the host, the creator is thinking from beginning to end about the experience of the guest or the fan or the participant and drawing them in in a way that is going to take them through the arc of story or them through the arc of learning, or them through the magic of connection. And they have that idea in their head through the eyes of their customer from beginning especially to end. And I love. I love Priya so much because she. She like kind of harps on this thing that I'm not great at, which is a great ending. Like I know how to begin a talk, a speech, an event, a party, a dinner. I know exactly how I want to give that opening toast or connection and I'm terrible at. How do you tie it in a bow? Like, how do you create that magical end that everybody.
- [46:25]
A
Because that's the last thing that people rem.
- [46:27]
B
Yeah, that's so. I mean, there have been these in. I mean, the best part about Eventbrite is that because we didn't predetermine what kind of event should use Eventbrite every single day we were seeing incredible concepts and formats that we never even thought of. And in that way we were able. We are able to be sort of micro trend forecasters of what's. Of what's coming up. And I think, you know, recently, I think Book Talk has like given way to just these incredibly immersive events around genres like Romantasy, you know, and like how you create these like fully immersive experiences around one book series that just sort of grows and lives on and on and on. And it's not your typical Book Talk, you know, it's not going to. I love a good Book Talk so, you know, and a local bookshop, but it's like more so actually bringing people into the full 360 view of an author's mind around a story that they created and how the fans of that can become a part in the story. And it's just like that. I mean, not to be cheesy, but that is a tale as old as time. That is something that people really want.
- [47:47]
A
Something that you just touched on was that Eventbrite's product was able to sort of evolve.
- [47:53]
B
Oh yeah. With the.
- [47:54]
A
With, you know, Covid and going back to events and just like now it's like, you know, so many things have changed over the last 20 years. Like it's. It's night and day. But you also have said that company culture has to be able to evolve. Yes. And you can't like have the same company culture as day one, as year 20. So I'd love to learn from you, you know, how you think about company culture, what kind of values you had in the beginning, and like how I had to change over time.
- [48:19]
B
When I think about the Eventbrite product and why it worked and why it became ubiquitous with live experiences, I think a lot of it was that we built it to melt into the background. We wanted our creators and their events and the people who gathered around that passion to be front and center. So all of our marketing, all of our storytelling was really around that. We started to become and evolve naturally from just a platform and like a utility into a marketplace. When we realized that we could start to help creators find bigger audiences and when we realized that people were coming to Eventbrite to find things to do because they realized that we had really niche content that they couldn't find on other platforms. So that evolution of a marketplace was really going on in parallel to the evolution of the Eventbrite culture. And I'll never forget when I, when I took on the sort of self anointed role of, of, of like coming to the table of every major business decision, putting Breitlings, which is our cute little name first, like their needs first. Then I realized like great cultures are often just a manifestation of the people at the company at any given time. And because of that, cultures change. You know, they change through time because people come and go. I mean, being a founder and being a CEO, you have to be okay with people leaving you all the time. Sometimes they come back. And that was my favorite was a Breitling Boomerang. But I, I thought like, you know, it's not about preserving a culture. We're not like a bug stuck in ember. You know, it's about creating something that's more like an amoeba that like can, can travel through time and space, but sustain itself and grow stronger over time. And one of the things that I thought was interesting is just that we, we measure certain parts of a culture to get some sort of finite metric about how we're doing. You know, most companies have something like culture amp that sends out surveys to their, to their employees and you get these scores and you scrutinize the scores and you know, you could cut the data a million different ways. Frankly, I always thought that was like a waste of time because a. I don't think we were asking the right questions. And baby, I think those, you know, it's, it's sort of like a Snapshot. I was never afraid of getting bad scores on that because if something was hard was going on at the company, I would have expected the scores to be lower, you know. And I was also really, like, mindful of the fact that you can't ever have the happiest culture. That's not possible. What I was striving to do is create the most sustainable culture in that our principles would sustain themselves, we could trust each other, and that, you know, through hard times and good times, there would be connection. And I think the, the, the most common thing that was said about Eventbrite in the employee experience was that people care for one another and that that really matters. I think a lot.
- [51:37]
A
Yeah.
- [51:38]
B
And I have been forever in pursuit of creating a successful business where people really cared for one another and where you had. Where you just, you had like three things. Best place to work, best manager, and best friend. Those were really important to me.
- [51:58]
A
Yeah. That's so cute. Yeah, fam. Have you ever had a message you meant to reply to and then just didn't? It happens to the best of us. And in business, that adds up fast. Because when somebody is ready to talk, speed can secure the deal. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q U O. The smarter way to run your business Communications. I've seen this firsthand with my clients. Suddenly, a lot of our clients don't want Slack or cool automations. They just want to text and get a fast response. They want to go back to basics. And if we don't make that easy for them, we become the bottleneck. So we decided to switch to Quo. Now we use one shared business number. Every call and text goes to the whole team. Every everybody sees the thread and anyone can respond and nothing gets lost. No bottlenecks. No. I'll get back to this later. Just fast, clean communication. How clients actually want it. It's a simple shift that removes one of the easiest ways to quietly lose revenue. Money is on the line. Yeah, fam. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com profiting. That's quote.com/profiting. Quo.com profiting. What's up yap gang? You know, starting a business sounds exciting until you realize that suddenly you're the marketer, designer, tech support and operations team all at once. And that can get overwhelming fast. And that's why for a lot of people, the hardest part isn't the idea, it's getting started. That's Where Shopify comes in Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses worldwide and about 10% of all E commerce in the US from notable brands to people just starting out, it helps you do everything in one place. You can build a store with ready to use templates, use AI tools to write product descriptions and headlines, and run email and social campaigns without juggling a dozen platforms. It also handles payment, inventory, shipping and returns. And if you get stuck, there's 24. 7 support. So if you've been thinking, what if this idea could work, it's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.comprofiting go to shopify.com profiting again. That's shopify.com profiting. Yap Gang I didn't really understand the importance of life insurance until I saw what it did for my family. When my dad passed, my dad had life insurance and when he died, my mom was taken care of financially. And in an already difficult moment, that stability made a huge difference for us. It's something that I've never forgotten. That experience changed how I think about all of it. Life insurance isn't really about you. It's about the people that you leave behind. That's why I want to share Fabric by Gerber Life Fabric by Gerber Life is term life insurance you can get done today made for busy entrepreneurs and parents like you all. You could do it right from your couch and you could be covered in under 10 minutes, often with no health exam required. And it's designed so you can choose coverage that actually fits your family and your budget. Because being responsible isn't just about what you build in your lifetime. It's about what you leave protected. Join the thousands of entrepreneurs and parents who trust fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes@meetfabric.com profiting that's meetfabric.com profiting and use my link so they know that I sent you. That's M E E T fabric F A b r I c.com profiting meatfabric.com profiting policies issued by Western Southern Life Assurance Company not available in certain states Prices subject to underwriting and health questions. So I want to focus more about your, like, entrepreneurship journey personally. Yeah, something that you said early, very early on in the conversation is that like, entrepreneurship is like it's kind of in your head. What did you mean by that?
- [56:01]
B
Well, I think being a CEO is a mind game first and foremost, because a Lot of people feel ownership for a company no matter what their title is. And I realize that now, now more than ever having the CEO title is this construct. And I actually, it's an interesting construct because I'm starting to wonder if it will be the be like the title that we use in the future. But being the like single point leader of any organization just creates this sort of like headiness. And I do think, I definitely think there are people who are trying to like flatten the Org and you know, get away from being. But like ultimately there's always going to be that leader. And I never took from, for granted the idea that because I was on the founding team, I would be a good CEO. I think that's actually a huge misnomer and I think it's, it's why some companies fail because the people who were there at the beginning, who were, you know, brave enough to start the company, aren't, are definitely not often the right people to run the company.
- [57:16]
A
Yeah.
- [57:16]
B
And while it's incredibly valuable to have a founder running the company, you have to be leveling up every single day, I mean, literally every, sometimes multiple times a day to be the person that's most deserving of that title.
- [57:32]
A
What kind of skills were you like, okay, like Kevin was doing this, this and that. I've got to figure like, was it like the financials or like what kind of skills were you thinking? Like, I've got to nail this down in order to be the best CEO that's going to take this company public.
- [57:47]
B
I wasted so much time asking myself, what would Kevin do? I mean, he was right there, but I worried that I was not doing it anywhere as good as he was. And I really wish I could have all that time back because I just did it different, you know, and that's not better or worse. I think in some instances it was worse, in some instances it was better. Certainly, you know, table stakes are strategy, financials, ability to communicate a compelling vision. I mean that was, that was like, you know, I think what everybody needs to have. I think some of the things that I learned later after Covid made me. Leading through Covid made me stop asking myself what somebody else would do and start really getting behind what I knew we needed to do. I had a lot more conviction after that crisis. And Covid wasn't the first crisis. I mean, we had a just kind of this like rolling wave of crises after Covid. I think some of the skills that are underrated and under practiced is listening and seeking to understand. Often as a leader you want to. You. You are kind of asked implicitly and explicitly to know everything.
- [59:09]
A
Yeah.
- [59:09]
B
And to always have the right answer. And that is completely, completely a garbage idea. Like, if one person had all the right answers, this would be a really boring life. You know, the whole point of working on something together is to get the best ideas, to distill an amalgamation of the best ideas, to get diverse thinkers and people around a table problem solving toward a better outcome. And so I felt at first that I had to have all the right answers. And when I became more confident, I was able to ask to a say, I don't have all the answers, and I want to learn from different perspectives. And it wasn't that I wanted to be told what to do, but I actually wanted to take everybody's perspective, synthesize it and make the call.
- [60:04]
A
Yeah.
- [60:05]
B
Right. And that's incredibly rewarding. But I think often what happens is we either just make believe that we have the right answer and we make a call, or we have recency bias and we do what the last best idea was given to us. Right. We listen to the last person and go, okay, I'm going to do that.
- [60:24]
A
Yeah.
- [60:24]
B
Or, you know, we just seek to listen for bias of confirmation that we're right. And so I think be getting to a place where you could say every day the right answer might not live in my head, it might live somewhere else. I'm going to go find it by. By being. By practicing appreciative inquiry. I think that's like the next level. And that is an evolved part of it, being an evolved leader. And then another part of it is, you know, being able to be corrected and change your mind and be okay with that and let, like, let people in on that without it becoming this sort of, you know, destabilizing moment.
- [61:07]
A
Yeah.
- [61:08]
B
And I think the things that I wish I would have done better, I wish I would have taken more risks. I definitely think coming through Covid was such a harrowing journey and. And, you know, definitely took us holding hands and making a couple really hard moves and leaps that after that I became a little bit more protective of the company. And I feel like I could have taken more risks. And another thing I could have done is. Is been a bit tougher. And I don't know if other people would agree with me on that, but I feel like I have always been really in tune with what people are going through and what they're feeling. And that empathy can be ruinous sometimes because I can get really kind of. I can revert to the mean of what I think a group of people are capable of, and that's often undershooting the goal.
- [62:04]
A
So, like, you were putting the people first, not the company first. Yeah, yeah, I do that sometimes too, because it's like you just care so much about the people. But ultimately the company should be the first priority. But there's probably some benefit in doing that as well, because there's loyalty involved and.
- [62:21]
B
Well, I think I learned this incredible lesson in the last hour of leading Eventbrite, so to speak, which was the last two years or so. I had been really sure of where I. Where we needed to be. And I had been almost like this white knuckle grip on the reins. And when we announced that we were selling the company, I really had this moment. I. I didn't know what I was doing because I had never done that before. So I was totally in new territory. And I got sense that everybody was just like, immediately disconnected and detached. I remember, like going onto a zoom and it was like dead face everywhere. And I'm like, oh, you know, how are we going to operate over the next few months as we move to. Yeah, we need to go as a public company. You have to go through regulatory compliance and approval. And so I thought, like, oh, gosh, I got really, really, really low for like a night.
- [63:25]
A
So, like, your team was upset because they're like, what does this mean for my job? They weren't upset.
- [63:30]
B
I mean, my. My team is. Are consummate professionals and they had, you know, known that we were going to be going private and. And they were really amazing. But I could just tell they were sort of. They needed a beat a little bit longer than I needed and I was ready to get back to work and kind of like plow through this period of uncertainty. And I remember just feeling really down and dejected, like, oh, no, this is going to be a terrible few months. Like, what have I done? And so I came back to them the next day and I was like, you know, I think this is how we should operate over the next few months. Do the right thing for the customer, always do the right thing for each other, always take care of one another and have fun and kind of like, yolo, like, we are not going to be together for that much longer because we knew the structure of the deal and what would happen post close. Oh, my God. Like, from that point forward, I released the white knuckle grip. And as it were, I think somebody said, you know, it's like having a good hair day before you go to Get a haircut. Every day something was going better than it was before, up and to the right. And it wasn't, it wasn't. At first I thought, like, oh, it's just people feeling kind of bittersweet about this and adjusting to it. No, it, it definitively giving people those, like, pretty loose, you know.
- [64:56]
A
Yeah.
- [64:57]
B
The handcuffs were guardrails and being like, just go do your best. It was like, actually better for the company. And that was my, my last lesson. That's a pretty big one.
- [65:07]
A
So 20 years of lessons. Yeah. You ended up exiting the company. I'd love to understand what it feels like, because for me, like, I've, I've been running my company for like six, seven years, and it's so ingrained in, like, who I am. It's so attached to my identity. You founded your company as well. What does it feel like to exit a company? Like, did you have any grief or is it more like, or do you feel like relief? Like, what do you feel?
- [65:40]
B
It's hard to tell. I mean, I, I, I can only equate it to being postpartum in terms of any other, like, life experience that feels familiar, where there's like a world of possibility in this new shiny thing of the future that you, you know, that you're excited about, but you also don't know what which end is up and you're like, totally confused about how time moves. I feel like, you know, for 20 years I've had this singular focus. I really am not the type of person to have many different types of pursuits. I was like the monorail. You know, in our family, it was like eventbrite and my family and my friends.
- [66:25]
A
Yeah.
- [66:26]
B
So, yeah, I, I definitely think that there's grief. I, I pre grieved, which was like, probably my way of, of, you know, handling this. And I'm sure, I'm sure I need to go through this kind of hard moment of not immediately jumping into the next thing. And that was, you know, that was something that I knew in my gut and had been told about, I don't know, a million times from people once the news was public. Like, don't jump into something right away and just taking the time to reflect. And then, you know, I think I, I really just want to help people and I know that I want to personally go back and learn from square one. Like, that's so important to me. And so, you know, I don't know exactly what that is, but I'm being, being very, very intentional about how I build the next 20 years.
- [67:28]
A
Yeah.
- [67:28]
B
Which is kind of cool. Sort of like these, you know, these eras.
- [67:31]
A
Yeah. It's like a new chapter that you get to figure it out, and with so much more freedom.
- [67:36]
B
I never felt like I didn't have freedom is the thing. Like, I always felt like, how lucky am I to work on the thing that I feel most passionate about, that I was able to help build, that I was. I was there when it was born, and I was there when it flew. The cooperation. And how lucky am I? I never, ever felt burdened or obstructed or held back from being the leader of Eventbrite. I felt like, what an honor and a privilege. So, you know, like, that. That to me, yes, I went through what. Who am I going to be without it? This is my whole identity. Am I going. Am I going to be irrelevant? Am I going to, you know, fall into a deep, dark depression? I would say it's been about a month, and I feel like there's a lot of opportunity. A lot has come my way, which I feel really, really grateful for. But I know that I need to take my time and go slow and. And I have this, like. I don't know, I have this passion around this idea of, like, in television, you reset to one right when you're shooting a scene. You go back to the beginning, you do it again. I have, like, obsession with that concept. I don't know what format it'll take. But I do know that as I. As I start to spend time with other people, you know, incredible content creators like yourself, and, you know, I'm. I'm lucky enough to be advising Sammy Cohen and people like her, where I just feel like I now have the time to learn more and to support. But I also just have this. This insatiable appetite of learning. And rather than go off and be the sort of wise sage that, you know, knows everything, I want to do the opposite.
- [69:21]
A
You want to go back to starting something?
- [69:23]
B
I want to reset to one. I don't know what that means, but we'll see.
- [69:25]
A
That's so exciting. Yeah. Another question that I have for you that I'm very curious about, because something that I want to. I don't have kids yet. And so, like, I really want to have kids soon. And I. I've been going through this, like, internal struggle of, like, could I really be a CEO? Like, I'm. I'm running a pot. I feel like I have three jobs. I have two companies, a podcast. Could I really tack on a kid onto this? And my partner is also an entrepreneur, and like, he's not slowing down. He's actually a little younger than me.
- [69:56]
B
Yeah.
- [69:57]
A
So how did you balance it all? You're one of the only really successful female entrepreneurs. Like, there's not that many. Like, there are, but there's more now. Thankfully, there are more now. But I would say, like, nine out of 10 successful entrepreneurs on the show, or even, you know, more than that, are men.
- [70:15]
B
Yeah. I mean, when. When we took Eventbrite Public In 2018, I was the 21st woman to found and lead the company into an IPO as CEO.
- [70:28]
A
Wow.
- [70:28]
B
Ever. That was, like, really sad to me.
- [70:31]
A
Yeah.
- [70:32]
B
It was, like, really bittersweet to hear. I was, like, less stoked about that.
- [70:35]
A
And you're like, what's wrong with the world?
- [70:37]
B
And I was the second youngest ever, and I was not that young. So, you know, I. I do reflect a lot about. On how. How I have made it happen, and I think it's a confluence of factors that's incredibly personal. But the thing that I see happening more often now than I experienced because I was pretty young when I had my first. I was 28. So pretty young by that, by, like, modern times, is that I didn't. I didn't really overthink it. And I think now, like, with science being where it is, thankfully we have options to. To, like, put off having kids for longer and later. And I think that's great, but it also kind of makes you overthink it. And what I like to tell people, and I've. I've had this conversation with so many. So many women and men at Eventbrite. One of my favorite parts of building a company is being able to be in people's lives. We have, you know, I think, over two dozen babies that were born to people who met at Eventbrite. So that I take that very seriously. But I always would say you got yourself here somehow. There were things that you were born with. There were things that you learned. There were challenges that you overcame. There were things. Opportunities that you took. You are going to get to that next level, which, you know, in your. In your case is building a business and building a family with the exact same tactics. And like, it doesn't. It does. It's. It's certainly life defining, for sure, but it also, I use. For me personally, I thought of it as, hey, kid, you're getting on my train. And like, you get on the train and we're going. I'm not saying stopping the train to then divert a different way. And I. I was so passionate about that. And Am so passionate about that with women in the workplace of. Let's go through all the ways in which you personally have gotten here, because those are the things that, you know. You know, maybe you take it for granted and let's apply it to the future and like, that's how you're going to do it.
- [72:51]
A
Yeah.
- [72:52]
B
And we became very specific and precise about our support of. Of people building their families while working at Eventbrite to ensure that women had the highest degree of success possible in coming back and building their careers. And that, to me, was really important work that we did. You know, we didn't. Yes, we won awards and whatnot, but I mean, we really didn't do it for that. We. We did it because it was the right thing to do. And because Kevin and I had gone through the process of having a child and having a family and building company, we had that empathy. And so I think that's going to be a really important part of the next era for you, is really having confidence in your ability to figure it out, because it's different for everybody. And it's not easy, but it's certainly not impossible.
- [73:47]
A
Yeah.
- [73:48]
B
And I think that the final thing I'll say, because I have older kids now. I've. I've older kids and younger kids. I have two cohorts of ages. And I can say without a doubt, it. It definitely takes a different level of engagement and parenting in different chapters of the child's life. And so you can. It's not just one mode.
- [74:11]
A
Yeah.
- [74:12]
B
You know, and. And I think that's like, maybe something that people don't talk about that, you know, there are times when you can really lean in and do one side or the other for. And I would say I used to always get told this, and I never believed it until I experienced it. Bigger kids, bigger problems. And so, you know, it's like, as they get older, it does. It definitely takes a lot more cognitively to guide a young adult through the world than.
- [74:40]
A
Yeah.
- [74:41]
B
You know, a small child.
- [74:42]
A
Incredible advice. Thank you so much. That's incredible advice. If you had to start all over, would you still go into business with your partner?
- [74:52]
B
Oh, a thousand times. I mean, we really. The last 10 years have been the most challenging for us because we haven't been working side by side. So while we both have, you know, this. This shared passion and unconditional love for Eventbrite, we weren't sitting. We sat side by side for the first 10 years. Yeah. I mean, it just. It's. It's amazing. So I would say do it if you can. I mean it's, it's such a rewarding experience to be able to build something together and to have that shared experience and context and passion. And you know, I, I, I would say like if I had to place a bet, we likely are going to do something together again because we really enjoyed that bonding.
- [75:36]
A
Right? Yeah.
- [75:37]
B
And way of being side by side in something that's not just the kids or not just, you know, our personal lives, but something that you're building that's, that's incredibly valuable.
- [75:46]
A
You exited Eventbrite and AI is taking over. It's going to be bigger than electricity, than the Internet. It's like the biggest technology shift that we've ever seen. What's your advice to the new leaders of Eventbrite as they approach this AI era?
- [76:06]
B
Well, part of why we chose Bending Spoons who acquired Eventbrite is because they have a track record of applying, you know, cutting edge technology to consumer businesses to drive a better result for the customer. I think that they are misunderstood in the U.S. i think they're going to be an enormously successful company and I feel really strongly about the stewardship of their, of, of them to Eventbrite because of how they think, how they've run the company and, and ultimately the kind of people they are because at the end of the day, you know, when it comes down to it, are they making the right decisions for people that they, they're constantly thinking about how to better the experience of the customer and how to put the customer in a better spot all the time. So that was really like important to me as I was thinking through this, the set of options that we have. Also a company like Eventbrite is basically in a very, very crowded space of companies that either have to completely disrupt themselves or they will be gone. And I wanted Eventbrite to be around longer than us. And I think that in order to drive longevity you have to be really sure about, about again the splaying slate exercise because this is a reimagination moment for most companies. MO almost all Web 2.0 companies are absolutely facing this existential opportunity. And so I think one of the things just that I think is really important that may seem kind of silly is just I think the people who are leading companies need to be playing with AI every single day. It as almost like as hobbyists. And I just think that that is something that gets missed because people are either too busy doing their day job or they're reading about it as passive participants. But they're not like setting up their open claw. They're not, you know, using it in all these different ways, even if it's just in their personal life. I think just getting to be more fluent faster is really important. And the final thing I'll say is that I do think that there's a rate of change that, that that outpaces humans ability. And I think we have to be prepared to go back to the basics, you know, of human emotion, of human desire, of that Maslow's hierarchy of needs to come together and work together through this massive dislocation, change and big uncertainty.
- [78:45]
A
You were just saying that you want Eventbrite to live on beyond you and your husband. Why? Why is that? Why is that so important to you?
- [78:53]
B
Because I think the legacy of what Eventbrite brings to the world is really important. Eventbrite's the largest platform of live experiences in the world. We are the second largest trafficked events site in the world. We are a place where niche is mass, where people can find their identity, they can find their people, they can connect and they can create indelible memories. So I know that may sound heady, but if not Eventbrite, then who? And Eventbrite I know is a place where everyone is included and there's a way for, you know, the new stewards of Eventbrite to create something that is a magnitude of, you know, order magnitude larger than what we created. I'm so excited to see that because the world needs in person, live experiences now more than ever.
- [79:48]
A
Yeah. Okay, last question. Before I go on to like the couple questions I end my show with. What is like your top 13 pieces of advice for entrepreneurs tuning in right now who want to build a company as big as Eventbrite is.
- [80:07]
B
I can't stress enough the importance of capital efficiency. I think that like the. It gives you freedom, it gives you options, it gives you power. You know, it is, it's really important. And I actually was just listening to one of my business heroes, Anna Botin, who's the head of Santander, the largest bank in Europe. And I mean she wakes up every day thinking about that. And they're incredibly valuable company with over 180 million customers. And you know, she's obsessed with how to, how to drive efficiency and, and, and make more money. And I think, you know, it's sometimes alluring to raise the big round and alluring to get the nice office and alluring to say that you've raised, you know, but it's, that is all smoke and mirrors. If you don't have a very, very strong way to return on your invested capital.
- [81:14]
A
One of the last questions that I ask all my guests is something actionable that we can do today. So what is one actionable thing that our young and profits can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?
- [81:26]
B
I would say to take the exercise of a blank slate. If you're working on something or you're about to launch something, take a blank sheet of paper, physical paper out, and draw the diagram of what would be a better version of that. And constantly be thinking about how you can iterate even your best idea. Because right now, every six hours, things are changing. So, I mean, you know, it's, it's quite literally your, your idea yesterday can be made better today. And I think just being willing to constantly iterate even your best ideas and ask yourself, what would I do if I could do it all over again? Will yield a better, probably bigger risk taking approach. And I wish I would have done that even more often.
- [82:15]
A
Julia, this was such an awesome interview. I feel like I learned so much and I feel so inspired.
- [82:20]
B
Thank you.
- [82:20]
A
My last question to you is, what is your secret to profiting in life?
- [82:26]
B
Wow. I think it is being. This sounds so cliche, but I, I really think it's about like genuine gratitude. Not forced gratitude, but genuine gratitude and grounding in the thing that, you know you are incredibly grateful for. And I think that's just different for everybody. And I think oftentimes people get confused or overly convoluted about what they should be grateful for. I think just having that simple knowledge, that knowingness of what you're grateful for and reminding yourself of that constantly is a really great way to see opportunity, to seek connection, to build resilience, and to find joy.
- [83:14]
A
And where can our listeners learn more about you and everything that you do well?
- [83:17]
B
I'm on Instagram. Julia Harts. Julia Harts. And then I'm also on LinkedIn.
- [83:23]
A
I see you've got a pretty big following on LinkedIn.
- [83:25]
B
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
- [83:27]
A
Well, thank you so much, Julia. It's been a pleasure.
- [83:30]
B
Thank you.
- [83:31]
A
Well, there you have it. Yeah, fam. Julia Hartz is the real deal. What stayed with me from this conversation is how much of Julia's success came down to the decisions that looked small in the moment. Bootstrapping longer than it felt comfortable. Choosing investors based on values, not valuation. Building a product designed to disappear into the background so creators could shine. None of these feel like headline moves, but every single one of these moves became load bearing for everything that came after Julia's blank sheet Exercise is something I want you to try this week right at the top of a page. What would I do if I could start over? Then answer honestly about your business career or next move, Then act on one change immediately. And on capital efficiency, Julia was direct. Freedom, options and power all flow from how disciplined you are with your resources. So take an honest look this week at your time and where your money is going in your business. Cut what's not earning its place and double down on what's actually moving things forward. Yeah. Bam. I hope this episode pushes you to build with more heart, lead with more conviction, and stop waiting for perfect conditions. The entrepreneurs who win are the ones that keep learning, keep adapting and keep going. If you listen, learned and profited from this episode, share it with somebody in your world who needs to hear it. Leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Watch the full conversation on YouTube or or Spotify video and connect with me on Instagram at yap with Holla and LinkedIn by searching Holla. Taha. Until next time, this is your host Hala Taha, AKA the Podcast Princess, signing off.