From Startup Underdog to Eventbrite Acquisition: Jayesh Parmar’s Journey from Saskatoon to Silicon Valley

Matt Cohen interviews Jayesh Parmar, founder of Picatic, a ticketing platform acquired by Eventbrite, and current wellness innovator with Gunkii. Jayesh discusses building a startup in Saskatoon, navigating challenges, competing against incumbents, and lessons learned from scaling a company. He also shares insights into his current venture, Gunkii, and his contributions to the startup ecosystem.

About Jayesh Parmar:

Jayesh Parmar is the Co-CEO and founder of Gunkii, a wellness brand launched in 2021 that focuses on luxury tongue scrapers. He is responsible for leading product innovation and strategic growth in the oral health space.

Previously, he was at Eventbrite after acquired his startup, Picatic a global event ticketing platform serving 46 countries, known for its innovative pricing models. Earlier, Jayesh founded Boom Music, an event production and live music management company, which he ran from 1997 to 2011. He also spent over a decade as a teacher with Saskatoon Public Schools.

Jayesh holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Saskatchewan.

Discussion Highlights:

* 00:20 Founding Picatic: Competing with Eventbrite using innovative pricing models

* 00:37 Early challenges of building a startup: Funding, market confusion, and team building.

* 02:11 Scaling from Saskatoon and the role of accelerators in San Francisco, Toronto, and New York

* 03:44 Competing with Eventbrite: Pay-What-You-Want and freemium pricing models

* 09:00 The importance of "dogfooding" in refining Picatic’s product

* 16:32 Celebrating milestones like reaching $10 million in sales

* 18:50 The Eventbrite acquisition: How it happened and preparing for M&A

* 21:00 Practical advice: Keeping a clean data room and leveraging exited founders as advisors

* 27:13 Mentorship and giving back to the startup ecosystem

* 28:31 Viewing failure as a data point and using it to improve

* 31:00 Creating Gunkii: A wellness product inspired by cultural heritage

* 33:24 What’s next: Supporting startups as a mentor and advisor

Fast Favorites:

* Favorite Podcast: All In

* Favorite Newsletter: Lenny’s Newsletter

* Favorite Tech Gadget: Boardy.ai

* Favorite New Trend: Wellness-focused retreats for entrepreneurs

* Favorite Book: Principles by Ray Dalio

* Favorite Life Lesson: “Your presence matters more.”

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