Bootstrapping Ticket Tailor to £6m ARR, selling and repurchasing the company, losing motivation and more - Jonny White
Sep 4, 2023
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Jonny White, Founder of Ticket Tailor, sold and repurchased the company, bootstrapped it to profitability and beyond. They discuss starting Ticket Tailor, early marketing efforts, building a lifestyle business, growing the company, adapting to COVID, and finding purpose and motivation in business growth.
Ticket Tailor was created in response to the demand for an affordable and customizable ticketing system, and validation was done through cold calling potential customers.
After being acquired by Time Out and experiencing a lack of integration, Jonny White strategically bought back Ticket Tailor, enabling the company to regain independence and pursue its own growth path.
Deep dives
Creating Ticket Taylor: Filling the Gap in Ticket Sales
Johnny White, founder of Ticket Taylor, created the platform in response to the demand for a more affordable and customizable ticketing system. After failing to build a custom ticketing solution for clients due to cost constraints, Johnny identified the need for a software-focused ticketing tool. He validated his idea by cold calling potential customers and quickly gained his first customer. This initial success led him to embrace bootstrapping and focus on growing Ticket Taylor organically. Johnny's dedication and strategic hiring allowed the company to navigate the challenges brought by COVID-19 and emerge stronger, with a renewed focus on being a business for good.
From Acquisition to Independence: The Journey of Ticket Taylor
Ticket Taylor was acquired by Time Out, but the integration and plans to scale within the larger company did not materialize. After working at Time Out for a while, Johnny decided to buy back Ticket Taylor when he realized the integration was not happening. With a well-thought-out business proposal, Johnny convinced Time Out to sell the company back to him. This strategic move allowed Ticket Taylor to regain its independence and pursue its own growth path. Johnny's decision to bootstrap the company and invest in building a team and product further contributed to its success.
Post-COVID Challenges and Purpose-Driven Growth
The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the events industry, including Ticket Taylor. However, the company's financial stability enabled them to weather the storm and support their customers through innovative initiatives, such as offering free services for online events and a refund donation tool. As the industry began to recover, Johnny and his team felt a need to redefine the purpose of Ticket Taylor and have a positive impact beyond profit. They introduced the concept of 'growth on purpose,' incorporating profit-sharing for the team and donating a portion of ticket sales to climate causes. This shift renewed their motivation and aligned the company's growth with a meaningful purpose.
Jonny White is the founder of Ticket Tailor, a platform for selling tickets online doing over £6m ARR and growing. Jonny founded Ticket Tailor in 2011, grew it to £2k MRR and then sold it to a company called TimeOut a short while later. After a few stagnant years at TimeOut, Jonny then bought the company back to make the lifestyle business he’d always wanted. After hitting all his goals, Jonny made the decision to build out a team and bootstrap the company to profitability and beyond. Now with a team of 20+ people, Jonny has a whole new set of challenges he’s dealing with, which we dig into in this episode.
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