Julia Hartz of Eventbrite on Bouncing Back

Julia Hartz started the event management and ticketing platform Eventbrite in 2006 alongside her then fiancée. The goal: bring the world together through live events. Hartz took over as CEO in 2016 and led Eventbrite through its $230 million IPO in 2018. The years following this promising IPO were rocky for Eventbrite. When the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the live events industry, Eventbrite lost 90% of its revenue and laid off 45% of its workforce. Yet as the world reopened and the live events industry bounced back, so did Eventbrite. In 2022, it pulled in $3.3 billion in gross ticket sales and made $261 million in revenue, an almost 40% year-over-year increase - all while maintaining an average ticket price of $40.

In this episode of Leadership Next, Hartz joins hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram to discuss how the company navigated the challenging early days of the pandemic and how it bounced back alongside the return of live events. Hartz also talks about why Eventbrite is different than other ticketing platforms and how Eventbrite is democratizing live events for both organizers and attendees. Additionally, Hartz shares her perspective on the the post-pandemic state of live events, including why events are currently so expensive (even if you're not going to see Taylor Swift of Beyoncé). Finally, Hartz talks about the challenges and advantages of starting a company with her now husband, the reality of being one of the few women who have taken a tech company public and why women are uniquely suited to lead a company through a crisis.

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