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How Eventbrite survived the business apocalypse — and why the internet made real life more valuable than ever

Husband and Wife duo Kevin and Julia Hartz, co-founders at Eventbrite, join us on the NEW ECONOMIES podcast show to share how they built one of the world’s largest event marketplaces, navigating a leadership transition after a decade as co-founders, surviving COVID when their entire industry (and revenue) shut down overnight, and why the future belongs to companies bringing people together.

About Eventbrite:

Eventbrite is one of the world's largest event technology platforms, enabling anyone to create, promote, and sell tickets for live experiences. Since its founding in 2006, the company has powered millions of events across more than 180 countries, helping creators — from independent organizers to major venues — connect with audiences at scale.

In our latest podcast episode, Kevin and Julia share Eventbrite's origin story — from a married founding team working out of a windowless office and surviving on cup noodles to building a global marketplace that transformed how people create and discover live experiences. They explain why curiosity became their greatest competitive advantage, why they ignored conventional startup advice by serving every event category from day one, and why complementary founders consistently outperform identical ones.

If that’s not enough, we also unpack the brutal reality of leading a public company through COVID after revenue turned negative almost overnight, why acting before everyone agrees is often a founder’s greatest advantage, what selling Eventbrite to Bending Spoons (who went public this week) taught them about long-term stewardship, and why, despite every wave of technology, they believe the most valuable human experiences will always happen in real life.

Timestamps

(0:00) Kevin & Julia Hartz(1:45) A Blossoming Relationship(3:40) The Aha Moment for Eventbrite(8:15) Ideas Outside Eventbrite(9:24) Eventbrite’s First Year(12:50) The Product Market Fit Moment(14:58) Building a Self-Serving Product(17:25) 2016: Julia Takes Over as CEO(23:00) The Brilliance of Eventbrite vs. Competitors(30:22) The COVID Moment That Changed Us(38:22) IRL Is Back(41:34) Bending Spoon Acquires Eventbrite(45:13) A* Star Raises $450M(47:10) Young Founders to Watch(48:25) What’s Next?

Watch or listen now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify

Download the transcript

Our notes from this conversation

* Eventbrite wasn’t built to sell tickets — it was built to make gathering possible.

Kevin and Julia saw ticketing as an overlooked payments problem. If anyone could create an event as easily as sending an email, millions of communities, creators, and organizers could exist that otherwise never would.

* The best co-founding teams divide by strengths, not titles.

From day one, they focused on complementary abilities instead of overlapping responsibilities. Rather than competing for the same decisions, each founder owned the areas where they naturally created the most leverage.

* Curiosity became the company’s competitive advantage.

The early years weren’t spent making assumptions — they attended events, watched customers, worked the door themselves, and continuously simplified the product based on real behavior instead of internal opinions.

* Product-market fit expanded by following customers, not chasing categories.

Instead of focusing on one niche, Eventbrite launched broadly and observed where adoption naturally emerged. Every new customer segment revealed the next opportunity to build for.

* Crisis rewards speed more than certainty.

When COVID shut down live events almost overnight, the team assumed the worst immediately. They raised capital, reshaped the roadmap, focused on customer survival, and acted long before the situation became obvious to everyone else.

* The internet didn’t replace real life — it made it more valuable.

Every major technology wave has changed how people connect, but none has replaced the human desire to gather. Digital platforms increasingly become discovery engines for experiences that ultimately happen offline.

* Building companies isn’t a chapter — it’s an identity.

Even after taking Eventbrite public, leading it through COVID, and eventually selling it, Kevin and Julia continue building new companies and backing founders. For them, entrepreneurship isn’t a milestone — it’s how they approach the world.

Links

Subscribe to NEW ECONOMIES on YouTube.Follow Ollie on X: https://x.com/ollieforsyth.Follow Julia on X: https://x.com/juliahartz.Follow Kevin on X: https://x.com/kevinhartz.

Visit A* Capital: https://www.a-star.co.

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The Eventbrite Story | Julia & Kevin Hartz

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The Eventbrite Story | Julia & Kevin Hartz