Eventbrite founder hails flying start

ONLINE event ticketing platform Eventbrite said it had made a “great start” in the North West after launching in the region late last year.

Renaud Visage, co-founder and chief technology officer of the San Francisco-based tech company, said there were already more than 1,200 organisations, ranging from corporates to charities, are already using its platform.

“Manchester and the North West is an important market for us. We opened an office in London in 2011 and have seen great growth there.

“We then began to think about how we can tackle the rest of the UK, and the first step in that process was to experiment with one city, Manchester. By having people on the ground, seeing what the gap in the market is, and the appetite for our solution. We have been going on for five months and the results have been great.

“We’ve made a lot of contacts in the tech scene and there’s a lot of potential for the business. Our platform has many uses – listings range from yoga classes to a big music festival.”

Currently Eventbrite has two home-based marketing managers in the region. The platform is free to use for organisers of free-to-attend events, but charges organisers of paid-for events 2.5% of the ticket price plus 65p per ticket and a 3.5% payment processing fee.
 
The company has funded its growth with an initial $250k from its founder, Kevin Hartz, and has since raised around $200m from venture capital funds.
 
Visage said the key to attracting  investment is : “Make them dream, tell a good story and wait long enough until you have good traction and good numbers. You need to show them that you have tested your business  plan and can execute on it.

“They want to see how you are going to use their money – it’s the main driver – they need to know that you are going to use that money to take your business to the next level.”