YC
Julia Hartz at Female Founders Conference 2014
@ Y Combinator
03/13/14
Takeaways
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
I always call Eventbrite an overnight success eight years in the making, so time does fly.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Last year, we processed a billion dollars in gross ticket sales and had over a million events on the platform, but day-to-day, I'm focused on how we can continue to grow in the right way and think about the culture and the people.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Hindsight is a mixture of data, wisdom, and perspective, and I hope that it helps you make better decisions in the future.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
The first major decision you'll make as a founder is who to choose as your co-founder; it's crucial to have someone who shares your vision and optimism.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
When starting Eventbrite, we chose to base the company in San Francisco, defying conventional wisdom that suggested we should be near Stanford to attract the best talent.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
In hindsight, it was the best decision to stick with San Francisco, as we grew alongside other startups in a co-working space, which was incredibly informative and transformational for us.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Kevin and I are notoriously horrible at monetization; we launched Eventbrite with a basic service and a premium service, but we never put anything exclusive in the premium service, which confused our customers.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
In hindsight, we shouldn't have launched with a free service in the first place; we ended up becoming a truly premium model based on ticket prices. We won't monetize a free product, which allows us to undercut our competitors and led to thousands of free events being published on our platform.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Last year, our gross ticket sales reached $1 billion, but that only represents 30% of our business; the other 70% comes from free events, which drive growth through a cycle where attendees become organizers.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
In the early days, we focused on hiring the best talent to fill gaps in our skills, which helped us grow from three to over 300 employees in just a few years.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
As we grew, we faced challenges with leadership, often placing inexperienced individuals in leadership roles too early, which can lead to failures and dissatisfaction.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
It's crucial to consider who, why, when, and what when choosing leaders in a company, as pushing individuals into leadership roles prematurely can hinder their success.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Establishing a company philosophy is daunting, but it's essential to have an anchor that evolves over time, ensuring the team remains aligned and focused.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Our vision is to bring the world together through live experiences, and our mission is to build a global marketplace of live experiences that people love.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
The culture at Eventbrite is shaped by the individuals who work here, and we repurposed our branding exercise to define our cultural values, which guide our hiring process.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
To maintain a strong culture, we implemented a high-velocity feedback loop, including an employee net promoter score to measure satisfaction among both our customers and our team members.
JH
Julia Hartz
03/13/14
@ Y Combinator
Hindsight involves a mix of data observation, learning from past mistakes, and maintaining a big-picture perspective to make better future decisions.