What Eventbrite’s Rise Means for Everyone Else
Photo Credit: Co-founder and chairman Kevin Hartz and co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz at Eventbrite headquarters in San Francisco. The company plans to go public soon, and has experienced strong growth in recent years despite posting losses. Eventbrite / Stefan Wieland
Skift Take
If Eventbrite indeed goes public, watch to see whether it continues its spending-fueled period of growth or transitions into a more risk-averse period. The global event market is still booming, but growth can come at a steep cost with a lack of focus on innovation.
Late last week, Eventbrite finally announced its intention to go public. I delved into the company's S-1 filing to find out more about its future plans and what they reflect about the event technology sector at large.
The company has raised a lot of money and has posted losses in recent years, preferring to acquire its way into new markets rather than grow organically. If all goes as planned, though, the money raised from going public will let Eventbrite pay off its moderate debt and move forward. Questions remain about whether the company's growth is sustainable as it integrates a variety of global ticketing companies.
The deeper issue is whether the company will be able to improve its event technology tools as time goes on, with the pressure
