6 ms·

Well, this is not something that applies to me, as I rarely buy tickets. I do have one question: how do people get passionate about tickets? I mean, I LOVE the

Well, this is not something that applies to me, as I rarely buy tickets. I do have one question: how do people get passionate about tickets? I mean, I LOVE the stuff I am working on, I NEED the stuff I am working on for myself, and I would not want to do anything else, but if they asked to me make a startup about tickets with a guaranteed 1 million payout, I'd really have a hard time doing it. I just cannot imagine myself being passionate about tickets. It's a freakin ticket, I'm not going to devote a good chunk of my life towards making them a bit cheaper.

fallentimes 18y ago
What's even more hilarious is that maxklein was one of our beta testers. Guess we did a piss poor job conveying the message.
- maxklein 18y ago
  Umm, that must be another maxklein. I don't recall using the site, as I'm not even located in the U.S and it would not be relevant to me...
  - fallentimes 18y ago
    Oops you're right - sorry about that. We did have a Max beta tester from Copenhagen though. I need sleep.
fallentimes 18y ago
haha, well I think this is why: "as I rarely buy tickets." But other than that, tt's not about the tickets; it's about the events. I _love_ attending sports and concerts. I probably go to (and will continue to go to) 20-40 sporting events per year and 5-10 concerts per year. Now going to them is a business write off.
- anthonyrubin 18y ago
  How often do you buy tickets to said events through a reseller?
  - fallentimes 18y ago
    For baseball games pretty much every time (no one sells out besides Cubs/Redsox). Hockey and NFL 50/50. NBA 75/25 (they don't sell out much either).
  - fallentimes 18y ago
    Concerts are now up: http://ticketstumbler.blogspot.com/ http://ticketstumbler.blogspot.com/
pg 18y ago
I just cannot imagine myself being passionate about tickets. It's a freakin ticket What the founders seem most interested in (like their customers, presumably) is not the tickets themselves but the sporting events that they're tickets to.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Right. As someone who tried to do this recently, I can attest to how hard it currently is to compare ticket prices from various brokerages. Getting into a sold out game is an experience much like buying a used car, no matter what you pay for it, you still feel like you got ripped off. (And the prevalence of scammers on Craigslist/eBay doesn't make them any better). There's a definite pain point that they're addressing here. They want to save you from devoting a good chunk of your life to getting them cheaper. (And when they're priced like playoff tickets, it's worth it.)
tdavis 18y ago
Hi. I'm Tom and I am the co-founder at TS and you know what, you're right -- I am not passionate about tickets. I'm not even passionate about sports. In fact, the only sport I care about is hockey; the rest I essentially hate. I am still very passionate about the project, however, because it has been very entertaining from a technical perspective and has been a great opportunity to not only take part in YC, but build a company with a very old friend. I'm very passionate about the site, but not because I necessarily want to make my own ticket-buying experience better. I like TS because it's a useful service for other people, presents challenging work, and has been an opportunity to work with very large volumes of data, among other reasons. I may not find tickets or sports exciting, but not once since the start of this project have I thought to myself, "I really wish I was working on something else." Edit: Once we have concert listings I suppose I can meet the artificial requirement of building something I would use because there's little I'm more passionate about than music.
- maxklein 18y ago
  Tom, are you using your own site? If you are interested in working with large volumes of data, then you are not struggling with the real issue - which involves all the different ways people interact with the site and how it solves different needs. This is the reason open source software so often sucks - because people want to solve the difficult technical problems (to prove themselves or why, I don't know), and they are not solving the most important problem - which is knowing all the different ways users want to use your site and making sure each and every way is so smooth it's sweet. That's a core of passion - you create a little baby, and you want that baby to be perfect, so you do the little things - smooth out the icons here, make sure that the window pops up just right, test it 30 different times to see if the flow is smooth and obvious, you ask people what they think of it, and how exactly it can be made better. It's like when you finish a painting, then you take a step back, look at it to see how a stranger would look at it. Then you squint your eyes to see how the colors look on their own. Then you go up close to see how the shadow on the little corner box looks, then you think what color of frame would properly offset the color on the inside.... That's passion.
  - nuclear_eclipse 18y ago
danielrhodes 18y ago
And that's exactly why you shouldn't be making Ticketstumbler, and they should.
breck 18y ago
So what are you passionate about? What are you working on? I for one would find ticket sales really interesting. Concerts are probably my favorite thing to do, and sporting events are fun too(prefer to actually play sports, but watching is ok too)...This would be much more interesting than probably every Facebook App and most web apps in existence(which mainly consist of programs to help people waste time, hopefully clicking an ad on occasion)....I think working with large datasets of events, prices, and consumers would be really interesting.... Some of the best days of my life have been at concerts. I'm sure millions feel the same way. How could you not be passionate about helping people have more of these types of experiences?
- maxklein 18y ago
  I'm working on two projects that are not revolutionary, but evolutionary. I'll be letting YC have their dig at me when the time comes around, I'm sure most people will be happy to finally let me have it, after all the jam I've dished out here... But back to the issue - if I am passionate about concerts, it's because I like being at concerts. Not because I like selling tickets for concerts. So I would work on something related to actually being in the concert. I thought I was passionate about some of my past projects, but it was only when I started the latest two that I rediscovered what real passion is. It is when you are already using your own app before it is ready, and when it is crashing and being odd all the time. If you're not doing so, then you have not done the most important bit yet, and that's the wrong way of going about a project.
  - fallentimes 18y ago
    "I'm working on two projects that are not revolutionary, but evolutionary." You sound like Seth Godin. I hope you make as much money as him.
    - maxklein 18y ago
      I don't need money or care about it. I have more than enough for my needs. What I want is to do what I failed to do the first time round - start and complete a project. In the initial .com thingy, I sold my startup way too quick, and never had a chance to make my own mark. This time round, I'd like to really create and polish something, and see it through all its phases.

fallentimes 18y ago

What's even more hilarious is that maxklein was one of our beta testers. Guess we did a piss poor job conveying the message.

maxklein 18y ago
Umm, that must be another maxklein. I don't recall using the site, as I'm not even located in the U.S and it would not be relevant to me...
- fallentimes 18y ago
  Oops you're right - sorry about that. We did have a Max beta tester from Copenhagen though. I need sleep.

fallentimes 18y ago

haha, well I think this is why: "as I rarely buy tickets." But other than that, tt's not about the tickets; it's about the events. I _love_ attending sports and concerts. I probably go to (and will continue to go to) 20-40 sporting events per year and 5-10 concerts per year. Now going to them is a business write off.

anthonyrubin 18y ago
How often do you buy tickets to said events through a reseller?
- fallentimes 18y ago
  For baseball games pretty much every time (no one sells out besides Cubs/Redsox). Hockey and NFL 50/50. NBA 75/25 (they don't sell out much either).
- fallentimes 18y ago
  Concerts are now up: http://ticketstumbler.blogspot.com/ http://ticketstumbler.blogspot.com/

pg 18y ago

I just cannot imagine myself being passionate about tickets. It's a freakin ticket What the founders seem most interested in (like their customers, presumably) is not the tickets themselves but the sporting events that they're tickets to.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Right. As someone who tried to do this recently, I can attest to how hard it currently is to compare ticket prices from various brokerages. Getting into a sold out game is an experience much like buying a used car, no matter what you pay for it, you still feel like you got ripped off. (And the prevalence of scammers on Craigslist/eBay doesn't make them any better). There's a definite pain point that they're addressing here. They want to save you from devoting a good chunk of your life to getting them cheaper. (And when they're priced like playoff tickets, it's worth it.)

tdavis 18y ago

Hi. I'm Tom and I am the co-founder at TS and you know what, you're right -- I am not passionate about tickets. I'm not even passionate about sports. In fact, the only sport I care about is hockey; the rest I essentially hate. I am still very passionate about the project, however, because it has been very entertaining from a technical perspective and has been a great opportunity to not only take part in YC, but build a company with a very old friend. I'm very passionate about the site, but not because I necessarily want to make my own ticket-buying experience better. I like TS because it's a useful service for other people, presents challenging work, and has been an opportunity to work with very large volumes of data, among other reasons. I may not find tickets or sports exciting, but not once since the start of this project have I thought to myself, "I really wish I was working on something else." Edit: Once we have concert listings I suppose I can meet the artificial requirement of building something I would use because there's little I'm more passionate about than music.

maxklein 18y ago
Tom, are you using your own site? If you are interested in working with large volumes of data, then you are not struggling with the real issue - which involves all the different ways people interact with the site and how it solves different needs. This is the reason open source software so often sucks - because people want to solve the difficult technical problems (to prove themselves or why, I don't know), and they are not solving the most important problem - which is knowing all the different ways users want to use your site and making sure each and every way is so smooth it's sweet. That's a core of passion - you create a little baby, and you want that baby to be perfect, so you do the little things - smooth out the icons here, make sure that the window pops up just right, test it 30 different times to see if the flow is smooth and obvious, you ask people what they think of it, and how exactly it can be made better. It's like when you finish a painting, then you take a step back, look at it to see how a stranger would look at it. Then you squint your eyes to see how the colors look on their own. Then you go up close to see how the shadow on the little corner box looks, then you think what color of frame would properly offset the color on the inside.... That's passion.
- nuclear_eclipse 18y ago

danielrhodes 18y ago

And that's exactly why you shouldn't be making Ticketstumbler, and they should.

breck 18y ago

So what are you passionate about? What are you working on? I for one would find ticket sales really interesting. Concerts are probably my favorite thing to do, and sporting events are fun too(prefer to actually play sports, but watching is ok too)...This would be much more interesting than probably every Facebook App and most web apps in existence(which mainly consist of programs to help people waste time, hopefully clicking an ad on occasion)....I think working with large datasets of events, prices, and consumers would be really interesting.... Some of the best days of my life have been at concerts. I'm sure millions feel the same way. How could you not be passionate about helping people have more of these types of experiences?

maxklein 18y ago
I'm working on two projects that are not revolutionary, but evolutionary. I'll be letting YC have their dig at me when the time comes around, I'm sure most people will be happy to finally let me have it, after all the jam I've dished out here... But back to the issue - if I am passionate about concerts, it's because I like being at concerts. Not because I like selling tickets for concerts. So I would work on something related to actually being in the concert. I thought I was passionate about some of my past projects, but it was only when I started the latest two that I rediscovered what real passion is. It is when you are already using your own app before it is ready, and when it is crashing and being odd all the time. If you're not doing so, then you have not done the most important bit yet, and that's the wrong way of going about a project.
- fallentimes 18y ago
  "I'm working on two projects that are not revolutionary, but evolutionary." You sound like Seth Godin. I hope you make as much money as him.
  - maxklein 18y ago
    I don't need money or care about it. I have more than enough for my needs. What I want is to do what I failed to do the first time round - start and complete a project. In the initial .com thingy, I sold my startup way too quick, and never had a chance to make my own mark. This time round, I'd like to really create and polish something, and see it through all its phases.