9 ms·

SeatGeek Raises $62M

106 points by barryhappy 12y ago

randywatkins 12y ago
Major congrats to one of the most outstanding teams I know
jaytaylor 12y ago
Congrats guys- I know for a fact you have a terrific DevOps team!
- josegonzalez 12y ago
  Aww shucks :)
  - reustle 12y ago
    Keep up the good work ;)
- zhs 12y ago
  +1 best ops team in the business
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
drussell 12y ago
Congratulations! That's big time. I think just in time too. I have a feeling (as do others) that valuations may start declining soon to try and head off a bubble. Peak market is now! Perfect timing if you ask me - congrats again.
mtsmith85 12y ago
I interviewed at SeatGeek five years ago when they were a very small team. I was super intimidated at my first "startup" interview. No need to be; Jack and Russ were some of the nicest guys and interviewers. I remember after the interview they spent a bunch of time talking about the ways they had scripted Adobe Illustrator (I believe) to make the then very awesome, but now quite rudimentary, seat maps. Really thought they had a great product on their hands and have used it quite a bit. They've done great work building both a great product as well as an engineering and product driven company.
- tricolon 12y ago
  I also remember interviewing when there were around ten people, and also being rather intimidated by just how much they cared about getting seating maps right. I've been a fan—and user—ever since.
- conradev 12y ago
  I remember getting an email from Jack a few years ago asking if I wanted to help them build their iOS app. They knew exactly what they wanted and where they needed expertise, which is the right way to approach contract work. I wasn't surprised when their app turned out to be very well done :)
DataCreep 12y ago
So it does what other companies have been doing since the beginning of time? Oh, but it's an "app". Totally innovative, then.
- pbreit 12y ago
  Name one service that does what they do (hint: the 3 companies mentioned in the article don't). And the web site is at least as important as the app.
pgwhalen 12y ago
As an avid sports fan and all around event-goer, this is very exciting. I'd love to see someone match (and surpass) the quality of StubHub.
- phmagic 12y ago
  I hope SeatGeek doesn't get picked up by eBay. That's a sure-fire way to halt all future product development.
pixelmonkey 12y ago
One of the best startup teams in NYC -- and maybe on the planet!
rdxm 12y ago
as someone who lived through/participated in phase one of the "ticket disruption" to include secondary markets, i'm skeptical this is relevant and really i think the vc dudes just flushed a bunch of money down the toilet. TM owns this market and frankly, the issue has nothing to do with tech, and everything to do with the way professional sports and concert marketing works from a biz perspective. then there's the whole regulatory issue. wish them good luck, but this is one of those domains that just sucks...
- sgloutnikov 12y ago
  They are not going against TM in the ticket market though. Putting the entire ticket market in one place is really nice from a ticket buyers perspective. How much TM and the whole ticket market sucks though, is another story.
  - thorawayd 12y ago
    But they are. TM/Livenation don't just do concert tickets. They do all types of events, festivals, etc. I've seen tickets for golf events, dinner events, etc on livenation. Not only this, but TM/LN actually own a ton of venues. They seem to grow in size monthly. Here is the latest: http://blog.livenationentertainment.com/blog/Blog-Details/2015/Live-Nation-Acquires-Festival-And-Concert-Promoter-Behind-Summerburst-Festival03052015/default.aspx http://blog.livenationentertainment.com/blog/Blog-Details/20... There really is a monopoly on the market. "SeatGeek helps people find and buy tickets to sporting events, concerts, Broadway shows, nightclubs and a range of other live entertainment through its mobile app or website." This is targeting TM/LN market for sure. They don't have the connections that TM/LN have that allow them to gobble up a venue/festival monthly. http://www.livenationentertainment.com/ http://www.livenationentertainment.com/ Those are some hard stats to follow. Despite all of this, I'd love to see SeatGeek succeed. Hopefully some of this funding will help them.
- anon808 12y ago
  seatgeek has an amazing ui, maybe the best ui for finding tickets. That alone is very valuable. The problem is that with this round total raised is $100M. VC's expect to double or triple their money, as par. That sets a simplified expected exit valuation of $300M for this to be a success. Ticketmaster was last sold for $400MM in 2009. The bar for success is now extremely high. Anything below the high expectations generally means that this fantastic product will be considered a failure and most likely sold for scrap. What a horrible situation, why create these artificial expectations?
matth 12y ago
Fantastic team and founders. Love these guys and gals.
- frankdenbow 12y ago
  Agreed, solid humble folks. Glad to see them pushing things further
woj 12y ago
(I work for TM) SeatGeek has a wonderful product but I feel we're positioned in the market a lot better because of the access to a large number of primary tickets. We can uniquely do some things (like giving fans early access to onsales). Our products are currently lacking but we have many things internally going on that will change that. (If you are in LA and would be interested in helping, email me)
hberg 12y ago
Hooray for the SeatGeek team! I love their UI and onboarding process, and used it to get tickets to one of last year's world series games.
teammatters 12y ago
This is cool to see(congrats to them), as I too have had interactions with the founders when they first started. Just looking at a few emails we exchanged and thinking why I haven't I reached the same level of success when I've had a ton of great serendipitous moments/opportunities to seize. It all boils down to pretty much being a solo founder. I always hired or found code monkeys to help turn my front end coded designs/ideas into a working product. None of these coders cared the same 500% percent I do for my start-ups. I.E. In December a Fortune 500 company wanted to become our client and I wanted to make this happen. I wasn't sure if I should make this company sign a licensing agreement or not. An advisers said they should, though I wasn't sure and wish I had a co-founder who cared as much as I do to discuss this decision with. It was a turning point for my start-up and the deal ultimately fell through (crushing). Having a team/co-founders that are vested the same 500% is utmost important. Especially, if your not a schmoozer with tons of charisma and or a unicorn with great luck!

106 points by barryhappy 12y ago

randywatkins 12y ago

Major congrats to one of the most outstanding teams I know

jaytaylor 12y ago

Congrats guys- I know for a fact you have a terrific DevOps team!

josegonzalez 12y ago
Aww shucks :)
- reustle 12y ago
  Keep up the good work ;)
zhs 12y ago
+1 best ops team in the business

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

drussell 12y ago

Congratulations! That's big time. I think just in time too. I have a feeling (as do others) that valuations may start declining soon to try and head off a bubble. Peak market is now! Perfect timing if you ask me - congrats again.

mtsmith85 12y ago

I interviewed at SeatGeek five years ago when they were a very small team. I was super intimidated at my first "startup" interview. No need to be; Jack and Russ were some of the nicest guys and interviewers. I remember after the interview they spent a bunch of time talking about the ways they had scripted Adobe Illustrator (I believe) to make the then very awesome, but now quite rudimentary, seat maps. Really thought they had a great product on their hands and have used it quite a bit. They've done great work building both a great product as well as an engineering and product driven company.

tricolon 12y ago
I also remember interviewing when there were around ten people, and also being rather intimidated by just how much they cared about getting seating maps right. I've been a fan—and user—ever since.
conradev 12y ago
I remember getting an email from Jack a few years ago asking if I wanted to help them build their iOS app. They knew exactly what they wanted and where they needed expertise, which is the right way to approach contract work. I wasn't surprised when their app turned out to be very well done :)

DataCreep 12y ago

So it does what other companies have been doing since the beginning of time? Oh, but it's an "app". Totally innovative, then.

pbreit 12y ago
Name one service that does what they do (hint: the 3 companies mentioned in the article don't). And the web site is at least as important as the app.

pgwhalen 12y ago

As an avid sports fan and all around event-goer, this is very exciting. I'd love to see someone match (and surpass) the quality of StubHub.

phmagic 12y ago
I hope SeatGeek doesn't get picked up by eBay. That's a sure-fire way to halt all future product development.

pixelmonkey 12y ago

One of the best startup teams in NYC -- and maybe on the planet!

rdxm 12y ago

as someone who lived through/participated in phase one of the "ticket disruption" to include secondary markets, i'm skeptical this is relevant and really i think the vc dudes just flushed a bunch of money down the toilet. TM owns this market and frankly, the issue has nothing to do with tech, and everything to do with the way professional sports and concert marketing works from a biz perspective. then there's the whole regulatory issue. wish them good luck, but this is one of those domains that just sucks...

sgloutnikov 12y ago
They are not going against TM in the ticket market though. Putting the entire ticket market in one place is really nice from a ticket buyers perspective. How much TM and the whole ticket market sucks though, is another story.
- thorawayd 12y ago
  But they are. TM/Livenation don't just do concert tickets. They do all types of events, festivals, etc. I've seen tickets for golf events, dinner events, etc on livenation. Not only this, but TM/LN actually own a ton of venues. They seem to grow in size monthly. Here is the latest: http://blog.livenationentertainment.com/blog/Blog-Details/2015/Live-Nation-Acquires-Festival-And-Concert-Promoter-Behind-Summerburst-Festival03052015/default.aspx http://blog.livenationentertainment.com/blog/Blog-Details/20... There really is a monopoly on the market. "SeatGeek helps people find and buy tickets to sporting events, concerts, Broadway shows, nightclubs and a range of other live entertainment through its mobile app or website." This is targeting TM/LN market for sure. They don't have the connections that TM/LN have that allow them to gobble up a venue/festival monthly. http://www.livenationentertainment.com/ http://www.livenationentertainment.com/ Those are some hard stats to follow. Despite all of this, I'd love to see SeatGeek succeed. Hopefully some of this funding will help them.
anon808 12y ago
seatgeek has an amazing ui, maybe the best ui for finding tickets. That alone is very valuable. The problem is that with this round total raised is $100M. VC's expect to double or triple their money, as par. That sets a simplified expected exit valuation of $300M for this to be a success. Ticketmaster was last sold for $400MM in 2009. The bar for success is now extremely high. Anything below the high expectations generally means that this fantastic product will be considered a failure and most likely sold for scrap. What a horrible situation, why create these artificial expectations?

matth 12y ago

Fantastic team and founders. Love these guys and gals.

frankdenbow 12y ago
Agreed, solid humble folks. Glad to see them pushing things further

woj 12y ago

(I work for TM) SeatGeek has a wonderful product but I feel we're positioned in the market a lot better because of the access to a large number of primary tickets. We can uniquely do some things (like giving fans early access to onsales). Our products are currently lacking but we have many things internally going on that will change that. (If you are in LA and would be interested in helping, email me)

hberg 12y ago

Hooray for the SeatGeek team! I love their UI and onboarding process, and used it to get tickets to one of last year's world series games.

teammatters 12y ago

This is cool to see(congrats to them), as I too have had interactions with the founders when they first started. Just looking at a few emails we exchanged and thinking why I haven't I reached the same level of success when I've had a ton of great serendipitous moments/opportunities to seize. It all boils down to pretty much being a solo founder. I always hired or found code monkeys to help turn my front end coded designs/ideas into a working product. None of these coders cared the same 500% percent I do for my start-ups. I.E. In December a Fortune 500 company wanted to become our client and I wanted to make this happen. I wasn't sure if I should make this company sign a licensing agreement or not. An advisers said they should, though I wasn't sure and wish I had a co-founder who cared as much as I do to discuss this decision with. It was a turning point for my start-up and the deal ultimately fell through (crushing). Having a team/co-founders that are vested the same 500% is utmost important. Especially, if your not a schmoozer with tons of charisma and or a unicorn with great luck!