Julia Hartz, Eventbrite: From 27 Rejections to IPO and the Leadership Lessons That Followed

Speaker A: Hey entrepreneurs, It's Steph here with a special invite just for you. Do you want to experience what it's like to be part of our Entrepreneur League Community of Founders? Now is your chance. You can join me this month at ah, one of our upcoming Entrepreneursa League info sessions where I'm going to share with you all you're going to get access to when you join the community. Plus I'll be giving away some, uh, big bonuses that you will only be able to get access to when you attend live. Head over to refer.entrepreneista.com infocession to join us at one of our virtual info sessions this month. That's refer.entrepreneista.com infocession or head over to the Show Notes right now and tap the link to join us. I can't wait to meet you there and learn more about you and your business.

Speaker B: It's important for entrepreneurs to have the patience and the resilience and the diligence to really make sure that they're bringing customers along.

Speaker A: What would you do if the business you spent 20 years building disappeared overnight? Today's guest didn't just survive that moment. She used it to become the leader that she was always meant to be. Julia Hartz is the co founder and former CEO of Eventbrite, the platform that changed how the world gathers over two decades. She built Eventbrite from a windowless phone closet in San Francisco into a publicly traded company processing billions of dollars in ticket sales annually. Then earlier this year, she oversaw its acquisition. In this conversation, you'll hear how Julia went from a ballerina who followed every rule to a founder who wrote entirely new ones, including navigating 2027 consecutive investor rejections, leading her company through Covid with negative revenue, and ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange as one of the only 21 women to found and take her company public as CEO. She's also a mom of four, including toddler twins, and has a lot to say about what work life integration actually looks like when everyone everything is on the line. So get ready to hear all about Julia's journey and her biggest business secrets. This is the Entrepreneista podcast.

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Speaker D: Julia, we are so thrilled to be finally sitting down with you and sharing your Journey and story. Did you always know growing up that you wanted to run your own business one day?

Speaker B: No, not at all. I mean, thank you for having me, uh, first and foremost. But no, I was a, uh, ballerina growing up. I was a really good, um, rule follower. I took feedback very well being a dancer. And I, um, I did love to learn by doing so. I guess that maybe that was a clue. But I was unaware that I wanted to start my own business, which I think is unique. And I think that it's important for people to know that you don't always have to come out of the womb ready to, like, set up a lemonade stand.

Speaker D: That was me for sure.

Speaker C: Exactly. Everyone's path to entrepreneurship always looks so different. How did eventbrite and the idea for it come to be and what were the first steps you took to get started?

Speaker B: Well, you know, it started with what's called in Hollywood, a meet cute. And I actually was. Was working in Hollywood when this meet cute happened. So meet cute is when. When in the movie, like, two characters, you know, they meet and it's. And it makes for, like, the rest of the development of the story. And at the time, I was working at M, and my boss, Jen Levy, was getting married, and she asked me to do a reading in her wedding. And I sat next to this really handsome guy at the wedding in the church, and he was chatting me up. And I was sort of nervous about the, about the reading. And so I didn't, you know, it wasn't really reciprocating. And then afterwards, um, after I did the reading, he said, I. You were amazing. I'm so proud of you. And I thought, like, who is this guy? And by the end of the night, uh, we were like, you know, uh, stuck together at the hip. And that was Kevin, who's my co founder and husband. And it was really through his eyes and our two years of dating that I got to know what entrepreneurship was all about and really what was going on in Silicon Valley. I was in Hollywood and he was in San Francisco, and we would, you know, uh, trade off going up or down the coast to see each other, and I would take him to the MTV Movie Awards, and then he would take me to like, a, an early PayPal party. And, you know, our lives were just really different. Um, but they started to converge in the second year of dating, where I was getting pitches for, you know, reality shows about these, these prolific nerds. And, you know, YouTube was launching, and he was showing me the first video from, from YouTube. And so, um, I think what happened was, at least for me to go along the theme of, of, you know, a Hollywood screenplay. The inciting incident was really when I, I realized that I. One of the things that I value a lot in life is velocity. And I felt like I was watching things go pretty slowly and, and really starting to show signs of disruption. Um, um, I didn't. I mean, in hindsight, it's easy to say that I knew that was happening. But at 22, you know, 23, I was. It was just an instinct. Um, but I had moved on at that point from MTV to FX Networks, where I got to work with some of the best creatives in Hollywood today. I mean, the people who are bringing the most prolific television to, um, to screens. And, you know, it was a big leap to decide to move to San Francisco, um, and to start a company with Kevin. But he was incredibly convincing. And I think that's definitely an attribute that I see in serial entrepreneurs who were actually born that way is this, like, amazing optimism and ability to, to sell, you know, other people on taking this incredible leap and, um, and risk. And that was really how I came to, to be open to starting a company. Um, you know, and the rest is sort of history.

Speaker D: So what was the idea that Kevin pitched to you to bring you into the fold to start this business?

Speaker B: Well, I think that it was, it was really started with the genesis for him around, you know, PayPal and, and online, um, online money handling and, and merchant processing, which was like, not the sexiest thing ever. But if you think about it, before PayPal became a consumer product, it, it was something entirely different. They pivoted three times. I think Kevin was an angel investor in the first company called Confinity Labs, the first iteration. Um, and you know, that team fought their way through to do something really difficult, which was to turn any consumer into a Merchant processor. Before PayPal, you couldn't do that. Just, it was not possible to transfer money between consumers. You had to either be an accredited bank or a business. Right, With a license and working with an accredited bank. So it all kind of goes back to that, because what happened from the point at which PayPal, uh, went public and then was acquired by ebay, was, um, they had opened a developer API. And Kevin and his business partner at the time, Alan Braverman, started building a bunch of different, um, applications on top of that API. It's not unlike what you're seeing today with foundational models and then, you know, the wrappers being built, uh, um, on top of that that allow us to Put, you know, AI to, to use in ways that change our lives. One of the ideas they had was for event ticketing. One of the ideas they had was for subscription payments for Yahoo groups. One of the ideas they had was for helping immigrants send money back to their families in different countries. Better, faster, cheaper than Western Union. That third idea took off and got traction and was funded by Sequoia Capital. And because of that, they had to put those other two ideas plus more on the back burner. Well, when I came into the picture, uh, that money transfer company that was really giving Western Union a run for its, its, its money, so to speak, uh, is called Zoom X O O M. And it had taken off and had scaled and, and they had brought in a, you know, fintech CEO and Kevin was looking for the next idea. And so we started to look at the people that were using this event ticketing app that had like, you know, no customer service, no marketing, um, no team working on it. It was just sort of in maintenance mode. And we started to uncover these really cool stories of people hosting events and using this, it wasn't called Eventbrite at the time, this application to sell tickets. And we started to, through the eyes of the customer, understand what this could be. And so it was really just a, it was a moment of reflection and exploration. I mean it happened very fast. I'm um, talking like weeks maybe. Um, and basically we were building a company, getting married, having our first kid, all in an 18 month period. So I would say that like I definitely unlocked velocity in my life, uh, and you know, and, and, and became really enamored, not necessarily with the technology, but actually with the people who are hosting the events and bringing people together. And that was just like the root of our mission.

Speaker D: I always say as an entrepreneur, I can't do one thing at a time. I have to do multiple things at a time because that's just the way our brains seem to work. Uh, all the big things at once, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, it's, I remember sitting down at a sawhorse and plywood desk. So quite literally that's how we set up our office. It was like bootstrap to the nth degree, which I don't, I don't necessarily. People think people understand what that is today, it's just different. It's like building a business and being an entrepreneur is so different. Today, 20 years later, we had no money and the money that we had, we were putting into Eventbrite and we were in this like windowless phone Closet in a warehouse in a. In the design district in San Francisco called Potro Hill. And um, we were surrounded by other entrepreneurs who were also scrappily starting their businesses. We were in this like, space together. And I remember opening my laptop on the first day and typing in how to build a search engine optimization campaign. And I felt like, this is really ironic that. And kind of meta that I'm like, you know, typing this in. This was 2006. And I remember thinking like, wow, I really love to figure things out without being told what to do. And I think that is actually like more so to the point the thing that, that, that sort of hooked me, which was there were no rules and there was nobody telling me what to do and nobody talking at me in a way that like, really didn't resonate with me in school. Um, and I could figure it out on my own. And I loved that. I love problem solving and solving mysteries. And I would say that like, you know, every single day of the last 20 years has been like that. And it, that, that's what I love. I love the velocity. I love the, you can, you know, the fact that you can create anything from nothing. Um, and then certainly along the way I really, really love building teams and building culture and just how that, you know, manifested itself over time.

Speaker C: When did, uh, I say. Stephanie and I have used Eventbrite Many, many times in our entrepreneurial career. When we first started our first business in 2012, we would go on Eventbrite and find all of the networking events that were happening in our area. And then our first event that we did for Entrepreneista was actually in Miami and we sold tickets through Eventbrite. So at what point, what year was it that you started to see Eventbrite really take off?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean it, it was, you know, a, A, a slow, gradual process where we were, um, we started with the customer. So actually, you know, the, the original Eventbrite customer were, were tech bloggers. I, Michael, uh, Arrington sort of comes to mind as, as like the OG Eventbrite customer because he was building TechCrunch and he was starting to host events of people who were TechCrunch Subscribe. They weren't even subscribers, they were readers. Right. And he was starting to really build a business around the content that he was producing. And I'll never forget at, uh, Kevin and I, you know, going to TechCrunch Disrupt the first year and literally working the check in desk like we were the check in team as founders of Eventbrite and Having customers like that who are incredibly demanding and very specific about what they wanted and they had their own vision of how they wanted to gather people was the best way to start. Because what we did was we took his lead and him representing many customers, we built the product to suit the needs that he had in, in hosting these networking events. And then, you know, as we, we had a, uh, sort of central thesis around Eventbrite being as easy to use as Gmail. And that was actually very difficult to do because we were essentially in our essence, we were a money transfer company. We were another iteration of how anyone could become a merchant. And we, you know, today we process billions of dollars in ticket sales at an average price of less than $50 a ticket. So these microtransactions and doing microtransactions in big volume is really difficult to do. And it's even more difficult when you have a North Star of being as easy to use and set up as, as Gmail. Because we weren't doing a bunch of, you know, frictionful, um, processes and customers were able to just get started right away. So a lot of the backend engineering and a lot of the hard, heavy lifting came in making that a really simple, easy process. Because of that, we lowered the barrier of entry, right? And it was really easy customers to use Eventbrite. So that made the customer acquisition journey really interesting because customers would find us and then start using us and then we would follow their lead. And it was when, uh, I started seeing speed dating events in New York pop up on, on our customer list that I knew that we had something that could translate across genre and really be something that people would love. Um, and that was like the first indication of, of, of this, you know, idea becoming a product.

Speaker A: Coming up, Julia answers questions about building Eventbrite, leading through uncertainty, and the lessons she's learned about resilience, leadership and growth along the way. Founders are always asking us what has been the secret to our success building multiple seven figure businesses. Do you want to know how? It's our community. We created the Entrepreneista League for founders like you. Because the most successful entrepreneistas do not navigate business alone. We navigate the challenges and opportunities with the support of people we know, love and trust. The relationships you build in business will be the key to your success. Trust me, it's how we've done it. And I'm giving you access to everything we've used to grow and scale our businesses over the past decade. Plus, you're going to meet your new Best friends in business right inside the community. Our members have access to everything we've used to grow our businesses over the past 10 plus years, from in person events to virtual events, business education, funding resources, office hours with myself and other top founders in your industry, press opportunities and access to our community platform where you can instantly get all of your business questions answered. You can join us in the community over at refer.uh entrepreneista.com join us. That's refer.enterveista.com forward/join us to join the community or head to the show notes right now and tap the link to join. I cannot wait to meet you.

Speaker D: You mentioned being really scrappy in the beginning and then realizing you essentially had product market fit. When did you decide that it was time to raise capital and any learning lessons you can share about that?

Speaker B: Well, we decided to bootstrap because Kevin had this previous experience with Zoom where he and Alan needed to raise millions, tens of millions of dollars to even get started because post 911 it was really difficult for you to set up a money transmission business in the US to send money outside of the US to other countries in small amounts like that was nearly impossible and it wouldn't have become as successful as it did. Zoom actually went public and then was acquired by PayPal in a funny sort of, you know, total full circle moment. Um, and so because they, they had to do that right out of the gates, you know, to, to get their money transmission licenses, um, he really wanted to try something different and you know, put his own capital to work. And because of that we needed to build in a really lean way. It was just three of us co founders. So it was Kevin, myself and then our, our co founding cto, Renault Visage. And we didn't hire anyone. We started, you know, I was customer service, marketing and finance, Kevin was product, Renault was engineering and we all were, were QA and um, we had a 247 dev cycle because Renault was in France and that worked to our benefit. Um, and you know, I think that it made us have to consistently boil everything down to what was most important. So when we decided to raise outside capital it was really when we had traction and line of sight as to how we could scale eventbrite. We had product market fit with the mid market event creator and we knew we could put numbers down that we could could meet and beat and, and continue to do so. And so we decided to go out and raise money in the fall of 2008. Well that the like, we really got our timing wrong. On that because 2008 in the fall, the sky literally was falling. And I, and I, I realized that like most people listening to this podcast, they just weren't aware of that for I'm not gonna like age anyone down or up, but they just maybe weren't like in business at that time. Um, it, it felt a little bit like the like month three of COVID where like the bottom fell out for a minute and everybody was in freefall. I mean it was really scary and it was kind of like a chain reaction. And so by the time we were out pitching Eventbrite to VCs, we actually did 27 unique meetings with 27 firms and we received 27 nos. And the most brilliant thing that Kevin did in those meetings was he would leave behind our, our 2009 plan with everyone. And it, that was brilliant because in 2009 Eventbrite actually thrived because people were out of work. They wanted to get to events and network to get a job. They were out of work, they wanted to te their skills that they knew to others to earn money. Um, it was a scary time and in scary times people actually want to gather more like humans want to be together more. So we had a great year in 2009 and we basically like scraped together, you know, angel and friends and family money to make it through the year. And then we went back out in Q4 of 2009 and we had several offers because the venture firms were shocked that we had actually done what we said we were going to do. And that was pretty rare in 2009. You know, a lot of people are having to reset and like, um, and you know, just rebase their assumptions. So we ended up going with Sequoia Capital again. And that was a no brainer. We knew that even if they weren't the best deal, uh, or the best terms that, that we would want to work with them. And they ended up giving us a really, really fair offer. And, and Roloff Botha joined our board and was on our board for 14 years. So it was a uh, critical decision to raise money, you know, with them, to wait and to prove that we could, that we could really, you know, be a company. Because I do think that people forget like an idea has to get to a product, has to get to customers, has to get to a business, then has to get to a company. I mean there's ideas really don't think that we're going to figure out maybe a way to like skip those steps because it's human nature and you know if you're selling to humans, like, you're going to go through those. Those certain milestones.

Speaker D: Yeah. Now, with AI, though, I don't. Anything's possible, right?

Speaker B: I don't think so. I really don't. Like. I don't. I think you shorten the iteration time, but I don't think you. You can leapfrog something into existence with the magic of AI. I think if you're trying to sell to humans, you're going to be going through these steps, and it's really important to learn a lot and use those steps to get better and better and better and more resilient. Because Eventbrite wouldn't have survived Covid if we hadn't gone through all those validation moments, you know, and maybe it. I mean, it's m. Most certainly took longer than it would today, but adoption is adoption. Like, you know, there's a lot of really cool AI tools that I used six months ago that I have just canceled my subscription to, because I'm not. So I think we're going to kind of, you know, be seeing some of the same. Same, you know, um, iterations, same milestone checks. And. And I think it's important for Pete for entrepreneurs to have the patience and the resilience and the diligence to really make sure that they're bringing customers along. Not to sound too preachy, but I'm old, so I can be preachy. Now, those.

Speaker C: Those are definitely all really good points. You mentioned Covid. I'm curious, how did you navigate Covid as an events company? And what were you most proud of, looking back at what. What you, um, ended up doing?

Speaker B: Honestly, most proud of the personal growth that I. That I did through Covid. I came into Covid a fairly new CEO. I had taken Kevin's job in 2016. Um, and, you know, the first year was just like, trying to figure out how I would run the company different and trying not to, like, wake up every day and go to bed every night thinking, what would I do if I were Kevin? Um, the second year was acquiring our largest competitor in music and going through, like, a lot of the pain of acquisition and integration. Um, the third year was taking Eventbrite public, and the fourth year was being a newly public company and figuring out how to deliver what Wall street expected as well as grow the company, you know, reinforce the culture and continue to scale. So it had not been boring leading up to Covid. Um, but. And we had had a lot of challenges. You know, it was just. It was. Seemed like it was one challenge after Another. And I was feeling really unsure that I was the right person for the job. You know, just kind of like waking up every day and being on this treadmill and like, trying not to trip on the treadmill. And then Covid happened. And the. The depth of the crisis and the severity of it, you know, of literally the entire basis of your business going away overnight was so clarifying that I left all of that insecurity behind. I just, I. I don't know how I would have survived if I had still had the, like, tip on my shoulder or the. Or the doubt in my head. But I'm really proud that I. I made a conscious choice to leave it behind with the help of some amazing mentors like Kevin and Ruloff and others that were helping reinforce me and helping kind of hold me up when I, When I wavered a little bit, because the stress was unbelievable. I mean, you know, we had been in existence for 14 years, and in 14 days, Eventbrite was gone. We were. We were processing more refunds than revenue for events that wouldn't happen. We had negative revenue. So for all intents and purposes, we were not a business. Um, we were sinking ship and it was really scary. And so what did you do? Well, at that point, I realized, you know, there is literally only one person who can. Who can save the company. And. And it's not because I had this massive ego. It was like Eventbrite to me is. Is as precious as my children that I birthed. You know, like, it was. It's just like there's an unconditional love and devotion that goes into creating a company that becomes like an event. And, um. And so, you know, I gathered, uh, everyone I could possibly get literally called everybody. Um, I listened a lot, and then I just made a lot of decisions in rapid succession. And I would not have been able to do that without Kevin. I think he, you know, he really showed up for me in a way where he'd. He was, um, working on investing and building his own fund and, um, starting a couple of other companies, and he basically just dropped everything. And I'll never forget coming home from the, you know, the day that, like, everybody decided to go work from home and we had to send everyone home. And I, I felt this duty to be the last person in the office and, like, turn the lights off. It's this 50,000 square foot office space. We had 550 people in the office. And I watched the last person leave. And I'll never forget, I. I was the second to last person was Our cfo. And I gave him a hug. I'm like, well, I'll see you soon. Turn the lights off. Never to see that office again. And, uh, came home and there were two chairs in this office at home with these gaming monitors that had been set up in almost this 360 circle around the two chairs and a desk in the middle. And I thought, like, this is maybe the most romantic thing that I've, uh, like ever seen. That Kevin saying, I'm going to be here with you. And so side by side for like the first two months of COVID we just were dividing and conquering again and, you know, really fighting like a bunch of battles every day. I mean, you don't ever really want to be the person who knows how bad something is going to be when other people don't believe you. That's an incredibly uncomfortable position to be in. It is way more comfortable to like, pull the wool over your eyes and be like, oh, it's gonna be over in a couple weeks. But for a few reasons, we knew that it was gonna be really, really bad. And, um, and we had to be the ones to tell our, our customers that.

Speaker D: How'd you do it?

Speaker B: Oh, you know, a lot of phone calls. We, uh, had a lot of, um, a lot of customers who were upset, you know, that we weren't advancing the money for as we normally would. We'd, we'd gotten to be so good at, at, you know, our operations that we were able to send people ticket sales as they were happening so that they could put down their deposits and whatnot. We just stop all that. And that was really a difficult moment. Um, so a lot of phone calls, some, some very heated to try to get through to them. Um, you know, that it wasn't just a two week thing, that this was going to go on for quite some time. We'd had a. Fortuitously one of our friends is the head of the infectious or was the head of the infectious disease department at ucsf. And you know, at the, at the end of the day, we could have listened to him and been like, okay, but maybe not. And I just remember Kevin looking at me and going, there is literally no upside to us thinking this might not be bad. Like, there's no upside. And he was so right. Like, and a lot of other people around us, a lot of really brilliant minds said, uh, cut costs, raise money, hunker down, do everything you can to help your, your customers save their businesses. So we were literally making phone calls like, please don't put the deposit down for the venue for this festival is not going to happen. And you know, our customers are like, what are you talking about? Like, are you crazy?

Speaker D: Do you still have like 2020 trauma from everything you went through or have you been able to get through?

Speaker B: I think I've gotten through. I think I've shaken it off. I mean, I think there was something really visceral about it. And I think that's sort of like the process of being an entrepreneur and being a founder and certainly being the CEO of the company. I, you know, I think m. One thing that's always caused me a little bit of like what I've always thought was odd is, is that, you know, a founder is maybe feels entitled to be the CEO of their company. And I, and I do think that having a founder as the CEO of a company is really special. I don't think that it's an automatic, you know, uh, you don't automatically qualify to be a CEO. In order to be a CEO, you have to be waking up every day like an athlete and getting better and better and better and better and being willing to not be the person, you know. Um, and so in that moment when I, when I went through the most acute part of that crisis, I felt this sense of, okay, I do belong in this seat and I need to um, really continue to commit to get better and better and better. And so, you know, I think that was a, ah, it was a springboard for me. It was a springboard for the company because we basically, if you look at it from an optimistic point of view, um, we basically got to start over.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And that's a very rare opportunity to have as a public company. Um, but it was really hard. And you know, after that it was really a really difficult road. And so I'm glad that I had the support and the time. Um, but it's not like it got easier after 2020. You know, I was like that, that probably was the story I was telling myself, like, I just gotta make it through this and I'll be smooth sailing. It's like. And you're wasn't.

Speaker D: You're also a mom to several children as well. So you're navigating.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: The pandemic, managing the business, managing life as a mom. And we have so many moms in our community. I have a six year old as well. And it's not easy to feel like you have to show up and do absolutely everything. Always talk about just like work, life, integration. I'm like, you know, this weekend I have to go to uh, or not have to go. I'm excited to go to, um, one of our friends who's also an entrepreneur. Her daughter's having a birthday, going down to Miami with my family and then we have a podcast recording down in Miami. Like, I always find a way to just integrate everything together. How have you been able to manage everything and any advice you can share with our fellow Mama Prinistas?

Speaker B: Well, I think, you know, it, it, it is an integration and it's sort of like it's. I, I describe it as, you know, a jigsaw puzzle and there's always a piece missing under the couch. And I can say definitively because I have been now two months post acquisition, uh, of Eventbrite by bending Spin. So I'm no longer, uh, a working entrepreneur mom. That doesn't actually change. Like, it's not like things get. My life is not running better because I'm more available to focus on the operations of my life. Like, I think that the integration of work and life and parenthood is something that, um, is really precious and I think it's, it's, you know, it's a privilege. I tried to think about it as like a privilege, not an obligation, but it's really hard. And the biggest change for us was definitely having our first daughter, um, Emma, at like, you know, um, a year and a half into starting or no, two years. She was born two years after starting Eventbrite. And I think that that was really important that we, that we. For us, it was really important to start that early. I realized that that's not an option for, for everybody. But I feel really fortunate that I had a baby right away. It felt like. Because we never knew what it was like otherwise. And for us it felt like this embedded balance mechanism because we knew that we wanted to be great parents, so we needed to. How to build our lives around, you know, tending to Eventbrite during the day and tending to Emma, um, uh, you know, after, after those working hours and, and figuring it out. And very much so, she grew up with the company. I mean she is a, A, A big part of, of what Eventbrite became. And, and, and for her too, I think it was a big part of her childhood. Um, and I think that, you know, it's, it's one of those things where everybody has a different way of going about their lives. And so there' that works. And certainly, you know, you could probably read a book a day on, on finding balance between work and life as a, as a woman and a mother. And it probably Take you, like, three full years to get through all the ones that, that, you know, have any stars on Amazon. So I think there's, like, a lot out there, and I wouldn't say that I have anything unique to add to it other than it is a great privilege to be able to, to, to work on something you love and also to raise tiny humans. And, like, that's why we had more. Now I have a lot of children, and I used to always make fun of people who have four children, and now I'm one of them.

Speaker D: That's so funny. I just saw, um, one of our entrepreneurs. You might know her, Lauren. She's the founder of Sweet Lauren. She was reposting someone's, uh, reel about how when she just had her third baby. When someone says they're having their third children, their child, people are like, wait,

Speaker B: what are you doing?

Speaker D: Like, why?

Speaker B: No, I would get, like, I would get sort of, like, caustic towards people when they said that they had four kids. I'm like, that's an obscene number. Um, we came about it in a different way. So we have, we have two older and two very younger with a huge gap in between. So I don't know, I would say it's like two and two rather than four. But some days now I'm like, wow, this is what this is. This is next level. This is not even. I don't know. I have no words to describe how all encompassing four daughters can be.

Speaker D: How old are they now? 18.

Speaker B: So we are shipping that one to, uh, you know, college, uh, 14. So she's getting, you know, she's shipping to high school, um, and then toddler twins, basically. So, um, they're, they're under two and so just. Oh, my God. It's.

Speaker D: It's.

Speaker B: I, I don't even know how to say how, how awesome.

Speaker D: Organized chaos. And I'm. Fun.

Speaker B: Yeah. Like, it's just fun. It's just fun right now. I mean, I, I, you know, people said to me a lot that, um, having older kids would be a lot more work. And I was like, I never. You, you just like anything. You never quite, like, believe, you know, those things. And now I'm like, Like, this is crazy. Like, I, I am the customer service department to two amazing young women who are really leaning into me being, um, faster at responding. Like, it's. And I just, I'm. I think I'm onto them. That, the, that the to do list doesn't stop. It just keeps going.

Speaker D: Yeah, it's amazing. When my, when my daughter was 2. We were on vacation and we were sitting outside and she's sitting on the lounge chair and, and I was feeding her strawberries and holding a fan and I was like, oh my gosh. Like, I am the servant.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's. I don't know. I find it the best.

Speaker A: So awesome.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's the best. It's amazing. Uh, it's, it's really funny too because you're like, wait, is this really what like you think you know? And, and they truly do a Trust me to be capable. Although today my, my oldest, who is me incarnate, was like, you know what, I' actually, I'll do it. If I have a question, I'll let you know, but I just, I can't. She's like, um, I'm. I'm having a hard time trusting you're going to get it done. Right. I was like.

Speaker A: Up next, Julia shares what it was really like to take eventbrite public in 2018 and the bittersweet milestone she never expected to hit on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Founders are always asking us what has been the secret to our success building multiple seven figure businesses. Do you want to know how? It's our community. We created the Entrepreneista League for founders like you. Because the most successful entrepreneistas do not navigate business alone. We navigate the challenges and opportunities with the support of people we know, love and trust. The relationships you build in business will be the key to your success. Trust me, it's how we've done it. And I'm giving you access to everything we've used to grow and scale our businesses over the past decade. Plus, you're going to meet your new best friends in business right inside the community. Our members have access to everything we've used to grow our businesses over the past 10 plus years, from in person events to virtual events, business education, funding, resources, office hours with myself and other top founders in your industry. Press, opportunities and access to our community platform where you can instantly get all of your business questions answered. You can join us in the community over at refer.enterista.com join us. That's refer.enteraptiona.com join us to join the community or head to the Show Notes right now and tap the link to join. I cannot wait to meet you.

Speaker C: I have a question. I want to get back to your ipo. So it's shifting gears a, uh, little bit because we have not had a lot of founders on Entrepreneista who have gone public. So what went, what goes into the decision and just you know, to decide whether or not it makes sense to go public or sell to private equity. You know, there's lots of ways to uh, to raise capital. So what, what made you go public?

Speaker B: You know, Kevin and I had always had this goal to go public if we had built eventbrite to be at a uh, company of scale. So we had in our minds, you know, a revenue target, a predictability target, a profit target. And the reason why we wanted to go public is that we believe the best companies do like go public. And, and you know, it's, it's you know, a way certainly to raise money. It's a way to um, drive validity. It's a way to challenge yourself. Uh, and my, you know, we, when we made that choice or when we were starting to go, to get ready to go public, um, because we'd hit those, those thresholds, I, I literally couldn't find one person who would, who, who was a public company CEO who would tell me that it was a good idea to go public. It would just always end in like this like warning and like really negative string of, of experiences and just like, I don't know, it would just sort of turn into this like really negative conversation. And I'm the kind of person that when that happens, I decide that I want to be the one to go public and never complain about it. And so I made that commitment to myself and um, you know it's, I'm imagining it's very different these days to get ready to go public. But back then in 2018 it was about like a year long process. And you know, once you decide that you're going to go public, then you get a lot of other people involved. And I would say it's it now. Having done several remodels and construction projects, I would say like it's really, really similar to that where you get a lot of like contractors and subcontractors involved, bankers, lawyers, accountants. And it's like, it can be like chaos and it, the process itself like kind of takes on a life of its own. So early on I thought like, wow, what would I do if it's for a remodel? And I felt like, well, I would probably think of a milestone or like some special event that we have to be done by. And so um, Kevin's birthday and Roloff's birthday, you know, who's on our board or our one day apart. And so I said something to the team, I said you know, I have these special, like, men that I want to honor with this ipo. And I ended their birthday is these dates. Like, I'd love to go public that week. I felt like everyone's gonna look at me like, what? And, um, and that totally worked. I mean, we were like, set our sights on that week and. And then I also made the comment that I can build a human in nine months. So we most certainly could take the public, take the company public in nine months. And that's what we did. Um, so a little bit of shame, little bit of, of, you know, incentive. Uh, but it is a. It's like this process that you have to sort of like, dedicate yourself to, but minimize and not let it take over. And it's not because people want to ruin your business. It's just that they have their own process. And then all of a sudden you're kind of in, in the midst of it. Um, but I'll never forget going public, you know, our, our. Our bell ringing day on the New York Stock Exchange floor and how important that was to have our family there and our early customers and our early employees and just what a wonderful, you know, day it was. And yet there was this, this moment of kind of, you know, this pang of, of bittersweet for me because I was told a lot of things in that day that will always stick with me. And one of them was, um, that I was the second youngest woman to take her company public. Um, um, one was that I was the 21st woman to founded a company and taken it public as the CEO. And the other one was, um, that they had looked through all the archives of the bell ringing ceremonies and had never, ever had a picture that had as many women on the podium as ours. And that was just our executive team. It wasn't like, you know, we asked a bunch of random women to join us. Um, I just remember thinking, like, really? It's 2018. Like, come on, you know, so it, it was a really special day. But I wish I hadn't. I kind of wish I hadn't been told those things. Like, I didn't, I didn't find joy in that. I found it to be a little bit bittersweet.

Speaker D: What do you want your legacy to be?

Speaker B: Well, I hope, you know, in, in this next era that Eventbrite is set up to, to outlast all of us and that it is something that continues to, to bring people together through live experiences, you know, in, in. In these so many different disruptive, uh, periods. Whether it was, um, the Advent of the mobile phone, social media, AI, a global pandemic. Um, you know, virtual reality. Um, like, there are all these periods of time when we question whether or not people would want to be together in real life and whether or not they would find solace and excitement in gathering. And I think that it's indisputable that the only way to really create indelible memories together as humans is to be together in real life. And so with that, I really hope that, you know, and believe that bending spoons as the stewards of the next era for Eventbrite will help it outlast us all. And I think that's what I want. Want my legacy to be. Personally, I found myself in the right place at the right time with the right skill set, the right appetite, and the willingness to work hard. And, um, you know, I. I hope that that can provide some sort of, um, motivation for people. But I, you know, I think, like, we're all mere mortals. Like, it's not. It's. It's really not about one person, and it's about, like, collectively what we do together. And I think that I got to really experience that, you know. In January, we celebrated our 20th eventbriteversary. And, um, we brought together people from all sorts of different chapters of Eventbrite's existence. And we actually gathered at an Eventbrite venue that's across the street from where we started the company in Procherra Hill. And I kind of felt like I got to just, like, attend the celebration of my life before I died, because it was incredible. I mean, the vibe was so good. And, you know, we did a talent show, which is a hallmark of Eventbrite's past and culture. And it was like SNL 50. Like, we brought together some of the most talented people. Um, and I just think, like, that's, that's. That's enough for me. That's like a legacy that I feel really proud of, and the fact that we all have those memories and that will never be taken away from us, like, that's pretty cool.

Speaker C: I love that. What are you most looking forward to now that you sold the company?

Speaker B: Well, right now, I'd be lying if I didn't say that this feels a lot like being postpartum. This is a weird, you know, gear change in my life. A weird kind of sudden shift in. In how I live my days. Um, I'm confused several times a day about how time moves when you're not, like, in back to back zooms and making decisions every half an hour. Um, And. And I'm also just trying to really be present. Um, you know, I kind of for. I have this instinct that right now it's really important to absorb a lot and to think about how I can just be helpful to people. Um, with no, like, end to game. It's sort of like, it's not a means to an end. It's really thinking about how can I be present with people when I haven't been able to do that in the past as much as I've wanted to, and not least of which are my children. Um, um. And I have this joke. I. I was cast in the play the lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe when I was eight. And my role was Frozen Bunny Number three. And I really took that role very seriously. And I had to stand on stage for like an hour, Frozen. And I kind of feel like I'm frozen funny Number three again, where I get to go back to the beginning and be like, I'm just here. Um, I'm available for what people need. And I'm gonna kind of like, give myself that time to. To think about how, you know, just absorb and to just be present. M. And so, you know, I've, um, joined the board of a foundation that means a lot to me called the Live Like Braun Foundation. To go back to my. My day one with Kevin. The wedding that we were at was my. My boss and. And first mentor, Jen Levy, who tragically lost her son a year ago to, uh, an alleged drunk driver. He was killed. And you know, the Live Like Braun foundation is really near and dear to my heart to go back to the beginning and support her. And it's part for me, it's a calling that's so important, but also to be able to support a woman who means so much to me and who really set the first example of what it's like to be a successful woman, um, and really to go kind of reset back to one and learn. And so part of that is taking the time, um, to learn about her advocacy and how she's moving through grief to really bring, um, a movement for. For good to other kids. And then, you know, supporting people like Sammy Cohen, who I think is so, so, um, uh, talented and, and really thinking through, like, the future consumer and, you know, how I can. How I can just be present for people like her. Um, and then finally I'm spending a lot of time at just like, I know a lot of people are at. As a, like, AI Hobbyist, I am almost every day spinning up a new project with cloud code now, like, the, that, you know, the seal's been, been broken for me. And it's, it's, it gets weird. Sometimes I find myself like all the way down the rabbit hole on a project and I'm like, I, I don't know where the day went, um, but I'm having so much fun with it now. One example of a project that I haven't told anybody about occurred, um, Monday morning. Uh, Kevin said, nobody ever tells me anything about what's going on. And I'm like, what? You know? And of course I'm thinking like, you get all the same emails I get, you get all the same, you know, uh, calendar invites. But I really thought, like, you know, I want to try to solve this problem. So I spent the morning coding, um, something called the Daily Daddy. And I mean, the name kind of makes me laugh.

Speaker D: I love that name.

Speaker B: Yeah, I should actually, um, but it's like, you know, I took all the information that comes at us every day as co parents and put it together in this way that's kind of funny and it's got a personality and it delivers the information in a way that I know works for him and it's pretty funny. Like, it, it, it also makes me laugh, so that's helpful. But, um, but, you know, just like learning and working on stuff that, that brings me delight has been a lot of how I'm spending my day.

Speaker D: I love that. Any advice you can share with founders who are in the process of selling their business that they should know what to expect emotionally after they sell their baby?

Speaker B: I don't know that I have any great advice. I can tell you what I did, which was, you know, really did. I did a lot of my own processing before we even kicked off the process, you know, just to, just to make sure that I was going to be the best leader through that process as possible. So I thought about it a lot. Like, you know, the ipo and I thought about it as, you know, I needed to get clear with what I thought the North Star was. Then I needed to be aligned with the board, and then I needed to be emotionally okay to go through it. I didn't feel like that, you know, me processing my emotions in real time would be like, really good for the process because again, you open the door to bankers and lawyers and accountants and the whole nine yards and it starts to become, you know, takes on a life of its own. So I had to be really clear about what I thought was right for the company and emotionally prepared, um, to do it. And, um, and I'm glad I did that pre work. Yeah.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: Last question for you, Julia. What does being an entrepreneista mean to you?

Speaker B: Um, you know, I think it's about creating your own reality and, and really waking up every day thinking about how I can solve problems. Whether it's the daily Daddy. Um, yeah. Or bringing together people through live experiences. You know, selling billions and billions of. Of uh, of dollars in tickets. I think it's, you know, it's something is in one word, I would say creation. And the brilliance of that is it's really so unique to how each different person thinks and operates. And um, you know, I think I never ever woke up one day during the 20 years of building Eventbrite and thought this is really boring. Mhm. And that's pretty cool.

Speaker D: Yeah. That's so beautiful. Well, it is so incredible. All you have accomplished, your journey, your story, the businesses you've built, the children you have created, it is, it's amazing. And thank you for sharing with us and everything you will continue to do to help the future generation of entrepreneistas. Thank you.

Speaker B: I really appreciate you having me. It's been really fun to connect.

Speaker D: Thank you, Julia. I'm um, Stephanie.

Speaker C: And I'm Courtney.

Speaker D: And this is the best business meeting we've ever had.

Speaker A: M hi entrepreneistas, it's Steph here and I hope today's episode has left you feeling inspired and with some actionable tips that you can apply to your own business. The way we've grown our community and resources is by sharing content like this for years and asking for help along the way. So here's where we need your help so we can continue to make as much impact as possible together. If you can. Leave us a five star review and and extra credit if you share this episode on Instagram, LinkedIn or DM it to a founder friend who would benefit from hearing it. Not only would it mean the world to us, but you sharing this episode is going to help someone who just may need to hear what we shared today. And um, you know I love nothing more than giveaways and prizes. So every month I'll be giving away a one on one session with me to someone who has shared the episode and left a review. So send me a purchase personal dm. Um, over on Instagram, I'm Steph Jill Carton. Once you've done it so you can be entered to win. Wishing you a productive week ahead and stay tuned for another impactful episode next week.