There are 5 members of the Hartz family: Julia and her husband Kevin, their two daughters and their $483 million firm—Eventbrite.
The couple launched the enterprise in 2006 alongside their third co-founder—Renaud Visage—with Kevin initially taking up the title of CEO. In 2016 Julia took the reins, simply in time to take the corporate public earlier than she and her crew had been slammed into the disaster that was the coronavirus pandemic.
Whereas Hartz held the highest job that fateful March, she advised Fortune titles went out the window because the crew pulled collectively to maintain the enterprise above water. For Hartz, that meant making some robust selections on what number of workers the corporate wanted to outlive—for her husband it meant dropping his full-time job as an investor and dealing alongside his spouse to maintain the corporate on observe.
However 4 years later the corporate—constructed on gathering folks in particular person—has not solely survived social distancing and lockdowns, however is flourishing. Certainly, as customers have rediscovered in-person socializing a brand new frontier has opened up for Eventbrite: area of interest hobbies which could even permit guests to make some romantic connections.
Talking to Fortune, Hartz mirrored on the “exciting but deeply disturbing” expertise of being one of many solely feminine founder-CEOs to have launched her enterprise on the New York Inventory Alternate, and the way the pandemic pressured her to get previous any shred imposter syndrome she may need felt.
A darkish room with no oxygen
At first, Hartz advised Fortune in a video interview, she judged herself on “Am I doing it right? What would Kevin do?” Then, “that line of questioning and self-doubt went out the window when COVID happened.”
“Imagine getting stuck in a room that has very little oxygen and every single light goes out, to the point it’s an utter void of darkness. That was like the first two weeks of COVID,” recalled Hartz, who has been named on Fortune’s Most Highly effective Girls record. “All the foundation of our enterprise evaporated and nobody of their proper thoughts may have predicted that. We do all this situation planning, catastrophe planning, tabletop workout routines—there by no means as soon as was a situation when a worldwide pandemic hits and folks aren’t really allowed to collect in a spot like the US.
“In order to get out of that room—that dark room—I had to go on instinct completely. I had to do things that rationally I would never ever imagine doing, and I made a bunch of micro mistakes but the things I got right were really critical. Which was to move quickly, to not let it play out and see what happened, and that meant making a lot of tough decisions.”
That included axing half of the corporate’s headcount—round 450 folks—and hitting the (metaphorical) street to drum up some contemporary financing.
With an enormous overhaul got here the chance to rebuild the corporate with added expertise, so Hartz and her senior government crew drew up a one-page draft of how they needed the reset to go.
“We were dividing conquering and I realized after being in a month of crisis mode that I had forgotten to have a moment of doubt. And I was like ‘Oh, that’s handy I should keep doing this,’” Hartz recalled. “I remember laying on the ground of our home office just thinking ‘If I live through this I’m never going to waste time feeling a lack of confidence.’”
Whereas an concepts overhaul reshaped the corporate, one decisive issue stayed the identical: parity. From the offset Eventbrite needed the corporate to “look like the world” and to have a 50/50 gender steadiness, with Hartz describing her cofounders as “incredible feminists.”
And that hasn’t modified—in 2018 the the Eventbrite board reached 50/50 parity and in 2024 the concept that you must “see it to be it” continues to be core to the enterprise.
Hartz defined: “It’s come about very organically. I think if you have that North Star that guides you to build a company that is treating everyone well, gives everybody a place, and never makes anybody look over their shoulder and think: ‘Should I be here?’ then you’re moving in the right direction.”
Fifth member of the family
Whereas 18 is the age many dad and mom see their youngsters as grown up and unbiased, near-two a long time in enterprise is not any assure that its founders can take their eyes off the ball.
For Hartz’s daughters, Eventbrite has change into one thing of a industrial sibling they grew up alongside, understanding that when their dad and mom wanted to give attention to the enterprise it has been for his or her household.
Throughout COVID Kevin and Julia had been working 20 hours a day, with their house changing into a “village” of people that pitched in to assist.
“I have these sweet photos Kevin took of our daughters sleeping on the couch in our office. It was reminiscent of when we started the company and they were a part of that journey as well,” Hartz stated. “During that time the girls would serve us dinner—they’d come in dressed as waiters and do little skits and sing songs. I think they knew that levity was really important. I think there’s something really special about having this company be a member of the family in terms of what we prioritize and I hope that they have really fond memories of it.”
That “sweet intimacy” in a “cold, scary time of unknown” additionally echoed by means of to Hartz’s relationship together with her husband—not solely as a life companion, however as a co-founder.
For a lot of, a life companion establishing large gaming-style screens in your house workplace could not scream attraction however for Hartz it was “the most romantic gesture.”
“I just melted because in one gesture he showed me he was going to drop everything and be a co-founder. It didn’t matter what our titles were, we were going to be side by side. We were shoulder to shoulder for a month making some really difficult decisions—when you’re founders it’s not unlike being parents,” Hartz added.
Eventbrite’s new period
With the pandemic within the rearview, Eventbrite—which has not too long ago elevated its engineering footprint in India with gender fairness all through its ranks—and its clients alike are focussed on what’s subsequent. For customers that entails exploring their area of interest pursuits and assembly new folks, be it buddies or romantic pursuits.
A current information seize of individuals utilizing the Eventbrite platform discovered that relationship and singles occasions had been on the rise “massively”—up three to four-fold. And that doesn’t entail extra stereotypical occasions like velocity relationship or mixers, it’s taking place round actions like courses or hobbies.
Certainly, girls in Eventbrite’s survey group stated they would like to satisfy somebody at a cooking class versus out at a bar.
Hartz added: “I find it so sweet and charming when you think about the dynamic of wanting to get outside of this swiping and algorithmic, programmed matching… to actually being somewhere, doing something you love to do and actually meeting someone through that experience.”
In addition to romantic occasions, sober get togethers are additionally rising in recognition—even all the way down to studying teams the place persons are inspired to not talk about the e-book, however merely take pleasure in their novel in silence.
And—in a yr of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and the Euros soccer match—there’s additionally loads of followers seeking to take pleasure in occasions collectively.
“We tracked almost 200 Euro viewing parties that already had more sign-ups than the capacity of the first stadium,” Hartz stated. “[People were also] doing all sorts of Taylor Swift-themed programming and official non-ticketed events. The vibrancy of events is incredibly high, the creativity is incredibly high, people want to go out and do something that’s unique. That’s propelled by social media, by discovering great events and wanting to share you’ve been somewhere unique that matches your niche interests.”
