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There are five members of the Hartz household: Julia<\/a> and her husband Kevin, their two daughters and their $483 million company\u2014Eventbrite.<\/p>\n The couple launched the business in 2006 alongside their third co-founder\u2014Renaud Visage\u2014with Kevin initially taking on the title of CEO. In 2016 Julia took the reins<\/a>, just in time to take the company public before she and her team were slammed into the crisis that was the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n While Hartz held the top job that fateful March, she told Fortune<\/em> titles went out the window as the team pulled together to keep the business above water<\/a>. For Hartz, that meant making some tough decisions on how many staff the company needed to survive\u2014for her husband it meant dropping his full-time job as an investor and working alongside his wife to keep the company on track.<\/p>\n But four years later the company\u2014built on gathering people in person\u2014has not only survived social distancing and lockdowns, but is flourishing. Indeed, as consumers have rediscovered in-person socializing a new frontier has opened up for Eventbrite: niche hobbies which might even allow visitors to make some romantic connections.<\/p>\n Speaking to Fortune<\/em>, Hartz reflected<\/a> on the \u201cexciting but deeply disturbing\u201d experience of being one of the only female founder-CEOs to have launched her business on the New York Stock Exchange, and how the pandemic forced her to get past any shred imposter syndrome she might have felt.<\/p>\n At first, Hartz told Fortune<\/em> in a video interview, she judged herself on \u201cAm I doing it right? What would Kevin do?\u201d Then, \u201cthat line of questioning and self-doubt went out the window when COVID happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cImagine getting stuck in a room that has very little oxygen and every single light goes out, to the point it\u2019s an utter void of darkness. That was like the first two weeks of COVID,\u201d recalled Hartz, who has been named on Fortune\u2019s <\/em>Most Powerful Women<\/a> list. \u201cThe entire basis of our business evaporated and no one in their right mind could have predicted that. We do all this scenario planning, disaster planning, tabletop exercises\u2014there never once was a scenario when a global pandemic hits and people aren\u2019t actually allowed to gather in a place like the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn order to get out of that room\u2014that dark room\u2014I 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.\u201d<\/p>\n That included axing half of the company\u2019s headcount\u2014around 450 people\u2014and hitting the (metaphorical) road to drum up some fresh financing. <\/p>\n With a massive overhaul came the opportunity to rebuild the company with added experience, so Hartz and her senior executive team drew up a one-page draft of how they wanted the reset to go. <\/p>\n \u201cWe 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 \u2018Oh, that\u2019s handy I should keep doing this,’\u201d Hartz recalled. \u201cI remember laying on the ground of our home office just thinking \u2018If I live through this I\u2019m never going to waste time feeling a lack of confidence.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While an ideas overhaul reshaped the company, one decisive factor stayed the same: parity. From the offset Eventbrite wanted the company to \u201clook like the world\u201d and to have a 50\/50 gender balance, with Hartz describing her cofounders as \u201cincredible feminists.\u201d <\/p>\n And that hasn\u2019t changed\u2014in 2018 the the Eventbrite board reached 50\/50 parity<\/a> and in 2024 the idea that you have to \u201csee it to be it\u201d is still core to the business. <\/p>\n Hartz explained: \u201cIt\u2019s 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: \u2018Should I be here?\u2019 then you\u2019re moving in the right direction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While 18 is the age many parents see their kids as grown up and independent, near-two decades in business is no guarantee that its founders can take their eyes off the ball. <\/p>\n For Hartz\u2019s daughters, Eventbrite has become something of a commercial sibling they grew up alongside, understanding that when their parents needed to focus on the business it has been for their family.<\/p>\n During COVID Kevin and Julia were working 20 hours a day, with their home becoming a \u201cvillage\u201d of people who pitched in to help.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Hartz said. \u201cDuring that time the girls would serve us dinner\u2014they\u2019d come in dressed as waiters and do little skits and sing songs. I think they knew that levity was really important. I think there\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n That \u201csweet intimacy\u201d in a \u201ccold, scary time of unknown\u201d also echoed through to Hartz\u2019s relationship with her husband\u2014not only as a life partner, but as a co-founder.<\/p>\n For many, a life partner setting up massive gaming-style screens in your home office may not scream charm but for Hartz it was \u201cthe most romantic gesture.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI just melted because in one gesture he showed me he was going to drop everything and be a co-founder. It didn\u2019t 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\u2014when you\u2019re founders it\u2019s not unlike being parents,\u201d Hartz added.<\/p>\n With the pandemic in the rearview, Eventbrite\u2014which has recently increased its engineering footprint in India with gender equity throughout its ranks\u2014and its customers alike are focussed on what\u2019s next. For consumers that entails exploring their niche interests and meeting new people, be it friends or romantic interests. <\/p>\n A recent data capture of people using the Eventbrite platform found that dating and singles events were on the rise \u201cmassively\u201d\u2014up three to four-fold. And that doesn\u2019t entail more stereotypical events like speed dating or mixers, it\u2019s happening around activities like classes or hobbies. <\/p>\n Indeed, women in Eventbrite\u2019s survey group said they would prefer to meet someone at a cooking class as opposed to out at a bar. <\/p>\n Hartz added: \u201cI find it so sweet and charming when you think about the dynamic of wanting to get outside of this swiping and algorithmic, programmed matching\u2026 to actually being somewhere, doing something you love to do and actually meeting someone through that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as romantic events, sober get togethers are also rising in popularity\u2014even down to reading groups where people are encouraged not to discuss the book, but simply enjoy their novel in silence. <\/p>\n\nA dark room with no oxygen<\/h2>\n
Fifth family member\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Eventbrite\u2019s new era<\/h2>\n