TicketStumbler has your extra
Continuing the effort to raise awareness of Boston area based Internet Startups, this month’s guest post comes from Dan Haubert, Co-founder of TicketStumbler. I talked with Dan at TicketStumbler, a Y-Combinator that launched in August 2008, not only to find out more about the company, but also about how he saw themselves fitting into the Boston area web entrepenuerial sector. This guest post continues a series on Boston area startups that includes Matt Wiseley from EditMe and Abby Kirigin from TipJoy. Thanks to Dan for his time and sharing his thoughts.
Mamet: What’s the compelling reason to use TicketStumbler instead of more well known companies TicketMaster?
Haubert: The biggest advantage of using TicketStumbler is the ability to pick your seats while comparing hundreds (or thousands) of listings at once. This allows you to find the best seats at the best price. At Ticketmaster, you’re never able to select your seats – you just hope Ticketmaster spits out something you like. If Ticketmaster ever changes this, we’ll include them within our main site listings. Furthermore, at our site you can compare multiple events at a given venue at the same time. For example, if you know you’re going to be in Boston for a week, you can compare all the relative Red Sox games.
On the ticket blog we include Ticketmaster offers & links. If the event is expected to sell out, your best bet is probably Ticketmaster as the prices are fixed. However, most events don’t sell out so you can often find tickets below face value at TicketStumbler. And since we’re in a recession, this is more true than ever. NHL winter classic tickets were going for below face value as were many NCAA college bowl games. Finally, if the event is sold out and you want tickets, TicketStumber allows you to browse everything that’s available as prices can vary widely.
Mamet: How does TicketStumbler make money, or plan to make money?
Haubert: We receive a percentage of every sale directly from our ticket providers (e.g. Stubhub, Ticketsnow, Razorgator). The cost is the same going through TicketStumbler as it is going straight to one of our ticket providers. TicketStumbler is, and always will be, free.
Mamet: As a Web 2.0 software company, how have you been helped or hindered by being located in Massachusetts, as opposed to California?
Haubert: To be honest, I still don’t know exactly what web 2.0 means. For us, Boston has been a major advantage. Our burn rate would have almost doubled had we moved to San Francisco, and we would have almost certainly needed to take on additional investor funding (as of right now, the only money we’ve received has been from Y Combinator). Not having to worry about that has allowed us to focus on our product. The major advantages of San Francisco are: more investors, more talent to hire and a stronger startup community. We’ve been fortunate to have investor interest from both coasts. We aren’t hiring, but we would love to see a stronger startup community in Boston. Tom and I are both big fans of San Francisco so we’ll probably move out there eventually. For now, Boston is great and Bruins games are awesome.
Mamet: Is this scalping? Am I going to get into trouble if I use your website?
Haubert: TicketStumbler actually doesn’t own any tickets; we’re just an aggregator. A good analogy to use is thinking about us as an Expedia or an Orbitz. Expedia doesn’t have any physical planes – TicketStumbler doesn’t have any physical tickets. The scalping laws have largely been revoked and usually don’t apply to online ticket sales. Major League Baseball signed an agreement with Stubhub as did the Washington Wizards and numerous NFL teams. People are realizing that allowing safe, free markets is a better solution than regulations that don’t work or are ignored anyway. That said, I’d still be careful buying from a street scalper as there’s no certainty that the tickets are real. All of our ticket providers offer 100% guarantees.
Mamet: Given that you’re up against some big names in TicketMaster and LiveNation, how do you plan to spread the word about your service and grow your customer base?
Haubert: Just as United Airlines & Delta aren’t direct competitors with Expedia, Ticketmaster & Livenation aren’t direct competitors with TicketStumbler. Ticketmaster is already a partner and once Livenation introduces their affiliate program, they’ll be a partner as well. We’re not trying to compete with them (although we compete somewhat for traffic). Our goal is to include as many tickets as possible and let fans pick what tickets to buy and where to buy them from.
Mamet: If you had a 2 minute audience with all your potential customers, what would you say to them?
Haubert: I’d tell them that we have over $1.5 billion worth of tickets on our site to almost any event imaginable. If they were first time users, I’d tell them to give us a try for MLB & NBA games where below face value tickets are abound.
Glad ITB covered Ticketstumbler. I use them quite a bit for all my concerts and sports tickets. Very easy to use plus the added peace of mind that I’m getting exactly what I want for the best price possible without spending a bazillion hours on the internet searching countless sites.
M. Damon’s last blog post..Phish Rumored to Headline Bonnaroo
“What’s the compelling reason to use TicketStumbler instead of more well known companies TicketMaster?”
I have another reason: Ticketmaster is owned by EXPEDIA and EXPEDIA is a scam (source: http://www.victimsofexpediacom ) . Just search for “ticketmaster complaints: and you will find a lot of complaints form customers