Co-founder of Eventbrite, Eventbrite
Search every verified Julia Hartz interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Julia Hartz, co-founder and former CEO of Eventbrite, recently discussed the company's early challenges and her leadership experiences in two podcast appearances. In an October 2026 conversation with Sharon Miller, Hartz reflected on the importance of mentorship and networking for entrepreneurs, describing how she sought advice from business leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic when Eventbrite's core events business was halted. She emphasized that mentors can accelerate learning by helping others avoid past mistakes, and she encouraged a practical approach to seeking guidance by asking directed questions and following up on the advice received. In an August 2026 interview on TechCrunch's Build Mode podcast, Hartz discussed her tenure as CEO, including taking Eventbrite public in 2018. She noted that she was the second youngest woman to lead a company to an IPO and the 21st woman founder-CEO to do so, describing the transition to CEO as "terrifying." She also stressed the importance of maintaining direct communication with customers during crises, advising leaders to "stop and talk to your customers" rather than focusing solely on strategy and metrics. Hartz recounted the company's journey from bootstrapping through the 2008 financial crisis to going public and eventually returning to private ownership.
Before Eventbrite was a household name, it was two people figuring out what to build next. Our CEO, Sharon Miller, sat down with Kevin and Julia Hartz to talk about the early days of Eventbrite, what it means to find a "4th space," and why small-business investment has to remain a priority even in the middle of a tech boom. They also get into what small business owners actually need to succeed.
Eventbrite has survived nearly every kind of challenge a startup can face: launching into a financial crisis, raising venture capital after 27 rejections, going public, watching its core business disappear during COVID, and eventually leaving the public markets after nearly two decades of building. In this episode of Build Mode, host Isabelle Johannesen sits down with Julia Hartz, co-founder and former CEO of Eventbrite, to unpack the decisions that helped the company weather those highs and lows. When Eventbrite went public in 2018, Julia became just the 21st woman founder-CEO to lead her co…
In this episode of The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Kevin Hartz and Julia Hartz, Co-Founders of Eventbrite. Kevin traces his path from the early days of Silicon Valley to co-founding Xoom, a money remittance company that became one of the first developers on the PayPal API and was ultimately acquired by PayPal in 2015 for $1.1 billion. Julia shares how she left a career in television development at MTV and FX to co-found Eventbrite with Kevin. Together they built Eventbrite into one of the world's leading live events platforms, took it public in 2018, and sold it in April 2026 for…
In this supercut from The CEO Series, William Salvi sits down with Kevin Hartz and Julia Hartz, Co-Founders of Eventbrite. Kevin traces his path from the early days of Silicon Valley to co-founding Xoom, a money remittance company that became one of the first developers on the PayPal API and was ultimately acquired by PayPal in 2015 for $1.1 billion. Julia shares how she left a career in television development at MTV and FX to co-found Eventbrite with Kevin. Together they built Eventbrite into one of the world's leading live events platforms, took it public in 2018, and sold it in April 2026…
We're joined by two very special guests, Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz and her cofounder, spouse and Eventbrite Chairman Kevin Hartz, to tell their story of building Eventbrite together (along with their lives and family) from the PayPal diaspora to bootstrapped business, unicorn status, IPO and now starting all over again in the wake of COVID with both a tragedy and a huge new opportunity in front of them as public company. Sponsors: • Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora • Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta • ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26 • Statsig: ht…
Husband and Wife duo Kevin and Julia Hartz, co-founders at Eventbrite, join us on the NEW ECONOMIES podcast show to share how they built one of the world’s largest event marketplaces, navigating a leadership transition after a decade as co-founders, surviving COVID when their entire industry (and revenue) shut down overnight, and why the future belongs to companies bringing people together. Timestamps: (0:00) Julia & Kevin Hartz (1:45) A Blossoming Relationship (3:40) The Aha Moment for Eventbrite (8:15) Ideas Outside Eventbrite (9:24) Eventbrite's First Year (12:50) The Product Market Fit M…
Julia Hartz spent 20 years building Eventbrite through every major dislocation of the modern internet – the 2008 financial crisis ...
A small town ballerina with no business background, Julia Hartz had no guarantee that Eventbrite would work. What began as a bootstrapped startup she co-founded became a 20-year journey full of challenges, including a crisis like no other: COVID, wiping out the events industry almost overnight. But each challenge sharpened her leadership skills, and Julia ultimately turned Eventbrite into the powerhouse it is today before exiting on her own terms. In this episode, Julia shares how these moments shaped her leadership and taught her how to build, scale, and evolve a meaningful business, even wh…
What does it take to build something meaningful—and stay grounded while doing it? In this powerful episode of Stay A While, we sit down with Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite, to explore the mindset, courage, and quiet conviction required to turn an idea into a global movement. From launching Eventbrite at just 25 years old to leading one of the world’s most recognized event platforms for over two decades, Julia shares the lessons she’s learned about trusting your timing, embracing uncertainty, and staying present in high-stakes moments. This conversation is especially meaningful for women…
AUDIO-ONLY Version Guest: Julia Hartz, EventBrite Co-Founder & former CEO In a matter of days, Eventbrite went from growth to crisis, processing more refunds than revenue as live events canceled worldwide In this episode, Julia Hartz shares what it really takes to lead when the business you built suddenly stops working. Drawing on a 20-year journey spanning startup, hypergrowth, IPO, global expansion, and eventual reinvention, Julia reveals the leadership systems that sustained Eventbrite through massive technological shifts, from social media to AI. More importantly, she offers a candid l…
VIDEO VERSION! Guest: Julia Hartz, Cofounder & former CEO of Eventbrite What would you do if your company lost its revenue in just 14 days? In this episode, Julia Hartz shares the unfiltered reality of leading through one of the most extreme business crises in modern history. As CEO of Eventbrite, Julia navigated: • Negative revenue during the COVID shutdown • Mass event cancellations and customer backlash • High-stakes decisions with incomplete—but critical—information • The challenge of rebuilding a company from the ground up . This isn’t theoretical leadership advice. This is what lea…
When your initial growth strategy runs its course, reinvention becomes a necessity, not a choice. In this SXSW 2026 session, Ben Van Leeuwen of Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, and Julia Hartz from Eventbrite, share how they adapted their strategies and reignited momentum. From Eventbrite doubling down on power users and building targeted tools to Van Leeuwen pausing expansion, securing capital, and scaling infrastructure, this conversation explores the mindset and tactical moves that transform plateaus into new growth opportunities. Featuring Julia Hartz, Co-founder, CEO, and executive chair…
“I was the second youngest woman to take a company public. I was like the 21st founder CEO woman to take a company public.”
“Some days it feels like we are all racing as fast as we can to get that next check, to get that next round closed, to get that next tool in the hands of people that is literally going to make us extinct.”
“I think it's a terrible thing. I really do. I think it's a terrible thing. And I think it I don't envy founders today who have to go out and raise a bunch of money because they need to buy the compute or they need to, you know, they're in a capital arms race because I for several different reasons and I hate this because I do know that I sound like a kromagin. Um but like you know there's so many human experiences th”
“I can't stress enough the importance of capital efficiency. It gives you freedom, it gives you options, it gives you power. It's really important. It's smoke and mirrors if you don't have a very strong way to return on your invested capital.”
“We were processing more refunds than revenue. Our Tableau dashboards broke because our revenue was negative. 14 years in the making was actually completely gone in 14 days.”
“Eventbrite needed to become a private company again. We needed to be able to invest in technical debt and take risks that weren't measured on a public quarterly cadence. As well as the public markets have changed and are really not hospitable to small-cap companies. So, you've got to decide like, is it worth it to have all the things that I really valued in being a public company, the transparency, the rigor, the acc”
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