--- title: "From Hollywood to Silicon Valley: How Eventbrite's CEO Bet $250K On A Phone Closet Startup" description: "Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite, transitioned from a successful TV career to tech, investing $250,000 of personal savings to launch the ticketing startup from a phone closet in San Francisco. Ev" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/252341283.md" published_at: "2025-08-09T16:01:34.000Z" --- # From Hollywood to Silicon Valley: How Eventbrite's CEO Bet $250K On A Phone Closet Startup > Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite, transitioned from a successful TV career to tech, investing $250,000 of personal savings to launch the ticketing startup from a phone closet in San Francisco. Eventbrite's growth coincided with the rise of social media, leading to partnerships that expanded its reach. The company went public in 2018 and has since supported events in nearly 180 countries, selling 83 million tickets in 2024. Hartz attributes her success to her passion for connecting people through niche events, inspired by her experiences in television. Julia Hartz left a rising TV executive career at FX to co-found Eventbrite Inc. EB, launching the ticketing startup from a phone closet in San Francisco. She, her husband Kevin Hartz, and engineer Renaud Visage pooled $250,000 of their personal savings to bootstrap the venture, Fortune reported. Trending Investment Opportunities ## Leaving TV for Tech Before making the leap, Hartz had built an early resume that included internships at "Friends" and MTV's development department, eventually working on series such as "Jackass," "The Shield," and "Rescue Me." She rose to junior executive at FX before walking away. **Don't Miss:** - **The same firms that backed Uber, Venmo and eBay are investing in this pre-IPO company disrupting a $1.8T market — **and you can too at just $2.90/share.**** - **Accredited Investors: Grab Pre-IPO Shares of the AI Company Powering Hasbro, Sephora & MGM—**Secure $0.63 Shares Before 8/14**** While many entrepreneurs choose to build their companies on the side, Hartz committed full-time from day one. "I've seen entrepreneurs do that, and I think that that's a clever way to gain validation and product market fit, without putting yourself in such a perilous state," Hartz told Fortune. "I did not do that." ## Riding the Rise of Social Media Eventbrite's early growth aligned with a critical moment in tech: the expansion of social media platforms in the mid-2000s. Meta Platforms Inc. META selected Eventbrite as one of its first Connect partners, giving the company access to a growing network of users seeking in-person experiences. This partnership, combined with Eventbrite's self-service platform, enabled organizers, including creators, performers, and niche communities to quickly set up and promote events with minimal overhead. This accessible model helped Eventbrite scale across a wide variety of event types and locations, according to Fortune. **Trending: ‘Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can **invest today for just $0.30/share.**** ## Recession-Proofing Through Real-World Connection Hartz described the 2008 Great Recession as a moment of collapse for corporate America. Yet the demand for meaningful human connection remained strong as many people turned to affordable, local events as a way to stay connected, Fortune reported. Between 2006 and 2019, Eventbrite raised $373 million in equity funding across 11 funding rounds from investors including Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, and Square, according to Pitchbook. The company went public in 2018. ## A Platform With Global Reach By the end of 2024, Eventbrite had expanded to support events in nearly 180 countries. It sold 83 million paid tickets over the year, powered by 4.7 million events, the company reported. The platform reached 88 million average monthly active users in Q1 2025. Event types have evolved with their user base, including everything from Bach concerts in Central Park and mixed martial arts showcases to house music cruises and cheese-themed parties hosted by Antoni Porowski of "Queer Eye," according to Fortune. That diversity reflects Eventbrite's original mission: to make it easy for people to gather around their passions—no matter how niche. ## The Human Element Hartz credited much of her startup journey to a single moment from her days in television: attending a fan event. "I remember going to this fandom event that was insanely niche, and feeling the energy of the people in the room. It just stuck with me," she told Fortune. "It was this palpable, kinetic energy…When we started Eventbrite, I was thinking about that all along: ‘How do we enable the people who gather others around these niche passion areas and create this magic?'" That experience, combined with her husband's encouragement and prior success with PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL, helped her make the leap. "We made it on less than a quarter of a million dollars," Hartz said. "I'm really, really proud of it." ***Image: Imagn Images*** ### Related Stocks - [EB.US - Eventbrite](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/EB.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | 挪威郵輪的股票正在上漲。據報道，一位大型激進投資者已經持有股份 | 挪威郵輪的股票在盤前交易中上漲了 6%，此前有報道稱激進投資者 Elliott 已收購超過 10% 的股份，並計劃推動變革，包括提名一名董事加入董事會。這是在最近的領導層變動之後，約翰·奇德西接替哈里·薩默擔任首席執行官，此前導致股票價值下 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276111879.md) | | 期權熱點｜上周五 SILJ 大漲 5%，部分看漲期權飆升 103% | 美東時間 2026-02-13， ETFMG 小市值銀礦開採勘探 ETF -ETFMG 期權總成交 92131 張，看漲期權佔比 89%，看跌期權佔比 10%。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276030246.md) | | 必和必拓利潤飆升 30%，銅業務首次超越鐵礦石成最大利潤來源 | 全球市值最大的礦業公司必和必拓（BHP）因押注銅需求激增而獲得回報，上半財年淨利潤同比增長近 30%。銅業務貢獻了公司 51% 的基礎息税折舊攤銷前利潤，首次超越其他業務成為最大利潤來源。能源和汽車行業的強勁需求持續推高銅價，令這一轉型的戰 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276092142.md) | | Palantir Tech｜10-K：2025 財年營收 44.75 億美元超過預期 | | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276115763.md) | | Datavault AI｜8-K：2025 財年營收 39 百萬美元超過預期 | | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276115372.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.