Launch a Live-Event Ticketing Platform to Take Share from Ticketmaster

You are the product manager for a new live-event ticketing product, and the goal is to win market share from Ticketmaster. Explain who you would serve first, what the product would do that the incumbent does not, and how you would tell whether it is succeeding. ```hint Follow the inventory Fans pick events, not ticketing sites. Before designing for buyers, work out who decides which platform sells a given show's tickets and what it would take for them to switch. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Am I building a standalone startup, or a product inside a company that already has a large consumer audience (for example through search, maps or ads) that could send buyers to it? - Should the platform sell tickets on behalf of organizers, host fan-to-fan resale, or do both? - Which events and which market come first: arena concerts and major-league sports, or smaller venues, comedy, theater and festivals, and in which country? - For the first year, is success measured by organizers signed and tickets sold, or by revenue? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - An accurate picture of the market: who buys ticketing services, why venues stay with the incumbent, and where fans and organizers are unhappy - A deliberate wedge on both sides of the marketplace, with the reason other segments wait - Pain points tied to concrete features, prioritized into a first release and a go-to-market plan - A business model and fee stance that undercuts the incumbent without becoming unsustainable - Success metrics for organizers and fans, with guardrails, and risks such as on-sale traffic spikes, bots and the cold-start problem ### Follow-up Questions - A popular venue is in the middle of a multi-year exclusive contract with the incumbent. How do you get any of its shows onto your platform? - For one event, demand is many times the number of seats. How does your product keep the on-sale from crashing and keep bots from taking most of the tickets? - If the incumbent cuts its fees in your target segment, what keeps organizers with you?