????2003年在圣巴巴拉參加一場教堂婚禮時，茱莉亞?斯提恩正巧坐在了凱文?哈茨的旁邊，哈茨當時就下決心一定得和這位年輕迷人的金發女郎聊上幾句。

????“她當時是一位成熟的23歲女郎，而我是一位青澀的33歲小伙”，凱文調侃地說道。

????“那時的我可傻了。”茱莉亞表示反對，“我都沒有什么適合出席婚禮的服飾。”

????在婚宴上，他偷了一盤雞尾酒，踱到茱莉亞面前向她獻殷勤，當時擔任MTV主管的茱莉亞正在和她的同事說話。“我記得，我當時就想‘這人有種！'”，她回憶說。

????公平而言，他們兩個都有。十年來，他們結了婚，生了兩個女兒。如今，凱文和茱莉亞經營著Eventbrite，在不同于票務巨頭Ticketmaster的領域成為了最大的票務服務公司。凱文擔任CEO；茱莉亞任總裁。在229位員工的幫助下，他們在179個國家已售出了1億張門票，包括“西南偏南音樂節”（South by Southwest）和“灣區馬拉松”（Bay Area marathons）活動的門票。(Eventbrite從每張出售的門票上收取很少的費用來賺取利潤。)

????上個月，這家舊金山初創企業的票務銷售額突破了15億美元，而且銷售呈現加速：票務銷售總額的三分之一是在過去9個月實現的。據報道，像紅杉資本（Sequoia Capital）、老虎環球資本管理公司（Tiger Global Management)、Khosla Ventures合伙人凱斯?拉博伊斯和投資人羅恩?康威等支持者至今已合計投資8,000萬美元。

????當我們想到硅谷企業的成功故事時，我們常常認為它們是一夜成功，太多運氣集于一身。這兩種說法對于Eventbrite均不成立。這是凱文的第三家初創企業；他的第一家企業是為連鎖酒店提供互聯網服務管理，成立10個月就被以1,000萬美元收購了。作為曾經的天使投資者，他的投資成績可圈可點，包括PayPal、Pinterest和Airbnb等。而茱莉亞在好萊塢磨練過幾年，曾經管理像FX的《The Shield》和《Nip/Tuck》以及MTV的《Jackass》等節目。

????因此，當凱文憧憬著活動票務服務可以并應當能夠通過網絡更好地實現時，這可不是靠運氣。在Eventbrite之前，并沒有一個被廣泛接受的、面向個人和小型組織的在線票務解決方案。而巨頭Tickemaster致力于服務大企業，它的目標客戶可不是什么準備籌備喬遷新禧的初創企業或準備子女洗禮聚會的普通母親。Eventbrite就專門提供這樣的服務。

????“這個市場真正實現了活動管理和營銷的民主化，為每個活動組織者提供了銷售票務的工具，讓信息可以傳遞到不久前還只有大型場地和機構才能企及的受眾。”Eventbrite董事、前Ticketmaster的CEO希恩?莫里亞蒂解釋說，

????“凱文一直站在時代的前沿，能夠在流行到來前發現機會。”拉博伊斯贊同地表示，“很多長期活動的組織者都需要更高質量的票務和支付服務。”

????事實上，凱文曾經通過每天給拉博伊斯寫郵件，說服這位朋友向早期還不為人知的Pinterest投資了50,000美元。

????如今，哈茨夫婦想拓展Eventbrite的終端對終端服務，并在全世界鋪開，這樣用戶就可以將其用于票務流程的各個步驟：從在手機或臺式電腦上發現活動，到參加他們選擇的活動。去年，他們推出了“上門”（At the door）服務。這是一個信用卡讀卡器，可以將iPad轉變為票務終端，為獨立的活動推廣商提供了另一支付途徑。

????從Eventbrite的發展勢頭來看，不可避免地總有一天會向行業巨頭Ticketmaster發起挑戰，但凱文并不著急這么做。“人們總是在問我們，‘你們為什么不進入他們的市場？’”那是一個競爭非常激烈而殘酷的票務領域，將來在合適的時間我們一定會進入。但眼下這些市場...更加誘人。”（財富中文網）

????When Julia Steen parked in a church pew next to Kevin Hartz at a Santa Barbara wedding in 2003, Hartz decided he just had to talk to the fetching, young blonde.

????"She was a mature 23-year-old, and I was an immature 33-year-old," Kevin says dryly.

????"I was a hot mess," Julia disputes. "I didn't even have the thing I was supposed to be reading for the wedding."

????During the reception, he stole a tray of cocktails, and sauntered over to impress Julia, an MTV executive at the time, who was talking to her coworkers. "I remember thinking, 'This guy has cajones!'" she recalls.

????It's fair to say they both do. Ten years, one marriage in, and two daughters later, the Hartzs now run Eventbrite, the biggest ticketing company this side of Ticketmaster. Kevin serves as CEO; Julia as President. With the help of 229 employees, they have sold over 100 million tickets in 179 countries to events like South by Southwest after-parties and Bay Area marathons. (Eventbrite profits by charging a small fee for each ticket purchase.)

????Last month, the San Francisco startup crossed $1.5 billion in ticket sales, and sales are accelerating: One-third of its total ticket sales were processed over the last nine months alone. Backers like Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois, and Ron Conway have chipped in a reported $80 million to date.

????When we think of Silicon Valley successes, we often view them as an overnight phenomenon, the result of a lot of luck. Neither was the case for Eventbrite. For Kevin, it was his third startup; his first, an Internet service manager for hotel chains, got acquired for $10 million just 10 months after it launched. And as a former angel investor, his bets include some smart choices: PayPal, Pinterest, and Airbnb, to name a few. Meanwhile, Julia cut her teeth in Hollywood for several years, managing shows like FX's The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and yes, MTV's Jackass.

????So when Kevin dreamed up the idea that event ticketing could and should be done better online, it wasn't luck. Before Eventbrite, an easy, widely-accepted online ticketing solution for individuals and smaller organizations didn't exist. Tickemaster catered to the big names, not the startup that wanted to hold an office-warming or the mother who wanted to throw a baptism party. Eventbrite provides that.

????"It's a marketplace that truly democratizes event management and marketing, giving every organizer the tools to sell tickets and reach audiences that until recently were only available to the largest venues and organizations," explains Sean Moriarty, an Eventbrite board member and ex-Ticketmaster CEO.

????"Kevin has always consistently been ahead of his time, spotting things before they're cool," agrees Rabois. "Most of these people hosting long-term events needed a higher-quality product for ticketing for payments."

????Indeed, via daily emails to Rabois, Kevin convinced his friend to invest $50,000 in a little-known startup called Pinterest during its early days.

????Now, the Hartzs want to expand Eventbrite's end-to-end experience and do so internationally, such that users use it for every step of the ticketing process, from event discovery on their mobile devices and desktops, to getting through the door to the event of their choosing. Last year, they launched "At the door," a credit card reader that turns iPads into ticketing terminals, giving indie event promoters another way to take payments.

????Given Eventbrite's push, it seems inevitable the company, a veritable David, should take on its Goliath -- Ticketmaster -- but Kevin is in no rush. "People ask us all the time, 'Why aren't you going after them?' That's a very competitive, vicious ticketing space, and we'll get there in due time. But these markets are so much more ... attractive."