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Ticket Evolution seeks millions for new broker-owned ticket exchange
Ticket Evolution, the recently named group behind a new broker-owned ticket exchange, has given itself a deadline of mid-August to raise $4 million to develop the new Web site, according to several industry insiders with knowledge of the initiative.
The brainchild of Golden Tickets owners Steve Parry and Ram Silverman, Ticket Evolution held a closed-door meeting with dozens of brokers in Las Vegas, and via webcast, on Friday, July 16, where they unveiled the concept for the exchange, which will operate commercially from the domain name Events365.com. While exact numbers were not disclosed, the meeting is believed to have attracted more than 200 attendees, many of whom were in town at the recently concluded Ticket Summit and/or World Ticket Conference.
If the $4 million is not raised, Ticket Evolution intends to return the money it collects from brokers, which makes it is unclear how the project will then proceed. During the meeting, Ticket Evolution gave a demonstration of a draft version of the exchange, so without broker funding, the group could continue to develop the product and sell it or try to launch it on their own. Parry and Silverman initially considered raising $2 million for the development of the exchange, but they quickly readjusted their estimates as they began to work on the demo.
An exact launch date has not yet been set, but Ticket Evolution hopes to have the exchange up and running by the beginning of 2011.
According to sources, the exchange will utilize a cloud computing model, meaning the software and shared resources will reside on servers where they can be accessed by any of the members at anytime. In addition, the exchange will be developed using the open-source Web application framework Ruby on Rails.
Several brokers who saw the demonstration told TicketNews that they came away impressed by the technology, which offers real-time transaction tools and uniform data points across all aspects of the platform, among other features.
"They made a creditable pitch," said New York broker Jonathan Radler, owner of Americana Tickets, who attended the meeting. "It seemed to be presented in an open and collaborative fashion."
When reached on Sunday, July 18, with questions about their plans, both Parry and Silverman declined to comment. Sources who attended the meeting said the pair told the group that they hope to eventually raise $8 million for the development and operation of the exchange.
There are some challenges to creating the exchange, which will go up against more established exchanges StubHub, TicketNetwork, TicketsNow and RazorGator. Also, will the proposed funding ultimately be enough to develop and launch the site? Who will run the site daily, and how? When and how will the investors be compensated?
Another sticking point for some of the brokers is the proposed breakdown of the ownership percentages for the exchange. Parry and Silverman would each take a 10 percent share, followed by another 10 percent to the software developers, Ticket Cloud. Also, 15 percent would go to the future management team, who have not yet been named. That leaves the brokers with a total of 55 percent divided among them. Sources said Parry and Silverman are considering changing the percentages to give brokers a larger stake in the company.
TicketNetwork is the parent company of TicketNews.
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Sounds like an ESSOP which is good for the brokers. What are the tax advantages for the Brokers? Are you going to offer the brokers insurance and other benefits?
Even were there such, no benefit accrues to others than the beneficiaries of such trust; i.e., only covered employees benefit from an ESOP Trust.
Outside of such a Trust, employee stock ownership, regardless of how obtained, brings no direct benefit to non-employee stockholders.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
"doing the same thing over and over again UNDER THE SAME CIRCUMSTANCES and expecting different results."
#The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
ticket technology sold for 8 million to stubhub and it was considered a failure...not really that insane
What a complete joke. Ram complains about other ticket exchanges and then tries to be one himself giving him 20% of the company. LOL
Have you ever heard of the founder(s) of a company NOT having a considerable equity stake in it at its inception?
>>What a complete joke. Ram complains about other ticket exchanges and then tries to be >>one himself giving him 20% of the company. LOL
last time i checked stockholders own ebay and don owns 100% of ticketnetwork AND brokers own 0% of these exchanges unless they own stock in ebay, and i guarantee you they don't get insider tips for ebay stock or a IPO price when they bought stubhub etc....so to make fun of the founders of an exchange owning 20% of a company is more laughable really. Is that someone from ticketnetwork commenting also, the comment got moved up even though it was an earlier date?
don't think the company is ticketcloud, the link is to just a generic broker sale site
You are correct in that the link is to the wrong "Ticket Cloud."
Ticket Cloud, LLC has no web site.
$4 million raise? Good luck with that. No VC is giving up that much money without taking 95% of a company, pre-funded, no product, in the 2010 economy. And why would you possibly need that much money? Should be able to develop a site with a back-end for under $500k, especially if using cloud computing. Seems like someone is trying to pocket some cash here...
>>$4 million raise? Good luck with that. No VC is giving up that much money without >>taking 95% of a company, pre-funded, no product, in the 2010 economy.
they aren't looking for VC money they are looking for brokers to own it, as far as the 2010 economy goes thats part of the reason they are making it because the exchanges are trying to squeeze money because the economy is bad
And why would you possibly need that much money?
marketing
>>Should be able to develop a site with a back-end for under $500k, especially if using >>cloud computing. Seems like someone is trying to pocket some cash here...
they already have it developed it was evaluated at 500k or so
of the sort here involved costs much more than those not familiar with IT realize.
That $500K evaluation is for DEVELOPMENT ONLY of the POS application ALONE.
Why are they starting another ticket exchange. The Secondary Market is going fast down hill. Why would anyone start a new exchange? I am no longer full-time. I used to have 3 full-time employees. Was in business for eight years. The Secondary Market is no more. We are selling out on Stubhub. The fees and the BS with all the other exchanges it to much to deal with. Plus, how are you going to compete against Stubhub. Everyone is in the business now. The days of making 35% is no longer. Ticket pricing are going up by the teams and concerts. And the fees from Stubhub, TicketNetwork, and Ticketsnow are to high. People got greedy!
if you are a major player in the secondary market then why would you not want to own and control you future. Many brokers were lost on the last few years that did not either adjust to the current market or did not have the bank roll to survive. The exchange is to be owned and controlled by brokers. It gives relevance to those who made the market and helps take control back to the brokers. With the money possibly being brought to the table brokers can regain market share. it takes away from other players in the market to hopefully level the field and help put the control back into the brokers hands. If you already failed its because you didnt adjust or know how and im sorry but many have not and will evolve.
No, I did not fail because I didn't adjust or know how. It just did not make sense to keep going when you only make 10-15%. Plus my law practice make a lot more money. The bank roll was not problem, it is just time to move on because it will never get better. I was not a major play. But we still had a daily inventory value of around $200,000, that I owned with my money. And we have good teams too, like Redsox, Lakers, Celtics, Notre Dame, and many more. I am sick in tried of making other people millionire that don't take any risk and think the own the secondary market. I will still keep the good stuff, but I will only deal with Stubhub.
This all sounds like bullsh*t. 45% of the stock is given free and brokers put up most of the money. as soon as you invest your money is worth 1/2 of what it was before. Ram gets 10% and Steve gets 10% for nothing. Who would be foolish enought to put there money in.
>This all sounds like bullsh*t. 45% of the stock is given free and brokers put up most of ?the money. as soon as you invest your money is worth 1/2 of what it was before. Ram gets ?10% and Steve gets 10% for nothing. Who would be foolish enought to put there money in.
yeah because inventing/organzing/starting something is always worth nothing.