RazorGator CEO Jeff Lapin, who replaced David Lord in the top slot in April 2007, has left the company, sources have told TicketNews.
The Los Angeles, CA-based company has not issued a release nor confirmed the dismissal, but Lapin is believed to be replaced by Brendan Ross, President of Ross Asset Advisors and a former Ticketmaster Entertainment executive. According to his company’s Web site, Ross led the team that helped to create Ticketmaster’s TicketExchange.
Lapin did not return a message seeking comment today, but spoke to TicketNews yesterday, March 18, and gave no indication that he was leaving, in fact he referred to himself and the company in the future tense. The exact date of his departure is unknown, but sources said he left late yesterday.
RazorGator, the nation’s seventh-largest secondary ticket seller according to TicketNews’s exclusive rankings, recently raised $7.5 million in venture capital and another $10 million in debt financing from investors.
Last Updated on July 9, 2011
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Soni’s group was the real profit center of rg. Place fell apart after he and his people left.
Cucci will be able to hold Razorgator together
this company is not bleeding talent because most of these people were not talented. the seo guru from tickco is kris farmer, who ‘left’ recently. he was probably forced out because he was clueless and hopeless.
wow this new ceo is in for a great time, not only has razor just received a new stimulus package but he also just got his AIG bonus to boot what a ride he will be on. the unfortunate thing is he is surrounded by complete incompetents but he will be on the island of dr mereau. the company is run by the slumdog millionaires in india who have been calling all the shots for months, the company has 5 years of total talent in the business. good luck to brendan ross you better put on a life jacket.
wow.
big shock across all fronts. {tongue in cheek}
…but there’s always strategy under the covers, or so you’d like to think.
But calling Kris Farmer clueless is wrong. I worked closely enough with Kris to come away with mad respect for the guy. SEO, especially back then, was a “he who gets there first, gets there best” deal, and unless you were Buy/Sell and doing some tricky stuff that the engines didn’t like, you could obtain rankings rather easily.
We did it as Encore Tickets too. (and sadly gave it up, but that’s a rant for another day)
But those days are over…
Just like you can’t build $100,000 web sites for people anymore, you also can’t obtain strong rankings in a highly competitive fields as a newbie.
Betta’ put on that social networking cap now. It’s a new world order.
Good luck RG, I’m certainly cheering from the sidelines.
(all the anonymous posting is funny}
Cucci will definitely hold the place together. Best manager and motivator I’ve ever worked with. So trustworthy too.
Tickco has been first page organic results for every major ticket search term on Google for years. Without question, Kris Farmer ran Tickco SEO. The facts do not support your comment. Vendetta?
Is anyone seriously suprised by this? RazorGator lost the ticketmaster deal last year, since which and many of their top, most tenured, executives have left. Soni and Parker have had their rather vocal misgivings with RazorGator’s current leadership. The CFO is out. Swalla, a guy who had been there since the beginning, along with their CTO left to go work with David Lord. They brought in a high profile marketing VP who quickly left and I just heard that their seo guru from ticko just left. This company is bleeding talent. It’s funny to see all the high profile new hires they have had … it’s just to replace the people who have run out the door. CEO’s dont run out the door though … normally they are shoved.
Tickco grew their business like crazy through seo then sold it for millions. I wish I were that clueless.
Farmer made Tickco a powerhouse in this business and their seo was the main reason why razorgator bought them. Clueless? You have got to be kidding me. Losing him was a big loss for razorgator. Clearly you got a beef with the guy. Maybe he ran over you on his way to the top of google?
Tickco was at the top of google and Yahoo and all other search engines for nearly 10 years, dominating the space for tens of thousands of keywords. No SEO guy in the business even came close to them in that time period. Farmer was the reason for this cluelessness. All others chased him and second place was the best they could hope for. Ticko was all over the place way before you could even find Ticketsnow, Gotickets, Stubhub on the internet. In one year he brought Razorgator to the front page of every major search engine when the previous year they couldn’t be found unless you were searching 5 to 10 pages deep. If there was ever someone better he sure never showed up in tickets while Farmer was around. This guy sounds like some sour SEO guy that has eatin to much of Farmer’s dust. Razorgator made the mistake of their lives letting him walk away.
I think Thomas Swalla might have been the only competent person at that entire company. I met him twice and he seemed sharp but not at all arrogant. RazorGator must have some serious issues to be on this exodus of talent over the past year.
I find it hilarious that half the people talking trash on this website, have changed names for tax evasion purposes or have simply folded and are back to working out of their closet/trunks and working the street circuit again. Good luck to the surviving gang. Lets hope for the best.
black hat seo
tickco may be the first page organic search term on google but conversion rates are really low. have you seen the site? not exactly the epitome of user interface design
anyone who worked with farmer knows he can barely add even with a calculator
where did he ‘walk’ away?
he had no reason to leave unless he was forced to.
full of crap
he was a big talker
he was hoping for an acquisition from ticketmaster and when that didn’t happen he left or was forced out
Missouri. I certainly wasnt ‘forced out’. I left because I wanted to leave. After 8 years in the business I thought it would be fun to try something new. I saw a great opportunity to work with some good friends and took it. Not everyone who leaves their company is ‘forced out’.
I still have a lot of really good friends at RG, some have been unfair targets in this ridiculous thread. If you are going to start rumors and spread lies about a company that you are no longer a part of at least have the balls to write your first name “Anonymous”.
Nobody’s buying it dude. Give it a rest. Move on…
Apparently you have been fired from every job you’ve had, including the one you used to have at razorgator. Sometimes people see a better job, and leave the one they currently have. For the rest of us, not every job ends with someone asking you to pack up your desk.
Amen Kris.
No wonder this industry is such a joke and disaster. The people who post here are clearly society rejects and have some massive insecurity issues. I’ve actually met some respectful ticket brokers, but I guess this thread proves the personalities of most of them. The guys in Texas I knew said that Sam Soni was the biggest joke in the industry and he only had a few relationships that made him money.
Well, if “a guy you knew in Texas” said it then it must be true. I guess we can ignore the fact that he was able to build a multi million dollar company in just a few years. I guess we can also dismiss the testimonials of people who have worked with him for a decade too. Everyone knows that “a guy in Texas” is the most reliable and credible source for insider information in this industry.
i heard from a broker based in los angeles that razorgator is sam soni on steroids. this was a year ago before soni ‘left’.
Well I heard from this guy in Ohio who heard from this guy in Florida who heard from this other guy in Iowa who heard from this other guys uncle in Idaho who heard from his brothers 2nd wife who knew that guy from “Texas”…wait what the hell are we talking about again?
let’s face it Encore, Gotickets and TickCo beat everyone to the finish line and were the only three guys who got paid millions.