Case Study Description of Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising
"Raise money when times are good." Kevin Hartz mulled over this expression as he examined the term sheet before him. The CEO had become somewhat of a masterful fundraiser. Since founding the online event and ticketing service Eventbrite in 2006, Kevin, his wife Julia, and co-founder Renaud Visage had raised $80 million over six rounds of financing. Now, the Hartzes and Visage had before them an offer from Tiger Global Management and T. Rowe Price to invest $60 million in Eventbrite at a $650 million valuation. Before accepting this financing, however, the founders needed to assess whether such a large raise was necessary and, if it was, how it would affect Eventbrite's development and influence the firm's future exit strategy. Unfortunately, the team knew that Eventbrite's market dynamics would make this analysis difficult.
Authors :: Jonathan Levav, Joshua Rauh, Jason Luther
Swot Analysis of "Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising" written by Jonathan Levav, Joshua Rauh, Jason Luther includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eventbrite Eventbrite's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social platforms and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions,
technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eventbrite Eventbrite's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eventbrite Eventbrite's operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eventbrite Eventbrite's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Eventbrite Eventbrite's
Strengths Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eventbrite Eventbrite's in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Eventbrite Eventbrite's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
High brand equity
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Eventbrite Eventbrite's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Eventbrite Eventbrite's has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Learning organization
- Eventbrite Eventbrite's is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Eventbrite Eventbrite's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Eventbrite Eventbrite's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Eventbrite Eventbrite's are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Eventbrite Eventbrite's has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Weaknesses Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Eventbrite Eventbrite's has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Eventbrite Eventbrite's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Eventbrite Eventbrite's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Eventbrite Eventbrite's, firm in the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Eventbrite Eventbrite's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Eventbrite Eventbrite's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Eventbrite Eventbrite's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Eventbrite Eventbrite's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising, in the dynamic environment Eventbrite Eventbrite's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Eventbrite Eventbrite's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Eventbrite Eventbrite's has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Eventbrite Eventbrite's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Eventbrite Eventbrite's can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Eventbrite Eventbrite's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Eventbrite Eventbrite's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Eventbrite Eventbrite's can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Eventbrite Eventbrite's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Eventbrite Eventbrite's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Eventbrite Eventbrite's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Eventbrite Eventbrite's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising case study. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Eventbrite Eventbrite's to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Eventbrite Eventbrite's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Eventbrite Eventbrite's in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Eventbrite Eventbrite's in the consumer business. Now Eventbrite Eventbrite's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Eventbrite Eventbrite's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Eventbrite Eventbrite's to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Threats Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising are -
Regulatory challenges
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Eventbrite Eventbrite's in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Eventbrite Eventbrite's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Eventbrite Eventbrite's will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Eventbrite Eventbrite's is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Eventbrite Eventbrite's demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing wage structure of Eventbrite Eventbrite's
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Eventbrite Eventbrite's.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Eventbrite Eventbrite's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Eventbrite Eventbrite's can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.