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 - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, 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 -
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Eventbrite Eventbrite's in the sector have low bargaining power. Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Eventbrite Eventbrite's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
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.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Eventbrite Eventbrite's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Eventbrite Eventbrite's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eventbrite Eventbrite's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eventbrite Eventbrite's has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Analytics focus
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Jonathan Levav, Joshua Rauh, Jason Luther can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
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 -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Eventbrite Eventbrite's 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Eventbrite Eventbrite's has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Eventbrite Eventbrite's has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Eventbrite Eventbrite's even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising HBR case study mentions - Eventbrite Eventbrite's takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising, it seems that the employees of Eventbrite Eventbrite's don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Buying journey improvements
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
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.
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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Eventbrite Eventbrite's can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
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.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Eventbrite Eventbrite's to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Eventbrite Eventbrite's to increase its market reach. Eventbrite Eventbrite's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
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.
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.