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 - – geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Eventbrite Eventbrite's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Eventbrite Eventbrite's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Eventbrite Eventbrite's has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Eventbrite: Market Sizing, Competitive Analysis, and Fundraising, is just above the industry average. Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
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.
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.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Eventbrite Eventbrite's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jonathan Levav, Joshua Rauh, Jason Luther suggests that, Eventbrite Eventbrite's is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Eventbrite Eventbrite's can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Eventbrite Eventbrite's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Eventbrite Eventbrite's can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
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.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Eventbrite Eventbrite's in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
