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Stuart Garfield
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Pitch
TixList turns to email to match buyers and sellers of tickets
By Mass High Tech staff
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Tixlist.com
Headquarters: Boston, 02215
URL: www.tixlist.com
E-mail: christian@tixlist.com
Phone: 617-294-9665
Employees: 1
Year founded: 2009
The Pitch: Seeking partnerships
Founder: Christian Galvin
In the company’s own words: “TixList is a free daily e-mail connecting ticket buyers and sellers in the Boston area. Each morning, TixList delivers a filtered list of the best available ticket deals sourced via a network of season ticket holders, Craigslist, and StubHub offerings. The service is free to join and free to list tickets for sale. Revenue is generated through e-mail sponsorships from local businesses, products and services. Future plans include expansion into new markets.”
Background: As a Red Sox season ticket holder, Galvin attends between 25 to 30 games each year and either sells, donates or trades the remaining game tickets. He tried selling avenues including Craigslist, eBay and StubHub, but found that the most effective means of unloading his tickets was e-mail. His e-mails began with targeting mostly family and friends but eventually grew to include members of his fantasy baseball league, coworkers and golf buddies.
About the service: Users with tickets to sell submit their ticket info to the site, offering them at or below face value. Galvin also looks for ticket deals online and from season ticket holders. People interested in tickets subscribe to receive an e-mailed list of daily ticket offers. Interested buyers contact the sellers directly to arrange the exchange. Listing tickets and subscribing to the notifications are both free. Buyers also have the option to become VIP members to receive notification of tickets as they become available. This is offered at a $15 annual fee.
The person behind the company: Prior to launching TixList, Galvin worked in software sales, most recently in the SaaS CRM industry with both Atlanta-based Salesnet, which was acquired by Rightnow Technologies Inc., and with San Francisco-based NetSuite Inc.
Status: TixList currently has 1,490 subscribers to its daily e-mails. Tickets include those for sports, concerts and theater. Galvin plans to expand beyond Boston over the next 12 months, with New York and Chicago the next locations on his list.
The Market: Galvin estimates the market for U.S. online secondary ticket sales to be approximately $2 billion, based on a Forrester Research Inc. report on the industry’s current size and expected growth. His funding comes from sponsors, who receive placement in his daily notification e-mails, and VIP user memberships. Based on the company’s first five months, Galvin projects an annual revenue amount of $60,000, with 90 percent of the revenue coming from sponsors.
The Competition: There are no other direct competitors offering a daily e-mail listing face value ticket deals, said Galvin. However, he considers Craigslist to be his major competitor. “Unfortunately, as Craigslist has grown, so has the amount of noise. Scams and scalpers have set up permanent shop,” said Galvin. TixList does not sell tickets; it only connects sellers and buyers, so Galvin does not view eBay, ticketing agencies or StubHub as competition.
The Pitch: Galvin is seeking partnerships with ticketing agencies for acquiring face value and discount tickets. He is currently in discussions with a few local ticket agencies to have them distribute last minute tickets through his site.
"The Pitch" takes a look at a company, its executives and its technology-related business plan. To nominate your company for The Pitch section of Mass High Tech, please fill out the submission form.
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