Julia Hartz

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• How does a person with no real technical background (but an engineering degree and a very diverse background) get involved with a startup like Eventbrite, especially pertaining to the marketing and business development sides of the business?

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    Intern!

• How do you balance all the incoming customer feedback on what to be build versus your product vision? Other than considering the potential revenue outcome and churn rate from current and new customers?

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    We always listen and strive to fully understand our customer feedback. We then couple that with our own insight & goals to come up with a feature roadmap. There is a balance to be had there but you must always make sure you are fully understanding where your customers are coming from, first and foremost.

• How old are you? :)

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    31!

• How do you know when your business idea is good enough? Are business plans overrated?

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    A strong idea of what you want to achieve and goals around building a defensible business is never overrated. You will know your idea is good enough if you get people to adopt your product, service, good, or philosophy.

• How do you balance being a wife, Mom and Co-founder?

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    Still figuring it out – a work in progress. :) I have an amazing partner in Kevin who supports me at work and at home. We’re really in it 50/50 which is rare, I know. We also have our families here locally who provide a ton of support. Really, it comes down to the village we’ve created at home and at work. I’d be toast without them.

• What is a good number of users to have signed up for your beta (of course the more the better, but at what number can you stop marketing and work on developing the product)?

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    You need as close to critical mass as possible for you to really understand how to develop your product. But if you have a very vocal small group of users, that works too.

• How do you leave business at the office when you work with your spouse? Or do you?

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    Eventbrite is really one of our babies (our daughter being the other) so it’s hard to leave it at the office. Having a child is one way to re-focus when we’re not at work but honestly, we talk about Eventbrite all the time and we both find it fulfilling to be able to share our day and interest with each other.

• How did each round of funding allow you to scale Eventbrite?

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    Team! With each round, we’ve been able to hire the amazing talent to build an unparalleled service and company culture.

• Are there any startup incubator-type organizations in Los Angeles similar to Y Combinator, i/o Ventures, or KickLabs in Northern California? Looking for one that would have a special interest in a healthcare related location based mobile application business idea.

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    Not quite similar to Y Combinator but Launchpad LA is a great incubator in Los Angeles as well as idealab in Pasadena. Jason Nazar’s Startups Uncensored is a great way to meet fellow entrepreneurs in LA.

• Where would I find resources to help determine the best investment terms for both the startup and investor?

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    Quora.com is a great online platform to search for answers and ask questions. Offline, reach out to as many entrepreneurs and investors as possible. Be relentless in your pursuit for information and make your own strategy from the information you receive out of that community.