CrowdVolt Origins: StockX for live event tickets
At CrowdVolt we're building a two-sided, bid-ask style live event ticket marketplace (akin to StockX) powered by automated order fulfillment, starting with rave and EDM events. We recently graduated from Y Combinator's Winter 2024 batch, and are backed by Goodwater Capital, Brickyard VC, Pioneer Fund and other strategic angel investors, including YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim.
In late 2021/early 2022 we, like most others, found ourselves in the midst of the post-COVID event demand bump; we were itching to get out of the house and go see live events. Aria, our COO, is an active New York DJ who has played at prominent New York live events venues ranging from The Williamsburg Hotel to Virgo - which led to us becoming avid EDM fans and frequent showgoers.
However, as we attended more events, we found the event ticketing process opaque and difficult to navigate, ranging from releases 6+ months in advance to friction intensive resale platforms. In particular, we found that the secondary ticketing marketplace is fundamentally broken. Fees have skyrocketed, while the user experience has deteriorated. Many people have naturally aggregated themselves on grey markets on legacy social media platforms (such as Facebook marketplace and Reddit) to avoid institutional barriers and attempt to find better pricing/execution. However, these social platforms were not designed to house this type of exchange.
This dissatisfaction led to us aggregating data, thinking through fixes for pricing, volume, and order fulfillment, and then, ultimately, building CrowdVolt: a StockX-style (bid/ask), mobile-native live event ticket exchange powered by third-party order fulfillment and data aggregation, plus a complementary primary point-of-sale (POS) platform.
“What StockX did for sneakers and streetwear, we're doing for tickets” says CrowdVolt CEO Max Hammer. “CrowdVolt wants to give more power to buyers. And when sellers know what they're willing to pay, there will be more accurate pricing” he added. “Plus, concerts are communal events meant to be experienced with others. So we've made buying and selling a social experience, with social media integration and messaging.”
“I bought a ticket [on another platform] to see Swedish House Mafia's (SHM) sold out show at the Brooklyn Mirage in April. SHM has been my favorite group since I was like 15 and I've only seen them once. The guy never delivered, and their customer service was garbage, so I had to look elsewhere. CrowdVolt came through where they couldn't! Transparent market pricing and seamless fulfillment.” - Dillon K.
Existing solutions to-date have been focused on sellers - and it makes sense, but we thought buyer intent was a critical part of this marketplace. How can you truly have a marketplace if only one side of the transaction ledger is represented? So, with CrowdVolt we designed a system where consumers are empowered to name-their-price for a ticket (against which payment is preauthorized) such that if the “bid” is met the transaction will execute. Meanwhile, sellers have the advantage of knowing where pricing resistance points lie and can sell into them for immediate liquidity.
This liquidity, supplemented by third-party integrations to automate order fulfillment and aggregate data, serves to create a truly fluid marketplace. To that effect, COO Aria Mohseni adds, "We've seen 150% month-over-month user growth since launch, while covering 250+ events to-date."
“We know the marketplace experience through the existing mediums is poor, so have opted to rebuild it ourselves,” says Hammer. “We've been incredibly excited by the reception our integrated bid/ask model has received to-date, and we're not looking to slow down anytime soon.” There remains a lot of work to be done; we look forward to continuing to serve and execute for our user base and fellow EDM fans.
