Events.com: Streamlining the World of Events
Events.com, co-founded by Mitch Thrower and Stephen Partridge, set out to solve a common problem: the cumbersome nature of event management. Their vision? A comprehensive platform that streamlines every aspect of the process, from initial planning to post-event analysis. Today, Events.com offers event organizers the tools to manage, market, and monetize their events effectively.
Thrower’s background, including his co-founding role at Active Network, provided him with crucial insights into the event space. This experience fueled the creation of a user-friendly and integrated platform designed to cater to diverse event types. As Thrower explains, the core principle is to empower organizers to handle their events seamlessly. “If you’re an event organizer, you can manage, market, and monetize your event the same way you’d manage marketing and monetize your apartment,” he states. “If you’re an event goer, you can discover, interact and transact with the events you love.”
Events.com officially launched in 2010, focusing on the mid-market and aiming to simplify the complexities of event management. The objective was to provide a one-stop solution catering to event organizers, participants, and sponsors, thereby ensuring a smooth and engaging experience.
Entrepreneurship in a Box
Thrower sees events as “entrepreneurship in a box.” An idea is conceived, then a digital presence is created for that idea. Sponsorships can then be sold which allows the event to sell tickets. The event then becomes a brand that can be expanded into merchandise and turned into an annual event that eventually forms a lasting brand.
Expanding Footprint and Capabilities
From its inception, Events.com gained traction in the market with a user-friendly interface and a comprehensive suite of tools. Growth came through strategic partnerships and innovation. The company has expanded globally today with offices in Seattle, Ottawa, Modena Italy, and Edinburgh, Scotland, in addition to its La Jolla, CA headquarters. In 2022, Events.com acquired the Wonderfront festival on San Diego Bay as it continues to grow and has expanded into ticketing other events.
Thrower highlights a common industry issue: fragmented technology. “The event industry has been plagued with multiple disparate technology solutions that don’t really work well together,” he says. “What we’ve done at events.com is built a modular platform for event organizers to bring it all to one place. Now it’s modular.”
Modular Approach to Event Management
Events.com’s customer base is diverse, from music festivals like the Rise festival to events like renaissance festivals or small venues. Events.com provides support to various event organizers. The company’s history includes ownership of events like the Rock and Roll Marathon and the Lisbon Marathon Las Vegas.
Events also integrated a sponsorship management tool that suggests the best partners. The software allows promoters to manage event assets and pricing, generate proposals for marketing, and build activations calendars, simplifying tasks that were once enormously time-consuming.
The modularity of Events.com’s platform is a key feature, which can allow an event organizer to use Event’s technology for marketing, but not for ticketing, or vice-versa. Thrower noted that events like hot air balloon festivals, bicycle races, and even shark diving required a more comprehensive ticketting strategy. “You can’t begin to imagine what people can conceive to create and sell tickets to attend,” Thrower stated.
Events.com continues to grow by expanding its technology and acquiring events. The company is working to support the wide number of projects which use tickets by building innovative tools.
As Thrower observes, despite the limitations on concert or sporting event capacity, the potential for new ticketed events remains limitless. “Anyone who has a novel idea can also figure out how to manage it through ticketing, and those are the people who will power the ongoing growth of Events.com.”
