Hello and welcome to the advice line on how I built this lab.
I'm Guy Raz.
This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges.
Each week, I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show, who will help me.
Try to help you.
And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show.
Our number is 1-800-433-1298.
Leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with.
All right, let's get to it.
Joining me today is Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite.
Julia, welcome back to the show.
Guy, it's so great to be here.
It's great having you.
We first had you on the show in 2020.
And, of course, you told us a story about how you and your husband Kevin went up against huge giants like Ticketmaster to build an alternative ticketing and events platform.
And for those of you who haven't heard Julia's original episode of How I Built This from 2020, we will put a link to it in the show notes.
Check it out.
It's a great episode.
Julia, there was some pretty big news about Eventbrite recently I'm going to just mention.
I know you're still in the negotiations phase, you can't talk about it much, but it was announced that you were being acquired by an Italian company called bending spoons.
They also own or in process of acquiring companies like Vimeo and AOL and Evernote and we transfer.
So congrats on that.
I wish you well and I hope it's it's going to be a great outcome for everybody.
Thank you.
I really appreciate it, Guy.
It's definitely a big transition.
We made the decision to do what's best for our Eventbrite creators and the long-term sustainability of our mission.
And 20 years in, I'm excited about this next chapter.
Yeah.
It might be too early to sort of discuss this, but do you think you're going to remain CEO?
Do you want to do that for a while?
I mean, 20 years is a long time.
20 years is a long time and it goes by really fast.
So I'm excited about supporting the mission and creators in however way I can.
And I'm also at the stage of life where I feel like I'm reflecting on everything and appreciating what we've been through.
I mean thinking about the fact that I was able to tell our story back in 2020 in the midst of COVID, and what was to come after that.
I never could have imagined that.
So I feel lucky that I've been able to helm this company through thick and thin and all the twists and turns.
And I'm just excited to do whatever I can to help make it successful in the future.
That's awesome.
I want to ask you about events as a strategy.
I'm curious, how do you see events?
I mean, I know you talk a lot about creators, but there is a world where events are part of a bigger strategy for businesses that sell products as well.
How do you see events playing out as part of a bigger strategy for brands?
Our own research shows that pretty much every Gen Zer 98 says that they want to extend their relationship with a product or a story that they love in real life.
And that just you know.
Bringing the niche communities into real life and creating that connection between identity and community that's cultivated online to a real life situation, to offline, is exactly the bridge that Eventbrite helps people build.
And so we see this as only continuing to grow with the advent of this community building.
It's really, it's not about the technology or the online space.
It's actually about the nucleus of that community and the strength of that.
Every time I do some kind of live event or speak somewhere, I'm reminded, because it's the time when I actually connect with fans and listeners.
You know, otherwise I'm in the studio, right?
Or I'm like walking my dog.
You know and you know, unless somebody's a super fan, they're not going to recognize me.
And it's really special to have that connection because, you know, sometimes I'm like oh, should we do it?
It's so much work.
It's just a lot.
And then you do it and you're like, that was great.
That was so awesome.
Well, you know, live podcasting shows are up over 65 on the Eventbrite platform this year and that's really driven in part by what you've built.
So having that connection in that community and then also giving people a chance to come see how a podcast is made and the connection of those two people in that moment.
And we're seeing it become something that is starting to, I think you know, really place itself in the ecosystem of content creation and in the equation of podcasting.
Julia, I follow you on LinkedIn and you have sort of a second profile, like the other side of you, which is like a mentor, and you talk a lot about business and startups.
And this is something that really energizes you.
So I'm psyched you're on the show today to help us hopefully give good advice to callers.
Are you ready to take our first call?
I'm so psyched and ready.
All right, awesome.
Let's bring in our first caller.
Welcome to The Advice Line.
You are on with Julia Hartz from Eventbrite.
Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and just a line or two about your business, please.
Hi there.
My name is Maya Miller.
I'm calling in from Neum in Germany.
I make pottery educational videos on YouTube and sell pottery tools in my web shop, all under the brand name Pottery to the People.
Wow.
Mia, welcome to the show.
Neue Ulm, Germany.
Are you German?
You sound American.
No, I'm actually American, but I've been living here since 2014.
Yeah.
And tell me a little bit more.
So you sell tools for potters, and then you've got a YouTube channel.
So, if I'm reading between the lines, your business is maybe part of the YouTube, like ad revenue from YouTube and also selling products.
Yeah, exactly.
So I've got ad revenue from YouTube.
I also work with brand sponsors.
And yeah, the other facet of the business is these pottery tools that I sell in the web shop.
Awesome.
How did this start?
Did you study art?
Is that your background?
Yeah, exactly.
I studied art at University of Madison, Wisconsin.
That's where I'm from.
And I moved over to Berlin in 2014.
And yeah, I was teaching pottery classes for a while.
And then in 2019, I decided to make the leap and I opened a community pottery studio.
That was really bad timing, though, because it was right before COVID hit.
And so that really, you know, totally obliterated all of my income streams.
So that's when I started on YouTube.
Yeah, I'm looking at your channel, you've got about almost 200,000 subscribers, which is awesome.
And these are sort of how to pottery videos and things that you make.
Tell me a little bit about your business.
What do you bring in a year?
And where does it mostly come from?
Yeah, so it's about 50-50 YouTube and my online shop.
My revenue, I'm going to, in 2025, I'll pass 150,000 euro.
That's about 175,000 USD.
Yeah.
And do you have employees?
I have a few freelancers.
I have four freelancers that help me, like an editor, graphic designer bookkeeper, that kind of stuff.
Got it.
Okay.
And so some of the money is coming from just passive ad revenue on YouTube, and then some of it from selling stuff.
All right.
And what are you facing right now?
What are you trying to figure out?
Yeah, so my question is how I navigate these two sort of differing facets of my business.
I feel like I'm kind of being pulled in two different directions.
Like there's the YouTube world and then there's running an online shop.
And the customer base is somewhat different.
It's all pottery, but it's like sort of beginner level pottery.
And then people who are watching videos just for fun.
And I genuinely enjoy both parts.
So maybe I'm just like overthinking it, but...
To me, it's like two different businesses that I've kind of glommed onto each other.
Got it.
All right.
Julia Hart, I want to bring you in.
YouTube channel, 50% of the revenue.
Shop, 50% of the revenue.
And Mia's torn in two different directions.
Yeah, I would first say you're not overthinking it.
So let's throw that out the window.
We're here to help.
Secondly is a question for you.
Which video topics or formats correlate most with store sales?
That's a really good question.
They don't really correlate.
That's kind of the thing.
The customer base is quite different.
Even though it's pottery.
It's like I've polled my audience and the people who buy my tools.
They're all very much beginners.
And that's only about 25% of my YouTube audience.
Okay.
Okay.
So you are in effect running two businesses.
Kind of, yeah.
Yeah.
So I think it's like the question then we reframe it, because they both sound valuable and they both sound like you found product market fit.
It's not.
Should I run two businesses?
But really, what job does each part of this ecosystem actually do for me?
Okay.
And that's like a way to reframe it, because it sounds like if you two vanish tomorrow, your store sales business wouldn't actually go out of business.
This is correct.
Yeah.
And that's a good thing.
That's a really positive thing that you know.
But I also think that perhaps there's an opportunity for you to use what you've built in YouTube, and it can be a library or like an evergreen collection of topics that you can then use, if you build the right hooks to market the store sales, to then scale more of the physical product and support, you know, the people that you serve.
I mean, one of the things I love right off the bat is the.
You know pottery to the people is so approachable.
I mean, I shiver when I think about me in front of a pottery wheel.
That would be terrifying.
But it kind of makes me want to do it when I see that title.
Oh, it's fun.
You should try.
Totally.
Mia, do you promote the shop on your YouTube videos?
A little bit.
But see, what I found out is that the videos that I'm heavily promoting, the products, they don't do so well.
Like I can gently sprinkle in and that drives a little bit of traffic.
But I think certainly some traffic does come from the YouTube channel.
Of course, I link the web shop and the videos and whatnot.
But I just have this feeling that it's two different customers.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm looking at your most popular videos with like 200 and 300,000 views.
And I guess my question is even if you're making something that you can't buy from the shop, I mean, surely at the end of every video you should say hey, if you want to make your own pottery, check out my shop where I sell.
I'm looking at your shop.
You sell mainly templates for how to make like a sugar bowl or a coffee pot or something.
Do you do that even in the videos that we are making things that are not available in the shop?
You mean put a little disclaimer at the end?
Yeah, at the end you say – and by the way, yeah, you should.
That's a really good idea.
You should.
I mean, what you're doing is – and what you probably haven't realized what you've been doing for a long time is your content marketing.
I mean that's –.
This is a tried and true strategy, which is you create educational tools for people and then there's a backdoor way for people to get into your business and buy the thing like –.
If you're an insurance company, you know, like Policy Genius does this.
You can go and search for information on insurance and not even know that you're on a Policy Genius page.
It's good information, solid, and then there are links there.
So this is basically a version of that, right?
You are a trusted voice teaching people and showing people how you make pottery and some weird things.
That's great, but you've always got to – feed it back to the shop, even if it's short and it's listen.
The biggest YouTuber is what they do.
This is what Mark Rober does.
You know he makes these huge physics videos, but he is promoting his, you know these kits that kids can build their own fun science things out of, so There's nothing wrong with doing that.
It's actually critical to building a sustainable business because down the road you really want, you don't want it 50-50.
You want like 80% of your money coming in through the shop because that's, you own that.
YouTube owns the algorithm.
Right.
You own the shop and you own your customers, but YouTube can decide tomorrow that they don't want to send people your way.
And so that will change.
And I think you want to really use YouTube.
I mean, incredible tool, but push people to the shop.
Mm hmm.
Yeah, it really started out as a marketing tool.
And then it just kind of ballooned.
And I followed the views, what people wanted to see.
And I had a lot of fun along the way, of course.
But yeah, I'm trying to kind of bring it back into the e-commerce side.
I love that.
I think there is this parasocial trust that translates into real product sales.
I think guys spot on and the more strategic you use it.
It doesn't need to be blatant and a total promo video.
It needs to be sort of always there and something that people get used to seeing when they're watching your amazing content.
I think it's like designing a system where YouTube does the light lifting but your studio delivers the connection and your product captures a longterm vision of what you, of what you want to achieve.
And I just think that's golden.
And most people would die to have the number of followers that you have. on YouTube.
And that means you said something, you said you follow the viewers and what they want.
You're really good at listening to your customer.
And so that's why they keep coming back to watch your videos.
And I think that translates so well across multiple platforms and even in-person engagement.
That's really nice to hear.
I appreciate you saying that.
I also wonder, with the amount of content that you've created, if there's a way to and Guy, you perhaps have a better take on this but to draw upon the evergreen content, to repackage content that you've filmed in other places, to create new ways to engage people without having to be constantly filming something new.
It feels like you have this incredible library of content that maybe is new, to some extent untapped or under lever leverage to drive to the product sales that you're looking for.
I don't know, guy, what do you think?
Yeah, I mean, you can chop it up and, you know, put bits of it all over the place for sure.
I mean, you know, you can see based on your views here what works, why people watch certain things.
Sometimes you don't know.
Sometimes it just catches fire for some reason.
But I do think that YouTube is your engine.
It's not a distraction, right?
It is the... it's the engine that is going to drive your business.
I mean, most businesses would die to have 198,000 subscribers, right?
Now say, okay, I've got this audience.
For better or worse, your YouTube channel is a billboard.
It is an advertising billboard that you have now.
And so what are you advertising?
You're advertising your business, which is going to be able to pay you and your employees to build it out and do more stuff and offer more cool videos.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
That's really helpful.
It's Julia, any last thoughts?
I'd just say, in tech, and especially in marketplaces, we have the obligatory flywheel that we like to talk about all the time.
And so I think it's thinking about that cycle where the content that you're creating for YouTube and your studio generates insights.
The insights generates demand, the demand generates product sales.
Just thinking about how you can distill each component node on that flywheel into something that's truly unique in yours.
And because that's where you're going to get joy, right?
And, I think, making sure that you're not just scaling by doing more, but that you're scaling by listening closely to what the hands in your, in your studio, are telling you.
I think that's going to make it all the more enjoyable for yourself and make you feel sort of boundless energy and passion.
That's really valuable advice.
Thank you so much.
Mia Mueller, the company's called Pottery to the People and it's also a YouTube channel.
Good luck.
Thanks for calling in.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm looking at her site and there's like, I mean, the templates are awesome.
And I'm thinking man, what if you're just like a lazy like me and you're like you know?
I just don't want to make this.
I just want to buy this teapot like she could or this like a lemon squeezer.
I think this is awesome.
This juicer.
I'm like, I mean, I can't tell you how not handy and or artistic I am.
My my superpower is creating experiences.
That is my superpower.
And it's what brings me joy.
But everything else, creative, it's a jump shot for me.
I'm not really sure that I'll ever make it.
I bet you throw a great party.
I throw a great party.
I like to call them gatherings.
Gatherings.
And they take many forms.
And I just love that.
Stay with us because after the break we'll talk to another founder working to take their business to the next level.
That's after the break.
I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to The Advice Line right here on How I Built This Lab.
Welcome back to The Advice Line on How I Built This Lab.
I'm Guy Raz, and my guest today is Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite, and we are taking your calls.
Julia, are you ready?
Let's go.
Let's go.
All right, let's bring our next caller.
Welcome to The Advice Line.
You're on with Julia Hartz, co-founder of Eventbrite.
Tell us your name, where you're calling from, and just a little bit about your business.
Hi, Guy.
Hi, Julia.
Thanks so much for having me on the show.
My name is Jen Swetsoff.
I'm calling from Westport, Connecticut.
I'm the co-founder of Anyway Magazine, a print magazine for teens and tweens.
We created the magazine to be a fun inspiring, trusted source of information, intentionally off of screens, for kids as they're navigating a tricky time of life.
And our mission is to help make growing up a little less awkward and a lot more awesome.
I love that.
Something analog in a digital world where every kid and even adult is addicted to their screens and their phones.
I used to get World Magazine and one of those little highlights and Boy's Life and National Geographic for kids.
All these magazines I used to get as a kid.
And then I don't remember there being a bridge magazine.
There was Mad Magazine and those things.
And then I went to Rolling Stone and music magazines.
But this is cool.
It's a cool idea.
So it's for... tweens and teens.
So like what, 11, 12 to 15, 16?
Yeah, I think kids can start reading it as young as seven or eight.
You know, kids are mature these days.
So there's nothing in it that's inappropriate, but up till about 15.
Tell me a little bit about the content.
What do you guys have inside the magazine?
Sure.
So we focus primarily on topics related to health and culture.
So we touch on puberty mental and physical health questions you might have as your body is changing and you're maybe encountering feelings of anxiety.
We cover style and identity, so fashion and how we present ourselves hair, all that stuff, as well as relationships and community how we interact with our friends, our family, how we have purpose and community.
And then every issue includes things to do.
So recipes, crafts, crossword puzzles, personality quizzes, fun stuff.
I mean, you're really like going against the tide here, right?
Because everything is about social media and you're doing this analog print publication at a time where probably a lot of people are like you're doing what?
That's right.
How did you start this thing?
So I actually started the magazine with my childhood best friend.
We met when we were five in kindergarten.
We grew up together.
We each have two kids of our own.
And during the pandemic, they were between the ages of seven and twelve.
And as schools transitioned to digital interactions, we saw our own kids on screens quite a bit during the day, working from home.
And we started to see the impact really on their mental health.
And so we started talking about, well, if they're not on screens, what are they doing?
Obviously, they're playing with toys.
They're going outside.
But where are they getting information when they have questions about what's going on?
They really loved graphic novels.
And so obviously we were big proponents of books, but we didn't feel like there was a resource that we could give them that provided really relevant timely, modern information for both boys and girls.
That came in the mail.
You know, they would look forward to getting, and then it was something they could own.
And there was no risk of like you know, if your kid's on the screen too much, you might threaten like oh, you've been on the screen too much.
We're going to take it away.
This way, they'd have something that they can keep in their room and go back to again and again.
So that was in 2021, 2022, when we had the idea.
Since then, I think there's definitely been a movement among parents, schools and even policymakers to sort of delay giving kids smartphones and social media.
Yeah, for sure.
And tell me a little bit how the business is doing.
I mean, subscribers revenue, to give us a sense of how you guys are doing.
Sure.
So we have about 2,500 subscribers, so it's still a relatively small base.
We're about to publish our eighth issue, and we've done about $200,000 revenue to date.
We launched with a Kickstarter that was fully funded in less than a week.
That was the 30000 that sort of initially allowed us to get started and then primarily we're generating revenue from those subscribers.
All right.
Let's dive into your question challenge or issue that you want to kind of tackle.
Sure.
Sure.
So my co-founder is a full-time midwife and I work full-time as an editor at a company.
So we have limited time and limited finances at the moment.
So with that constraint, how can we connect with more families and help build brand awareness?
Awesome.
Julia Hartz, I want to bring you in here.
Anyway Magazine for tweens and teens.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, I think that let's start with the good news.
You have something that most brands would kill for, which is a whole generation of parents who have, like deep, almost Pavlovian, nostalgia for real magazines.
Mine was Tiger Beat.
Oh yeah, my sister said that, oh my god, 17 ym.
I mean, oh my gosh.
So i think it's like the smell of the ink, the ritual flipping the pages, you know, like circling things with the pen.
So i think, like the, the parents are the ones who are buying these right and you're not fighting upstream with them, you're bringing something back that they have these really fond memories about.
So i think that's incredible um, And I think my question for you would be you know, when you see either your kid or another kid share the magazine with another, with a friend, what are they?
What is that friend typically flipping to first?
Like, how are they actually interacting with the magazine?
Because I think that also gives you a little grain of how you might market to other people.
That's a great question.
And it is a challenge.
We want to attract the parent or the grandparent and uncle to buy it, but the kid has to want it and crave it.
So we do have great focus groups at home and among our friends.
The kids definitely when they're together flipping through the magazine tend to gravitate toward the activity section, where we have personality quizzes, crossword puzzles.
And then I will say it really depends on the kid's interest.
So for my son, I'm him and his friends would go to the pages about sports.
For my daughter, she might go to an article about skincare.
We try to have a little something for everybody.
And I think what's interesting is a lot of kids haven't interacted with magazines.
Their parents have.
But so sometimes they say, what is this?
Is this a book?
It's like they're not used to the format.
So that's been a little bit of a hurdle.
But then I think the nice thing is they say, can I have a copy to take home?
And I think where they can really interact with some of the articles, for example, about why do we have body hair or what do you do about body odor.
Those are the articles that you might want to read in the privacy of your own home.
Yeah, I agree with Julia.
Really, it's the parents that you got to go after.
And I think that and you've got limited time and limited constraints.
I think it's other parents who are your force multipliers.
The other thing I think about and I'm sorry to bring my one of my businesses into it, but I've got a whole kids media business and we make a kids podcast called Wow in the World.
And we've got a whole toy line and we've had live shows.
We've done this for about 10 years.
And and the podcast is an incredible tool.
I mean, that's the center of our universe and everything else is part of that ecosystem.
You have the magazine as a center.
You may want to think about experimenting with some, finding some cool, interesting teens and launch a podcast in any way podcast and have them talk about some of the themes that you guys touch on in the in the magazine to amplify.
Even if you've got 2500 subscribers now and you could build up to 2500 listeners or 5000 listeners or 10000, I mean that's a huge force multiplier as well and a way to amplify what you're doing and to spread the word.
That's a great idea.
And we do also try to amplify kids' own voices in the magazine, giving them an opportunity to write.
But to have their own voice, I think to your point, and something that they could listen to, even with their parents.
Like I listened to how I built this with my son all the time.
So that then starts conversations.
And the barriers to entry are so low.
You can spend a hundred bucks on Amazon with a mic and you know and headphones and you can start a podcast and upload it for free and you can put it on Apple and Spotify.
It's not that, I mean, it's, you know, with a couple of clicks, you can figure out how to do this.
It's a great idea.
I would also think about it in three layers.
So we're honing in on the parents here.
And I think finding them online.
So Instagram.
I think most of these parents, ironically, are on Instagram.
Yeah, we're all on Instagram.
We're all on Instagram.
We're not on TikTok.
We're not on TikTok.
Giving them five-second emotional windows into what their lives would be like with their kids online.
Reading this magazine I feel like that's really where you want to, you know, evoke that feeling of we all want our kids to be off screens and tactile, in tactile situations, doing something creative or thoughtful, really like bringing them into that rare moment I think is important.
They're imitations.
They're not ads.
The second thing is I think you eat community.
So along with this brilliant idea of creating a podcast, go to where the kids are.
Go to girl-centric clubs.
Go to indie bookstores.
Go to craft clubs. fairs, really where maker kids gather with their parents.
This could be a way for you to actually get the magazine into the hands of people who are going to be influential in their communities.
And then the third part is influencers, and not like the ring light dancing kids, but actually like the kids who are building things, who are reading obsessively, who are reviewing books and doing STEM projects.
I just think again, that's where you're going to find the sort of density of interest and your magic is already there.
It's like, you just need to get into the hands of the right audiences and that will, that will grow.
Ironically, it will be fueled by online advertising.
Absolutely.
I mean, it's a digital world and I think everything you're saying is the power of story and connection and community.
And that's what we want to do.
So having both the analog nostalgic and the digital modern versions are important.
I also think that there's an opportunity to use partnerships.
So, for example, like YA authors.
I mean, right?
And there's so many of them.
So many of them are self-published.
I mean, could you publish an excerpt from a YA?
Maybe you've done it already.
I mean, could you get some of these authors involved That can also help build this out.
You know, that could be an interesting thing to try.
One question I have.
This is I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask this question and I hope it's not, you know, controversial but is there a world where, you know, you kind of, over time, recalibrate the magazine to skew more toward girls rather than than all teens?
I, i just the only reason i ask is because i, i would imagine, i mean i've got two boys.
I have no experience with teenage girls, so i so anyone listening, forgive me, i'm an idiot, but i i think that they're dealing with very different things than what boys are dealing with.
It's a very good question and i will admit, when we were ideating the magazine, I think we wanted to be very inclusive.
So when we saw so many books about puberty specifically that were gendered like four boys and four girls, we wanted to create something that was different.
So for example, even though my son will never have a period, like should he know about periods?
Maybe.
But to your point Guy, for sure I have a boy and a girl, and in our house there's a lot of differences.
And so we have thought about it.
But right now we think it's a differentiator, that it is For everybody.
Our readers are primarily female, but that doesn't mean a boy can't read it as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good point.
Awesome.
One last thing, Jen, that I would suggest also, I'm sure you have considered and maybe even done it.
You have to give these away, too.
You've got to get packs of five and ten and have them in schools and drop them off in middle schools and maybe in the guidance counselor's offices.
And you just have to do that.
Basically, every issue, you should take 100 or 200 and just make that happen.
You know what is so interesting and sad?
We do donate. at least a thousand copies every year to different nonprofits and organizations.
But schools have been tricky because of all of the book bans going on in school boards not to get political, but schools are very hesitant to take content.
Yeah.
Private schools are a little easier sometimes because they don't have to get the district's approval.
And you can go one at a time.
Not obviously the ideal solution because they don't scale in the same way, but private schools are often easier.
And I know this.
We did an episode on Supergoop.
Yeah, I remember.
And she started it.
By sending it to schools, and she couldn't get it into public schools.
It was just too hard dealing with the district.
So she started with private schools one-offs, and that's how she was able to grow that brand by getting the private schools to have these huge buckets of sunblock all over the school.
Absolutely.
And if any teachers are listening or guidance counselors, we're happy to donate.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Well, the brand is called, the magazine is called Anyway.
Congrats on, you know, everything you built.
It's awesome.
Jen Swetsov, good luck.
Keep us posted.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Yeah, Matt, Tiger Beat just like triggered some memories there.
Like remember the Michael Jackson?
My sister had like a Michael Jackson in like a yellow V-neck sweater with like a diamond brooch.
You know, like a big diamond brooch poster.
Yeah.
The Debbie Gibson perfume sampler.
Wow.
In the middle.
Wow.
Yeah.
There was a Debbie Gibson perfume sampler.
Oh my God.
Wow.
Wow.
All right, we're going to take another quick break, but we'll be right back with another caller.
Stay with us.
I'm Guy Raz, and you're listening to The Advice Line right here on How I Built This Lab.
Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab.
I'm Guy Raz.
And today I'm taking your calls with Julia Hartz of Eventbrite.
And let's bring in our next caller.
I'm ready.
Hi guy, hi Julia.
I'm Angha and I'm calling from Sunnyvale, California.
I'm the founder and chief flavor officer at Aunty Misri, where we make bake at home dessert kits inspired by flavors of the world.
Everything about the product, from its packaging to the final dessert, is crafted to transport you to a new culture.
Welcome to the show, Anya.
And so this is a – these are baking kits for dessert.
Tell me – explain like cake mixes.
Like what is it that you guys make?
So we like to call them cake kits because they are a step ahead from cake mixes.
These come with dry ingredients, even speciality ingredients, stuff to decorate it with, even some basic tools.
And each of the kit is meant to be a cultural exploration.
So, like even the packaging has some culturally detailed motifs, like some of our kits, to give you a context, are inspired by My travels to Turkey Morocco India, Peru.
And so everything about the product, starting from the packaging to when you open the dry ingredients, there's aromatics in there.
And then the final dessert is meant to invoke like you've just been to that country while being in your kitchen.
Okay.
I'm looking at your website.
So you've got like a Persian cake and you've got a Peruvian chocolate cake and a gulab jamun, which is like that sweet honey Indian donut thing, but it looks like a Bundt cake.
So I get it.
Okay.
And tell me how you started this business.
Are you a baker?
Is this your background?
Yeah.
Being an entrepreneur was never part of the plan.
I actually studied to be an engineer, but I grew up in India, surrounded by food deserts, and I used to bake a lot with my mom.
And so, when the pandemic hit, I moved to the US, became a hardware engineer, worked with Intel for some time.
But then I was baking a lot, and then my specialty was combining unique flavors together.
So then, when it came to I was doing like wedding cakes and events for a long time, but then that wasn't really scalable.
I wasn't able to reach many people with that.
So then when it came to creating a product, I leaned on to my memories of baking with my mom.
And I just thought maybe I can be in so many more homes.
Do something with my hands this way and like create an impact.
Yeah.
Before we dive in further, what's your issue or question that you're trying to figure out and solve?
So, since these are baking kits and not baking mixes, they need more time and they are more involved than a conventional baking mix.
My hardest problem is how do I create this mindset shift that the extra time needed to prepare these desserts is actually intentional and not supposed to be a friction point?
So like people... should feel good about slowing down and spending that time creating something special for their friends family members or just themselves this is not just add water or oil it's you got to add like four or five things to i'm looking at you got to add like some yogurt to some and butter and right milk and eggs all right julie i want to bring you in um thoughts for uh for anga Yes.
I mean I'm.
It sounds like you've created a flavor journey and a moment of intentionality all in one box.
And I can declare that it's above my baking pay grade.
And so I'm, I'm excited about trying one actually to challenge myself.
My question for you is if someone had to describe you know uh, your kit in one sentence, what do you hope they say?
They say that okay, I opened this box and while making the cake, I traveled to Turkey and while eating the cake, I felt like I was sitting in a Turkish rose garden in summer.
I love that.
I think it's sort of the essence of your storytelling, which is like the cultural bridge and the flavor design that you're using to create that.
And so you know, I feel like One thing that is clear is that you shouldn't shy away from the fact that your kits take longer than a generic instant cake kit.
That should be a cornerstone of your storytelling, that this is a mechanism to slow down that you want, and start to talk about the emotions you want to evoke.
Either it's inspiration or awe or nostalgia even, right?
You want to create these memories in the process of someone making something with their hands.
We already know that everybody needs to slow down and that getting out of your head into your hands is a great way to lower anxiety and stress.
So I would use that as the springboard to what someone can achieve when they are baking with your kids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anga, yeah, I totally agree.
And I think that there are a couple ways to do that.
But before I give you my other idea, a quick question.
How long on average does it take to bake one of these cakes, like 45 to 55 minutes roughly?
Could be an hour max, yeah.
Right.
And it has to cool before you frost it, right?
So you're looking at about two hours total, let's say.
Yes.
Okay.
So here's what could be interesting.
And we have the expert with us.
You need to do an Eventbrite event.
Seriously.
I'm not just saying that to promote Eventbrite.
That's a great idea.
Your passion is so clear.
You need to be out front.
I go to your website.
I don't see you anywhere on this website.
I mean, it says about us as a picture of you, but you want to, just like Julia said, you want to be telling the story.
So I would try, at least locally, to to start doing events where you have a completed, finished cake hidden but you make the cake.
People pay whatever amount of money.
Everybody gets a kit.
You have a class where everybody makes it together.
It's two hours.
And in the end, they can go home with their cake.
But if it's still too warm, they can't eat it.
You've got one ready-made so everybody could have a slice.
You're doing that one class at a time, but you're also creating ambassadors.
And I think that's something that you really should consider doing.
It's very interesting that you bring that up because I did a workshop which was exactly this.
I gave them the Persian love cake kit and they baked their own and then they took it home.
And while it was cooling, I had some activities baking related to keep them engaged.
So it wasn't like a really dull time.
But I didn't see a lot of impact with it.
First of all, I wasn't able to sell as many tickets.
I think Eventbrite is a great option because they do a lot of marketing for you.
Yeah, we got to keep at it.
Julie, what do you think?
I know you're going to think that's a good idea, right?
Obviously, I think it's a brilliant idea.
And thank you for the nice things that you've said about Eventbrite.
This is an area where I feel really passionate, because we are seeing these trends just absolutely explode on the platform, which is more.
We sort of cheekily call it granny core, but it's anything that's getting people outside of the fast and the furious and the frenetic and into a slower calmer, more focused pace and And we're seeing that across the board whether it be sauna raves where people actually aren't drinking, they're dancing in a sauna together to mahjong clubs or to knitting circles or even silent book clubs.
And this is exactly in the sweet spot of that every pun intended where you can actually create a fully interactive event around this telling stories, making it culturally rich, building that bridge through flavor, and also have other elements while you're waiting for your cakes to bake, right.
Guy was so spot on in terms of it's a sweet spot for an event length, and that is brilliant.
Guy, you're hired.
All right, I'm in.
Repeat customers.
That's also going to be critical.
I mean, is there a QR code that you could put on the box?
Is there something you could put in the box that says, you know, your next cake 40 off?
Or, you know, scan this and we'll send you a limited edition drops.
I mean, you want to double, you want to collect emails, the people who buy your cakes.
You want to Communicate with them as best – as regular as you can.
It's Christmas time.
It's holiday time.
It's Diwali.
Whatever is – it's Nehru's.
Whatever is coming around, you've got a way to communicate with people.
And I think you want to really try and focus on those people who are already interested in what you're doing and really try to get them to become repeat customers.
Yeah.
And also connect them with each other.
I think there's a power of community around something like this, where one experience begets another and then people stay in touch.
So maybe part of your events could be making sure that the people who want to stay connected after the class or after the event are able to do so really easily and then share their stories and their pictures and kind of keep that going.
I think that's good momentum.
And in a way it sort of gamifies it too.
You know, there's, there's always that feeling of, Oh, I want to do, I want to try that.
I'm, I'm going to, you know get, get another cake out and and creating that habitual experience I think is is really key to that repeat buying that Guy was talking about.
Yeah, for sure.
Andamishra, the brand is called Auntie Mystery.
Thanks so much for calling in.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Thanks, Guy, for running this podcast.
And thank you, Julia, for your unwavering optimism that I hear all around.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, I just made an amazing olive oil cake, actually.
Oh.
Like three days ago with a grapefruit, Meyer lemon, and orange glaze on top.
I mean, that sounds incredible.
It was the best cake I made all year easily.
I know how to make exactly one thing and it's like a six-hour bolognese and that's it.
That's pretty good.
And a kale Caesar salad.
That's pretty great.
Yeah.
Kale Caesar is great.
My family knows that if I say I'm making dinner, I'm making only one thing.
I bet it's delicious though.
And that's the bolognese and the kale Caesar.
It works.
I bet it's great.
In-N-Out Burger makes one thing and it makes it better than anybody else.
There you go.
Yeah, there you go.
Julia, before I let you go, if you could go back 20 years when you were starting this brand and now, knowing everything you know about entrepreneurship and running a business, what advice could you go back and give yourself then and say hey, let me just tell you this thing that's going to be helpful for you.
20 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing and had no idea what I was getting myself into with Kevin, who knew a lot more than I did.
And I didn't allow myself to dream.
And every step of the way, I felt like, wow, I really don't know how to do this.
What will this be?
And Kevin had this vision of what it could be to democratize the world of live experiences and really help scale that for anyone through making it easier to sell tickets.
I wish I would have allowed myself to have the dream of what our mission became, because that would be really fun to say and to experience that levity of wow, what if it became?
A marketplace that connected millions of people to millions of events and really helped people connect through really dark times like a global pandemic.
I don't think I would ever have been imaginative enough to have imagined that.
But I think it's like, I feel like I was so practical about it that I can't even believe what it's become.
And I think my advice would be have that moment of dreaming.
Even if you're super pragmatic and an operator like I am actually imagine what could be, because you never know.
It actually could happen.
Yeah.
Julia, thank you so much for coming back onto the show.
Thanks, Guy.
It's always so fun to see you.
I really appreciate you.
You too.
That's Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite.
And by the way, if you haven't heard the Eventbrite episode, go back and check it out.
We'll put a link to it in the show notes.
So click on it.
It's a really good one.
And here is one of my favorite moments from that episode.
All of a sudden, I was packing up my window office on the 42nd floor of Fox Plaza, which is the iconic building in Century City.
And, literally the next day, pushing sawhorses and plywood into a windowless phone closet in a warehouse with Kevin.
And I remember pushing a sawhorse behind him thinking, should I really have done this?
Thanks for having me.
You can send us a voice memo at hibtid.wondery.com or call us at 1-800-433-1298.
Leave a message there and make sure to tell us how to reach you, and we'll put all of this information in the podcast description as well.
This episode was produced by Chris Massini with music composed by Ramteen Arablui.
It was edited by John Isabella.
Our audio engineer was Sina Lafredo.
Our production staff also includes Alex Chung, Catherine Seifer, Casey Herman, Carrie Thompson, Noor Gill Ramel Wood, Sam Paulson, Neva Grant and Elaine Coates.
I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This.
