You’re reading Release Notes, a weekly newsletter covering product lessons from scaling beehiiv and building AI products in the creator economy. (Read the full archive here.)
If you're new here, I'm Jake, a product expert in the creator economy, currently head of product at beehiiv.
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A Note Before You Read
I wrote this piece back in September 2018, a few weeks after we shut down Evopass, a ticketing startup I co-founded straight out of Trinity College Dublin in 2016 with my co-founders Kevin Murray and Zach Diebold.
I originally published it on Medium, and I've been meaning to bring it over here ever since I started Release Notes. It feels like the right home for it.
I'm re-posting it completely unchanged. The lessons still hold, and honestly it's a useful reminder for me too. It's easy to romanticise early-stage startup life in hindsight, but honestly it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve done. It’s also fundamental to everything I’ve achieved since then.
If you're a first-time founder, thinking about taking the leap, or simply want to read the slightly naive reflections of a burnt-out 24-year-old founder, then this one is for you.
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Goodbye Evopass
Last week we made the incredibly difficult decision to shut Evopass down, ending operations immediately. Accepting defeat has been incredibly difficult, especially as it has been such an amazing journey getting here, but sadly all good things must come to an end. Here is how it happened, some of my key takeaways and what is happening next:
Our Story
Kevin, Zach and I began Evopass in November 2016 with the aim of taking on the ticketing industry — eradicate touting, whilst also bringing fairness and transparency to the ticketing market.
As three students at Trinity College Dublin, we took on the challenge unaware of both the difficulties of starting a business nor the challenges associated with the industry we were entering. Indeed, everything appeared to be in our favour — a perfect storm of consumer and musician outcry, incoming legislation and touting scandals in the news. We'd managed to finally achieve 'right-place-right-time'. Or so we thought.
We graduated, went full time and dived down the rabbit hole. Within three months, we had a beta and the madness began… soon we had processed over €100,000 in ticket sales, expanded the team and received investment from NDRC.
During this time we learnt a number of huge lessons, the most pertinent of which was that our business model at the time wasn't going to allow us to achieve significant growth. The margins were too small. We lacked defensibility. But crucially, the competitive environment was such that regardless of our innovations, we could never outcompete the incumbents. Cue the pivot.
After analysing the market, and brainstorming every angle, we settled on a face value ticket marketplace that could address the various market needs, whilst also navigating the complex and entrenched relationships in the ticketing industry. Ultimately it all came down to execution — If we could tie down vital partnerships we would have defensibility, easy access to ticket sellers and revenue.
Alas, after six months of hard work our partnerships failed to materialise, new entrants appeared across the market, and the market leader began to offer face value resale, eroding what was left of our unique value proposition. Despite numerous ticket sales, we realised it was no longer sustainable to continue and it was time to say goodbye to Evopass.
Reflection
It is impossible to summarise everything we've learnt during our time starting Evopass. However, here are some of the things I wish I'd known before I started:
Being first-time founders is somewhat of a double-edged sword: unburdened by past experiences, you are able to tackle problems thinking that anything is possible. However, this same unbridled optimism can result in clouded judgement — putting too much emphasis on positive signs and ignoring the negative.
This is something I was personally guilty of on multiple occasions at the start, and has resulted in the failure of many other startups before Evopass. Data should drive the decision making throughout the business and is something I wish we had taken on earlier at Evopass.The pivot taught me many things, most crucially that you must not underestimate the unintended impacts of pivoting and how it could affect the various members of the team differently.
Whereas in my eyes, the pivot was a change in direction, the engineering team couldn't help but see it as scrapping almost everything they had worked on so far. For one of our new employees, it meant that everything they did in their first six weeks was for nothing — something I had not appreciated until I checked in with them after the pivot.
I saw the importance of gaining team consensus around big decisions and to anticipate their impacts across the business. Moving forward, we made sure that we were transparent and that everyone had the opportunity to contribute to the strategy and decisions. Once decisions were made we really stressed why we were making that decision, and what outcome we believed it would have. This proved to be incredibly beneficial to our development, with engineering often providing invaluable ideas and opinions.When a team is small, it is often easy to assume that communication is easy. However, my experience was that not always reflective of that. Being from London, with the company based in Dublin, there were several times where I worked remotely in London for months at a time.
The first time we attempted this, it was surprisingly difficult: Not only did working remotely remove many of the social and team aspects, but by relying heavily on messaging services like Slack, messages were often left open to interpretation leading to miscommunication and tension. Having acknowledged these issues, we put frameworks in place to ensure communication channels stayed open: regular one-to-one calls, weekly team video calls, and (perhaps most importantly) at least one long weekly call between the co-founders. For any teams looking to incorporate remote working into their business, I encourage you to focus on establishing communication frameworks early, to avoid conflict and wasting time in the future.Finally, one must not underestimate the toll that starting the business will take on the founders. As your relationships with each other continue to be tested, it is vital that you be honest with each other about the business and yourself. Mental health is not discussed enough, but the emotional rollercoasters of startups are intense and the 'Fear of Failure' cloud will loom constantly overhead. As your days become longer and the money in your paycheck becomes smaller, everything only becomes more difficult. No one will appreciate what you are going through other than your co-founders, so it is vital you keep them close to share the ups and the downs.
What Now?
As of the 7th September, the Evopass Platform was taken offline. Over the coming weeks, Evopass Ltd will be wound down.
Left behind will be some great IP — so if you have any interest in this then please email me directly.
With this, we are sadly having to say goodbye to some amazingly talented teammates who have been with us from the start. If you have any interest in meeting some of the best problem solvers this side of the Atlantic with experience in ticketing, Django, React Native, resale and marketplaces, then drop me a line.
Thank You
Firstly, a huge thank you to our amazing users, who stuck with us through the ups & downs, the bugs & crashes (Sorry Med Ball).
Secondly, thank you to all our family and friends for believing in us and supporting us through the tough times.
Finally, a massive thank you to our investors, our advisors and to everyone who backed us from the start and helped to guide us through the murky waters of starting a business for the first time. Special mentions to Akhil Seth, John Shiel, Everyone at NDRC, Dermot Casey, Lukasz Kulowski, Pat Casey, The team at Google Adopt a Startup, Tim Chambers, who all gave us so much of their time and effort. One last thanks to Launchbox for giving us our flying start.
It must be said that none of this would have been at all possible without the hard work, trust and determination of the incredible team at Evopass. Thank you to Geoff, Dean, Tadhg, Sophie, Vahe and Anne — I'm sorry we weren't able to deliver the outcome we wanted, but it was a hell of a journey trying to get there.
And one last thank you to my brave and brilliant co-founders, Kevin Murray and Zach Diebold. Thank you for picking me up when I was down, for keeping on track and for riding this ridiculous wave with me. It has been an absolute pleasure, and I look forward to the next one.
A Final Note
To any budding student entrepreneurs who are approaching the end of college and are unsure of whether to take the plunge - go for it. Starting your first business straight out of college is unlike anything you will be exposed to elsewhere; think grad program meets MBA all on steroids. I can safely say I learnt more in the 18 months working full time with Evopass than I did in the entirety of my four years at University.
Until next time.
Jake
CEO & Co-founder, Evopass (2016–2018)
^ there you have it. Some honest takes from inside the trenches.
The reality is that nothing accelerates your career and skills like founding a startup, but I cannot express how hard it is, and how differently I would do it again now that I have perspective and experience.
Hindsight’s fun like that.
Let me know what you thought. See you next week.
Cheers,
Jake
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