Kevin Hartz

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Kevin Hartz is Co-Founder and Chairman of Eventbrite (NYSE: EB). He is an early-stage investor and advisor to successful startups including PayPal, Pinterest, Uber, Airbnb, Trulia, Thumbtack, Gusto, Joby Aviation, and Newfront Insurance. He is also Co-Founder of Xoom (IPO 2013, acquired by PayPal).

Early life and education[]

Hartz was born in Berkeley, California and raised in Orinda, California. He holds a BAS from Stanford University in history, as well as an MA in British history from University College, Oxford.^[1]

Career[]

Hartz began his career at Silicon Graphics (SGI) as the product manager for Virtual reality browser Cosmo Player. Subsequently, Hartz was a co-founder of ConnectGroup, a startup providing high-speed Internet access to the hotel industry.^[2] Five months after incorporating the company, it was acquired by LodgeNet^[3] (NASDAQ: LNET).

In 2001, Hartz co-founded Xoom, an international money remittance business, along with Alan Braverman. He served as CEO until 2005 and served on the Board of Directors through its 2012 IPO^[4] and subsequent acquisition by PayPal in 2015. The company had a total equity value of $1.1 billion^[5]

Hartz founded Eventbrite, the global self-service ticketing platform, in 2006 with Julia Hartz and Renaud Visage.

Hartz joined Founders Fund in September 2016 and served as a partner but announced his exit from the company in June 2018.^[6] He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Eventbrite (Chairman) and Lookout.

Investments[]

Hartz began his early stage investing after the sale of Connect Group to LodgeNet. He took the profits from that sale, and invested in a company called FieldLink, which later became Confinity, which then became PayPal.^[7][8] This early investment in PayPal influenced his later founding of Xoom and Eventbrite. Other investments include:

• PayPal (Nasd: PayPal)
• Airbnb (seed investor)
• Pinterest (seed investor)
• (acquired by eBay)
• Uber (series B)
• (seed investor)
• Flixster (acquired by Warner Brothers)
• Trulia (acquired by Zillow)
• TripIt (acquired by Concur)
• Yammer (acquired by Microsoft)
• Thumbtack
• Gusto
• Joby Aviation

Personal life[]

Hartz lives in San Francisco with his wife, Julia Hartz, and two daughters.

References[]

External links[]

• Kevin Hartz on Instagram