Why we're not building Eventbrite #2
There are already great tools for marketplace event discovery. We're not building one. Here's the wedge we're picking, and why structural choices matter more than fee comparisons.
When we started talking to event organizers, the request that came up most often was "can you be Eventbrite, but cheaper?" The honest answer is no — and not because we couldn't, but because the answer wouldn't matter. Anyone can drop their price next week. Structural choices are harder to copy.
What Eventbrite is structurally
Eventbrite is a marketplace. Their business depends on guests creating accounts (so they can re-market to them across events), on event discovery (so paid placement works), on holding funds until after an event (so refund risk is bounded). Every one of those is a deliberate product choice that serves their model. None of them serve a small operator who already has an audience and just wants to collect at the door.
What we're building instead
- Guests never create an account. Scan, pay, done.
- Event discovery is not our job — own your channels (Instagram, newsletter, word of mouth).
- Money settles to your Stripe account on the standard schedule (~2 business days), not held until after the event.
- One QR for pre-sale and pay-at-door — same link, same flow, no separate Organizer app.
- Event creation in under a minute, not a 10-minute verification queue.
If your event lives on your channels, you don't need a marketplace. You need a faster cash register.
Andy Bui
What's next
Build is underway. The events product will sit alongside our amenities product on the same platform, same brand, same checkout — different use case. We'll share when it's live.
If you've ever asked a guest to e-transfer you and then chased them at the door, that's exactly the friction we're trying to remove. Drop us a note at hello@qropen.ca to be part of the first cohort.