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Brian Fenty
CEO + Co-Founder at TodayTix Group
Brian Fenty is the CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder of TodayTix Group (TTG), a global e-commerce platform for live entertainment ticketing.14 He founded the company in 2013 with Merritt Baer, aiming to disrupt the ticket-buying experience with a mobile-first approach.24
Career Highlights
- Founded TodayTix in 2013, which now captures about 10% of Broadway ticket sales through its app3
- Led TodayTix to secure $73 million in venture funding in 201923
- Previously worked in finance and marketing for the New York Yankees from 2005 to 20081
- Served as Managing Director at Hamilton Investment Partners from 2007 to 20131
- Has been an investor and advisor for various private investments1
Achievements
- Named in Crain's "30 under 30"2
- Featured on Variety's "Dealmakers List"2
- Honored on the Broadway Impact List2
- Received the Dramatists Guild Fund award2
- Under his leadership, TTG secured a place in The Andreessen Horowitz Marketplace 1002
Background
Fenty has a diverse background, including experience as a child actor in New York and as a Broadway producer.3 He holds a BS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended The Hotchkiss School.1 His unique career path, which he describes as "super bizarre," has contributed to his success in bridging the gap between technology and live entertainment.3
Highlights
We moved offices amid the COVID chaos.
Why?
COVID felt like an attack on cities and culture, and we wanted to confront that problem head on.
We moved our offices in London and New York from popular tech hubs to theatre districts, so we could be in the heart of the action.
Now, our teams are reminded daily of the vital role we play in the theatre ecosystem, and have symbols in front of us to keep our mission top of mind – tourists frustrated in Times Square, the neon glow of billboards, or busy business people racing from lunch to desk.
I want our team to see the audiences that we send to the venue each night — the wonder and anticipation before them.
I want us to feel the challenges that our core users have so we can provide better solutions.
How do you ground your team in your mission?
In 2020, we acquired a niche community-based theatre review aggregator called Show-Score.
Fast forward — it's now the nerve center of our data, discovery, and insights ecosystem.
Had we jumped the gun a few years earlier? It might've been our downfall.
Think about Uber releasing UberEats at 100K vs. 20M MAUs. It probably wouldn't have worked out so well. The difference? Scale, credibility, and a team's executional muscle: the network effect trifecta.
Fortunately, we bought it at the right time and with a plan:
To turn the idea of entertainment reviews on their head.
Instead of just creating the "Rotten Tomatoes of Broadway," we use our 360-degree audience data to supply producers with feedback on their shows.
No more expensive focus groups. Just real-time Net Promoter Scores, IRL.
With our data, producers aren't flying blind when creating the next blockbuster.
We had the right team in place to execute this vision. And we had enough users to provide the data to make it matter.
You can create immensely valuable products when you have both.
