At TicketManager, the Growth Show Goes On

Star Performer: TicketManager Calabasas CEO: Tony Knopp Four-Year Growth Rate: 131% TicketManager was founded in 2007 by a small team of former StubHub employees who saw that companies needed a better way to administer the event tickets they purchased to entertain clients and employees. During his stint at Stubhub, TicketManager Chief Executive Tony Knopp’s role was to help companies understand how to buy tickets through the site. When he would meet with executives, he learned that most had trouble keeping track of the tickets, which often went unused. “We found this is a $6 billion market, and nobody knows who’s going to the events and how much money they may be losing,” he said. Knopp’s solution with TicketManager was to create a software program that helps companies find, request, approve and distribute tickets. He would go on to grow the fledgling startup into a multi-million-dollar business managing millions of tickets each year for more than 4,000 clients, including 300 Fortune 500 companies such as Wells Fargo & Co., Verizon Communications and AT&T Inc. The Calabasas-based company, number 23 on the Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Private Companies list this year, saw revenues grow 59 percent from 2015 to 2017 to $22.5 million. It’s also the year’s Star Performer, meaning it has appeared on the list for each of the past four years with the largest overall revenue growth – 131 percent – of any other company that during that time period. Venture funding The company has raised more than $20 million in venture capital from Kayne Partners in Los Angeles and Boston-based Point Judith Capital. It currently has around 100 full-time employees and contractors. One reason new companies continue to sign up for TicketManager is that it helps them to quantify their entertainment spending. The software prompts employees bringing clients to events to write up reports about the experience afterward and highlight potential sales or business opportunities. The company also has partnered with venues such as the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and franchises including the Jacksonville Jaguars to manage internal ticket requests for suites and VIP customers. In 2015, TicketManager created a new service, called InviteManager, to help companies put on and host events. The software allows clients to create custom registration pages, event badges, personalized invitations and mobile check-in options. InviteManager can also link to a company’s TicketManager account to oversee ticketing for an event. “We do event management from soup to nuts,” Knopp said. “It enables us to tie everything about client entertainment together in one place. It all fits into our platform.” Going forward, the company plans to build upon its solid growth by finding new clients and offering additional services through InviteManager. Knopp said he has received offers to sell the company but has no intention of cashing out just yet. “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing here,” he said. “We think we’re building a monolith and are excited to move forward.”