A key strategy to business success is finding a niche and serving it well. For David Evans, a high-tech entrepreneur and angel investor who has started three companies in 12 years, identifying customer needs — and meeting them better than his competitors can — is a specialty.
Evans, a 32-year-old software programmer who cut his teeth reselling concert and sports tickets at SoldOut.com, envisioned an online marketplace that was legal, safe and easy for fans to find seats to their favorite shows or events.
“My company took what was once a transaction fraught with risk and negative connotations and transformed it into a professional, convenient and transparent business deal with a high degree of customer security and satisfaction,” says Evans.
“The biggest gap we close is bringing professionalism, consistency and a high level of customer service to our season ticket holder and private sale partners,” he says. “We negotiate a fair deal for our retail customers and ticket providers and then follow through on that deal regardless of how the marketplace changes.”
EasySeat is different because it gets tickets to good seats cheap, which allows Evans to keep costs affordable for fans. He says the company negotiates the terms of the sale directly with ticket holders and buys from the source.
EasySeat, recently honored on Inc. magazine’s annual list of 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., grew nearly 17-fold in the past three years, reaching $2.3 million in revenue compared to $134,190 in 2006. The magazine ranked the online ticket reseller at #176 on its list.
“Individual tickets now can cost hundreds of dollars and season tickets can cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. As an individual, that’s a pretty expensive investment, so selling directly to us is a really attractive option,” says Evans.
“We assume the risk and the ticket holder recoups their original investment plus a small premium,” says Evans. “This approach stops the individual ticket seller from having to become an amateur ticket broker to sell his or her tickets.”
Evans handles all the programming for the company and employs four salespeople on commission. He says his wife’s income as a vice president of strategy for a regional bank allows him to use his revenues to grow the company.
The New Britain-based company experienced exponential growth between 2006 and 2009 when gross revenues increased from around $100,000 to $2.3 million.
