Marcus Richards
We are building a ticketing solution that eliminates ticket fraud, increases in-event engagement and stops high ticket resale prices.
Tell us about yourself?
I have spent 15 years either building businesses from zero to exit or consulting technology and elite sports brands on digital transformation.
I started Jeike Ticketing during the pandemic as a way to address the major frustrations fans have when they attend live events.
When the pandemic hit I was consulting for a European Olympic Association on new technology for their stadium infrastructure, when the factor of ticketing continued to become a conversation point.
It was here where I realised the existing ticketing model was broken for both fans and event organisers.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
To always have a contingency plan in case live events get cancelled globally, like they did.
What problem does your business solve?
We are building a solution to make buying tickets a safe and enjoyable experience. We are fortunate that with Web3 technology, we now have an architecture where we can give more control back to event organisers and can create a genuinely frictionless, engaging experience for fans.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
I got frustrated paying inflated prices for event tickets, if I got through an online queue at all. But it was only when I was speaking to Olympic associations, live music venues and football clubs, when I realised this isn’t only a problem for fans.
So many venues don’t have any control of their ticketing and it is a major pain point for them. Venues don’t like having to hire more customer service staff to have to deal with basic problems in today’s tech landscape.
This might be as simple as fans not being able to print off tickets because they don’t have a printer, or having to deal with a fake ticket that had been purchased from a third party, or even knowing who is attending an event.
What is your magic sauce?
We make everything about the fan experience. As simple as it sounds, if you buy tickets from a ticketing company with a more global brand, you can find yourself pulling your hair out over the most basic things.
A recent example, one of the largest companies in the market charged £50 for ticket delivery. The delivery was an email PDF. That needed to be printed.
We’re fed up of fans being taken for a ride, and it’s not the venue’s fault. A lot of the time they have nowhere else to turn.
So our technology puts the control of the entire fan journey back to the event organiser, so ticketing now gives fans a place to actually look forward to an event.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
To adapt the business model and product development to keep the focus on fan engagement across live events relevant.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Live events were cancelled globally during the pandemic. I think that’s about as big a deal you can face when your business focuses on event ticketing.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
If you are involved in live events check out our website – www.jeike.io. Until October we’re also running our first investment round, if you’re interested in finding out more drop me an email at [email protected].
