Modern Architect · 1969 — Present

Kevin Hartz

Kevin Hartz: A serial entrepreneur and investor who co-founded successful internet platforms and actively shaped the venture landscape.

Country

United States

Continent

North America

Industry

Internet Software & Services, Venture Capital

Role

Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist

Kevin Hartz is a prominent entrepreneur, angel investor, and venture capitalist known for co-founding successful internet companies such as Xoom and Eventbrite. His career spans building and scaling direct-to-consumer platforms and actively investing in early-stage technology companies.

Biography

Kevin Hartz, born in 1969, is an American entrepreneur and investor with a significant impact on the internet software and venture capital industries. He earned his bachelor's degree in History from Stanford University. Hartz began his entrepreneurial journey early, co-founding ConnectGroup in 1996, an enterprise software company that was acquired by Exodus Communications in 1998 for "25 million. His next major venture was founding Xoom Corporation in 2001, a digital money transfer service. Xoom went public on the NASDAQ in 2013 and was subsequently acquired by PayPal in 2015 for approximately "890 million. In 2006, Hartz co-founded Eventbrite with his wife, Julia Hartz, and Renaud Visage. Eventbrite developed and operates an online ticketing and event management platform. Serving as CEO for its initial growth phase, Hartz oversaw its expansion into a global self-service ticketing giant, which later went public on the NYSE in 2018 under the ticker 'EB'. Parallel to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Hartz built a reputation as an active angel investor and venture capitalist. His investment portfolio includes early-stage investments in foundational companies such as PayPal, Pinterest, Airbnb, Uber, and Square (now Block). He co-founded AONManagement, a multi-stage venture capital firm, in 2017 to formalize and expand his investment activities, focusing on companies leveraging network effects and modern software architectures. Hartz's career demonstrates a consistent ability to identify and scale innovative internet platforms and to back disruptive technologies at their nascent stages.

Accomplishments

01Co-founded ConnectGroup (1996), an enterprise software company acquired by Exodus Communications in 1998 for "25 million.
02Founded Xoom Corporation (2001), a digital money transfer service that went public on NASDAQ (2013) and was acquired by PayPal (2015) for approximately "890 million.
03Co-founded Eventbrite (2006) as CEO, an online ticketing and event management platform that went public on NYSE (2018).
04Early investor in over 40 technology companies, including PayPal, Pinterest, Airbnb, Uber, and Square (now Block), demonstrating prescient market foresight.
05Co-founded AONManagement (2017), a venture capital firm, formalizing a successful investment track record into a structured fund.

Lessons for Operators

Embrace the long game: Building category-defining companies like Xoom and Eventbrite takes over a decade from inception to IPO/acquisition. Sustain focus and adapt through market cycles.

Identify and leverage network effects: Both Xoom (sender/receiver network) and Eventbrite (event creators/attendees) fundamentally benefited from network effects, which create defensibility and accelerate growth. Design products to foster these loops.

Founder-market fit matters: Hartz's consistent success in internet services stems from a deep understanding of user behavior and infrastructure. Invest or build in areas where your expertise provides a distinct advantage.

Invest in infrastructure and critical enablers: Early investments in companies like PayPal and Square reveal a strategy of backing foundational platforms that enable broader digital commerce. These investments often yield outsized returns due to their systemic importance.

Strategic exits and public markets: Successfully navigated IPOs for Xoom and Eventbrite, demonstrating the ability to prepare companies for public scrutiny and unlock shareholder value through different liquidity events. Plan for potential exit paths from inception.

The Operator's Playbook

Key Takeaways

Practical lessons distilled for operators, investors, C-levels, and capital allocators.

Lesson 01

Serial Entrepreneurship with Strategic Focus

Hartz's entrepreneurial journey exhibits a pattern of building internet-native services. Operators should consider how their ventures can leverage digital infrastructure to transform traditional industries or create new ones, rather than simply digitizing existing processes. Success often comes from deep domain understanding and a commitment to solving clear user problems through technology.

Lesson 02

The Power of Early Angel Investing

His portfolio of early-stage investments underscores the potential rewards of backing visionary founders and disruptive technologies in their infancy. Investors should cultivate broad networks, develop a keen eye for nascent trends, and be prepared to take calculated risks on emerging leaders who promise to reshape industries.

Lesson 03

Building for Network Effects

Eventbrite and Xoom's growth was significantly driven by network effects. When designing or evaluating products, prioritize features and business models that inherently loop users into a growing ecosystem. This creates strong competitive moats and drives exponential user adoption.

Lesson 04

Beyond Foundational Technology

Hartz’s investments often target companies that provide essential infrastructure for the digital economy (e.g., payments, social connections). This suggests a strategy of looking beyond immediate trends to identify underlying technological shifts that will enable a multitude of future applications and businesses. Operators should evaluate if their solutions are addressing a fundamental, enduring need.

Lesson 05

Navigating Growth and Liquidity

Hartz successfully steered Xoom and Eventbrite through venture funding rounds, rapid scaling, and public listings. This highlights the importance of strategic capital allocation, robust financial planning, and understanding the requirements for both private and public market financing when building a high-growth company.

Mental Models

Frameworks & Principles

Named frameworks and strategic principles they popularized or embodied.

Network Effects Model

This framework emphasizes designing products or services where the value to each user increases significantly as more users join the platform. It creates a self-reinforcing loop of growth and defensibility. Hartz applied this in Eventbrite (more events attract more attendees, attracting more creators) and Xoom (more senders attract more receivers, increasing utility).

When to useApplicable when conceptualizing new products, refining business models, or evaluating investment opportunities where multi-sided markets or social interaction are central to user value proposition. Crucial for understanding competitive advantage in platform businesses.

Founder-Market Fit Analysis

This framework assesses the alignment between a founder's unique skills, experience, and passion with the specific market opportunity they are pursuing. Hartz consistently built or invested in internet services where his background provided an insightful edge.

When to useUsed by investors to evaluate founding teams' likelihood of success and by entrepreneurs to identify market opportunities where their personal strengths provide a strong competitive advantage or deep understanding, signaling a higher probability of execution and resilience.

Platform Enabler Investment Strategy

This strategy involves investing in companies that provide fundamental infrastructure or tools upon which many other businesses can be built. Hartz's investments in PayPal, Square, and Airbnb (which enables countless micro-entrepreneurs) exemplify this approach.

When to useSuitable for investors seeking outsized, long-term returns by identifying underlying technological shifts and their foundational components, rather than just the applications built on top. Also relevant for operators considering building 'picks and shovels' businesses for emerging gold rushes.

Citations