This week, your host, Matt Hooper, is exploring the current inefficient ticketing industry and how blockchain is really shaking things up! He will be speaking with two of the people behind the hot, new, and exciting ticketing start-up: True Tickets. They’re an early-stage funded start-up providing digital customizable rights management for digital tickets to the ticketing issuer. Through blockchain, they are providing a scalable and secure digital ticketing experience while integrating with existing ticketing platforms and CRMs. They make buying, selling, and transferring entertainment tickets simple and safe!

Today, Matt while be speaking with Matt Zarracina, the co-founder and CEO of True Tickets; and Ken Lesnik, the Head of Business Development. They discuss how they first got True Tickets off the ground, where they got their first round of feedback, who their customers are and what their ultimate goal is, what it has been like to partner with IBM blockchain, and of course, how they are helping to replace the PDF, print-at-home ticket with an incredible blockchain-enabled solution for the ticketing market.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About today’s episode and guest!

[1:38] Guests Matt Zarracina and Ken Lesnik introduces themselves.

[4:20] How did Matt and Ken originally meet? What led Ken to join the team?

[6:18] What happened between the fall of 2017 and when Matt met Ken and was able to show him that he was revenue-generating an already baked platform business?

[8:41] How did True Tickets get their first round of feedback?

[11:20] Who are True Tickets customers? What is their ultimate goal?

[12:45] What was the experience of the IBM partnership like back in the fall of 2017? Had they been considering other partners to work with? And does it close or open doors?

[17:30] What does Matt mean when he says: “Blockchain is not plug-and-play; it’s almost always bespoke.”?

[18:55] IBM may bring gravitas to the company, but how many folks are they dealing with day-to-day, now that they’re providing a B2B solution? How many of them care about the backend of things?

[20:31] How True Tickets is helping to replace the PDF ticket with an incredibly secure solution.

[24:45] Is perishable inventory something people are concerned about? For example, is True Tickets helping provide a solution for venue owners struggling with the “butts in seats” problem?

[27:00] Is there a potential secondary business in all this data True Tickets is collecting?

[32:35] What does it mean to be a start-up built with IBM blockchain? And what has it been like to build a small company in collaboration with one of the world’s largest technology and consulting companies?

[39:05] Matt thanks Matt and Ken for joining him this episode!

Sources Mentioned:

True Tickets

B2B

The Founder’s Handbook: Your Guide to Getting Started with Blockchain (IBM Blockchain)

Follow-up with Our Guests:

Matt Zarracina’s LinkedIn

Ken Lesnik’s LinkedIn

Looking for More Episodes?

Visit ibm.com/blockchain — and for news and updates, follow @IBMBlockchain on Twitter!