What makes people pay for new online events

You would expect that event-focused startups would be some of the hardest hit by the global pandemic and lockdown, and for the most part, you would be right.

But Peatix is one event startup that adapted fast and is now actually thriving during the lockdown. We've talked with Taku Harada before, and if you have not done so already, you should check it out. It's a great conversation and there is no overlap with today.

Today we talk about how startups can pivot and survive during the pandemic, why having too much money can be a curse for startups, and we dive into what's gone wrong with Japanese B2B SaaS startups.

It's a great discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it.

Show Notes

How an evets company pivots during Covid-19 What makes a good online event Will people play for online events What will be the long-term behavioral changes from the lockdown The surprising secret to scaling a social network Tips for Japanese who want to run an international startup The trap of startups having too much funding What's wrong with Japan’s SaaS companies Why Japanese enterprise has too much influence on startups The importance of an ecosystem is not what you think

Links from the Founder

Everything you ever wanted to know about Peatix Friend Taku on Facebook Follow him on twitter at @takumeister Petix on YouTube

Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me.

Today we get a chance to sit down with (at a very safe social distance) with Taku Harada the founder of Peatix, and we’ll talk about how this particular event planning and booking company is not only surviving but thriving during this covid crisis.

And hey, this is the very first DJ episode I’ve released, where I’ve interviewed someone over video conference. Oh, I’ve recorded a few interviews that way them before, but I’ve always found something lacking. Something impersonal and not fully connected when you talking to an image on a screen rather than a person in the same room.

But this time was different. Maybe because Taku and I are old friends, or maybe just because we all, myself included, are getting more used to living our lives online. So we’ll be doing more interviews this way, at least until things return to the way they were in the before times.

This is actually the second time we’ve had Taku on the show, but this is all new information, and I strongly encourage you to go listen to the other interview. It’s a great discussion about the things no one ever tells you when you first start your startup. I’ll have a link to that episode up on the site

But today we are going to talk about how to build, and expand, your customer base during lockdown, some things you should know about fundraising right now, and what the hell is wrong with Japanese B2B SaaS companies.

But you know Taku tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview

Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Taku Harada of Peatix, the event ticketing and promotion service. Thanks for sitting down with me. Taku: It’s great to be back, I guess. We talked several years ago. It’s nice to see you again. Tim: Likewise, and we’re being very appropriately socially distanced here, you being in New York. Taku: Very much. Tim: Yeah. Yeah, actually, you were one of my very first guests on the show and that was, man, almost six years ago now. Taku: Was it six years ago? Tim: Yeah, 5 ½, six years. Times change. Taku: When was it, 2013 or so? I’m curious to find out what I had said back then, if it matches up with the way I’m thinking right now. Tim: Yeah. We finished off a bottle of wine at the old engine yard office in Tokyo. Taku: Yeah, an Ebisu, right? Tim: Yeah. Now, it was a really great interview and we’re not going to cover the same ground again today although I mean, you talk about some great stuff in terms of like founder motivation and more reasonable expectations for this journey. Taku: That would have been maybe a year and a half or maybe even close to two years after we started Peatix, I hope I’m not going to contradict myself today too much, but let’s see how it goes. Tim: Well, no, that’s actually what I’m – well, not hopefully you’re going to contradict yourself but I think this is like this really awesome chance to kind of check in and see how the predictions and strategies played out and where you had to pivot because I don’t know, there’s this big mess of like entrepreneurship being this study journey from point A to point B, and it’s nothing like that. Taku: No, no, it’s a lot of ups and downs, it’s uphill all, you have to go downhill and just go left and right, and somehow, when you look back, okay, maybe you are in a higher place than you were before. It’s never a linear straight line as you know. Tim: Yeah. Well, actually, let’s jump right into it. I mean, the biggest thing that’s coming to mind here is that as a start of focused on event planning, I mean, COVID must have really had quite an impact on your business. Taku: This was as it was for most people, I’m sure, totally unexpected. Boom! Everything hit, but I would say, what was it, late March? I remember specifically when the Tokyo Marathon was canceled towards the second half of March. That was when everything hit us, all the events that were on our platform, they started to get canceled and we had to do all the refunds, and everything just turned upside down, and then the second tsunami, so to speak, was first week of April when Japan declared its national emergency, and that was just our world had totally turned upside down. Tim: So, how does a company that is just built around these live events, how do you develop? How do you adapt to something like that? Taku: It felt like, let’s see, let’s see, maybe a week of total panic, not knowing what to do, and then several days of sort of a very low point which was just being depressed and wondering what the hell we are supposed to do. But then, gradually picking ourselves up and just thinking about where the market would go. Thankfully, the majority of Peatix, the events on Peatix, they are not the sort of the large-scale sports or music entertainment. The majority of our events were a longtail community meet ups and whatnot. We did see that it would be relatively easier for these kinds of events to go online. We saw an opportunity there, we figured it out and said, what we could do is sort of tweak the platform a bit, but really, a lot of communication to our customers, communicating to them that okay, this is how your communities is survived by taking things online. Tim: So, were you just like, proactively reaching out to your customers and saying, “Okay, now, it’s time to move everything online, and here’s how you do it”? Taku: Yeah, so people were just canceling their off-line events, we took the stance of being very proactive in supporting those efforts and communicating to our customers how to cancel your events, how to do the refunds. We figured that okay, the very least we can do is to try to build trust with our customers, so that was that phase, and then once we figured out that the online strategy, I was proactively going out there talking to the customers, “This is how you should go online with your events online.” We launched an online event series by ourselves, just as a showcase, so to speak, and this thankfully has thousands of viewers and listeners every week. Just positioning Peatix as your go-to platform for your online events, and very quickly, all these events started to sort of flood our platform during April. Yeah, we are in a very sort of good place right now. Tim: So, everyone adapted pretty quickly then? Taku: Yeah. Tim: So, what makes a good online event? I mean, I’m sort of like old school and even – you and I are doing this online now, but it’s not the same as sitting across the table and drinking wine together. Taku: Yeah, no, I mean, think folks are still trying to figure everything out, not everything is perfect – there are a lot of technical glitches along the way but because it’s such a transition area., I think the participants are always, they tend to be a little weekend. Okay, maybe because of connectivity issues, the event might go down for a couple of minutes or so but it’s not like oh, everybody is pissed off and yelling and screaming at the organizer. People are a little more receptive and patient with things. In terms of format, Zoom, the typical event that we see on our platform is using Zoom speakers, just talking about the topic of their choice within their communities, so that communication among the participants and the organizers and how to bring that online and how to bring that sense of conductivity. It continues to be a challenge but there are various tools out there and we are really amazed with how creative people are in trying to replicate the experience online. Tim: So, are people willing to pay to attend online events? Taku: They are, so pre-COVID, I would say maybe 60%, 70% of our events were paid events. Typically, $50 or ¥4000-¥5000 would be the ticket price for these paid events. In the post-COVID world – not “post” but during this COVID world, maybe only 30% of the events that we have are paid events. Tim: But that’s still pretty high. Taku: It’s still pretty high. Tim: All things considered, yeah. Taku: Yeah, and the average ticket price is much lower than the pre-COVID days, maybe even half – let’s say ¥2000-¥3000, maybe not even ¥2000. That is the average ticket price, so we have to make it up to the volume, obviously, and the volume is catching up, thankfully. Tim: Aww. Taku: Yes, people are willing to pay, and that mix continues to go up, so it’s about 30% today. I think we’re going to see that mix go up higher over the coming days. Tim: Alright.