The Changeup
The Changeup
Interview with Michael Collazo, CEO of Open Seat Direct
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Interview with Michael Collazo, CEO of Open Seat Direct

Democratizing the event ticketing experience

We all have had it happen: we want to take a class or go to a cool concert at a local venue and when we go to buy tickets for it, we are forced to go through numerous hoops to finally secure our spot. It’s not the creator of the events fault but that friction makes it harder for the end consumer to purchase, harder for the event organizer to sell and harder for independent events to grow as a result. Enter Open Seat Direct, which helps democratize ticketing events large and small. This week we sit down with Michael Collazo, the CEO of Open Seat direct to learn why he gave up selling tickets for the NHL to launching his own company to help everyone and anyone who wants to organize an event sell their own tickets. Full episode is above and some great quotes are below.

On the power of Open Seat Direct:

4:49 So this platform sort of explodes that assumption that you have to wait because it's an event or whatever. It's like that just get the money right away. And then if something happens like a COVID postponement or cancelation, for whatever reason, the event creator can execute a refund and be all set, so that was sort of the thinking that there are these big platforms that don't apply to countless amounts of event creators, large and small, that you are never going to use those platforms.

On starting an events company during the pandemic:

6:00  During COVID, we would goof with my other partners. You know, we're starting a life event, you know, a business in the middle of a time where no one's doing that. But it was it could be seen as a blessing in disguise because we had time to look at a few things. One is things stop for most people, so kind of give it time to really dig deep about what the software should be able to execute or what people. We were able to talk to a lot of people to get a sense of when this ends, you know, how do you think live events will change in terms of your world and what you want to execute that other software platforms may not be able to execute or do, but in a very blah way.

On the diversification on events during the pandemic:

6:53 I think the future of considering either hybrid events or virtual events, which has died down significantly once people can go out and do stuff. But I think there are a lot of event creators that found new revenue or found the new business in a lot of ways. With this sort of, in theory, endless international audience of people that might stream your event. They might attend your seminar virtually and either would be willing to submit your email to get the free virtual ticket. Or secondly, I'm willing to spend five, 10 15, whatever the price point makes sense to attend this virtually. 

On his locally famous DJ Dad:

11:14 Yeh, he [my Dad] was like a hood celebrity. I always tell people he had a ton of records. He had a whole room of records, many of which he sold to hipsters, you know, in the 90s and in the 2000s. Because if you had that Curtis Mayfield record, then you had that, you know, old Willie Colon record, like he had all of this stuff. So over time, it sort of whittled away to people wanting to give him a decent amount of money for it. But yeah, you know, it was always goofy, he [my Dad] was like the celebrity, like, you go around and people hear his voice and say I know your voice. Are you with DAS? Or aren't you that guy on Saturday night? So it's pretty cool, and occasionally as a kid, I would go to the broadcasts, so it was kind of cool to be around. I'd get them coffee or something and just sit him. And this is when you didn't have like an engineer executing your broadcast. You were doing it yourself. You were timing of the record, so you could hit the post and like, talk into the transition to record. That was sort of an art form back then. 

On rising through the ranks of Minor League Baseball ticket sales:

12:20  Long story short, I got into Minor League Baseball in 2002 for the Camden River Sharks. They're no longer around the independent Atlantic League. So in that environment, that was like an old, you made seven hundred fifty dollars a month and you did everything. I was the clubhouse manager for six weeks. I sold suites, I sold tickets, I pulled tarp on me in that world due to everything, and that sort of started my ticketing sales for sports and arenas. 

On his mother’s political upbringing:

35:35 Yes, and my mother, so my mother's from Orcovis Puerto Rico very much in the interior, in the mountains. She moved to Philly in 1960’s. Late sixty’s, sixty-seven, I think. So she was a municipal worker, she worked for the city of Philadelphia for 29 years and then retired after that. So my mother was like my dad too, my mom was like a cultural nationalist. So she's very much, you know, 1980s America was very much like, Oh, you know, Jose Ferrero he's Puerto Rican, he's on TV. Geraldo Rivera, you know, he's Puerto Rican. We have to know how many municipalities, we had to know how to draw Puerto Rico on a map, know where it is. So she was very much the cultural nationalist, which we appreciate to this day. 

On growing up a Phillies fan:

40:28 And so Dad was a Phillies fan. And so, you know, me and my brothers are huge Phillies fans to the point where, like I said, I worked in baseball, in part because I wanted to be around the game in that sense. I watch way too much Phillies baseball, you know, on my computer every night. I know way too much about the 700  level at the old Vet and going to Phil's Mets at Citi Field once or twice a year before the pandemic, I would consistently go to see them there. So it's really just, yeah, you're stuck with, it's in your DNA. 

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