The Masterplan for Ticketsmith

If you’ve ever tried to sell tickets online, you know the pattern. You start out buzzing with excitement, imagining a smooth launch where people snap up spots and you focus on the event. But then reality hits. You end up wrestling with a system that seems designed to frustrate you at every turn.

Surprise fees pop up at checkout like uninvited guests. The platform hijacks your attendees with "recommended events," turning your community into their marketing list. The setup demands a developer, and the payouts crawl in slower than your burnout.

We think that is ridiculous.

Ticketsmith exists to fix it. We are building a simple, honest ticketing tool for the people who actually pour their hearts into events: small creators, workshop hosts, indie venues, pop-up chefs, and niche communities.

Most ticketing platforms today are geared toward corporate giants, leaving independent organizers in the dust. We want to flip that around. We want to make it delightful, affordable, and sustainable to run your own box office.

Here is the masterplan.

1. Complexity is the enemy

You shouldn’t need a tutorial series—or a weekend of trial and error—just to sell 20 tickets. It’s your event; the tool should bend to you, not the other way around.

We believe in "setup in minutes," and we mean it literally.

Picture this: You run a 12-person “Sourdough for Absolute Beginners” class next Saturday. With Ticketsmith, you punch in the title, set 12 spots at $65, and paste your Instagram handle. In under ten minutes, you grab a clean, ready-to-share link. You drop that link into your bio, and you’re done. People start signing up while you go back to preheating the oven.

There are no embed codes to break your site. No endless theme editor rabbit holes. No fragile chains of four different tools just to accept a credit card. We stripped all that away so you can get back to work.

2. You are the brand, not us

Your event shouldn’t feel like it’s been co-opted by a massive ticketing conglomerate. When a guest clicks your link, it should feel like you.

We hand you the reins. You upload your logo and pick your colors. You write your own honest copy without corporate buzzwords. If you are hosting a "Poetry & Wine Night," you want a warm beige palette and a minimalist vibe, not a chaotic marketplace interface.

We stay in the background. We include a subtle “Powered by Ticketsmith” note, but you can upgrade to remove even that. We aren't interested in splashing our logo all over your hard work.

3. The math should be simple

Most platforms lure you in with “free to set up,” only to hit you with percentage fees and "processing" add-ons that turn your pricing into a math problem. Suddenly, your $40 ticket balloons to $48.37, and your attendee feels nickel-and-dimed before they even walk in the door.

We have a different stance: Flat, transparent pricing.

We don't take a percentage cut of your revenue because we didn't do the work—you did. Whether you sell a ticket for $20 or $200, our costs are the same, so your fee should be too.

Furthermore, we believe you should control your cash flow. Too many tools hold your money hostage for vague "security reasons." We partner with Stripe to send money directly to your account. If you are running a pop-up ramen shop, you need that cash upfront for ingredients. We make sure you get it.

4. Scale without the migration

Whether you’re hosting a whisper-quiet gathering or a buzzing crowd, you shouldn’t have to swap tools just because you grew.

Ticketsmith handles the full spectrum. It works for the 5-person writing workshop in a living room, the 150-seat comedy show in a brewery, or the 2,000-person niche conference. It’s the same intuitive tool and the same smooth flow. You won't hit an “enterprise-only” wall that forces you to talk to a sales rep just to add more seats.

Why another ticketing tool?

The ticketing world has drifted. Most tools started with good intentions but got swallowed by growth-at-all-costs. They optimize for their own marketplaces, treating your hard-earned ticket buyers as fresh leads to spam with unrelated promotions. They slip in dark-pattern upsells and bury you under a mountain of features you never asked for.

They forgot who they are for.

Ticketsmith is for the everyday heroes who make communities thrive. The chef hauling gear at 6 a.m. The dance teacher convincing shy adults to move. The organizer dipping into rent money for a venue deposit.

We optimize for one thing: helping good events sell tickets without being annoying or extractive.

Where we are right now (The Honest Version)

We are currently in waitlist mode. This is our way of building thoughtfully instead of rushing.

We are putting the final touches on the core flows and getting ready to go live for a small group of early users. We’d rather nail something great for 100 dedicated humans than blast a half-baked version at 100,000 people.

If you host events—or dream of starting—and you hate overcomplicated tools, you are exactly the kind of person we want to build this alongside.

The North Star

We aren't just building a piece of software; we are trying to change how independent events are run. We have set two audacious goals to keep us honest and moving forward:

1. Empower 50,000 creators to launch their first event. There is a massive group of people sitting on the sidelines, hesitant to host because the logistics feel too heavy. We want to remove that friction.

2. Power 1,000,000 events worldwide. From backyard workshops to sold-out shows, we want Ticketsmith to be the quiet force behind a million moments where creators connect with their people.

If that sounds like the future you want to be a part of, join the waitlist below.