An acquisition and new CFO appointment have been some of the milestones on Ticketer’s journey with Tenzing so far.
“We will end up with the largest product portfolio in our area as a result of acquiring (Nordics-based) FARA. The reality is, we never would have done that in a million years without Tenzing,” John affirms.
“Tenzing has really shown us how you take a startup that was reasonably large, and start to scale it. Ticketer has a phenomenal team and everything used to be done in kind of a hand to mouth way. Whereas now it’s more structured. It’s helped us understand how to grow.”
John has valued not just the outcomes, but the learning process.
“The first thing they did was actually teach us how to do better in terms of recruitment of top people. I’ve never used a headhunter in my life. What I found astounding was that the candidates that were put in front of us were absolutely spot on.”
The level of collaboration and trust has also been a highlight.
“They have left the decision making more to us than I expected. I had someone after a board meeting comment on what a friendly and positive experience it was, with Tenzing wanting to get the best out of the business. It’s that cooperation and collegial approach that we absolutely love,” John states.
And of course, Tenzing has played a big part in succession planning for John moving on from CEO, searching for and appointing Andy Monshaw.
“It was always intended I’d move on. I’m 67 and I don’t want to do the next round. The idea was I’d get us all used to working with Tenzing, then find the right person and I’d move sideways,” John notes.
He is now looking forward to seeing Ticketer, with Tenzing’s support, grow both in product portfolio and footprint.