Founder, EventGrid

What is Eventgrid?
Eventgrid is a registration management and ticketing system designed for sports events of all sizes. It helps organisations with their event management needs by providing a single platform that powers registration, marketing, promotion and management needs.

It is used by a wide range of clients – from individuals to multinational corporations – and customers include sports organisations as well as companies in other markets, such as Sony and AirBnB.

How did you come up with the idea for it?
The idea actually came from helping a client. I was setting up a simple registration site for a client, trying to use the client’s existing system. The solution was very old, so I recommended they create a new system – and it took off from there.

When did Eventgrid launch?
In early 2013. The first couple of events were pretty small. We had a local Little League in New York use the platform for team and game registration.

All of the players had to be registered and had to pay the fee. Then, we had a dance company use our software to sell tickets for their recital and it grew from there. The platform is designed to be simple to use and suitable for a range of events.

How many events does Eventgrid manage?
More than 1,000 a year; ranging from small ones – such as local baseball teams and lacrosse registrations – to Fortune 500 companies distributing tickets to games for their VIP clients.

Which sports are you targeting?
What we’ve learned is that sports industries share many of the same pain points that Eventgrid already helps alleviate in other verticals. While we’ve already had success in golf, baseball and lacrosse, we see massive opportunity in sports such as tennis, swimming, cricket, soccer and running.

What was the most challenging aspect of bringing Eventgrid to the market?
The noise in the event registration and ticketing market. There are hundreds of mediocre solutions available and we had to differentiate our system, which is a complete event management tool, from platforms which only offer a few features.

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"The challenge for us has been to differentiate ourselves from systems which only offer a few features" – Niraj Shah, founder of EventGrid on the innovative ticketing system

Niraj Shah, founder, EventGrid,Niraj Shah, founder, EventGrid