Technology

Eventbrite Australia boosted by broadband improvements

Eventbrite Australia’s general manager said his first sixth months in the job have given him confidence that the company will be a success in the country.

Phil Silverstone joined the ticketing firm last summer after several leadership roles during 16 years at General Electric (GE).

Silverstone said he was looking “to move from big corporate to a smaller, more agile and technology-driven type company” and believes that technological and societal changes in Australia make this the perfect time for Eventbrite Australia to thrive.

Silverstone, in an interview with Business Insider Australia, said: “In Australia, Eventbrite still acts more like a start-up, but in a business that’s not really a startup, because the technology is proven and has global scale and great investment behind it.

“It’s just a really unique time for the company, with a huge opportunity to grow in the region.”

Silverstone said that faster broadband was one of the things that delivers the growth companies are seek.

He said: “For example, it was only when we gained access to faster internet speeds, such as through the nbn network, that we were able to compete on a global scale. Some think that up until the last few years, Australia has been behind and that business has suffered for it.

“Across the country, Australia’s big challenge is distance. But I think Australia, as a culture, is pretty fast to adopt technology in general. I think it’s the infrastructure challenge that we face at the moment.

“Our economy has been booming on the basis of resources. It’s only really now that we’ve become a bit more focused on how we transition the economy from being so reliant on that, that it becomes more prevalent to think about things like this.”