Why I Built Ticket Spot — A Founder’s Story
I’ve always believed the best products come from listening—really listening—to the people who use them.
Ticket Spot exists because, for over a decade, I kept hearing the same frustrations from event organizers again and again.
But the story starts much earlier.
From Scotland to Silicon Valley
I graduated with a degree in Software Engineering in Scotland and began my career building call-center software. It was solid experience—but I wanted to be closer to the center of innovation.
So we moved to Silicon Valley.
Suddenly I was surrounded by founders, engineers, and the constant momentum of new ideas. I spent nights at hackathons, weekends at meetups, and weekdays absorbing as much as I could. That environment reshaped how I thought about building products.
The Hackathon That Sparked Everything
At a Wix hackathon—right as Wix launched their App Market—we built a simple event app.
It wasn’t connected to Eventbrite, but seeing how many organizers relied on Eventbrite at the time made something click for me.
I started asking myself:
- Why were fees so high?
- Why did organizers have so little branding control?
- Why was customization so limited?
- Why did everything feel more rigid than it should be?
Even with Eventbrite dominating the space, there were huge gaps.
I couldn’t stop thinking:
There has to be a better way.
The First Version of Ticket Spot (Before It Had a Name)
Over the next six months, I built an event app and launched it on the Wix App Market.
That’s when everything changed.
I suddenly had real users—and even more importantly, real feedback.
I became a yes-man in the best way possible:
If an organizer requested something that made sense, I built it.
That led to:
- Google Calendar and Zoom integrations
- Full design customization
- Embeddable widgets for any site
- Multi-language support
- Flexible layouts and components
Organizers wanted control.
They wanted flexibility.
They wanted their events to feel like theirs—not the platform’s.
And the app grew quickly because it delivered exactly that.
The Turning Point: Understanding the Industry
As the app gained traction, I started speaking with founders from Ticket Tailor, TicketSpice, RegFox, and others exploring the Wix ecosystem.
Those conversations opened my eyes:
These companies were earning enormous revenue from transaction fees.
Meanwhile, organizers were telling me every day that they struggled with:
- Losing money to fees
- Limited branding
- Weak communication tools
- Not enough flexibility
The gap was obvious.
The opportunity was even bigger.
Building Ticket Spot
I decided to take everything I’d learned and build something new—a platform that focused on:
- Zero transaction fees
- Full white-label branding
- Deep customization
- Flexible event types
- Modern communication tools
That became the foundation of Ticket Spot.
What started as a simple widget evolved into a complete ticketing platform for:
- Wix
- WordPress
- Shopify
- Custom domains
- Any website via embeddable widgets
Ticket Spot now powers everything from small community events to festivals with tens of thousands of attendees. We hit scaling challenges early, fixed them, and built something fast, stable, and reliable.
Staying Lean on Purpose
I built Ticket Spot as a solo founder—and I’ve kept it intentionally lean.
- I write the code
- I build the product
- I handle support
- I lead marketing
- I talk with organizers daily
Being close to customers is the superpower.
It keeps the product focused, affordable, and genuinely helpful.
Why Ticket Spot Exists
Event organizers deserve:
- A platform that doesn’t take a cut
- A platform that looks like their brand
- A platform that adapts to their event
- A platform with powerful communication tools
- A partner, not a gatekeeper
Every feature—PDF tickets, Apple Wallet, time slots, reminders, marketplaces, custom domains—came directly from organizer conversations.
They shaped the roadmap.
They shaped the product.
They shaped the mission.
This Is Just the Beginning
My goal is simple:
Help organizers run better events without losing money to unnecessary fees.
Ticket Spot exists because organizers deserved better.
And I’ll keep building, improving, and listening—because that’s the only way to create something that truly lasts.
Thanks for being part of the journey.
— Chris McCaw, Founder, Ticket Spot