About this episode

Our guest this week is Josh Stine, CEO and co-founder of Seat Insiders. Seat Insiders is a concierge ticketing firm that makes ticket buying for sporting events, theater, or concerts unbelievably easy and cost-effective. Josh’s story was compelling because when you think of ticketing you immediately think of Ticketmaster and StubHub. And one has to wonder why you would want to take on those monsters of industry? But that’s the interesting part, Josh isn’t taking them on, he is filling a gap that those companies cannot address, the human aspect of ticketing.

In today’s episode, you will hear how important it is to maintain a learning mindset to maximize your opportunities. You will learn firsthand, from Josh, just how critical it is to establish great physical and mental health disciplines if you want to play the long game with your business. Josh’s story also discusses a topic that I do not think gets enough attention within entrepreneurship, and that is the topic of mental health. But like all Startup Story episodes, I know you don’t want to hear from me, you want to hear from our founder. This is Josh Stine’s startup story.

In this episode you’ll hear

• Josh’s early days, his upbringing, looking towards the technology field as a child, and the fact that entrepreneurship wasn't on his radar until his senior year of college
• His desire to create a club for consultancy in college and what it taught him
• The importance of recognizing the small things and how these small victories can leave bread crumbs for what’s to come
• Josh’s origin story to his side hustle and how he met his business partner Nick (in college)
• Realizing that college is not necessary, but if you are going to go to college, Josh believes the highest value it brings is the community and the network.
• About how six months into his consulting career, he battled with terrible anxiety and mental health challenges, which led to him realizing consultancy was not for him
• How he developed an exit strategy for his job, including a plan to pay off student debt, build an emergency fund, and have some money to invest in a business and why doing so was so important to him
• What anxiety looked like for Josh, what drove him to the doctor to figure out what was going on, and the various practices he’s developed to help cope with mental and physical strains
• The ticketing industry, Seat Insiders, and what they do (and how Josh got it started), plus the next generation technology for ticketing

“You need to have really sound physical and mental health disciplines if you want to be able to go the distance.”
—Josh Stine, Seat Insiders

Resources from this episode

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshstine/
Seat Insiders website: https://www.seatinsiders.com/

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Episode Credits

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

Special Guest: Josh Stine.