Funny Business

I recently went one on one with Jill Bourque, CEO of RushTix. RushTix creates live virtual stand-up comedy shows, bringing the comedy club experience to fans from the comfort of their own home, having produced more than 50 large-scale live virtual comedy shows with some of today’s top comedians including Maria Bamford, Kevin Nealon, Chris Porter, and more. The shows have drawn virtual crowds from all over the world with audiences ranging from 3,000 - 5,000 in size.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. ​How did you get here? ​What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Jill: RushTix initially started as a subscription discovery service for events. We pivoted into live streaming when the pandemic hit in mid-March and over the course of just a few weeks, we created a live streaming platform, which ultimately focused exclusively on comedy live streams. So the past seven months have been quite a whirlwind for us as we've navigated into a completely new industry. 

The experiences that have been most instrumental for my growth have actually been when things are hard. For example, in our early days as a subscription business, the most important thing was retaining customers. In our live streaming business, the technology learning curve was very steep. For instance, we went from a company with a fairly stable daily user base on our website to a very spiky pattern having thousands of users on our servers all at once. So our team had to adapt to this and create a whole new technology infrastructure, which includes having an array of servers that we can scale up and down. We also had to learn the ins and outs of live streaming, which is technically very complicated with many points of failure. Our team really pulled through these challenges because we had been working together for years. I appreciate a great team dynamic now more than ever.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Jill: Our entry into live streaming was a pandemic pivot born of the need to survive as a company. When COVID hit, our ticket membership business completely evaporated because there were no live events and we were in a tight spot with zero revenue. But something that I really believe in is that “creativity thrives on boundaries”. Livestreaming was actually something we had been doing over the last year as a marketing tool. We did a series of Facebook Live events and so we had some experience with live streaming.

My advice for others who are looking for great ideas is to just try something, create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and see if you can earn any money. For us, we did a 15-day pivot and created a live streaming platform - from idea to our first show was 15 days. The first show was a drag show happy hour on March 31st which made just $78. But to us, it was a big win because we knew that people were willing to pay money for live streams. So from there, we were off to the races and it grew very rapidly. I would say, overall with ideas, it's all about the implementation. Anyone can have a great idea, but not everyone can quickly implement and keep iterating. That’s the key.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?

Jill: I think we knew it was worth pursuing in our second month when we had one show that grossed over $10,000. That was when the light bulb went off, that for comedy, live streaming is a great vehicle. Myself and my co-founder actually come from producing standup. I think we understood how viable standup comedy could be for live streaming since we had a lot of experience with it in venues. When we saw that people were willing to pay and that the live streams were really fun for the audience, we knew that it was worth pursuing. I’m also a former stand-up comedian so I understand at a core level what the experience is about - comedy is community and that’s our ethos on how we approach the shows.

I think the best way to test a business idea is to create a very simple prototype and to test it and see if people will pay for it. That's a real indicator when people that you don't know - that are not your personal friends - are willing to plunk down money for something, then you know it has promise. 

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?

Jill: The key steps that we've taken to grow our business are:

1) Validate the business idea. As I mentioned before, the most important thing is to have an MVP, to test it in a revenue environment, and see if people are willing to pay for it.

2) Collect customer feedback. Once we had our first show, we sent out a questionnaire to all the people who had bought tickets, asking them about their experience. From there, we started to get insights into the market.

3) Implement and iterate quickly. Once you have a viable idea it’s important to iterate as quickly as you can. Again, anyone can have a great idea but it takes a lot to actually implement. In our first month, I reached out to hundreds of performers and organizations to try to get folks to do ticketed livestreams and it took a bit of convincing. I think it's important to push through those challenges and really try to get that idea out there and not be dissuaded by rejection because you need so many no’s to get to a yes.

My advice for others who want to take their business to the next level - I think that it's important to envision exactly what you want and make it something that is personally very meaningful to you. Put that vision out there and aim high, then start to work it backward on what steps you need to take.

I think there are many entrepreneurs who don't succeed because their vision wasn't big enough and they weren't fully invested in the idea at a core level. That intense personal investment is what will pull you through the challenging times. So I would say dream big and shoot for the stars and then start with the small steps to get there.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Jill: For us, it's all about sales and marketing that are metrics-driven, things that we can measure and we can iterate on are the best channels for us. I would say that having some sort of cadence. For example, if you’re in sales, being accountable to a weekly and quarterly quota. Having something to measure on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly basis is important. Then pushing the bar higher as you go along.

For our consumer channels, it's the same thing, it's looking for metrics-driven channels. For example, all of our paid advertising on social channels are tracked with pixels, so we know exactly when someone buys a ticket and exactly how much it costs to acquire that customer. We use the same system for all of our other channels, whether it's email, affiliates, or organic social. We try to quantify it as much as possible and then figure out the Cost Per Result so that we can compare our channels. Not all channels have the same Cost Per Result - and that's okay. It's good to have a mix. Oftentimes, the channels that have the most scale are going to be the most expensive. For example, our paid social channels are more expensive, but they're highly scalable. Whereas our email and affiliate channels have a better ROI but they take longer to build over time.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Jill: I think the most effective leader is one who empowers their team to make decisions and to give them the freedom to come up with their own good ideas and to implement them. Oftentimes a team can exceed one's expectations when they're given challenging tasks that help them level up.

I also think it's important to set the expectation of what you want from the team. To give you an example, each quarter we have different objectives and key results, OKRs, as well as key performance indicators, KPIs. Over a quarter, we may have a theme that we're shooting for, such as having a certain level of stability of our platform which we quantify and benchmark. Meanwhile, we'll also have KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are reported on daily and let us know if we're getting to those goals. 

It's really important to listen and take feedback and to elicit feedback from team members so that they know that their voice is heard and that they're a part of the team.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?

Jill: I think the most important thing is to spend the time to find the most talented people for the job and once you find them to really give them the freedom that they need to execute the plan. I can't emphasize enough that having an A+  person in a role is a game-changer. If someone is not a good fit, try to make that decision quickly to let them go. Hire slow, fire fast.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?

Jill: It's important to have an open mind on new ideas. Sometimes great new ideas can come from a variety of sources - whether it's a customer, an investor, a team member - and to really listen and see what it is that they're asking and what they're articulating about that idea. 

Additionally, I think it's important to have a diverse team with different perspectives. There are ways to find new solutions to challenging issues with a diverse team and different viewpoints. I think right now, it's important for our civic leaders to have empathy. We're in a cultural phenomenon right now where we are not able to hear each other because of the polarity in our current political environment. So now more than ever is the time for leaders to really listen and have empathy and compassion towards others. We need to find common ground so that we can solve these problems together.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Jill: Never give up. So many entrepreneurs give up too soon. They are so close to success but they give up right before the breakthrough. Sometimes it's “darkest before the dawn” when it comes to running a business. You will have times where it just seems very difficult. You can't see the clear path but just keep taking steps and push through the mental barriers to get to the other side. 

So I would say the most important piece of advice I ever got was just never give up. Now that does not mean that you just keep trying the same thing over and over with expecting the same results - that is the definition of insanity. It's important to try to figure out creative ways to solve the problem. 

 Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Jill: I think I would just like to end by saying that I encourage leaders in today's environment to invest in tools that build collaboration. I'm a big fan of improv. I think that it's one of the best skills that a person can use in both their business and professional life. Improv is all about the idea of "Yes and" which means that you take your idea (or someone else's) and you build on it and you collaborate and you find ways to work together. I really believe that so much positive change can happen when we find ways to truly hear and understand one another.