The Entrepreneur Playbook unites athlete entrepreneurs with titans of business to swap stories and share practical takeaways. In this episode, three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings — now building a Major League Volleyball franchise in Northern California along with p1440 and Hero Beach Volley — sits down with Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz to talk about thinking and building with confidence.
Dare to Be Original
When Walsh Jennings asks Hartz where she’d start, the answer is direct: “Be original. So often, we are all trying to be someone else. You want to create specific, unique, and memorable inroads for people who love this sport.” Uncharted territory, Hartz adds, is an advantage: “No one has succeeded in doing this yet, and that’s actually a virtue.”
Turning Crisis Into a Clean Slate
Hartz recalls March 2020, when Eventbrite’s CFO texted: “It’s here.” The company was processing more refunds than revenue. Rather than panic, Hartz gathered her team and asked one question: “Knowing what we know about this business, what would we do if we could do it all over again?” By the meeting’s end, they had a one-page plan. “Let’s go build that company.”
The Power of Enthusiastic Endurance
Asked what she can do that most people can’t, Walsh Jennings answers simply: “Endure.” Together, they coin the term “enthusiastic endurance” — what Hartz calls the thing “every business leader is actually seeking.” Walsh Jennings admits feeling insecure transitioning to business, but Hartz reassures her: “You don’t need to be strategic. For 20 years, I have tried to build systems to be more strategic, and every single time I have failed.”
Watch the full conversation in the episode above for more on leading through uncertainty and why the best strategies start with being yourself.
