Caitlin E Johnson's Profile

Thanks Prak! I definitely have those same questions about the long-term value of ClassPass and whether it can maintain its existing users or attract enough new users steadily. I actually was a former user of ClassPass who abandoned it for a membership at one favorite studio. I do think it’s a sustainable model for customers who are willing to give up some perks (access to the most prime hours/classes, inability to keep a strict routine, etc.) for a lower price point, but the value only exists for studios if there are enough new users who potentially switch to their packages. I think there will also be a challenge retaining the “best” studios, since those are more likely to entice new memberships outside of the ClassPass platform, increase brand awareness and fill capacity, and then no longer require ClassPass services. It seems like such a tricky balance to strike, but if it can strike it successfully I do think ClassPass will continue to fill a need in the market, especially since Millennials are so transient and new studios and new workout trends are popping up all over the place.

Thanks Felix, I really enjoyed this post!
As a recent first-time user of Eventbrite as a planner of a major event, I can attest to its value and user friendliness (so user friendly that I was able to pass off the guest check-in process to a “task rabbit” instead of having to do it myself!)
I do wonder however, how secure it’s position is in this market. As of now, it’s the only player that I know of for managing this sort of event (what I consider far more amateur events than the sort that would be on Ticketmaster or even Stubhub), but a lot of students who use it complain about the fees and wonder if there could be a cheaper, especially free alternative (I also wonder about Facebook’s potential entry as Tina does), and what competitive edge Eventbrite would have if faced with formidable new entrants.
Also, did you come across any information about the liability of hosting events through Eventbrite? From my recent experience, some ticket purchasers asked for refunds after not coming prepared with proper MA IDs and stated that the event description did not state that as a requirement. For the smaller, exclusive events often organized through Eventbrite, hosts may easily ignore these issues since it may just be assumed that anyone in the network of invitations would understand such requirements. I imagine these issues are quite common, and I wonder how Eventbrite manages a return policy and facilitates disagreements between hosts and purchasers? This would actually be useful to me as a consumer 🙂
I look forward to chatting more about the Eventbrite service and will be interested to see how it evolves! Thanks again.
-Caitlin

Thanks Anny, I really enjoyed the read! I had some limited experience with Airbnb as a consumer, but didn’t know about it’s foundation and operations.
It seems that Airbnb became a success story so quickly, and even a model for other types of platforms in today’s “sharing economy,” matching excess capacity with high demand. Do you know if Airbnb plans to move into any other, even totally different, industries with a similar model? I know other companies have tried to take this concept to borrowing/lending cars, and I wonder what else it could be applied to and if Airbnb will try to spearhead any of these market entries.

Thanks again!
Caitlin

Thanks, Hailey, I really enjoyed reading about this restaurant concept. I’ve never tried anything like it, and now I really want to!
To me, it seems that much of its success is satisfying the demand of consumers who are tired of having to make so many choices. We live in a world these days where we are flooded with information and more choices than we can ever properly evaluate, and it’s sometimes a privilege to let someone else – especially a trusted expert – take care of the burden of choosing. I am biased as a consumer though (who loves all food and hates making those decisions), so I wonder how much “appetite” there is from the broader population for a restaurant that doesn’t let them control the ordering process?
The fact that this model also benefits from significant operating efficiencies makes it that much more brilliant. It definitely seems like a model that would work in many locations and for many cuisines – have other chefs/restaurants started to adopt this concept?

Thanks again,
Caitlin