Premium ticketing marketplace Seat Unique has appointed Simeon Klein (pictured main) as its European general manager.
Klein boasts vast experience across tech sales and growth, and even founded his own TV production company. He has also held roles within unicorn start-up Gett, which secured $800m (£670,000/€775,000m) in funding and provided businesses with a global mobility Software-as-a-Services (SaaS) platform.
Most recently, Klein was general manager at Cutover, a series B fintech start-up that provided collaborative automation platforms to FSIs and banks.
“Seat Unique was an opportunity I just couldn’t say no to,” said Klein. “There are a few fundamentals that I have held since the start of my career; a market ready for disruption, a strong product offering, a customer-obsessed team and inspiring founders. Seat Unique ticked all of those boxes and I am delighted to be leading a team that is already making waves in the market.”
Klein will focus on engaging with rights holders across Europe and maximising the value of their experiences. He said: “We are uniquely positioned to transform access to their experiences for new audiences. The core of this opportunity is our tech; our hospitality and premium ticket offering, dynamic inventory pricing and fan-2-fan enabled 24/7 access.”
Klein added: “It has been thrilling to see the momentum with our partners. Our understanding of the market and demonstrable results in maximising their revenues is at the core of the success.
“We’ve built a solution that addresses the pain points our partners have, and the core impact we have here is our technology; widening fan access to their experiences. It has been really clear from our existing partners that 24/7 digital access to their hospitality and premium experiences is driving real value, and our position as the leading premium ticketing marketplace is opening up their experiences to brand new audiences that they would not have previously had.
“We also understand how important it is to protect their brand reputation. A core part of our success has been the customer experience fans have when using Seat Unique. This is crucial, as it guards our partners brand as much as our own when delivering fans an excellent experience from the marketplace right through to the event itself.”
Building direct relationships with clubs, venues and rights holders is one way in which Seat unique is able to shorten the supply chain, increase the range of experiences and ensure that tickets are officially approved and guaranteed for fans. It also means that Seat Unique’s platform is a trusted platform to purchase premium experiences across sport, music and cultural events.
“Trust is hugely important to us as fans and our partners are at the heart of everything we do,” said Klein. “The challenges in our market are well documented and the key here is trust. In a recent consumer survey conducted by the marketing team, trust and access to official experiences were two of the key themes that came out, which highlights just how important this is to fans, and probably says a bit about previous experiences they’ve had prior to purchasing with Seat Unique.”
The premium platform also hopes to remove the barrier to hospitality, which is often seen as a very exclusive way to enjoy live events and sport.
“You’ll see that we refer a lot to experiences and that is deliberate,” said Klein. “We want to ensure that fans of any sport, music or cultural event have the opportunity to access experiences that they will love, and take away memories that last a lifetime.
“What we’re doing is removing the barriers to that. We make it easy to find those experiences across Europe and, going back to that word trust, ensure fans feel confident that they’re getting a genuine ticket to a premium experience. We know that a lot of our customers are buying as gifts for their friends and family too, so ensuring that everything is official and guaranteed is an absolute must.
“It’s a real point of pride for us when we get positive feedback from fans about the impact an experience has had on them and their loved ones, and it’s our mission to open this up to more and more fans in the future.”