Korzilius, Baron, Giles Join Project Admission As Ticketing Startup Unveils Executive, Advisory Teams (Exclusive)

– Project Admission Founders
Jordan Stone, Stephen Glicken and Tom Giles

Project Admission, a Nashville-based ticketing technology company, has assembled its executive team and appointed an initial advisory board that includes several heavy hitters from the ticketing, technology and management sectors of the live industry, including co-founders Stephen Glicken, Jordan Stone and Tom Giles; Bon Jovi tour director Paul Korzilius; former Etix CEO Joe Kustelski; and Songkick alum Josh Baron, a co-author of “Ticket Masters:  The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped.”

Glicken, Project Admission’s CEO, was previously the head of business development for Songkick, where he worked with artists like Adele and Paul McCartney. Stone, the company’s CPO, is formerly the lead of digital marketing for Taylor Swift. Giles, appointed Chief Strategy Officer, most recently served at Fullscreen following the acquisition of StageBloc, which he co-founded in 2013. Baron becomes Project Admission’s head of business development.

In addition to its executive team, the company also revealed its initial advisory board that includes Korzilius, Kustelski and TicketManager co-founder and CEO Tony Knopp, among others.

Project Admission was founded in 2017 with the goal of “creating a more connected experience for the buying, selling, and distribution of digital tickets.” In mid-2019, the company was chosen to participate in the inaugural class of Techstars Sports accelerator based out of Indianapolis.

The company has created a platform that seamlessly and securely sells, transfers and exchanges digital tickets, and its technology tracks tickets throughout their lifecycles to provide valuable data to artists, sports teams, venues and management companies with a goal of knowing who is attending the show or game, and use that data to sell more tickets. Project Admission has already worked with artist including Zac Brown and OneRepublic, and major sports organizations including Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

“What we’re doing at Project Admission requires perspective from every stakeholder in ticketing,” says Glicken in a statement. “Which is why we are excited to have Tom join us as Chief Strategy Officer. He brings a unique set of eyes on the problems we’re solving, especially when it comes to audience analytics and the monetization of data for content creators like artists and sports teams.”

In 2013, Giles founded and led the data focused, direct-to-fan platform StageBloc. Providing comprehensive, actionable fan insights and commerce capabilities, StageBloc was acquired by leading multi-channel network Fullscreen in 2015, itself acquired by AT&T in late 2018 as part of the larger Otter Media portfolio.

With a focus on giving creators control of their own brands, Giles’ role was to help grow the company’s direct-to-fan ecosystem and give creators the data and tools needed to improve fan relationships. Among Giles’ many clients were Metallica, Justin Timberlake, Kenny Chesney, Linkin Park, Eric Church, and Keith Urban.

“I’m excited to join such an incredible team solving a real problem with an elegant, powerful solution,” says Giles. “The technology Project Admission has put together is impressive, and the opportunity they’ve unlocked is massive.”

Advisory board member Korzilius, who has been a member of the Bon Jovi team for more than 30 years in numerous roles including management, adds: “Project Admission is the linchpin the ticketing business has needed for decades. Its technology provides the ability to overhaul logistically archaic marketplaces and empowers data-driven decisions on the lifecycle of a ticket. That power is edge in the competitive live events landscape.”

According to Project Admission’s announcement, “The live events space, a market valued at more than $100 billion, has long been fraught with connectivity, deliverability and security issues leading to monetary and data loss for consumers, venues, artists, sports teams and ticketing companies. Project Admission’s technology plays within the existing ecosystem, shifting ticketing to a secure, connected digital experience.”

The company aims to be an agent of disruption in the ticketing business with a platform it says will have the ability to solve “multiple layers of problems for both ticket sellers and consumers, and to scale exponentially,” Kustelski says. “The ease of utilizing one product to resolve logistical on-sale and resale problems, to maintain comprehensive control of the ecosystem, and to seamlessly accommodate any size venue, number of events and variety of product complexity is a hard-to-believe feat that they’ve accomplished. They’re solving business problems that will result in genuine consumer benefit, and that is exciting.”

Saying Project Admission “can be the future of ticketing as we know it,” Knopp adds that “ticketing is an attractive business for disruption, and we see a lot of start-ups enter the live events space trying to solve problems which don’t exist or with too narrow a focus. When I met the Project Admission team, I was energized to see a big problem being solved by a great team with the right experience.”

Glicken acknowledges that “there has been a long-time need in this industry for better information on the lifecycle of a ticket. We need to know who’s purchasing them, how they buy and sell them, and ultimately, who’s coming to the show. We are proud of the platform we’ve built and know that 2020 will be an incredible year thanks to the deeply talented team we’ve assembled.”

For more information about the platform, visit Project Admission’s website.