Creating the Organization 339Calculating Entertainment
While the term angel usually refers to an inv-
estor, some ventures also benefit from the
magic touch of a guardian spirit who contrib-
utes management expertise instead of capital.
Gretchen Shugart has been that kind of
angel for TheatreMania.com (www.theatrema-
nia.com). The graduate of New York
University’s Stern School of Business worked
as a banker for Chase, Manufacturers
Hanover and the Bank of Montreal before
starting her own banking advisory firm for
media and Internet companies in 1999. One
of her clients was TheatreMania. When the
start-up ran into funding problems in 2001,
TheatreMania’s cofounder and president
Darren Sussman recruited Shugart as CEO.
Sussman had played in rock bands and
sold lingerie overruns at street fairs before he
took a job in the late 1990s marketing tickets
online for an off-Broadway dinner theatre show
called “Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding.” Marketing the
show on the Internet was such a success that
he and producer Joe Corcoran decided to
launch TheatreMania.com in 1999. The site
sells tickets for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and
Off-Off-Broadway shows, in addition to tickets
to theatre performances in 40 U.S. cities,
Canada, and London. But TheatreMania
doesn’t just sell tickets. It also posts theatre
news, reviews, interviews, and other content,
and offers online marketing programs—includ-
ing box office, telephone, and online ticketing
services—to performing arts organizations.
While consumer response to TheatreMania
was positive from the beginning, the company
ran rapidly through its initial seed money. “I
think a lot of entrepreneurs and small business
owners don’t have a firm grasp on the financial
side of the business and the way numbers
relate,” says Shugart. “Entrepreneurs aren’t
always the best people to run the business
once it really begins growing.”
Even before she became TheatreMania’s
full-time CEO, Shugart had contacted the start-
up’s creditors to restructure their debt. She
and Sussman also decided to make paying
their freelance writers on time a priority and to
postpone any expansion until they were sure
they could afford it. Shugart says the compa-
ny was “on the brink of the dot-com bubble
burst and it was really a matter of fleshing out
the business plan and looking for more
money.” Once the venture was on firmer
financial ground, “We were able to get some
of the original investors and a handful of new
investors to step in.”
Today TheatreMania has over 1.2 million
visitors a month, and 525,000 registered mem-
bers. They had $6 million in revenues for the
fiscal year ending June 2005, and anticipate
$10 million for the year ending June 2006.
The company is now debt-free and profitable,
and Shugart and Sussman are building the
business by reinvesting the profits in market-
ing and development.
Shugart’s business skills continue to play a
big role in the company’s success. “It all has
to do with striking a balance between growing
too fast and growing too slow,” she says. “We
think that service has been a main factor
behind our success to date. So that means
making sure we have enough call center
agents on staff at any given time. It also
means having good client support when
somebody is having a technology problem.”
Teamwork is undoubtedly another factor con-
tributing to TheatreMania’s growth. “I think
he’s an optimist and I’m a realist,” says
Shugart about Sussman. “He thinks I’m a
pessimist and he’s a realist. Whatever we
are, it seems to work well for us.”
SOURCE:Adapted from Paulette Thomas, “Combining
Dreams and the Down to Earth,” The Wall Street Journal,
September 20, 2005. Retrieved from the Web September
20, 2005.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB1 1271698185454545
2,00.html; Robert S. Levin, “The Show Must Go Online,”
The New York Enterprise Report, March 7, 2006. Retrieved
from the Web August 12, 2006.
http://www.nyreport.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.
showFeature&FeatureID=317and http://www.TheatreMania.com.PERSONAL PROFILE 9