#557 The Shadow Audience Problem: Matt Zarracina on Fixing Ticketing’s Biggest Tech Blind Spot

Live events generate massive attention, yet most venues have no idea who is actually attending. In this episode, Mehmet Gonullu sits down with Matt Zarracina, CEO and Co-Founder of True Tickets, to unpack the hidden infrastructure problem behind ticketing, identity, and audience ownership.

Matt shares how legacy ticketing systems optimized for transactions, not relationships, and why “shadow audiences” have become one of the biggest blind spots in live event tech. The conversation spans SaaS innovation in legacy industries, blockchain learnings, AI-driven personalization, and what it truly takes to build mission-critical infrastructure at scale.

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About the Guest

Matt Zarracina is the CEO and Co-Founder of True Tickets, a ticket custody and identity platform helping venues understand who is actually attending their events.

His background spans the U.S. Naval Academy, helicopter aviation, systems engineering, an MBA, M&A consulting at Deloitte, and corporate innovation leadership before founding True Tickets full-time in 2018.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zarracina/

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Key Takeaways

• Why most venues only know 30–40% of their real audience

• How “ticket custody” differs fundamentally from ticket sales

• Why legacy ticketing systems were never designed for identity or post-sale visibility

• The real reason ticket resale abuse and bots persist

• How data unlocks personalization, donor growth, and long-term audience relationships

• Why mission-critical SaaS cannot “move fast and break things”

• Where AI fits next: fraud detection, pricing intelligence, and behavioral patterns

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What You’ll Learn

• What the “shadow audience” really is and why it matters

• How True Tickets integrates into legacy ticketing systems without replacing them

• Why frictionless UX is not always the goal and what “optimal friction” means

• How venues can reclaim ownership from secondary markets

• Lessons from building SaaS inside conservative, legacy industries

• Why consultants and operators can become strong founders

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Episode Highlights & Timestamps

(Approximate, optimized for Spotify & YouTube chapters)

• 00:00 – Introduction and Matt’s unconventional journey

• 03:45 – The origin of True Tickets and discovering ticketing’s blind spot

• 07:30 – Defining the “Shadow Audience” problem

• 10:45 – Bots, resale markets, and why legislation alone fails

• 14:00 – Real-world example: turning attendees into donors

• 17:45 – What True Tickets actually does under the hood

• 21:30 – SaaS in legacy industries and mission-critical systems

• 26:00 – Balancing security, friction, and user experience

• 30:45 – The future of ticketing: data, AI, and personalization

• 35:00 – Global expansion and market opportunity

• 38:30 – Founder lessons from consulting to scale-up CEO

• 43:30 – Final reflections and where to learn more

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Resources Mentioned

• True Tickets Website: https://www.true-tickets.com/

• ROI Calculator and Product Demo (available on True Tickets’ site)

• Super Founders by Ali Tamaseb