Nolan Brown on leaving a “safe, comfortable job” for the magic of Lyte
Some people seek work at tech startups with visions of ping-pong tables, video game breaks, and other in-office perks. For Nolan Brown, though, working really, really hard is the most fun aspect of startup culture.
“There is a serenity to startups in that there is nothing to do but survive,” he says. “It is incredibly challenging and has a lot of ups and downs in the early stages. But at a startup we have power over our own destiny.”
Nolan is Lyte’s Head of Platforms, which means he works with our partners to seamlessly integrate their platform with ours. That ensures smooth operations for our employees, fans, and partners.
No day is the same. Nolan and his team work to help create “all of the magic that we do at Lyte.”
He adds: “We’re tasked with new opportunities for clients, or things that need to get done fast. If something comes up during a show, we can take care of it immediately and get fans inside without delay,” Nolan says. “We are an engineering team, but work closely with the client services and fan experience teams to make sure our platform and the services we provide are running perfectly.”
Nolan lives in Oakland with his puppy Rue, a red fox lab. Here, he talks about joining Lyte, bettering the fan experience, and dreaming big. Read on.
Maggie: You are on Lyte’s leadership team. You also were the first full-time employee in San Francisco. Tell us what you do and how you got here.
Nolan: I’m the Head of Platforms. That means my team and I work with our partners to make sure their system and our system talk to each other. Like all startups, people tend to do multiple jobs, so I also run IT for Lyte. That includes all the computers, wifi and software Lyte employees use are my responsibility. We moved into our new Headquarters in San Francisco in December and I’ve been overseeing the installation of all the technology it takes to run the office. We have staff all over the U.S., Canada, and in Belarus, so we rely on Zoom to connect with each other, which is even more technology to manage around the world.
I started working at Lyte in 2016 as a senior software engineer and became the Head of Engineering before transitioning to my current role. At the time there was one part-time contractor in San Francisco, with Alex (Ryzhko, Lyte’s Head of Engineering) and Karina (Brioukhova, Lyte’s Director of Revenue Operations) still in New York where Lyte started. I was the first person in San Francisco to join as a full-time employee.
I met Ant (Taylor, Lyte’s Founder and CEO) when we were connected through one of Lyte’s early investors. We talked for maybe five or six months before I came on board. Ant is an incredible salesperson and has a product focused mind — but he isn’t a “salesperson.” He doesn’t overpromise and under-deliver. I liked that and was really intrigued by what he was doing.
When I joined Lyte, Ant had just closed the deal with Ticketfly (a Lyte primary ticketing partner). But right before that, the first time we met was for lunch, and we talked about live events and how difficult it could be just to get into the show.
Ant was going to Outside Lands that night, and at the last minute I decided to go with a friend. The only option was StubHub so I got tickets, picked them up from their booth and tried to enter the event — and they didn’t work. I went back to the booth and got new tickets from them, and those didn’t work either! Finally, on my third set of tickets and more paperwork, they worked.
While watching LCD Soundsystem, I ran into Ant and told him what I had gone through just to get in. We bonded over the terrible experience and he showed me some of the data Lyte had collected on live events, which was incredibly interesting to me. Lyte has always been trying to fix the terrible experience of going to shows, and from that moment on I was convinced I wanted to be part of it.
Maggie: Tell us about your career and background.
Nolan: I have been working in the startup world a lot. I’ve been in San Francisco since 2007, so I’ve seen it all. I left college part way through and spent four years in the Navy. After I left the Navy, I went back to school. In 2008, right when the iPhone came out, I started contracting to build mobile web apps and then iOS apps when they released the first SDK.
While building a bunch of apps I found myself answering the same questions for clients over and over again, so I built an analytics dashboard for them. That product became my first startup, TapMetrics. It was the first real-time analytics solution for mobile apps that I founded with my brother Chris. We sold TapMetrics to an ad tech company and became their mobile apps team. I joined them as an Engineering Manager until it went public and was eventually bought by Verizon.
Before I came to Lyte, I had been a VP at another large ad tech company. I made the ridiculous choice to leave that safe, comfortable job and join Lyte. I did it because I love startups and what Lyte was trying to accomplish. Startups are painful at times, with immense challenges, but with a huge amount of accomplishment and pride in your work. Ultimately, it was an easy choice to jump on board and take a chance on something that could change an industry. And it is.
Maggie: A lot has changed since you joined Lyte. Does it blow your mind when you think about it?
Nolan: Where we’re at today is nothing like what we dreamed about just a few short years ago — it’s way bigger. The events we get to work on are truly world-defining — Coachella, New York Comic Con, and hundreds more. We get to partner with the best live events in the country and impact them in such a positive way. We work closely with our partners to make their events better for the fans and the producers themselves.
I get to work with so many amazing people here; people who come from a completely different background and skill sets than I do. At Lyte, I get to work with people from so many different fields and backgrounds. I work with the client services team, for example, who have extensive live event experience, from Justin (Nordan, Director of Client Services, Venues) to Angeline (Priefer, Director of Client Services, Festivals) to Anastasia (Vizcarra, Director of Client Services, Artist Tours), each of who know the industry like the back of their hand and what it takes to put on huge events. We are incredibly lucky to have them.
Working with our field ops team led by Brooke (Contreras, Client Services Manager and Field Operations Manager), who is a veteran of box offices around the world, has been an adventure. Going on site to our partner events and working with the field ops team to provide the best fan experience possible has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me. I’ve been able to see firsthand the joy fans have when they get to go to the show they planned their entire year around, and then hear how much it impacted their lives.
Everybody at Lyte is so dedicated to our mission and excited about what we are doing. It’s incredibly exciting to be part of something that is changing events for the betterment of the fan experience.
Maggie: Now for the question we want to know of every Lyter: Favorite live event — and what has made it stay with you?
Nolan: I have two. When I was in high school, I went to my first live show in Sacramento to see a band called The Juliana Theory. It was incredible. It was in a small, no-nonsense space and it felt like such a pure form of music. That really stands out in my mind.
In college and afterwards, I saw Something Corporate perform four times, including their reunion. I’ve also seen their lead singer, Andrew McMahon a couple of times live with his band Jack’s Mannequin, and then as Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. He plays the piano and is so talented. It’s amazing every single time. Just seeing all that talent, watching the performance unfold is an experience unto itself.
People who put on awe-inspiring, extraordinary performances are a sight to behold. There is such a big difference between an artist who engages with their fans verses one who just plays to them. That’s one of the things that stood out to me for all of those performances. You can feel the energy. It makes the experience so much more visceral. I want every fan to have that opportunity to see their favorite artists and events live.
About Lyte
Lyte’s mission is to fill every seat and make ticketing delightful, making it easier for fans to attend more events. In an industry where a “no refunds and no cancellations” policy is the standard, Lyte enables fans to return their event tickets, no questions asked, to the official point of purchase. Lyte also provides a safe and official reservation booking system, offering fans who sign up a fair price for in-demand tickets. Lyte has delivered well over $8MM in fan savings since inception. One hundred percent of the tickets bought and sold through Lyte are issued through ticketing partners and delivered directly to fans with no chance of being fraudulent. Visit lyte.com.
