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Cloud reservation software that lets tours and attractions sell, distribute, and scan tickets without enterprise setup fees.
250–300 customers · about $10K/mo profit · 1.5%–3% take rate
The wedge was not another expensive ticketing suite; it was a simpler system priced for the long tail of tours and activities.
Fewer bars = easier, cheaper, or faster for an AI-assisted solo builder. Editorial judgments based on the case details.
Carl Pihl built TicketingHub out of an operational problem in his earlier business, Lost in London. His team printed tickets for language schools, events, attractions, and tours, then discovered how easily paper tickets could be copied when venues did not scan third-party tickets. A ticketing vendor quoted a $20K setup fee plus a 200,000-ticket annual minimum, so Carl hired a developer and built a more accessible back end. The company later acquired Minicards for roughly $13K–$20K to gain hotel and hostel distribution. TicketingHub now serves tour and activity companies with ticket sales, distribution, and point-of-sale tools. Carl reported 250–300 customers, about $200 average monthly revenue per account, approximately $50K monthly revenue, more than $90K in the bank, and about $10K monthly profit. It is fully bootstrapped, with nine people and Carl retaining 100% ownership.
The first customers came from a distribution problem the founder already understood. Lost in London was working with about 100 schools and universities, so those relationships supplied the initial audience for a digital ticketing workflow.
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Data credibility: Carl Pihl reported the operating metrics in a founder interview: 250–300 customers, about $200 average monthly revenue per account, roughly $50K monthly revenue, more than $90K in the bank, and about $10K monthly profit. The figures are founder-reported and unaudited; the transcript also contains auto-caption errors around some earlier amounts.
The first dollar should arrive when a ticket is sold, because the value of the product is directly connected to a completed reservation. TicketingHub charges a percentage of sales, generally around 3%, with discounts down to about 1.5% for larger customers.
The flywheel combines distribution and product breadth. Every tour company, school, hotel, or attraction that uses the system adds another place where tickets can be discovered and another operational case that improves the platform.
TicketingHub survived several stretches where demand and confidence were weak. The copied-ticket problem nearly sank the earlier business, and the pandemic removed most tourism activity.
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