The Story Behind Tick’it’s Rise

In this edition of Founder's Hustle, we dive into the journey of Cedric Zovighian, the co-founder and CEO of Tick’it. Building a successful startup isn’t about getting it right the first time, it’s about learning from failure and adapting quickly. That’s exactly what Cedric and his team did. From an early vision of a nightlife booking platform to a full-fledged event management and ticketing solution, Tick’it has evolved through trial, error, and resilience. After two failed attempts at building the product, they finally cracked the code, and today, Tick’it is scaling rapidly in the MENA region.

From Nightlife to Entrepreneurship 

Born and raised in Lebanon, Cedric pursued a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at UCL in London. While he always excelled academically—ranking in the top 10% of his class—his real passion lay elsewhere. 

“I was never the guy that worked a lot. I partied most of my time,” he admits. University life in the UK, where exams were all crammed at the end of the year, suited him perfectly. He’d put in just enough effort to secure a good grade, but most of his time throughout the year was spent exploring music, nightlife, and events.

When COVID-19 hit, everything changed. Stuck at home in Lebanon, he had a moment of introspection. “You start questioning your life—like, what the hell am I doing?” At the time, he had an internship lined up and was considering pursuing a master’s degree at MIT or Imperial College. But none of it felt quite right.

Music had always been a passion—he produced rap beats, and electronic music in his London apartment. The idea of making a career out of it was tempting, but he knew the industry’s financial realities. 

Then, while working on a project for his entrepreneurship class, an old business idea resurfaced. On his 18th birthday, Cedric had booked a table at a nightclub in London, only to be turned away last minute. His table had been given to someone else. Frustrated, he thought, ‘Why isn’t there a proper reservation platform for this?’, and he started developing the idea. Initially, Cedric decided to use this concept for his course deliverable. But as he delved deeper into it, he began to see the real opportunity to turn it into a serious business. From there, Tick’it was born. 

The Third Time’s The Charm

Cedric’s journey with Tick’it truly took off when he teamed up with his co-founders, Marc Gharios and Ralph Gharios. The initial vision was clear: “We wanted to build a platform for a renowned nightclub in Lebanon. The goal was to manage guest lists, book a table from your phone, invite your friends, split the bill, and buy tickets.”

They started working on Tick’it in 2021, but a lack of experience led to a costly mistake. Neither of the founders had technical expertise, so they relied on a developer who seemed capable of building their MVP. With no real understanding of product development, they handed over screenshots of apps they liked, assuming that was enough to guide the process. For a year, they trusted him, believing progress was being made. But when their first event approached, they realized that the developer had built an interface with no backend. A full year had been wasted, along with payments to someone who had never intended to deliver. Cedric and his co-founders immediately cut ties with the developer and started from scratch.

Though the setback was frustrating, the team saw it as a lesson and a chance to start fresh. With the founders funding operations themselves, Cedric turned to LinkedIn, made his first hiring post, and received nearly a hundred applications. He brought on junior developers straight out of university and, for a year, they built what they assumed was the perfect product. But when they finally pitched it, event planners rejected it outright. The issue was that Cedric and his team had been developing the product in isolation, without gathering feedback or validating it with potential customers.

And this is when they started asking the right questions: ‘Why won’t you use it? What’s your current solution? What do you need?’ They discovered the real gap wasn’t just ticketing—it was data collection. Unlike other industries, event planning lacked actionable insights and that detail changed everything.

After two failed attempts, the third time was the charm, they rebuilt Tick’it and six months later the app was finally ready. Tick’it evolved from being just a ticketing platform to becoming a data and marketing tool for event organizers. 

At its core was a dashboard and CRM system that gave planners real-time insights into key metrics like attendance, demographics, and audience engagement. To help organizers maximize their reach, Tick’it also introduced built-in marketing tools, enabling them to send mass WhatsApp messages, emails, and launch targeted ad campaigns managed by Tick’it’s marketing team. They even integrated AI-powered analytics to predict event performance, helping organizers fine-tune their strategies to maximize success. 

The Model That Worked

A few months after refining their product, Cedric and his team faced a classic B2B2C challenge: Tick’it needed both event planners and ticket buyers to succeed. Large event organizers hesitated to join due to the platform’s small user base, while attracting users first was difficult without events to showcase.

Faced with this challenge, they decided to rethink their approach and chose to focus on small clubs and parties in Lebanon that had never used digital ticketing. These organizers struggled with issues like counterfeit bills, theft, and a lack of data to grow their businesses. Tick’it positioned itself as the solution, offering security, revenue tracking, and valuable insights to help them scale. They showed these “freelance” event planners that by collecting and leveraging data from their own attendees, they could build a loyal customer base and drive long-term growth organically.

Simultaneously, Tick’it had to ensure a seamless experience for attendees. In a market where 80% of transactions were cash-based, they partnered with money transfer agencies like OMT, Bob Finance, and Wish Money. The process was simple: users book tickets online, receive a code, and pay in cash within 24 hours at one of 4,500 locations across the country.

What truly sets Tick’it apart is their dual approach—combining ticketing services with a CRM tool designed specifically for event planners to optimize and scale their operations. “We’re the only event management platform that democratizes data”. Venues that had never sold tickets, started using the platform. Each event planner naturally promoted their events on social media, driving users to the Tick’it platform. 

The result? Tick’it grew from zero to 150,000 active monthly users, spending less than $10,000 in marketing over three years. The strategy was entirely organic—leveraging event planners to bring in B2C users, then using that growing user base to attract more event planners. What began as a challenge soon evolved into a self-sustaining cycle, laying the foundation for their growth.

The Strategic Move to Dubai

As Tick’it gained traction, the team decided to move operations to Dubai. While their initial vision included expanding into cities like London and New York, the intense competition in these established markets led them to reconsider. “Our goal was always to scale in a growing market. MENA grows at 15% a year on average,” Cedric explained. With fewer competitors and a rapidly developing entertainment scene, the region presented a far more strategic opportunity.

Dubai’s government-led initiatives to diversify the economy made it an attractive launchpad for scaling businesses. While entering the market came with regulatory hurdles—such as approvals from the Ministry of Tourism and the need for local partnerships—Cedric saw these as advantages rather than obstacles. He realized that by moving quickly, he could secure a competitive edge, as any outside competitor looking to enter the region would face the same bureaucratic challenges, giving him valuable time to differentiate Tick’it further.

On top of that, his fluency in Arabic and strong ties within Dubai’s Lebanese community gave him a natural edge. “For us to scale as quickly as possible with the least funds possible, it was a logical move,” he said. 

Dubai’s demographics also played a crucial role in the decision. With a significant amount of the population being young, the city was an ideal market for Tick’it. This young audience, combined with Dubai’s rapid urban development, positioned the city as the perfect base for Tick’it’s next phase of growth.

Business Model

Tick'it generates revenue through three distinct streams:

1. Transaction Fees – Tick’it earns a commission on every ticket sold through its platform, making this its primary revenue stream.

2. Event Management SaaS – This software integrates with other ticketing platforms like. Event planners can access it for a monthly subscription fee, with an option to have the fee waived if they sell tickets exclusively through Tick’it. 

3. Marketing & Event Services – Tick’it provides event organizers with marketing support, including targeted ad campaigns and audience outreach, for a service fee. Additionally, the company is exploring new monetization avenues such as sponsored listings.

The Right Time to Raise

Till this day, Tick’it has been fully bootstrapped, with founders funding operations, the team took a disciplined approach when it came to fundraising. Cedric drew a parallel to Uber’s early growth strategy. “Uber discovered that if a customer ordered a car twice, there was a 90% higher chance they would order a third time.” Similarly, Tick’it wanted to identify its own “Uber-like” metric before seeking external funding. The goal was to ensure that when they do raise funds, they would be able to grow sustainably and predictably. 

Now, with consistent month-on-month growth, Tick’it is ready to take that next step. The company has established a clear customer acquisition and retention metric: an event planner is considered retained once they list and sell two events at 60% capacity on the platform. So far, every planner who has reached this threshold has continued using Tick’it to host future events.

With a validated growth strategy, Tick’it is now raising capital for the first time. Cedric revealed that the company has already closed part of its seed round. While he couldn’t disclose the exact terms or figures at this stage, it marks a major milestone in Tick’it’s journey.

A Promising Future Ahead

Looking back at Tick’it’s journey, Cedric couldn’t help but reflect on how far the company has come. From moments of uncertainty to major milestones, Tick’it has carved out its place in the industry. From landing on Shark Tank Dubai, being featured on Harvard Business School’s show, and earning a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30. 

Now, with a seed round underway and strategic investors coming on board, Cedric is optimistic about what’s next. The company has already seen explosive growth, with transactions increasing by $3.5 million in less than a year. But according to Cedric, the best is yet to come.

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