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Comment by naveenspark | Hacker News Reader

This feels gimmicky. How does this help solve real issues with admission control? The idea of admitting based on a face vs. a barcode for a reserved show won't work. Assuming this is for GA only? Why not just allow users to import photos from instagram, FB or similar? Are you going to make these photos available in bulk fashion to event organizers? I can see how this might be interesting for attendees to stalk who else was there but what is the value prop for event organizers? Would the event organizer get other info from the user such as email address? Why is this going to make me choose TicketLeap vs. TicketFly vs. TicketMob vs. Brown Paper vs. Eventbrite vs. anyone else in this insanely crowded industry? And for what its worth, the video is unnecessarily emotional. If I were you I would just cut to the chase on how this adds value to the ticketing ecosystem.

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Look, you created Immunity Project. That's pretty cool and coming from that perspective, I can see why you think Selfie Ticket doesn't need emotion its positioning. However, we think we're onto something with this and it's not meant to be a gimmick.

If you're simply trying to sell tickets online (i.e. process a credit card and hand out a barcode) there are plenty of solutions for that, as you suggest. Ticketing platforms are built around the transaction and they do a good job of it (we were in this group too). However, there is a much larger population of people out there (whether they are creating events yet or not) that are trying to build and grow a community around something they're doing. The best way to build connections with someone? In person.

That's the type of event we're building for. One that's used to grow a community. And for that purpose, scanning barcodes sucks. It's un-human at the worst time, when you're trying to build human connections.

Hope that gives some background for our thought process behind telling the story the way we have.

Apologies if my post felt unnecessarily snarky. Yes I am cofounder @ Immunity Project, but I previously helped create Redbox Tickets so I have that hat on for this thread. My opinion on the video aside, when you have a line of people in front of you trying to get into an event, how does this help build community? You have such little time with each person because your #1 focus is getting them in the building. Even if its a small event you want people spending more time in the event not chatting with the ticket taker. What is the roadmap like for this feature? Perhaps that will help me better understand the value prop.

You're right! The feature doesn't end by simply getting into the event. Stay tuned.

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