From Xorbia to Big Tickets: 20+ Years of Event Ticketing

Built for Live Events Since 2003

Big Tickets has been powering ticket sales and on-site operations for live events since 2003, when co-founders John and Jason launched the company as Xorbia Technologies out of Atlanta, Georgia. At the time, online ticketing was still a niche, with only a handful of providers in the market. Most events were still selling paper tickets at the door.

Two decades later, we're still headquartered in Avondale Estates, GA, still founder-led, and still focused on the same core problem: giving event organizers the tools and support they need to sell more tickets, run smoother events, and keep a bigger share of the revenue they earn.

Why We Started

John and Jason started the company because they knew live events from the inside. They saw organizers struggling with clunky ticketing systems, opaque fee structures, and ticketing partners who disappeared the moment something went wrong. The opportunity was simple: build a platform that actually worked for organizers, and back it up with people who answered the phone.

We started by working with a handful of local events in Atlanta. Word spread. Local promoters signed on. Breweries. Non-profits. Wine festivals. Beer festivals. Music festivals. Eventually, national concert tours including the Luke Bryan Farm Tour.

What surprised us as we grew was how consistent the challenges were across event types. Whether it was a 500-person brewery release or a 50,000-person festival, organizers all shared the same set of problems.

The Problems That Stayed the Same

After 20 years and more than 10,000 events, a handful of challenges keep showing up no matter the event type, size, or region:

• Incentivizing early ticket sales to stabilize cash flow and reduce risk.
• Reaching buyers across the channels they actually use, not just the ones the platform makes easy.
• Managing cash flow during the promotion cycle, when expenses are high and revenue hasn't fully arrived yet.
• Scanning and staffing the gate fast enough to keep lines moving without blowing the operations budget.
• Reducing cart abandonment with a checkout that doesn't punish buyers with surprise fees or slow load times.

Every feature we've built, from our Eventpro scanning app to our Big Tickets Attendee App with Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and saved card support, came out of solving one of these problems for a real client. We didn't guess at what organizers needed. We listened, then shipped.

Why We Rebranded from Xorbia to Big Tickets

By 2018, the name "Xorbia" was getting in our way. It was hard to spell, hard to pronounce, and didn't tell people what we actually did. We wanted a name that matched the platform we'd built and the events we worked with.

Big Tickets fit. It's direct, it's easy to remember, and it signals what we do: power big events and surface the data behind them. The rebrand didn't change who we are or how we work. Xorbia Technologies is still our legal entity. The same team, the same platform, the same relationships, just under a clearer name.

What Sets Us Apart Today

The ticketing industry has changed dramatically since 2003. Venture-backed competitors have come and gone. Larger platforms have been acquired and absorbed into corporate rollups. Features get gated behind subscription tiers that weren't there the year before.

Big Tickets took a different path:

• No subscriptions, no setup fees. Our pricing is transparent and you only pay when tickets sell. Free tickets are always free. See the full breakdown on our pricing page.
• Founder-led, not PE-owned. John and Jason still run the company. Our priorities haven't been reset by an acquisition or a new board.
• Dedicated account management. When you have a question during an on-sale or a problem at the gate, you talk to someone who knows your event.
• Built for real events. Our platform handles festivals, fairs, concerts, fundraisers, attractions, and more. The feature set reflects what organizers actually need, not what's trendy in SaaS.
• A US-based team. Our headquarters has been in the Atlanta area for 20+ years. Support comes from people who understand live events because they've worked them.

Who We Work With

We've supported more than 10,000 events across the United States, including:

• Music festivals, craft beer festivals, and wine festivals
• Fairs, renaissance festivals, and agricultural events
• National concert tours
• Non-profit fundraisers and community benefits
• Conferences and trade shows
• Attractions, haunts, and seasonal events
• Live-streamed and hybrid events

Our clients range from first-time organizers running a single event to multi-year partners managing recurring festivals with tens of thousands of attendees. The platform scales with the event; the support model scales with the relationship.

Still Doing the Work

The name on the door changed in 2018. The mission hasn't. We're still the same team, but in a new and bigger ;) building, solving the same problems for the same kinds of organizers who trusted us in 2003. The difference is that we've had 20+ years to get better at it. If you're evaluating a ticketing partner and want to work with a company that's been doing this longer than most of its competitors have existed, we'd like to talk.