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Jeff Fluhr

Jeffrey Fluhr is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist best known as the co-founder and former CEO of , the pioneering online secondary ticket marketplace that revolutionized live event ticketing. Fluhr earned a dual degree in engineering and finance from the before attending , from which he dropped out to pursue . He began his professional career as an analyst at The Blackstone Group in during the dot-com era, where he observed the rapid growth of internet companies such as and , and later worked at Thomas Weisel Partners in . In 2000, while at Stanford, Fluhr co-founded with classmate Eric Baker as part of a competition, initially naming it Liquid Seats; Fluhr assumed the role of CEO and dropped out of school to lead the company full-time, with Baker joining operations about 18 months later. Under Fluhr's leadership, grew into a dominant platform with over 400 employees and more than $600 million in annual by 2007, when acquired it for $310 million. Following the sale, Fluhr engaged in angel investing in early-stage technology companies, including several that achieved status, such as , , and . In 2011, Fluhr founded Spreecast, a social video platform designed to facilitate real-time face-to-face conversations and live broadcasts, which raised approximately $11 million in funding before pivoting and effectively shutting down its core service in 2016. He later joined , a Francisco-based firm, as a in 2019, where he focused on investments in marketplaces, applications, and payments, before transitioning to venture partner in 2025. In recent years, Fluhr has publicly contested StubHub's 2025 IPO filing, which credited only as the sole founder, asserting that this omission inaccurately rewrites the company's history despite his pivotal role and majority equity stake at the time of the acquisition.

Early life and education

Early life

Jeff Fluhr grew up in a business-oriented family in . His grandfather founded a women's store in , which remains in operation today and is now managed by Fluhr's mother. Fluhr's father worked as an engineering executive at before taking an early retirement package and subsequently launching his own companies, contributing to a household environment that encouraged entrepreneurial thinking. As a child, Fluhr demonstrated an early interest in by starting a in , purchasing in bulk from a wholesale distributor and reselling it to classmates for profit.

Education

Fluhr attended the as part of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, earning dual degrees in 1996: a B.S.E. in from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and a B.S. in economics with a concentration in from the , graduating summa cum laude. His academic excellence and leadership were later honored by the Wharton Club of New York, which awarded him the Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership in 2009 for demonstrating the greatest potential for leadership and achievement in the Wharton tradition early in his career. After working in , Fluhr enrolled at the in 1999. There, he entered the annual business plan competition with an idea for a secondary ticket marketplace, which evolved into . In March 2000, Fluhr dropped out of the program to co-found the company, prioritizing the entrepreneurial opportunity over completing his M.B.A.

Professional career

Early career

Fluhr began his professional career in 1996 as a leverage buyout analyst at The Blackstone Group in , immediately following his graduation from the with a B.S. in and . This role immersed him in during the late 1990s dot-com boom, where he evaluated companies but found the emphasis on traditional sectors limiting compared to the burgeoning technology landscape. Seeking greater involvement in tech-driven opportunities, Fluhr relocated to in 1998 to join Thomas Weisel Partners as a founding private equity professional. At the firm, which specialized in investments for technology companies, he honed his skills in deal-making and strategic advisory. During his tenure at Thomas Weisel Partners in the pre-2000 period, Fluhr gained direct exposure to pioneering internet firms such as , , and , experiences that shaped his understanding of scalable tech business models and influenced his subsequent entrepreneurial path.

StubHub

Jeff Fluhr co-founded StubHub in March 2000 alongside Eric Baker while they were first-year students at the , developing the initial concept as "NeedATicket.com" for a competition. Fluhr dropped out of Stanford after his first year to lead the company full-time as CEO from , securing initial funding of $550,000 to launch the platform. Under his leadership, StubHub pioneered an facilitating secondary ticket sales for live events, including concerts, sports, and theater performances, by connecting buyers and sellers with buyer and seller protections to build trust in a previously fragmented and stigmatized industry. Fluhr oversaw StubHub's rapid expansion, starting with regional focus in the Bay Area and evolving through strategic partnerships with platforms like and , before shifting to direct consumer marketing via AdWords and radio campaigns. The company achieved significant scale by 2006, processing approximately $400 million in gross ticket sales annually, and by the time of its sale, employed over 400 people while generating more than $600 million in . Key challenges included navigating the dot-com crash during launch, validating a $10 billion U.S. secondary market that lacked dominant players, and addressing legal hurdles such as state-level restrictions on scalping, which Fluhr tackled by commissioning a comprehensive state-by-state legal that confirmed no federal bans and limited state prohibitions. Additionally, the platform faced opposition from primary sellers like , who viewed secondary resale as a threat, but StubHub differentiated itself through transparency and security features that mitigated and concerns. In February 2007, Fluhr negotiated the sale of to for $310 million, leveraging eBay's expertise in online marketplaces to further integrate and expand the he had established. In March 2025, as filed for an , Fluhr publicly contested the company's S-1 filing, which credited only Eric Baker as founder and omitted Fluhr's pivotal role in co-founding, leading as CEO, and driving early growth, alleging it represented a deliberate minimization of his contributions amid lingering tensions from Baker's 2004 departure. completed its later in 2025 and began trading on the under the ticker STUB. 's spokesperson responded that the filing emphasized its lineage under parent company rather than historical origins, though Fluhr maintained the omission distorted the company's founding story.

Spreecast

Following the sale of to in 2007, Jeff Fluhr founded Spreecast in late 2011 as its CEO, establishing the company in to develop a platform for live video broadcasting and social interaction. Spreecast enabled users to create real-time video chats with up to four participants, allowing viewers to join conversations, react with comments, and share content across social networks like and , fostering collaborative broadcasts for personal events, discussions, or promotional activities. The platform emphasized seamless engagement, integrating features such as guest invitations and audience participation to simulate in-person interactions online. Spreecast secured initial seed funding of $2.3 million in December 2011 from investors including former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi, followed by a $7 million in September 2012 led by Meakem Becker Venture Capital, with participation from , MentorTech Ventures, and others, bringing total funding to $11 million. These investments supported platform enhancements, including mobile apps and integrations for broader accessibility, which helped grow the user base through partnerships like VH1's interactive sessions for reality TV shows and brand promotions focused on real-time events and conversations. By mid-2014, Spreecast had expanded to 22 employees and facilitated thousands of daily broadcasts, prioritizing user-driven content over traditional one-way streaming. The company ceased operations on July 14, 2016, after announcing the shutdown on June 15 and pivoting its core service to a livestreaming app, citing challenges in achieving a viable amid intensifying competition in the video streaming market from established players like Facebook Live and . During his leadership of Spreecast, Fluhr emphasized the importance of assembling teams aligned around core values like integrity and hard work, rather than solely on prior , to navigate challenges. He also highlighted lessons in , noting the need to iteratively refine features for sustained user retention in a fast-evolving landscape.

Craft Ventures

In 2018, Jeff Fluhr joined as a , becoming the third key leader at the firm alongside co-founders and Bill Lee, with a focus on early-stage technology investments in B2B software and marketplaces. The firm, established in 2017, emphasizes operator-led investing, drawing on the entrepreneurial experience of its partners to provide hands-on guidance to founders building scalable companies. Prior to and during his tenure at Craft, Fluhr continued his history as an angel investor, backing notable companies such as , , and , which have grown into in consumer and sectors. At Craft, he contributed to investments in high-potential startups, including leading or participating in funding rounds for ; a representative example is the firm's $4.85 million seed investment in Vultron in October 2024, an AI-powered platform for proposal development. As of 2025, manages over $3.5 billion in across its funds, supporting a portfolio of more than 300 companies in software and related fields. After nearly seven years as a , Fluhr transitioned to the role of venture partner in April 2025, coinciding with the firm's layoffs of approximately half a dozen employees, primarily recruiters, as part of a strategic shift toward later-stage investments. In this capacity, he maintains selective involvement in deal sourcing and advisory, leveraging his operator background to support Craft's ongoing focus on software and opportunities.

Awards and recognition

Business awards

In 2006, Jeff Fluhr was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine's 24 Best and Brightest Young Entrepreneurs, an honor that highlighted his innovative approach to scaling from a startup into a dominant player in the secondary ticket market. This recognition came amid 's rapid growth, as the platform revolutionized fan access to live events by providing a secure, user-friendly marketplace for buying and selling tickets. That same year, Fluhr received the Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40 award, which celebrated emerging leaders shaping the sports industry. The accolade specifically acknowledged his transformative impact on the ticket sector, where disrupted traditional models by empowering consumers with greater choice and transparency in event ticketing. By , as CEO of Spreecast—a live video streaming platform—Fluhr earned a spot on the San Francisco Business Times' Forty Under 40 list, recognizing his entrepreneurial leadership in fostering innovative technologies. This award underscored his ability to build and lead tech ventures that connected users in real-time, building on his prior successes to drive community-driven broadcasting solutions.

Investment achievements

As an angel investor, Jeff Fluhr achieved notable success through early investments in high-growth technology companies. He backed in its seed stage, which went public in 2016 at a valuation of approximately $1.2 billion, marking a significant exit for early backers. Similarly, Fluhr's investment in contributed to its 2021 direct listing on the NYSE, where shares opened at $54.05, yielding a post-listing valuation exceeding $6 billion. His stake in , another early bet, saw the home design platform reach status in 2014 with a $2.3 billion valuation following a $165 million Series D round, and later achieve a $4 billion valuation in 2017 after raising $400 million in Series E funding. At , where Fluhr served as a from 2019 to 2025 before transitioning to venture partner, he earned recognition as a leading early-stage investor in the and sectors. In 2025, ranked him #57 on its Seed 100 list of top early-stage VCs, highlighting his investments in creator-focused platforms like Agentio and , as well as tools such as CrewAI for agent orchestration. also featured Fluhr in its coverage of 's 2025 list of top VCs investing in innovative startups, emphasizing his focus on marketplaces leveraging and -driven creative tools like Cartwheel and Modyfi. Fluhr contributed to Craft Ventures' portfolio growth by guiding strategies during economic downturns in the , including co-hosting sessions in that advised founders on reducing burn rates and extending amid . These efforts supported the firm's expansion, with Craft raising over $1.3 billion across funds in 2021 and continuing investments in resilient sectors like and consumer marketplaces.

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