Why We Created PassNroll
PassNroll started with a very practical question.
When we entered the event promotion business, we began looking not only at how an event is organised, but also at the economics behind it — where the major costs are, where the dependencies lie, and which parts of the process we could have more control over.
Ticketing was one of them.
And when we started thinking about building our own ticketing platform, a second — and much more important — question emerged:
If we’re going to build it from scratch, what can we do better?
That was when our experience from different sides of the events industry began to shape PassNroll.
We had been Ticket Buyers. We had been Marketers. And by then, we were Organisers too.
Each of those three roles saw different problems within the same process.
What began as an idea to build another part of our own infrastructure gradually became something bigger — a desire to create technology that works better for all three sides.
For the Ticket Buyer. For the Marketer. For the Organiser.
Win. Win. Win.
The Idea Started in 2018
The story of PassNroll began years before we wrote the first line of code.
In 2017, our professional paths crossed in the concert industry. We came from different but complementary sides of the business.
Behind the original idea for PassNroll are the two of us — Ivelin Benovski and Ilian Petrov.
At some point, we decided to move from being the people who marketed concerts to being the people who organised them.
Once we began looking at the business as Organisers, we quickly found ourselves looking at the economics behind it.
Artist fees, venues, flights, hotels, production, marketing and advertising, ticketing.
We didn’t have artists of our own. We certainly didn’t have the money to start building venues. And buying an airplane was definitely out of the question.
Marketing, we understood.
That left ticketing.
And so, in 2018, the idea of building our own ticketing platform was born.
By then, we already had a long list of things we wanted to be able to do as Organisers and Marketers, but which the existing solutions at the time didn’t always allow us to do.
We didn’t start thinking about PassNroll as people simply looking to enter the ticketing business. We started thinking about it as people who were already using ticketing systems — to sell, market and organise events.
And somewhere along the way, the platform needed a name.
At one of our working meetings in a café near Vasil Levski National Stadium, we were scribbling ideas in a notebook and checking, one by one, whether the domains were available. Words, combinations, another search. Then back to the beginning.
Ilian said:
“It’ll be called PassNroll. And do you know how we’re going to write it?”
He picked up the pen and wrote:
Pass’N’Roll
“Like this. And the domain will be passnroll.com.”
Ivelin:
“Like Guns N’ Roses? I like it. Let’s see if the domain is available.”
Exactly. The name stayed.
And perhaps even then, something of the character we wanted the future platform to have found its way into the name — a little different, a little bolder, and created by people for whom music and events have never been just a product.
Years passed. Technology changed. The industry changed. We gained even more experience as Organisers and Marketers.
But the list of things we wanted a ticketing platform to do better didn’t disappear.
It got longer.
Today, PassNroll is here.
Three Perspectives. One Platform.
When we started thinking about what PassNroll should look like, we realised we had one advantage — we knew the journey to an event from three different perspectives.
First, we are Ticket Buyers.
We were buying tickets long before we started selling them. That’s why we want the process to be easy, clear and secure — from the moment you discover an event to the moment you show your ticket at the entrance.
Technology should help along that journey, not make it more complicated.
We are Marketers.
That’s where our professional journey in the events industry began, and we know that a ticket is rarely sold simply because someone put a “Buy” button on a page.
Behind every sale are audiences, content, advertising, data, communication and dozens of decisions along the way. That’s why we don’t believe the ticketing platform should be the final stop in the marketing journey.
It should be part of it.
And we are Organisers.
We know the other side too — the side where you take the risk.
The artist, the venue, the flights, the hotels, the teams and the advertising all have to be paid for long before you know whether the audience will fill the venue.
That’s why we believe Organisers should have more freedom, more control and better tools to manage their own events and sales.
These three perspectives are at the heart of how we build PassNroll.
We don’t want one side to win at the expense of the other two.
We want every decision we make about the platform to pass three simple tests:
Does it make the experience better for the Ticket Buyer?
Does it give the Marketer more possibilities?
Does it help the Organiser manage their business better?
Not every feature will serve all three at the same time. But whenever we can create value for the Ticket Buyer, the Marketer and the Organiser, we know we’re moving in the right direction.
Three perspectives. One platform.
Win. Win. Win.
How We’re Building PassNroll
We don’t believe a ticketing platform should simply process a payment, issue a ticket and consider its job done.
For us, selling a ticket is only one part of a much longer process.
It begins when someone discovers an event, continues through the decision to attend, the purchase and the communication leading up to the event, and only ends when the Ticket Buyer walks through the entrance.
For the Organiser, that process is even longer.
That’s why we’re building PassNroll around a few simple principles.
More freedom for the Organiser.
The Organiser creates the event, invests in it and carries the risk of making it happen. We believe technology should give them more freedom and control over how they sell, communicate and develop their events.
The same applies to the economics behind ticket sales. That’s why we’re building PassNroll around a model where the more tickets an Organiser sells through the platform, the more efficient their own sales economics become.
An easier journey for the Ticket Buyer.
Buying a ticket shouldn’t be complicated. The price should be clear. The payment should be secure. The ticket should be easy to access. And when something about the event changes, the information should be able to reach the people who need it.
We want technology to stay in the background when everything works — and to be useful exactly when it’s needed.
Marketing shouldn’t end at the “Buy” button.
For us, the ticketing platform is also part of an event’s marketing infrastructure.
We want to give the people marketing events a better way to understand the journey from interest to purchase, measure results and make decisions based on data rather than instinct alone.
The ticket shouldn’t be the end of the relationship.
After the purchase, there may still be days, weeks or even months before the event itself.
During that time, there may be news, changes, important information or simply another reason for someone to look forward to the event they’ve already bought a ticket for.
That’s why we want PassNroll to gradually connect ticket sales with the content and information surrounding an event, rather than allowing the relationship with the Ticket Buyer to end with a PDF file in their inbox.
Build technology around real problems.
PassNroll began with a list of problems we had encountered ourselves as Ticket Buyers, Marketers and Organisers.
We want to continue in the same way.
Not every new technology needs to become a feature. Not every idea solves a real problem. And not everything needs to be built on day one.
We want PassNroll to evolve alongside the people who use it — adding tools where they genuinely make the process better.
We don’t want to change the reason people buy tickets.
That will always be the event.
We want to make everything around it better.
Our Mission
Our mission is to make the technology behind events more useful for everyone who is part of them.
To give Organisers more freedom and better tools. To help Marketers better understand the journey from interest to purchase. And to make that journey easier, clearer and more secure for Ticket Buyers.
We want PassNroll to create value for all three sides because we believe their interests shouldn’t be in conflict.
When the Organiser grows, the Marketer performs better, and the Ticket Buyer gets a better experience, the entire ecosystem around the event benefits.
That is the mission behind PassNroll.
Win. Win. Win.
The People Behind PassNroll
Ivelin Benovski — Co-Founder & CEO
Ivelin comes from a digital advertising background, with more than 14 years of experience in digital marketing, advertising and online sales, and more than 8 years of experience organising concerts and events.
He has worked on the digital advertising campaigns for Enrique Iglesias’ European tour, as well as campaigns for concerts and productions featuring Lara Fabian, Chambao, the Broadway musical CATS, and other international projects.
Ilian Petrov — Co-Founder & COO
Ilian comes from the concert and events industry. His professional background spans PR, advertising, marketing and artist booking, including experience with some of Bulgaria’s major concert promotion companies.
He has been involved in the organisation and production of concerts and shows featuring Enrique Iglesias, Lara Fabian, Chambao, the Broadway musical CATS, and other international artists and productions.