Role dashboards
/demoChoose a seat to see its home and navigation. Owner and GM views connect shows to venue money; other seats focus on their work.
VENUECIRCUIT / THE INVESTOR PORTFOLIO
Keep the room alive.
Make the night add up.
The product. The people. The business behind it.
Nine chapters on a better way to run live music, from the first hold to the last receipt.
NINE CHAPTERS / THREE APPENDICES / THE COMPLETE PRODUCT DIRECTORY
- 01 Overview
- 02 Problem
- 03 Product
- 04 Market
- 05 Competition
- 06 Model
- 07 Financials
- 08 Team
- 09 The Ask
All nine chapters, the show calculator and the complete product directory are included in the PDF. Planning figures are labeled where they appear.
VENUECIRCUIT / OVERVIEW01 / 09
Planning scenario · details
The original product vision, with current working-demo evidence. Funding figures below are the original planning scenario, not a live offer.
Overview
The whole night’s money in one net.
One place where a live-music venue’s whole night of money comes together — and every number opens to the receipt behind it. Explore the working demo at venuecircuit.app.
$750KOriginal funding scenario
$6MDraft cap assumption
~12.5%Modeled conversion
10Working role families
Lived the problem
Built by a working concert promoter and festival producer — from inside the 1 a.m. close.
Already shipping
An interactive demonstration spans ten role families, from venue owner to festival producer and record label.
Operator-led distribution
The proposed first cohort starts with venue and promoter introductions in Texas and the Southwest. No channel partnership is assumed.
VENUECIRCUIT / PROBLEM02 / 09
The Problem
The 1 a.m. problem.
The original planning case allows 1–3 hours for a manual close over 100+ nights a year. Those are assumptions to measure with operators. The workflow problem is concrete: five disconnected artifacts.
- 1Drawer counts
Hand-counted cash, twice, hoping the two totals agree.
- 2Ticket screenshots
The ticketing dashboard, captured on a phone at close.
- 3Retyped register exports
Bar and merch numbers keyed in from a POS export.
- 4A trust-me settlement
A spreadsheet split between venue and promoter — no shared math.
- 5A shoebox to the bookkeeper
Receipts and notes, mailed off to be reconciled later.
A booking record, a ticket report, a drawer count and a settlement should tell the same story. The person closing the room needs the whole picture.
Make the night one shared record.
VENUECIRCUIT / PRODUCT03 / 09
Demo records · details
The public demo uses shared fictional records. Role views demonstrate workflows; they are not private customer accounts.
The Product
Open the product. Follow the money.
Door, bar, merch, comps and the promoter’s share collapse into one nightly close. Venue and promoter see the same math, with the relevant records for their role. Provider integrations are proposed; the demonstration uses fictional records.
The drill-down journey, illustrated with sample figures
NIGHT$8,412
BAR$4,918
CHECK #1187
RECEIPT
56
Demo page patterns10
Role families, deep-linkable320px+
Responsive layout1
Shared show record10 role families, plus three touring-act demonstration seats
Venue ownerGMPromoterArtistTalent managerTour managerCrew / vendorGuestFestival OpsRecord LabelThe Word Alive · demo seatA Change of Pace · demo seatMicah Bentley · demo seat
VENUECIRCUIT / MARKET04 / 09
Market
Independent rooms need room to breathe.
15,000
Original addressable-room assumption64%
Independent stages unprofitable in 2024¹250
Venues to ~$597K/yr$199
Monthly revenue per venue assumedWhy now — and why us
NIVA reports that 64% of independent stages were not profitable in 2024. The opportunity is to make each night easier to understand, with a subscription independent of the ticket provider. At $199 per month, 250 paying venues would produce $597,000 annual recurring revenue. This is scenario math, not customer traction.¹ NIVA State of Live, published June 2025
Scenario: 250 of an assumed 15,000 rooms = 1.67%250 venues
Go-to-market
The channel is a founder
The original go-to-market plan starts with Mike Ziemer's Texas/Southwest venue and promoter relationships. Validate introductions and operator demand before treating that network as a sales pipeline.
The paperwork is the funnel
Advances, day sheets and settlements travel between venues, promoters and artists — each document could invite a counterparty into its part of the workflow. Measure those invitations and conversions during a private pilot.
The demo is the sales team
Prospects can explore the demonstration before a conversation. Use observed workflow interest to choose the first pilot; the demo alone does not prove demand.
VENUECIRCUIT / COMPETITION05 / 09
Competition
Win on the whole-night workflow.
Strong products already serve this market. These are the questions to test, not claims that competitors lack features. VenueCircuit’s thesis is a shared, source-linked operating record that works across the people behind a night.
Prism
Request current terms from the vendor.
Published focus
Booking, offers, advancing, settlement, financial management and reporting.
What to validate
Test a whole-night close with bar, merch, labor and counterparty permissions against the room’s actual process.
Opendate
Request a current offer; older plan prices are not treated as current.
Published focus
Booking, ticketing, marketing, operations, finance and payouts.
What to validate
Compare provider flexibility, total ticketing economics and the handoff between ticket sales and the venue’s complete close.
Master Tour
Professional: $74.99/mo, or $64.99/mo paid annually. Free mobile access tier.
Published focus
Tour itineraries, day sheets, travel, guest lists, crew and shared documents.
What to validate
Compare the touring team’s record with the house’s bar, stock, labor and settlement record.
Nowsta
Request terms for the intended workforce and scope.
Published focus
Workforce scheduling, time and attendance, labor operations and vendor staffing.
What to validate
Verify how labor costs reach the show-level close and what reconciliation remains outside the staffing system.
Spreadsheets
Software cost varies; operator time needs a measured baseline.
Published focus
Flexible models, familiar formulas and files that can travel with the team.
What to validate
Measure version conflicts, duplicate entry, permissions and source traceability in the actual operator workflow.
Vendor pages reviewed October 9, 2026. Capabilities above reflect vendor descriptions, not hands-on parity testing. Open each name for its primary source.
The strategy to prove
- Provider independence. Keep the operating subscription usable with the room’s chosen ticketing and POS providers. Prove that the shared record helps venue, promoter and artist work together.
- A network through the work. Draw passports, settlements, availability links and day sheets all travel outward with a claim-your-side door. Measure whether those handoffs bring counterparties into the workflow.
- A useful record over time. What a room actually sells, by genre and night-of-week, verified by settled nights — could support better planning as private, reconciled records accumulate. No proprietary customer dataset is claimed today.
VENUECIRCUIT / MODEL06 / 09
Planning scenario · details
Proposed packages and unit-economics assumptions. No paid plans are currently sold here. CAC, retention and lifetime value still need cohort evidence.
Business Model
Simple per-venue subscriptions.
Per venue / month · proposed 45-day pilot · ~$199 blended ARPU ($2,388/yr)
Close
$99/mo
The nightly close — one venue.
Base case
Operate
$199/mo
Run the whole room, every night.
Network
$349/mo
The full operating system.
The pricing landscape
working assumptions · October 2026- VenueCircuit
- $99–349/mo proposed subscription range; no checkout is open
- Prism
- request current pricing for the intended scope
- Opendate
- request current subscription and ticketing terms
- Master Tour
- $74.99 monthly / $64.99 per month billed annually
Unit economics · unvalidated planning inputs
~$700
CAC~$7,200
LTV~10×
LTV : CAC<4 mo
Payback~90%
Gross margin40%
Pilot → paid70%
Retention target (period undefined)45 days
Proposed pilotVENUECIRCUIT / FINANCIALS07 / 09
Planning scenario · details
Original growth and allocation scenarios, preserved for scrutiny. No customer revenue, guaranteed runway or measured traction is implied.
Financials
A model you can interrogate.
Annual recurring revenue · scenario, not forecast
pilots
Mo 610 pilots
$119K
Mo 1250 venues
$597K
Mo 24250 venues
$1.43M
Mo 36600 venues
$2.388M
Mo 481,000 venues
Use of funds$750K total
$250K
$250K
$175K
$75K
$250KProduct build
$250KFirst-year ops
$175KMarketing & acquisition
$75KLegal, formation & reserve
~$30K
Blended burn / mo~24 mo
Runway$140–170K
Cash floorYear 2
Approaches breakevenThe original plan assumed these cash and break-even targets. A reconciled monthly cash-flow schedule is still required. $750K divided by $30K monthly burn is 25 months before revenue, one-off spend or reserves; the stated cash floor is not proven by this chart.
What this round builds — in order
Months 0–3
Production build
Authentication, multi-tenant security, billing, validated POS/ticketing connections. The demo exists; private production operation still requires this work.
Months 3–6
Free pilot cohort
Working venues running real nights, with the team in the room. Pilots convert at a modeled 40%.
Month 6 →
Paid launch
Self-serve pilots at $99–349/mo, Texas/Southwest first; any association channel requires agreement.
VC Tickets — upside, not in the base plan
upsideAn optional 75¢-flat ticketing layer ships last (Phase 2b) — never required, preserving the neutrality wedge. At an assumed 12,000 tickets per adopting venue per year, the model is 250 venues and 20% adoption × 12,000 tickets × $0.75 = ~$450K/yr gross fees before payment, support and operating costs. Every ARR figure above excludes it. This optional idea needs separate validation and may conflict with the neutrality thesis.
VENUECIRCUIT / TEAM08 / 09
Proposed team · details
The original planning roster and proposed responsibilities. Participation, titles and ownership require written agreement.
Team
The people behind the plan.
Mike Ziemer
Proposed — origination & GTM
The original plan places venue and promoter knowledge, festival production and Texas/Southwest introductions with Mike. Specific responsibilities and participation require agreement.
David Marsh
Proposed — product & execution
Founder of Little Fight NYC (a boutique web studio) and After Hours Agenda. Leads product, design and the build — the live platform is his execution of the vision.
Arturo
Proposed — finance & ops
The original plan assigns the financial model, unit economics and cash discipline to Arturo; scope and participation require agreement.
Why this team
- Lived the problem
- Can ship it — a working product already exists
- Operator-led distribution
VENUECIRCUIT / THE ASK09 / 09
Planning scenario · details
The original funding scenario, kept in full for discussion. These draft terms are not a live raise, executed SAFE or investment commitment.
The Ask
$750,000 · post-money SAFE · $6M cap
Terms
- Instrument
- Post-money SAFE (YC standard)
- Raise
- $750,000
- Cap
- $6,000,000 post-money
- Discount
- None (cap only)
- Investor ownership on conversion
- ~12.5%
- Board / voting
- To be set in executed documents
Use of proceeds
- Product build
- $250,000
- First-year operations
- $250,000
- Marketing & acquisition
- $175,000
- Legal, formation & reserve
- $75,000
- Total
- $750,000
Ownership
Original ownership scenario: three founders in even thirds (~29.2% each after modeled conversion), ~87.5% on conversion, and ~61% modeled through a Series A.
The original later-round scenario retained roughly 61% collectively. That requires additional dilution assumptions which have not been supplied. No cap table, ownership allocation or funding commitment is established by this page.
Returns & exit
The original plan explores acquisition after 3–5 years and a hypothetical 6–10× revenue range. Those are assumptions, not market valuations. At $597K ARR, that arithmetic is $3.582M–$5.97M enterprise value, before debt, dilution and transaction costs. It does not establish a return on a $6M cap. At 1,000 venues, $2.388M ARR gives a hypothetical $14.328M–$23.88M range on the same assumptions.
Early-stage software is high-risk — an investor can lose their investment. These figures are projections, not promises.
Proposed related-party arrangements
- Product build via Little Fight NYC ($250K; pricing and IP assignment require a written agreement).
- Marketing via the co-founder’s firm ($175K).
- A Delaware C-corp to be formed before SAFEs issue.
- Possible exit: acquisition in 3–5 years, with no assurance of a buyer or return.
OPEN THE BACK OF THE BOOK
The detail belongs here, too.
Try the numbers. Inspect what works today. Follow every page and every seat into the product. These appendices travel with the PDF.
AOne night, every assumption
Illustration / 250-capacity room
A good night, with the math visible.
$25 ticket · $12 bar spend per paid guest · $500 artist merch with a 20% venue commission.
Venue revenue$7,500
Show costs + overhead$5,995
Surplus before tax$1,505
See every assumption
- Tickets
- $5,000
- Bar sales
- $2,400
- House merch share
- $100
- Artist guarantee
- $2,000
- Labor
- $1,400
- Beverage consumed (30% of bar)
- $720
- Marketing
- $400
- Ticket fees (4.5% of ticket gross)
- $225
- Production
- $350
- Allocated overhead
- $900
The artist keeps $400 of merch, excluded from venue revenue. All inputs are fictional. Costs vary as shown; other costs are held constant. This local calculator does not save to the demo or represent software-generated profit.
BProduct evidence & the path to a private pilot
Start with the product you can inspect.
The public demo is a shared, fictional proof of concept. It is useful evidence of interface and workflow behavior, not customer traction or a production service.
A working, shared demonstration
The demo lets a visitor trace fictional bookings, documents, task plans, stock receipts, merch sign-off, close-out, and a saved result across role views.
See every demo path- Integer-cent money calculations and a shared event record.
- Saved fictional workflow examples that can be inspected end to end.
- A guided rehearsal that connects five handoffs to one show.
- Role-aware screens that demonstrate a future access model.
No accounts, payments, private customer workspaces, provider connections, or live business data are part of this public proof.
Follow one show through its handoffs.
A show record provides a concrete way to inspect where the product is coherent today and what still needs operator validation.
01
Agree on the show
Review dates, holds, deal inputs, and the information that needs to survive a change.
02
Make work visible
Trace the artist document, announcement plan, stock receipt, and merch sign-off back to one record.
03
Run the fictional rehearsal Close from that record
Inspect modeled venue results, receipts, statements, and the close-out path without entering a real record.
The demo is not a customer system yet.
The next build must establish private workspaces, real authorization, input reconciliation, and safe operational recovery before any production use.
Private by design
Customer organizations, authenticated sessions, private files, server-enforced permissions, audit history, and tested recovery are production requirements.
Reconciled by source
Any import or connector needs source totals, duplicate handling, corrections, and a manual recovery path before the result can be trusted.
Validated in the room
POS, ticketing, accounting, campaign, and publishing paths are proposals. They need access and operator feedback before they become product commitments.
Scope before making a funding decision.
These are planning envelopes, not a live raise, valuation, pricing commitment, or financial forecast.
A useful first decision is the smallest pilot worth running. The scenarios below are internal planning envelopes only; scope, quotes, access, and staffing would need agreement before any commitment.
$250K6 months
Lean, CSV-first validation
$650K12 months
Staffed base case
$1.2M18 months
Gated expansion
Potential $99, $199, and $349 monthly packages are exploratory. The public demo sells no plans and takes no payment.
Expansion has to earn its evidence.
The useful next proof comes from observed workflows, reconciled inputs, and operator preference—not from the fictional demo alone.
01
Reconcile the money
Source totals match imports, corrections remain traceable, and duplicate inputs do not duplicate revenue.
02
Prove a preferred close
Compare time, missing inputs, and support needs against each room’s own baseline during supervised use.
03
Earn the next cohort
Expand only after repeat operator use and a second onboarding cohort show that the workflow holds without constant help.
CEvery role. Every product path.
Demo seats share fictional records. The three named-act seats demonstrate touring workflows; they do not imply endorsement. Hosted changes stay disabled while isolated test data exercises save and recovery paths.
Venue ownerGeneral managerPromoterArtistTalent managerTour managerCrew & vendorGuestFestival operationsRecord labelThe Word AliveA Change of PaceMicah Bentley
Book it. Advance it. Close it.
The show record carries the agreed terms into the advance, show day and settlement. Start here to see the core product.
One show / five handoffs
/demo/walkthroughCreate a fictional rehearsal, attach an artist document, plan the announcement, receive stock, sign off merch and save the close. Progress survives reload; the timer stays on your device.
Show pipeline
/demo/eventsFilter the event list and open a show. Its record connects the room, deal, tickets, team, production and financial entries.
New show
/demo/events/newSave a fictional event with its venue, date, artist and deal. It enters the shared calendar and event pipeline.
Calendar and holds board
/demo/calendarWork with dates, hold levels and confirmations. Export a hold sheet, open venue availability or subscribe to the calendar feed.
Open dates and routing
/demo/holdsFind room availability, request a hold and assemble a route. Held dates connect back to the venue calendar.
The shared show record
/demo/events/[id]Review the deal, ledger, tickets, players, sponsor entries and show thread. This is the junction for advance, offer, day sheet and settlement.
Open a show in Events.Offer and deal simulator
/demo/events/[id]/offerModel attendance against deal terms, guarantees, fees and payment schedules. Save the agreed terms to the show for settlement calculations.
Open a show, then Offer.Shared advance
/demo/events/[id]/advanceCoordinate readiness and attach show documents. Artist profile information and show details travel into the day sheet.
Open a show, then Advance.Day sheet
/demo/events/[id]/day-sheetReview run of show, arrival, production, hospitality, guest list and crew in a printable show-day document.
Open a show, then Day sheet.Door and guest list
/demo/door/[id]Work with demo ticket counts and guest check-ins. The view connects the door to that show; it does not issue or charge for tickets.
Open a show, then Door.Team close-out
/demo/checklistReview the night’s inputs and save its close. The saved ledger entries feed the night receipt, P&L and settlement.
Direct close link
/demo/close/[id]An event-specific shortcut routes to the same close-out checklist with the show selected.
Choose the show in Close-out.Night result and receipt
/demo/night/[id]Drill into the saved night’s tickets, costs, staff and receipts. Role views determine which side of the result appears.
Open a show’s night view.Settlement statement
/demo/events/[id]/settlementTurn the closed show into a printable statement with the deal split, recorded artist payments and merch result. No money is transferred.
Open a settled show, then Settlement.Every number has somewhere to go.
Sales and expenses connect to a show and venue. The ledger is the bridge from individual entries to the operating result.
Profit and loss
/demo/pnlFilter by venue and period, then drill revenue or costs down to transactions. Export the recorded figures for review.
Spreadsheet mode
/demo/ledgerPaste tabular data, review validation, save a batch, edit entries or undo that batch. Entries carry source information into the P&L.
Ticketing overview
/demo/ticketingReview modeled ticket channels and show totals. Connect those figures to the event and import workflow; provider connections remain previews.
Import hub and migration preview
/demo/importsParse supported ticketing/POS/merch CSVs and preview rows before saving. A holds/events import demonstrates a migration route; real provider mapping still needs validation.
Bar reconciliation
/demo/barCompare expected and counted stock at modeled unit costs. Follow discrepancies into the inventory and receiving workflow.
Stock and receiving
/demo/inventoryReceive a fictional order into venue stock with a saved receipt and ledger expense. Assign an event when that purchase belongs to the show.
Merch settlement
/demo/merchReview counts, cash/card totals and the house commission, then save a demo sign-off. Artist proceeds stay separate from the venue’s share.
Operating insights
/demo/insightsExplore sample genre, attendance, bar and booking signals derived from demo history. These illustrate decisions, not validated forecasts.
The same show, from every seat.
Artist, touring and crew views reuse show information while keeping their work distinct. Persona switching demonstrates the experience; private customer authorization is future work.
Artist directory and Draw Index
/demo/artistsFind an act and compare sample demand indicators with demo show history. Open its profile for the underlying context.
Artist profile
/demo/artists/[id]Explore show history, modeled draw and offer guidance, then follow the artist into its dates, tours and passport.
Choose an artist.Draw passport
/demo/artists/[id]/passportPresent the act’s recorded demo history as a shareable summary. Demo totals are not verified real-world box office.
Choose an artist, then Draw Passport.Artist workspace
/demo/my-advanceMaintain a fictional profile and rider, see upcoming dates and follow each venue advance. Reusable documents reduce repeat uploads inside the demo.
Talent roster
/demo/rosterReview the represented acts, dates and their side of guarantees and merch. Follow a roster act into the same underlying shows.
Tours directory
/demo/toursOpen a routed run and inspect its linked shows. Tour membership connects otherwise separate venue dates.
Tour itinerary
/demo/tours/[id]Review routing, stops and recorded travel details. Each stop opens its event and advance.
Choose a tour.Tour manager’s book
/demo/tourWork through the assigned run, production, set list and travel. The book collects information from the tour’s show records.
Family itinerary
/demo/tours/[id]/familyOpen a simplified read-only itinerary for people at home. It leaves financial details out of that view.
Choose a tour, then its family link.Shared advance board
/demo/networkSee advancing across rooms and touring parties. Open a date to resolve its show details and readiness.
Crew directory
/demo/crewFilter the demo bench by discipline, inspect profiles and connect crew to show operations.
Crew profile
/demo/crew/[id]Review sample skills, rates, portfolio and availability context before a staffing decision.
Choose a crew member.Show staffing
/demo/staffingManage sample shift status, cover and clock actions. Hours and rates illustrate payroll-ready exports; this is not payroll processing.
Worker shifts
/demo/my-shiftsSee assigned work and respond to shift status from the worker’s side of the same staffing records.
Contractor workspace
/demo/my-workReview gigs and maintain a fictional service profile. Bookings connect the contractor to the show and crew directory.
Work marketplace
/demo/marketExplore sample opportunities and service fit around events and tours. The directory is a demo, not a verified hiring marketplace.
Venue team
/demo/teamAdd fictional seats and inspect the proposed role structure. Demo seats activate without an email invitation or real account.
The work around the show.
Announcement plans link to events. Festival and label workspaces demonstrate specialist paths that can grow after the venue workflow proves useful.
Announcement and marketing
/demo/marketingSave announcement/on-sale dates, a ticket URL and assigned launch tasks. Explore modeled channel performance. Social publishing and ad campaign imports are planned.
Green Room
/demo/green-roomExplore illustrative grant and sponsor opportunities and a funding pipeline. Verify opportunities externally; no automatic matching service or awards are promised.
Festival operations
/demo/festivalSave sets, assign stages and crew, and inspect changeover conflicts in a running order. Show links connect the schedule to event detail.
Label releases
/demo/labelSave a fictional release and manage masters, credits, artwork and release tasks. This is a release calendar, not music distribution or royalty accounting.
Bring the tools that already work.
CSV imports already write demo records. The connector screens explain possible future data flows; their Sync controls generate simulated data.
Connector catalog
/demo/integrationsExplore provider categories, scopes and setup concepts. The catalog does not establish provider partnerships or connect accounts.
Six connector simulations
/demo/integrations/[key]Try each simulated Sync view: POS, ticketing, accounting, payroll, artist data and ads. These do not fetch or send provider data.
Open Square, DICE, QuickBooks, Gusto, Chartmetric or Meta.A room to start from.
Venue and profile setup provide the context used by calendars, artists and crew. All saved entries belong to the shared fictional demo.
Venue portfolio
/demo/venuesOpen a room to connect its shows, financial result and stock in one place.
Venue detail
/demo/venues/[id]Inspect the room’s capacity, logistics and operating context, then drill into its activity.
Choose a venue.Add a venue
/demo/venues/newCreate a fictional room with capacity and a target. Book a show in that room to start its calendar and books.
Shareable availability
/demo/avails/[venueId]Open a read-only view of the room’s dates. The calendar also exposes an iCal subscription at /api/ical/[venueId].
Choose a venue in Calendar, then Avails.Setup chooser
/demo/onboardingChoose venue, promoter, artist or contractor setup to see what each participant would bring.
Venue setup
/demo/onboarding/venueSave fictional venue details and inspect POS, ticketing and accounting connection previews. The connection controls do not authorize providers.
Promoter setup
/demo/onboarding/promoterExplore company and event-import onboarding. This preview does not create a private organization or connect a calendar account.
Artist setup
/demo/onboarding/artistSave a fictional artist profile and attach a rider for reuse in show advances. Music-service controls remain previews.
Contractor setup
/demo/onboarding/contractorSave a fictional service profile, rate and compliance fields. These feed the contractor’s demo presence, not verified credential checks.
Settings and exports
/demo/settingsChange demo preferences and theme, inspect planned packages, and export supported demo records. There is no paid subscription to activate.