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Nathan Hubbard, Head of E-Commerce,
Who is Hubbard and how's he going to boost Twitter's bottom line?
Hubbard, 38, didn't always work in tech. After earning an MBA from Stanford, Hubbard pursued music. The singer-songwriter toured with his acoustic band, Rockwell Church, and released five albums, according to Fast Company's Chuck Salter. In its prime, Rockwell Church was performing 200 times per year. "Church" is Hubbard's middle name.
Soon, Hubbard transitioned from an artist to a businessman. Friends were skeptical, but Hubbard saw it as a way to influence an industry he's passionate about.
"Any artist who cares about this industry would die to be in my chair and try to make sweeping changes," he told Fast Company.
Hubbard landed at Musictoday, an entertainment marketing company created by the manager of Dave Matthews Band, Coran Capshaw. There, he helped sell merchandise for artists like John Legend and became the company's CEO.
Four years later, Musictoday was acquired by Live Nation. Hubbard became CEO of E-commerce at Live Nation, overseeing all ticketing and digital initiatives. His team was responsible for launching a ticketing platform that rivaled Ticketmaster in 2009.
In 2010, Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged. Hubbard became CEO of Ticketing at the newly formed company.
Hubbard may be young, but he's chock full of experience. When he joined Ticketmaster, he had never managed a company that size, with 3,000 employees and $1.2 billion in revenue. But his former boss told Fast Company then, "Behind that baby face is a wealth of experience. He has the greatest credentials in the business."
Now, as Twitter's Head of Commerce, the former Ticketmaster president will report to Head of Global Revenue, Adam Bain. Hubbard has been tasked with opening up a new revenue stream for Twitter and helping grow the startup's bottom line before its impending IPO, which could come later this year or early next. Twitter is reportedly aiming to generate $1 billion in 2014. This year, the company is expected to pull in more than $500 million and it has been able to monetize mobile better than most other companies.
Twitter isn't going into the payments business, but it will help retailers sell items directly through their 140-characters. Twitter may then take a percentage of each transition.
Hubbard's plan is simple. "We're going to go to people who have stuff to sell and help them sell it to Twitter more effectively," Hubbard tells Bloomberg Businessweek.
To me, Twitter is a cardiogram of the passion of the live moment. So I'm excited to announce I've joined the flock as Head of Commerce!
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) August 27, 2013