We were lucky to catch up with Alex Hilburn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alex, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
The idea for Surge was born out of an idea that the events industry was complacent.
My partners and I have been in the live events world for years, constantly watching artists and promoters pour money into ads that barely moved the needle. Every festival season looked the same: a flood of Instagram ads, rising customer acquisition costs, and flat ticket sales. Meanwhile, I’d see someone post a flyer in their group chat or text their friends about a show, and boom — five people bought tickets. That was the moment it clicked, people don’t buy tickets from ads; they buy them from friends.
Bo, Zach and myself started asking myself, What if the most powerful sales channel isn’t digital marketing, it’s people?
The deeper I dug, the clearer the problem became. There was no real infrastructure to support or scale word-of-mouth — no way for fans to easily promote the events they loved, or get rewarded for it. And there was no efficient way for event organizers to track and manage grassroots promotion without going full DIY, and most promoters don’t have the time to set it up.
That was the opportunity.
Surge started as a scrappy experiment: we built a system that let real fans become ambassadors and earn rewards for selling tickets to events they already cared about. No gimmicks. Just authentic connections and scalable word-of-mouth. We saw huge success early and have continued to grow and scale.
That’s when I knew we were onto something. Not just because it worked, but because it felt natural and the companies and ambassadors all bought in. The future of marketing isn’t more ads, it’s trusted recommendations from people you know.
What got me most excited wasn’t just solving a marketing problem. It was flipping the script: giving power back to fans, making promotion feel personal again, and helping events grow in a way that’s actually sustainable.
Surge isn’t just a ticketing tool, it’s a new way of thinking about how culture spreads.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m one of the co-founders of Surge, alongside Bo Thede and Zach Mendelsohn. We started Surge to solve a problem we kept seeing in the live events world: organizers were pouring money into ads, but the real ticket sales were coming from something way more powerful. Friends telling friends.
We realized there was no real infrastructure for word-of-mouth sales, no way for fans to easily promote events they loved or get rewarded for it. So we built it. Surge helps events grow by turning event fans and passionate people into ambassadors, giving them tools to share, sell, and get paid.
Since launching, we’ve driven millions in sales partnering with festivals, venues, and artists nationwide. What sets us apart is simple: we help events grow through authentic connections, creating not just a transaction but a relationship.
What we’re most proud of is building a platform that empowers people; fans, creators, and organizers alike to be part of something bigger. If you’re building a live experience, we’d love to help you grow it in a way that actually lasts.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
From day one, we focused on delivering real results for our partners. We weren’t selling a dream or a thought, we were helping events actually move tickets through people who genuinely cared about them. That transparency, that performance-first mindset, built trust quickly.
Another big piece was listening. We didn’t just build what we thought the market wanted — we built based on constant feedback from promoters, artists, and fans. Surge evolved through real-world use. That made it practical, reliable, and deeply aligned with the needs of the live events community. We tailor our services to match what the promoter needs and wants.
And honestly, we stayed scrappy. We proved we could outperform paid ads, even without massive funding or noise. That got people’s attention. Then we backed it up with hands-on support, clear communication, tailored recruitment and a system that actually worked.
At the end of the day, reputation comes down to consistency. We show up, we deliver, and we let the results speak for themselves.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Our best source of new clients has always been referrals and returning partners. When people see real results from a Surge campaign; whether it’s higher ticket sales, better engagement, or just a smoother promo experience, they tell others. Promoters talk to other promoters. Artists share with their teams. That word-of-mouth has been more powerful than any ad we could run.
What really drives it is trust. We try not to overpromise, we focus on showing up, delivering, and being a real partner. We want our clients to trust us year after year.
It’s validation that we’re not just building a good product, we’re building real relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thesurge.social
- Instagram: Surgesocial_
- Linkedin: thesurge-social
Image Credits
Palm Tree Music Festival
High Tide Music Festival