ecosystem / people / ian-roberts
Ian Roberts on the TechWaterloo stage

Ian Roberts

Co-founder & CEO, Hive.co

Marketing techKitchenerOn TechWaterloo stages since 2016

Ian Roberts co-founded Hive.co in Kitchener in 2014 and is its CEO. The company went through Y Combinator, started as a ticketing product, then became email, SMS and marketing-automation software for concert promoters, festivals and musicians. He built it with Patrick Hannigan. At TechWaterloo in 2016 he spoke on choosing the right customer.

On the TechWaterloo stage ×1

First seen on the TechWaterloo stage in 2016. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Ian ↗

In their words

learned before these two lessons and that's that you need to make sure you're talking to the right customer before any of this matters

TechWaterloo, Dec 2016 · watch at 0:58 ↗

your Market needs to be big enough all the people or at least a lot of the people in the market need to share the problem that you're solving

TechWaterloo, Dec 2016 · watch at 4:43 ↗

advice in this area is kind of itching your own scratch so pick a problem that you personally have

TechWaterloo, Dec 2016 · watch at 9:00 ↗
A few quotes can’t cover everything Ian said on the TechWaterloo stage. 1,600+ talks are searchable.Ask about Ian ↗

Quick answers

What is Hive.co?

A Kitchener marketing-automation company offering email, SMS and CRM tools for event promoters, festivals and musicians. It went through Y Combinator's summer 2014 batch.

Who founded it?

Ian Roberts and Patrick Hannigan, in 2014. It began as a ticketing product before pivoting to fan marketing.

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Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Jul 23, 2026