Mark Stephenson, CTO TicketCo | Don't Forget Your Tickets Academy

Headless ticketing and the value of building your own fan journey

Lecturer 10: Mark Stephenson
Role: Chief Technology Officer, TicketCo

Live lectures and on-demand content, straight from the industry.

Thursday 12 November 2026

13:00 CET

What you will learn

Headless ticketing is science fiction for some, already implemented for others, and will soon be everyday business for all of us. Mark, who is building TicketCo's Flex platform, explains why owning the ticket buyer on your own domain throughout the whole shopping journey pays off, and shows how to make it happen. This ownership gives the ticket buyer a smoother, more frictionless experience, and gives the organiser a treasure chest of customer data to work with.

What headless ticketing actually means, and why it is already live at some clubs while much of the industry is still catching up
How keeping the ticket buyer on your own domain removes the friction of redirects and third-party pages
Why owning that journey turns every transaction into a source of first-party customer data, rather than handing it to someone else's platform
How a smoother buying journey wins more completed sales and builds stronger fan relationships
What TicketCo is building with Flex, and how clubs can start preparing for a headless future today

Speakers

Background
Mark Stephenson joined TicketCo as Chief Technology Officer after a career scaling technology companies and solving complex data problems. He started out managing the season ticket database at Darlington Football Club, then built and sold a web and events analytics business. He later held senior roles at Teradata, helping brands including HSBC and Sports Direct implement AI-driven solutions, and has since scaled two more companies, Intelligence Fusion and Clixifix, to acquisition. Based in the north of England, he is a UEFA-qualified coach and lifelong football fan who joined TicketCo to blend that passion with the challenge of scaling a platform business.

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