Raising the Bar

What Raising the Bar does

Raising the Bar (RTB) is a global initiative that organizes free, knowledge-driven events in bars and cafés in 10+ cities including Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Auckland, and New York. Founded in 2013 and operating with 1-10 employees, RTB has produced more than 500 events, 550+ talks, and 200+ podcasts, drawing 70,000+ attendees cumulatively. Its portfolio comprises two branded live programs — RTB Academia (academic talks) and RTB Entrepreneurship (founder storytelling) — plus a SoundCloud-hosted podcast library that extends event content on demand. The organization executes through an event-driven, community-led go-to-market: it partners with universities to source speakers and with municipal governments to access venues, while marketing primarily via earned media (The Guardian, TimeOut, Brooklyn Magazine) and word-of-mouth. Examples such as 50 venues reportedly selling out within 48 hours of announcement indicate strong organic demand.

There is no proprietary technology platform. Operations rely on third-party tools — SoundCloud for podcast distribution, Eventbrite for ticketing/registration, and Squarespace for the website — so switching costs and platform leverage are limited. The only documented revenue mechanic is Eventbrite-collected ticketing/transaction fees for paid events; the majority of events are explicitly free, and no sponsorship, grant, or membership revenue is disclosed. Customer segments span the general public (free attendees), universities, municipalities, and bar/café venue owners, with no segment disclosed as a paying customer in the available materials. Management team, ownership structure, funding history, and domicile are not disclosed in the source material.

Name

Raising the Bar

Legal name

Raising the Bar

Website

https://rtbevent.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Raising the Bar is a global initiative that runs free, knowledge-driven events and podcasts in bars and cafés across 10+ cities, featuring academic and entrepreneur speakers for community audiences, and operating with 1-10 employees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Informal Education Events

NAICS

Performing Arts Companies (7111), Other Sound Recording Industries (51229), Sound Recording Industries (5122)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Live Podcast Recordings (MPAGACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Live Audio & Social Audio Platforms (MPAIADAD), Social Audio & Live Community Platforms (BPAMABAH), Live Music Venues & Concert Bars (THAFAEAD)

Keywords

• Knowledge-driven events
• Public lecture series
• Educational bar events
• Academic talk programming
• Podcast content production

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Ticketing: RTB utilizes Eventbrite for event registration. For paid events, financial information including credit card details and billing addresses are collected through the ticketing platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Raising the Bar (RTB) operates knowledge-driven live events in bars and cafés, featuring academics and entrepreneurs delivering talks under two branded programs — RTB Academia and RTB Entrepreneurship — across more than ten cities worldwide. Recorded talks are released as the RTB Podcasts series on SoundCloud, extending the in-venue experience to a global on-demand audio audience. Events are free to the general public, with registration handled through Eventbrite.

Product overview

Raising the Bar is a global initiative that operates as an event-based platform with multiple branded programs. The core offering consists of RTB Academia (academic talks in bars) and RTB Entrepreneurship (entrepreneur storytelling events), both delivered as in-person gatherings at venues. The portfolio also includes RTB Podcasts (audio content) and city-specific live Events. Together, these products transform bars and cafés into accessible learning environments, reaching audiences through both physical attendance and digital content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RTB Academia: A program that brings academics to share their research, ideas, and theories in bars and cafés, making education accessible outside the classroom.
• RTB Entrepreneurship

Products and services

• RTB Academia A knowledge-driven event series under Raising the Bar that transforms bars and cafés into pop-up learning labs, where academics share their research, ideas, and theories in an accessible, informal setting for the general public.
• RTB Entrepreneurship An exchange of knowledge and experience where entrepreneurs and innovators from different industries share the highs and lows of their business journeys in bar and café settings for the general public.
• RTB Podcasts On-demand audio library of thought-provoking talks from academics and innovators around the world, organized into city- and year-based playlists (Sydney 2024, Sydney 2023, Perth 2023, Light Rail 2021) and distributed on SoundCloud.
• Raising the Bar Events One-of-a-kind, knowledge-driven events held in favourite bars and cafés globally, designed to raise the bar on the content people consume in their everyday lives and make education part of popular culture; delivered as free public sessions for community attendees.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500+ events organized globally
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• UniversitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRTB partners with universities to bring academic researchers and professors to give talks in local bars and cafes. Universities provide speakers and intellectual credibility while RTB handles event logistics and promotion. This partnership model enables universities to extend their reach beyond campus and engage with the broader community.
• Municipalities / CitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRTB partners with city governments and municipalities to bring the event series to their cities. Cities provide support and venues to host events, positioning themselves as innovation-forward cultural hubs. The initiative is marketed as making education part of a city's popular culture.
• EventbritesupportingTechnology or IntegrationRTB uses Eventbrite as its ticketing and registration platform for events. Eventbrite handles ticket sales, attendee registration, and payment processing for event attendance.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• TED: Global lecture-style event series and massive video/podcast content library featuring experts across disciplines. Operates in the same intellectual-talk category as RTB but at vastly larger scale, with professional production and extensive monetization.

Direct peers

• The Moth: Hosts live storytelling events in venues worldwide and produces a popular podcast archive of recorded stories. Comparable to RTB in combining live spoken-word events with a growing podcast/audio content library.
• Intelligence Squared: Runs live debates and intellectual events featuring experts, academics, and thought leaders, often with audio/video distribution afterward. Comparable as a live spoken-word intellectual event series targeting similar educated audiences.
• How To Academy: London-based organization that hosts talks by leading academics, entrepreneurs, and thinkers in accessible live-event formats. Directly comparable in target audience (curious lifelong learners) and event-driven knowledge-sharing model.
• Festival of Dangerous Ideas: Annual live event series featuring academics, writers, and thinkers presenting provocative ideas to general audiences. Comparable in bringing scholarly and intellectual content to broad public audiences through live event formats.
• Pop-Up Magazine: Produces live magazine-style events featuring storytelling, film, photography, and music performed in front of audiences. Comparable in treating live events as curated, content-rich experiences that get distributed as recorded media afterward.
• PechaKucha Nights: Global series of informal talks held in casual venues (originally bars and creative spaces) where presenters share ideas in a fixed format. Closely mirrors RTB's model of knowledge-driven presentations in non-traditional, social settings.

Emerging players

• Secret Cinema: Creates immersive, themed live events that transform venues into participatory experiences. Comparable as an event-driven, experience-led entertainment brand, though more focused on film/pop culture than academic content.
• WikiStage: Global initiative hosting short knowledge-sharing talks in accessible venues with a mission of making knowledge freely available. Directly comparable in mission ('free knowledge for everyone') and event-driven informal-talk format similar to RTB.

Regional players

• Sydney Writers' Festival: Major Australasian literary and intellectual event series featuring authors, thinkers, and academics in live formats. Comparable in offering knowledge-driven live programming to Australasian audiences similar to RTB's core Sydney/Australia base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/RTBEvent
• Facebookfacebook.com/RTBEvent
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/raising-the-bar-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Raising the Bar