Eventbrite CEO sold her company for $500 million—without a job for the first time since 15, she’s playing chess with a robot and eyeing internships

Julia Hartz, the cofounder and CEO of Eventbrite (Credit: Courtesy of Julia Hartz)

Twenty years ago, Julia Hartz ditched a budding career at MTV and FX, drove up the coast of California, and bootstrapped ticketing platform Eventbrite with her two cofounders. Now, the longtime CEO wakes up to a blank outlook calendar; Hartz sold her company in a $500 million exit, and is deciding on her next chapter in the wake of parting ways with her brainchild. 

“It’s not unlike what I experienced when I had my baby. I feel a little postpartum…I’ve been literally not without a job since I was 15,” Hartz tells Fortune. “I have a really deep passion for learning and starting from zero.”