Fixing the Chaos Behind Product Drops: Michael Dodsworth on Bots, Ticketing, Scarcity, and Fan-First Commerce

What if the chaos behind product drops, ticket launches, sneaker releases, and high-demand sales could be made fairer for real fans? In this episode of Ingleside Reviews: Innovators Unveiled, A.D. Edwards talks with Michael Dodsworth, founder and CEO of Fanfare, about fixing the broken systems behind product drops, ticket queues, hype launches, and scarcity-driven commerce. Michael shares how his background at Salesforce, Optimizely, Rival, and Ticketmaster shaped his approach to building a platform that protects fan trust, removes bots and bad actors, handles massive traffic surges, and helps brands create fairer, smarter, more memorable launch experiences. What You’ll Learn Why high-demand product drops and ticket launches often feel unfair to real fans How bots, bad actors, scalpers, and secondary markets distort scarcity-based launches What brands lose when a launch crashes or fans feel the system is rigged How Fanfare uses technology to manage traffic surges, identify real fans, and improve fairness Why “no-sale data” matters, especially for fans who tried to buy but missed out How emotional loyalty can turn a product drop into a deeper brand experience Why experiential commerce is becoming more important for brands, creators, artists, and event organizers Episode Highlights 01:08 – Michael explains the frustration that inspired Fanfare, from ticket queues to sneaker drops 03:32 – Why scarce products, concerts, and high-hype launches create painful consumer experiences 05:16 – How Michael’s experience at Salesforce, Optimizely, Rival, and Ticketmaster shaped his engineering approach 07:47 – The Taylor Swift presale failure and why it became a major example of broken ticketing systems 10:08 – Why many tickets are already gone before a general public sale even begins 12:07 – How Fanfare identifies unlucky real fans and helps brands reward them in future drops 14:39 – Why Ticketmaster’s acquisition of Rival deepened Michael’s frustration with broken launch systems 17:10 – The fears and unknowns Michael faced as a first-time founder 19:07 – Why Fanfare is built for experiential commerce, product drops, pop-ups, and fan-first launch moments 21:22 – How a failed launch can damage the trust between a brand and its customers 23:03 – How Fanfare handles millions of fans arriving at once without the system falling apart 25:01 – Why emotional loyalty matters in sneakers, live events, luxury products, and fandom-driven commerce 28:16 – How Fanfare prepares for massive traffic surges during high-demand launches 31:06 – Why “no-sale data” helps brands understand the fans who tried to buy but missed out 34:03 – Fanfare’s multi-layered approach to bot defense 37:06 – How brands balance fairness, hype, and manufactured scarcity 40:24 – How AI can help brands understand launch data and create better customer experiences 43:06 – The culture Michael wants to build at Fanfare: autonomy, trust, and adult responsibility 45:48 – Why small teams need clarity, alignment, and a strong understanding of the mission 48:21 – Leadership lessons from failure, engineering outages, and supportive postmortems 50:02 – Why fan-first experiences can turn customers into brand advocates 51:14 – Michael’s vision for bringing Fanfare into real-world communal events and pop-ups 53:02 – The founder resilience lesson Michael learned from Touching the Void Meet the Guest Michael Dodsworth is the founder and CEO of Fanfare, a platform designed to make high-demand product drops, ticketing events, and experiential commerce launches smarter, fairer, and more resilient. With experience at Salesforce, Optimizely, Rival, and Ticketmaster, Michael brings deep engineering and startup expertise to one of the most frustrating problems in modern fan commerce. Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned Fanfare Experiential commerce Product drop infrastructure Fan-first launch design Bot defense No-sale data Emotional loyalty Waitlist fairness Loyalty-based access Distributed architecture Serverless infrastructure Traffic surge management AI-assisted data analysis Customer profile intelligence Scarcity-based commerce Launch postmortems Founder resilience Pop-up and live-event commerce Closing Insight and CTA Michael’s story shows that a product launch is more than a transaction. For fans, it can be an emotional moment tied to identity, loyalty, excitement, and trust. When brands treat that moment carelessly, they lose more than a sale. They lose confidence. Fanfare is working to make those moments fairer, more transparent, and more valuable for both fans and brands. Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbook Subscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutube Get the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW Download the 7-Day Breakthrough Workbook: https://bit.ly/PDIRworkbookSubscribe for more conversations with builders, creators, founders, and leaders: https://bit.ly/PDIRyoutubeGet the companion book, Unveiling the Innovator in You!: https://amzn.to/4dmgsVW🎙️ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@InglesideReviewsPodcast📩 Connect or inquire about interviews: [email protected] ✨ Keep innovating. Keep creating. Never stop unveiling the innovator in you.