Challenge

Tattoo artists tell Venue they’re running modern businesses with traditional tools that haven’t caught up to the rest of the internet. The team speaks with hundreds of artists every week and has heard from thousands across the platform’s history. The story is consistent: a conversation starts on Instagram, a deposit gets paid through a peer-to-peer app, the calendar lives somewhere else, and the final payment happens in person. Stitching those steps together costs them hours every week they would rather spend on their craft.

In 2023, Jason Goldlist and a small team of tattoo artists and self-described nerds based in Toronto and New York set out to create a single platform for tattoo artists, helping with appointment scheduling, automatic reminders, deposits and payments, and more. From day one, Venue was intentional about crafting a business model that aligns with artists, allowing them to use the benefits of the platform without any commitments or subscription fees.

That model meant payments had to be a first-class part of the product from the start. Venue wanted infrastructure that was fast to integrate, flexible enough to support global expansion, and trustworthy enough that artists and their clients would use it. Working with Stripe, rather than building their own solution, freed the team to concentrate on the parts of the product only Venue could build.

“When you’re starting a new business, you want to focus on the really unique aspects of what makes your offering special to your clients. We were looking for a payments partner that was fast and simple to start with and would grow with us as the product evolved,” said Goldlist.

Solution

Members of the Venue team had worked with Stripe at previous companies and trusted both the flexibility of the platform and the depth of the documentation. What they wanted, beyond technology, was a payments partner that would scale alongside them as the product expanded, while leaving the team free to work on what mattered most.

“Because Stripe handles compliance and payments for us, our team gets to spend their time talking with tattoo artists and learning about their businesses,” said Goldlist. “That’s what shapes the product.”

The team integrated Stripe Connect to manage the flow of funds across the platform. Connect made it easy for Venue to start collecting payments on behalf of tattoo artists. Webhooks tie payment events to the rest of the product, so when a customer pays a deposit, Venue automatically sends a confirmation and prompts reminders for the appointment.

To get artists set up quickly, Venue uses Stripe-hosted onboarding, which handles compliance and Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. Artists are able to complete onboarding in minutes.

Venue implemented Stripe’s Optimized Checkout Suite, using Stripe elements to design a streamlined checkout. Each artist gets a custom booking link with an embedded payment element that accepts credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options including Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay. In the US, customers can also pay with Instant Bank Payments through Link, which lowers processing costs and settles in two business days, with Stripe guaranteeing the risk of bank-initiated returns.

For payouts, Venue offers Instant Payouts so artists who want immediate access to their money can get it on demand. Artists who prefer to design their own payout scheduling can take advantage of that feature, too.

With Stripe powering the payment system, Venue expanded from the US and Canada into the UK, Australia, and other markets across multiple currencies. The team has also integrated Stripe Terminal for in-person payments with Tap to Pay and hardware.

Results

Venue launches in weeks with a small team

Venue completed its Connect integration in weeks and went live in September 2023 with minimal engineering effort spent on payments. That let the team focus on shipping the platform and signing up early customers, whose feedback shaped what came next.

Two and a half years later, Venue has onboarded more than 10,000 tattoo artists. “An artist who’s motivated can go through onboarding in a couple of minutes and start spending more time on art and less time on admin,” said Goldlist. “Stripe is best-in-class at this, which lets us point our engineering at the parts of the product only we can build for artists.”

Venue averages more than 30% month-over-month payment volume growth

Venue received its first payment soon after launching: a $75 deposit for a flying grasshopper tattoo on a bicep. Since then, gross payment volume has averaged more than 30% month-over-month growth, and the platform now processes more than $40 million in gross payment volume annually.

Apple Pay drives 53% of payment volume

Tattoo artists’ clients expect the same payment flexibility that they have anywhere else. On Venue, Apple Pay accounts for 53% of customer payment volume, with credit cards making up the rest, and BNPLs account for 3% of US payment volume.

For artists, Instant Payouts has been adopted by more than 10% of the platform, putting funds in their hands at the end of a completed appointment.

Together, these flexible options for collecting payments and receiving payouts have reduced artists’ admin time.

International artists grow to more than 10% of Venue’s customer base

International artists already make up more than 10% of Venue’s customer base, with fast-growing communities in the UK, Australia, and beyond.

“Tattooing is a global art form. When artists outside North America started asking for Venue, Stripe gave us the infrastructure to say yes to them quickly,” said Goldlist.

A foundation for long-term growth

For self-employed artists, trust in the team matters as much as features in the product. Venue is profitable and built to last, with a small team that listens and responds quickly to feedback. Having a payments partner that operates with the same reliability has helped support the team’s success.

“A lot of software startups come and go in this space,” said Goldlist. “Having Stripe genuinely invested in our success is part of what lets us keep building for this industry long-term.”

Venue reinvests engineering time into artist-facing features

With Stripe handling the core payment infrastructure, Venue has reinvested engineering time into the features artists asked for, including customizable booking forms, flash art books, studio management, tattoo events, and more. As the product has evolved, Venue’s payments stack has scaled with it.

“From the start, Stripe felt less like a vendor and more like a partner,” said Goldlist. “As our product has expanded and our payments needs have gotten more sophisticated, Stripe has been at the table supporting our business and helping us grow.”