“What I’ve spent just an inordinate amount of time doing is working deeper and deeper with Claude code and OpenClaw,” Hartz continues. “I’m doing the things I think a lot of people should be doing, but unfortunately, don’t have the time.”

The businesswoman is also excited by the idea of doing it all over again, but not by putting her name behind another company. Instead, she’s keen on learning by returning to the very bottom of the corporate totem pole: through an internship. Hartz values that early-career experience as a way to gain access and learn more—and she wishes other seasoned leaders took time to intern for one another, even spending a week at the bottom of the food chain.

“I love the idea of internships,” Hartz says. “I’ve always loved the idea of people who are established in their careers going to intern for each other.”

Hartz’s $500 million exit after two decades building Eventbrite

Eventbrite has been connecting users with niche community activities for over two decades, distributing tens of millions of paid tickets annually and platforming millions of events each year. But last year, when Hartz and her board reevaluated how the company should move forward, it was clear something had to change. They landed on the decision to sell to Bending Spoons and go private, ending Hartz’s two-decade run scaling Eventbrite into a cultural staple.

“I always likened myself, visually, [to] a granny with a shotgun on the porch. I never wanted to sell the company, [it] never was a gold mine,” Hartz explains. “In fact, I felt that I needed to make that abundantly clear so that no one would try to come and take the company.”

“In that, one of the hard things that you have to do as the CEO of a company is constantly be looking out ahead and making somewhat dispassionate decisions on what is best for the company…even if it’s orthogonal to where your heart is.”

There have been a host of financial concerns since Eventbrite went public in 2018; the IPO initially valued the company at $1.76 billion, but in the eight years following, its stock has cratered. And the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t do the business any favors—its consumers were quarantined at home, as large public gatherings were heavily restricted. In the last several years, Eventbrite has struggled with profitability, and weathered a slew of headcount reductions. Hartz said the company was rebuilt after lockdown, but the cycle had “come to fruition,” and it was time to think about Eventbrite’s next metamorphosis.

“My mindset was: let’s take the company private. It was clear that Eventbrite needed to be a private company. We would benefit greatly from not having that overhead, cost, and burden,” Hartz explains. “I needed to put my ego aside to do the right thing.”

It was a hard decision to make, and Hartz says her board—consisting almost entirely of women, save for one man—chipped in a diversity of opinions. However, they decided that a small cap company like Eventbrite has a harder time gaining a dedicated investor base to see them to greater success.

Taking the business private, and stepping away from her role as CEO, was no cake walk. But Hartz is excited for Eventbrite’s next iteration and what her own future holds as a free agent.

“I’m so grateful that I got to lead a company that I helped create,” Hartz says. “I just think that shouldn’t ever be a foregone conclusion or entitlement, people have to really earn that privilege, and it’s the honor of a lifetime.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com