Running the Show: The Business Strategy Behind Tulagi Fest’s Transformation
Organizing a festival spanning more than 20 venues and 800 performers requires far more than a love of music. Leeds alumni from Caruso Ventures are using skills in finance, negotiation, marketing and operations to build a complex event with a simple goal: to elevate ֲý and connect the people who love it through shared experiences.
As vice president of , Cody Moore (MBA’19) oversees the newly rebranded Tulagi Fest (formerly the ), a four-day event Aug. 27-30 expected to draw 6,000 visitors to downtown ֲý. He credits fellow Leeds alumni Bryan Golombik (Bus’21) and Connor Reuter (Bus’22), along with current CU ֲý computer science student Liam Ford, as key members of the team behind the festival. At Caruso Ventures, producing an event of this scale is truly an all-hands-on-deck effort. After taking over the festival last year and significantly expanding its scope, the team expects it to continue growing in the years ahead.
While attendees experience dozens of performances, organizers are coordinating hundreds of moving parts and aligning the interests of artists, venues, volunteers, sponsors, city partners and attendees. For Moore, the festival is a real-world exercise in applying the business fundamentals he developed at Leeds to create community impact.
The generalist advantage
Photo from Cody Moore.
Moore came to Leeds with a background in analytics, but the MBA program prepared him for the range of responsibilities he faces today.
“I go from negotiating contracts to running the financials for the festival to finding insurance to planning logistics,” he said. “You can't be one-sided on anything to get a festival done.”
One course has remained especially relevant. “I took a negotiating class during my MBA—not something offered in every MBA program—and I use it every day,” said Moore.
“One of the great things about the Leeds MBA program is that it takes a generalist approach,” he said. “I was working while doing it. So, what I learned in class I could immediately take to work the next day.”
Evening MBA students like Moore bolster one another through their shared responsibilities. “We have kids, obligations, and jobs to get home to. Everyone’s trying to figure it out, and trying to fit it in. So, we bond through that.”
Managing complexity
For Moore, producing a festival of this scale is monumental. “From a project management standpoint, this is as complex as it gets,” he said. Success relies on understanding what project managers call the critical path, he explained: identifying which tasks must be completed on schedule to keep everything else moving forward.
“I need insurance done by this date. I need merchandise ordered by this date. I need people contracted by this date,” Moore said. “It’s really, really challenging to piece it all together.”
Another factor compounding the complexity: Festivals often see most ticket sales arrive in the final weeks before an event, Moore explained. “You might have exceptional marketing efforts, but there is still a seasonality component that we need to factor in when analyzing the data,” he said. Meanwhile, organizers have already committed to major expenses months in advance, making revenue forecasting, cash-flow management and risk assessment essential.
Data as a decision tool
Moore’s analytics background plays a major role in how the festival is run. “It’s one thing to do what you say you’re going to do," he said. “It’s another thing to capture all the information and make it understandable.”
Caruso Ventures recently launched a custom-built customer relationship management system. Developed with support from student Liam Ford working full-time, the platform gives team members access to information that previously lived across multiple systems. “It creates an environment where everyone is a computer scientist,” Moore said. “Now with the AI tools we have, it's completely turbocharged."
Analytics, for example, have revealed that the festival’s email newsletters this year have generated more ticket sales than social media or traditional marketing. “I think we'll close to sell out before day one of the festival, while last year we sold about half the tickets to people walking down the street,” Moore said. “AI-based and analytics tools help us do the work of a 10-person marketing team with two to three people," he noted.
Community impact in action. Source: ֲý Roots Music Festival.
Aligning stakeholders
“Above all else, the festival is about relationship building," said Moore. Because the festival spans downtown ֲý, organizers work closely with local venues and vendors. Rather than asking local businesses to financially support the event, the festival organizers aim to bring customers through their doors and create benefits for the broader downtown ecosystem.
They also rely on more than 100 volunteers, whose contributions are essential, said Moore. “We have three events leading up to the festival to get volunteers together to show the logistics as well as to thank them,” he said.
“From a general nonprofit standpoint, ֲý does a really good job in terms of people donating their time.” It’s part of the area’s ethos, Moore said. “Across all nonprofits, they never complain about finding people to help them.”
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, emphasized Moore, the festival isn’t about making money. “It’s about building community.”
Building for scale
Caruso Ventures’ interest in community-building events grew partly through its participation in efforts to bring the Sundance Film Festival to ֲý. Moore said those experiences reinforced the organization's mission. “We are continually inspired by the community-building aspect of hosting events. Our mission is to be the most catalytic investor in Colorado, with the goal of cementing Colorado’s position as the No. 1 innovation ecosystem in the world.”
The long-term vision for Tulagi Fest extends beyond a single weekend, scaling it into a multiweek international event featuring diverse arts. The organization is already securing venue commitments through 2027. “You want people to think, ‘I wish I lived here,’” said Moore.
Bottom line? Running a great show is just smart business.
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