# Sean Moriarty

> Sean Moriarty is the CEO of Primer.ai, a San Francisco-based AI company delivering trusted, mission-critical artificial intelligence to defense agencies, intelligence communities, and enterprise clients. A veteran technology executive who began as a QA engineer at Citysearch in 1997 alongside future founders of OpenTable and Peloton, Moriarty went on to run Ticketmaster as its President and CEO, transforming it into a top-5 global internet commerce company with $1.5 billion in annual revenue across 22 countries. After stints as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Mayfield Fund and CEO of Saatchi Art and Leaf Group, he joined Primer in April 2023 to lead its mission of providing AI-enabled information advantage to those who support and defend democracy. The son of a Vietnam veteran and grandson of a WWII veteran, Moriarty brings both personal conviction and hard-won operational expertise to one of the most consequential AI deployments in the world.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer at Primer.ai
- **Organizations:** Primer.ai, Special Operations Warrior Foundation (Ambassador), Pat Tillman Foundation (Former Co-Chair), CoachArt (Board Member), Eventbrite (Board Member)
- **From:** Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's Degree, University of South Carolina, Graduate Studies, Boston University, Graduate Studies, University of South Carolina
- **Known for:** Transformed Ticketmaster from an offline business into a top-5 global internet commerce company with $1.5 billion in annual revenue and operations in 22 countries, Led Primer.ai to achieve near-zero hallucination rate of 0.3% for defense AI deployments, compared to industry average of 10%, Raised $69M Series D for Primer.ai to accelerate AI-enabled information advantage for defense and intelligence agencies

## Career timeline

- **1997** — Joined Citysearch as a founding technology team member - one of the earliest internet search engines, predating Google and Yelp
- **1999** — Citysearch acquired by Ticketmaster; moved into technology leadership at Ticketmaster
- **2000** — Became Ticketmaster's EVP of Product and Technology, CTO, and COO
- **2005** — Appointed President and CEO of Ticketmaster; led company to become a top-5 global internet commerce company with $1.5B in annual revenue across 22 countries
- **2009** — Departed Ticketmaster; joined Mayfield Fund as Entrepreneur in Residence
- **2009-2012** — Entrepreneur in Residence at Mayfield Fund, a leading venture capital firm
- **2013** — Became CEO of Saatchi Art, an online art gallery marketplace with 45,000+ artists selling to buyers in 77 countries
- **2014** — Appointed CEO of Demand Media (later rebranded Leaf Group), overseeing Society6, Saatchi Art, Well+Good, and Hunker
- **2020** — Led Leaf Group to 53 million unique monthly visitors and revenue growth from $155M to $212M
- **2023-04** — Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Primer.ai, succeeding founder Sean Gourley
- **2023-06** — Closed $69M Series D round for Primer.ai, led by Addition with U.S. Innovative Technology Fund participation
- **2024** — Launched Primer Delta, a self-curating AI knowledge base analyzing millions of documents in seconds; achieved near-zero hallucination rates (0.3%) for defense deployments

## Achievements

- Transformed Ticketmaster from an offline business into a top-5 global internet commerce company with $1.5 billion in annual revenue and operations in 22 countries
- Led Primer.ai to achieve near-zero hallucination rate of 0.3% for defense AI deployments, compared to industry average of 10%
- Raised $69M Series D for Primer.ai to accelerate AI-enabled information advantage for defense and intelligence agencies
- Scaled Leaf Group to $212M in annual revenue and 53M monthly unique visitors
- Led Saatchi Art to connect artists in 95 countries with buyers in 77 countries - one of the world's largest online art marketplaces
- Served as Co-Chair of the Pat Tillman Foundation for over a decade
- Led teams through dot-com crash, 9/11, the Great Recession, and the COVID-19 pandemic
- Oversaw Metacloud as Chairman through its acquisition by Cisco

## Latest updates

- **2024-10** — Primer AI announced near-zero hallucination update to its AI platform, achieving a 0.3% hallucination rate versus industry average of 10%
- **2024-09** — Sean Moriarty spoke at Air Force Association conference urging DoD to accelerate AI adoption amid growing global threats
- **2023-06** — Primer closed $69M Series D funding round led by Addition with U.S. Innovative Technology Fund participation
- **2023-04** — Sean Moriarty appointed CEO of Primer.ai, succeeding founder Sean Gourley

## Links

- Website: https://primer.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/seanpmoriarty
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/primer_ai

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sean-moriarty
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-22