| Thorgate

Our own startup

We had a vision, we launched the first MVP, we sold it door-to-door on the streets of Miami, New York and London, we pitched it to investors, we pivoted, we fundraised, we won Seedcamp London in 2013. We went through all the startup-hassle. GateMe PRO is a separate revenue-making business today having hundreds of paying customer globally and growing every month. We have used experience from GateMe in many other projects.

Customer development

The first MVP for GateMe PRO was simple and easy - just enough to get the clients interested and ask feedback. While visiting nightclubs and event organisers in Estonia, London, San Francisco and Miami we understood what nightclubs and event organisers actually need. By designing several user stories and testing them on the market, we evolved the whole GateMe PRO product to the level it is today.

Check out GateMe PRO

Start with concept

Minimum viable product

Engage customers

Improve business model

Best startup experience

When building GateMe we used Eric Ries's lean startup methods, best practices from Steve Blank's customer development, and ideas from Weinberg's and Mares's Traction book.

Design experience

User experience was the key target when building GateMe PRO. Via continuous design iterations, A/B and usability tests, we were testing out what works and what doesn’t. We understood that data is extremely important when making decisions about user interface.

Product experience

This was a great experience in how to build robust products and prototype features quickly and efficiently. In addition to product design, we improved our knowledge in PostgreSQL database optimizations, caching, writing beautiful APIs for mobile applications, and creating different payment integrations including Stripe, banklinks, and mobile payments.

Investment experience

Combined experience from Seedcamp (the best European startup accelerator) and Estonian Tehnopol startup Incubator has given us understanding how to build up startups and what makes a great team to invest in.

We also designed and developed a simple and user-friendly end-consumer side for GateMe. It allows people to book to music events, club events, and concerts more easily than ever, both via the web and also on mobile. The end-consumer side has today become one of the biggest entertainment ticketing portals in Estonia.

Simple web interface

When designing the GateMe user web, the main target was user experience: exploring the events in your favourite city and making the purchase had to be as simple as possible.

Native mobile applications

In order to offer the best experience to end-consumer we developed native iOS and Android applications. Both Android and iOS versions have ticket purchase functionality as well as easy exploring possibilities.

I cannot imagine running a nightclub without GateMe anymore!

Alex Skornia, manager of Berlin 365 club