Stagedoor

Idea

Introduction

Stagedoor is London's first Theatre discovery app.

You can imagine it a bit like IMDb meets Trip Advisor but for Theatre. In a nutshell it helps Theatre goers discover and book the best shows in London through personalised recommendation algorithms and crowd sourced reviews.

Through Stagedoor theatre goers can access the most comprehensive database of more than 500 theatre performances in London - allowing them to follow their favourite Directors, Actors, Writers, Theatre companies and Venues in order to stay up to date with current and future productions.

Once they find a show they love, users can then save shows in a smart “wish list” which reminds them before a show opens or closes… no more excuses for missing a show.

Lastly theatre goers can seamlessly book tickets through the app and leave their reviews in their "Theatre Journal” sharing their experiences with other Theatre goers helping them discover the best shows to see

Intended impact

Being Theatre lovers ourselves and living in London, we’ve always experienced the struggle of finding the best shows to watch as well as the frustration of missing out on amazing shows we didn’t catch in time.

Looking at other industries where information is chaotic and scattered the rise of discovery apps was a natural step forward.

You’ve got Foursquare & Yelp for bars and restaurants, Vivino for wine, IMDb for movies but there really wasn’t anything for theatre.

There’s thousands of shows in London every year and staying up to date with whats on and what’s good is a full time job, having to check individual venue websites and filtering through the noise is hard.

Booking can also be a hassle having to create an account at every Venue website or ticketing website.

Stagedoor aims to solve the above. Helping theatre goers discover and book the best shows and helping more people come closer to Theatre by making information more accessible and relevant.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Phase 1: Build a product people love & form strong industry partnerships with Venues, Theatre companies and Theatre festivals.

Dec 2015: Raised its first round of funding in December 2015.

Aug 2016: Featured by Apple on the App store section "New Apps we love"

Current stats:
17,000+ downloads.
26,000+ Saved shows by Stagedoor users (to date).
6,000+ show reviews posted by Stagedoor users on the app.

Onboarded London’s biggest venues which now have Stagedoor verified profiles and thousands of followers on the app (some examples: Young Vic, Soho Theatre, Nimax Theatres, National Theatre and many more).

2017: Is the official app for 2 of London’s biggest festivals The Camden Fringe and The Vault festival.

Sept 2017: launched V1 of ticket bookings with more than 70 shows available to book through Stagedoor.

March 2017: Approved for EU Innovation Grant in March 2017 for up to €135,000.

Phase 2 (2018): Will be focused on growing our userbase and revenue streams. We also want to prepare for launching in the US.

Monetisation strategy

There are 4 main revenue streams which we intend to develop over the next 2 years.
1.Ticket sales to theatre shows booked via Stagedoor, 10-15% commission on tickets sold.

2. £5 subscription to Stagedoor Circle (Theatre club) having access to discounted shows, other discounts and unique experiences i.e. meeting with the Cast, show previews, Stagedoor community events (watching a show, drink and group dinner after the show to discuss about it.

3.Helping venues reach the right audience for their shows through our advertising platform. For example a venue marketing manager can target a highly relevant audience for a specific show. These are people who have Saved a show or people who are following the creatives involved. This data can be very powerful in helping managers engage and drive more people through the doors.

4.Paid Professional profiles for Theatre professionals, helping them showcase previous work, and create new work opportunities through an online network.

Use of proceeds

37.5% Marketing.
25% Engineering team salaries.
17.5% Management Salaries.
7.5% Business development.
6.5% Content team.
12% Other (offices, legal, accounting, expenses.

The company is pending to receive a €135K grant from the EU for which it has received approval in March 2017. There is a €60K shareholder loan which we have received in advance of receiving the grant money, which will be repaid as soon as the grant money is collected (expecting to receive it in Jan/Feb2018).