A team of UBC student entrepreneurs was announced the winner of the University Mobile Challenge at the GSMA World Mobile Congress in Barcelona on March 1, beating out student teams from around the world with their mobile app that could change the future of event ticketing.
The goodnights app provides a convenient paperless event ticketing solution. Users can buy tickets on their phone and then use the phone to gain access to events. The app further helps fans, artists and promoters by addressing the resale of tickets in the same mobile platform, allowing the simple and safe transfer of tickets between people. Capitalizing on the inherently social nature of events, the goodnights app also allows fans to co-ordinate their social activities as well as promote their favorite artists by sharing ticket purchases directly on their social networks.
The team consists of Sauder School of Business Commerce student Michael Moll, Commerce/ Computer Science student Jeff Blake and Justin Locke also a UBC student in the Faculty of Arts and a member of the same UBC fraternity who saw the vision, joined the team and provided funding to get the venture incorporated and off the ground. The trio has known each other for a number of years and Blake and Moll met at commerce orientations in their first year and hit it off right away. They all share a deep passion for tech, people and entrepreneurship which is a key driver for their success, and already have a few start up attempts under their belts.
They were selected as the UBC entry in the competition run by the Berkeley Mobile International Collaborative (BMIC) after winning the entrepreneurship@UBC Hackathon event with their goodnights app at the start of the year. They were then selected by BMIC as one of the 14 teams from countries including France, Egypt, UK, India and the USA to compete in Barcelona at the World Mobile Congress. After a two-day bootcamp, competitors pitched their apps to a panel of 3 judges, from various industries connected to mobile, before being announced winners.
After winning the entrepreneurship@UBC Hackathon, the company is also now occupying office space in the new entrepreneurship@UBC facility and is receiving support from the Start-up Services Voucher program offered by the UBC University-Industry Liaison Office through the entrepreneurship@UBC initiative.
The team recently formed Good Nights Entertainment to bring the app to market and have now launched their first iPhone and Android versions of the app. By providing a paperless system with low overheads and a simple mechanism for promoters and artists, and by serving the significant ticket resale market, the company is now looking to attract additional venues, promoters and ticket buyers who can all benefit from the smaller transaction fee being charged.
Blake closed the goodnights pitch in Barcelona with “We do it for the creators, the artists, the athletes and performers. For the celebration of that pure experience of human ability. Live. And that’s what’s good.” And with that goodnights is set on its mission to change the world of tickets.
