Getyoo is a Belgian start-up which allows you to centralize your online activity in one place and share it in the real world. Thanks to the Getyoo Key, Getyoo lets you connect to people and objects in the real world and collect online information.
The idea of Getyoo started in 2005 in the mind of Geoffroy Simon and one of his friends on a Greek holiday. Disappointed by missed attempts to chat girls up they started dreaming of a tool that would allow them to click girls and get their contact details. What was at the time only a student joke will transform a few years later into a real project.
Geoffroy presented his idea of exchanging virtual profiles at the “Start Academy for Young Entrepreneurs” and reached the semi finals. Then he started a course at the Solvay Business School and bought a gourmet food store. This first experience as an entrepreneur will be determinative for Geoffroy.
One year later he met by chance Alexis Tinel who was a client of his store. He was back from London and looking for a project to develop. They talked about the project and decided to launch it. In January 2009, they wrote a business plan and started looking for investors. They were young and without a solid work experience but the crisis worked in their favour: they met investors who were less interested in the stock exchange and looking for smaller projects in which they could get involved personally, they played the role of “business angels”. The Brussels Region was the first to grant some financing, followed by 7 private investors. In June the first developments started to get the first prototype and a first webplatform.
They launched Getyoo officially on the 21st of October 2009 at the Betagroup and started selling their first Clickeys to event organizers. The tool allows to exchange digital business cards in one click and to click objects and posters in order to get digital documentation from exhibitors’ booths. In 2011 they launched a new NFC interactive card allowing to interact with social networks such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter which opened up a wide range of possibilities in the world of music events and trade shows.
In july 2011 they completed a new round of funding, €600.000 of seed investment, led by Eric Bigeard, ex-CEO of Lyreco, a key international player in the office supplies industry.
The company is now selling its products to many events such as conferences, trade show and festivals. The technology will be available in the next Motor Show in Brussels in January 2012, with 300.000 NFC cards to be distributed allowing visitors to collect digital brochures and interact with social networks.
- Don’t hesitate to turn to public institutions to obtain financing. Especially in a period of crisis when banks are more reluctant to grant money. You will find an impressive number of people willing to help you as long as you are pro active.
- Don’t underestimate the time of learning when you launch a project; there are always parts of the job you don’t control at first.
- Ignore details at first, work from large to small and don’t waste time on problems you don’t have yet.
More info on www.getyoo.com
Copyright © Microsoft® Innovation Center Belgium