A short story of GigsGuide

What is GigsGuide?

GigsGuide is a frustrated traveller's solution to finding meaningful and enjoyable activities that matter to you when you travel. We don't want to tell you what you should do or see, we just want to show you what great events are out there (wherever you may roam) and help you catch them! In fact, we are pretty sure that some psychologists might call us enablers. :)

Why GigsGuide? A Short Story

Hello darkness my old friend

It all started at the height of our founder (and our resident original "Lonely Boy") Francesco's career in the web domain industry. Being the front-man of launching .cloud took gargantuan willpower and many, many (did we mention many?) days on the road. Now this may sound very glamorous and jet set until you realise that more often than not, the different cities and hotels end up blending into one and you're all alone sitting in a bar, tippling a jar in the hotel on a Friday evening at 9pm. Hence, Francesco's title "Lonely Boy".

We’re not gonna take it anymore

One day, Francesco finally acknowledged that there was a hole in his soul. He didn’t want to miss a thing while travelling so much. Enough was enough and that a change was gonna come. He was passionate about culture and music, so he was always looking for interesting events to attend while away on business trips. This lead to many amazing experiences at live music events, but it took a lot of time and effort to find these manually. As the frustration grew, he started wondering if there was a better way to do this.

If you start me up, I'll never stop

By 2016, Francesco had been sitting on the idea of GigsGuide for a while. Then, one day Mikhail popped up on messenger, looking for a new project and it wasn't long before they said "We've got each other and that's a lot for love (of music). We'll give it a shot!"

Francesco started testing the first version of the app on his travels in the US in May 2017, which led not only to the discovery of many cool bands but also the realisation there was a real opportunity to help more people find cool gigs to see on their travels.

After much information gathering, pounding the pavements, knocking down the doors, testing, re-testing and reworking of features, we find ourselves in the present day. The second brew of GigsGuide is here, ready to be served to the public. And yes, we do love our coffee. Black. ;)

Read more about our vision on the following pages: