A new month, a new update! There is plenty of stuff to inform you about, so let’s get to it. How about we start off with a nice quote?

“GET Protocol is such a stellar example of a straightforward use case for blockchain technology that I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it myself.” — InvestInBlockchain

That felt good, right? Now let’s see what else has been going on.

Media Mentions

Check out the mentions of GET and GUTS over the past month.

GET Protocol named as one of the ‘Up and Coming cryptocurrencies to watch’;

GUTS Tickets mentioned as one of the practical blockchain solutions by NOS (National broadcasting company in Holland);

Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, published an article analysing the blockchain hype. GUTS Tickets is shown as one of the few projects that are actually successful. (In the interactive map in the article.);

Later on in the month, GUTS Tickets is mentioned again as an example of a blockchain project that is ‘not bragging about it, but steadily working on something good and new.’

The good folks from Liquid shared GET’s explainer video and the fact that we are listed there. That’s what we call a shill-shill;

After a fairly controversial sale of Rammstein tickets this past month, the discussion about fair ticketing flared up again in Dutch media and politics. Politician Peter Kwint, who has been fighting for tougher regulations on this front in Dutch politics for some time, once again tried to gain some ground by asking for action. Jochem Myjer pointed him once again to GUTS, mentioning that none of the 50.000 tickets sold through GUTS have been resold by scalpers.

Translation: ‘We have the waterproof system so far! 50.000 tickets sold recently and not 1 has been resold. Contact GUTS Tickets.’

Not long after that the political party SP released a manifesto prompting the Dutch government to take action against ticket scalping. This document was signed and supported by dozens of the biggest Dutch artists and it mentioned GUTS as one of the readily available solutions that should be looked at. This initiative was picked up widely by the media (1, 2, 3) and once again turned the talk of the day to the need for honest ticketing. See the initial statement here:

We will of course keep you updated on any relevant developments as they occur.

Good stuff, when f*cking buy-back though?

The date of the second buy-back is unfortunately not yet available to disclose. We have a pretty clear idea about when it will happen, we’re just not at liberty to share this since it is still subject to change.

The bottom line is this: Tickets are being sold constantly and shows are being planned and performed, so of course the buy-back is going to happen either way. The only variable is when the sale takes place, meaning one of three scenarios will occur:

1.) The Q4 buy-back will occur in December, exactly as expected;

2.) The Q4 buy-back demand might be a bit lower than we initially expected, with a certain amount of demanded tokens added to a buy-back in early 2019;

3.) The buy-back will be held in full as expected, but in Q1 of 2019.

Unrelated note: If an angry man ever forces you to eat one of three potentially-poisonous jellybeans, make sure you have read this. You’re welcome.

Okay… But why? Don’t you sell the tickets yourself and determine when the buy-back is?

The reason for this dependency is the fact that we are bound to external strategies, agreements and other occurrences that we have no influence over. In ticketing land there are strict no-publicity rules about events that haven’t been completely cleared to announce. Since the buy-backs are directly connected to an exact amount of tickets sold, jumping the gun and using a rough estimate in a rushed buy-back announcement can lead to confusion, forced corrections and perhaps even unhappy clients.

To further pull back the curtain; There are some big sales planned which require buy-backs, but these are carefully planned alongside elaborate media & marketing strategies (which have nothing to do with us). These types of strategies are never fully set in stone and can always be adjusted partly to calibrate for maximum publicity and impact. They could roll out exactly as predicted, or could be postponed slightly (this would be a matter of weeks, tops) because the timing isn’t right on the initially chosen date or the projected demand is so high that the artist, management and venue may want to add performances. In a nutshell: there are forces at play that we can’t control, but obviously do prepare ourselves for. It’s an interesting market.

This isn’t meant as a cop out and it does not mean that we are sitting on our hands waiting for the phone to ring. Streamlining and routinizing the ongoing buy-back process is a big priority, as it is an integral and important part of our roadmap. We want to automate this of course, which is why we are carefully assessing the current information-sharing process and looking at how this can be structured and applied in an efficient way.

As soon as we have a date and additional details, we will pass these on to you.

Business development

There have been some interesting developments on the business front. Have a look:

1.) Theaters

The list of theaters that have used GUTS Tickets is constantly growing. Every time a new theater works with GUTS, their specific seating map is carefully entered into the system, taking into account the lay-outs, ticket types and exceptions. Every seat, variable, ticket type, wheelchair spot, and exit needs to be perfect.

So for example, here is (part of) the seating map for Carré:

And here’s part of the seat map for Theater Heerlen:

As you can see it’s a totally different animal, complete with its own rules and workings. No two theaters are even close to being the same and that’s exactly what keeps things fun!

Here’s a complete list of theaters that are either currently using GUTS or have done pilots and are in talks with the team about specifics with regards to implementation:

Stadsschouwburg En Philharmonie Haarlem (Haarlem) Amphion (Doetinchem) Stichting De Meervaart (Amsterdam) Schouwburg Venray (Venray) Heven Theater Markant Exploitatie (Uden) Zwolse Theaters, de Spiegel (Zwolle) Cool Kunst En Cultuur (Heerhugowaard) De Harmonie (Leeuwarden) Theater Heerlen (Heerlen) Theaterhotel De Oranjerie (Roermond) Schouwburg En Congrescentrum Orpheus (Apeldoorn) Agnietenhof (Tiel) Martiniplaza (Groningen) Theater De Nieuwe Kolk (Assen) Schouwburg Amstelveen (Amstelveen) Stadsschouwburg Utrecht (Utrecht) Theater Sneek (Sneek) De Koornbeurs (Franeker) De Molenberg (Delfzijl) Theater de Klinker (Winschoten) Parktheater (Eindhoven) Schouwburg Cuijk (Cuijk) TivoliVredenburg (Utrecht) Flint Theater (Amersfoort) Theater aan de Schie (Schiedam) Koninklijke Schouwburg Den Haag (Den Haag) Koninklijk Theater Carré (Amsterdam)

2.) Crypto

GUTS Tickets will be ticketing the ‘Blockchain Talks’ events. A great organisation with interesting meet-ups for crypto enthusiasts and professionals. Our very own Kasper is also speaking at the Blockchain Talks #14 event of December 6th. Get your tickets here.

This marks a step in the widening scope of events that we are ticketing. Besides the theater shows mentioned above and the stadium show previously announced, our solution is applicable to a wide variety of other events. We have been flirting with relevant, substantial crypto and business events (we have done pilots for similar events before) and are happy to have found a great recurring event in Blockchain Talks.

3.) New local leads

The success and exposure of the Jochem Myjer sale for his 36 Carré shows is drawing a lot of attention from big artists, theaters and managements.

Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam.

We are receiving new applications and invites from relevant players, and have heard from others that they will be closely monitoring the implementation and ticketing of the shows in Carré, starting in January of 2019. It’s great to know that the right eyes are on us and we are doing everything we can to make sure we nail it.

4.) International prospects

Here’s that beautiful broken record we all love, ready? We are in advanced talks with several parties across multiple continents (no, we are not counting Europe) about the implementation and usage of GET Protocol.

I understand that this sounds similar to the typical crypto-hype nonsense we all have come to hate and I’ll be the first to admit that this can come off as an empty statement after repeating it for a while, so I’d like to provide you with some insights into the inner workings of what’s going on.

Disclaimer: Of course I can’t give any details until the ink has dried on the right documents (trust me, I’ve tried to leak more details but was firmly reminded that it indeed would be a shame if something were to happen to my pretty face) so you will have to live with some generalisations for now.

Often we are approached by parties who ask us the question ‘how can we start doing what you are doing with GUTS as soon as possible?’ To which we reply ‘By building on the protocol!’

This answer comes with some caveats though, as the development of the protocol is still ongoing and the development capacities of local parties vary greatly and may take a while to get everything needed in place.

To make things more efficient we are standardizing the protocol in certain ways to improve accessibility and reduce the efforts needed to implement it. In some instances we are even willing to share part of the GUTS front-end in order to make the process easier.

As soon as the threat of physical harm is lifted over disclosing any details at all, it shall be shared.

Technical development

The dev team doesn’t tend to sit still. (Metaphorically that is, they are in fact actually very quiet.) Here’s a recap of what they have been up to in the last few weeks.

The team has a great new addition in the shape of the human they call Antonio, our new Head of Product. Antonio will be “responsible for the product strategy, creating a clear product vision and constantly prioritizing product solutions to reach our business goals.” Don’t take these quotation-marked words to be the truth, you can also read his introduction blog here.

Antonio’s arrival has also facilitated the long-awaited goal of streamlining our developers into two teams. This will enable us to coordinate the sprints more efficiently and make progress on multiple fronts at a quicker pace.

We have wrapped up version 2.0 of the mobile ticket wallet, which we can’t wait to show you. It will be released in the app store in the upcoming month. You know what, we’ll just show you a quick sneak peek, get ready to scroll:

Pretty snazzy, right? We’ll let you know when it’s out!

Furthermore there have been functionalities added to the Organizer Dashboard that provide the Event Organizers with additional control over their tickets. They can now…

Converting tickets has never been easier!

…easily convert tickets to other types, such as section / capacities / access rights (see image on the left).

…make use of an expanded guestlist feature;

…apply improved register functions (including seat selection for these types of tickets).