Every great startup begins with a personal frustration. What was the moment that made you think, “There has to be a better way for people to discover and experience a city than searching dozens of websites and apps?”
Ben Scholte: Every year my girlfriend deserves a fully planned birthday with lots of surprises. The first year I took her to see Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, but I didn’t have anything else planned on the itinerary. The next year, I had more activities planned in Ottawa, but I still felt it could have been better tailored to suit her mood.
This year I took her to see Cardi B in Hamilton and it was pouring rain, so our plans had to shift. We still got to see Cardi B perform, but what else was there to do around the hotel? I noticed the hotel had a pamphlet rack, but it only recommended attractions like city tours, ziplining, rafting, and generic tourist activities that didn’t fit the vibe. With the rain, half of those were immediately ruled out.
That’s when the idea for GooSee was born: an app that recommended nearby places based on your mood, your budget, and the weather.
GooSee isn’t just helping travelers – it also creates new opportunities for local restaurants, cafés, shops, and attractions. How does your platform enable small businesses to attract more customers while giving visitors a more authentic local experience?
Ben Scholte: Similar to how Uber connects riders with drivers, many restaurants and businesses already offer deals to bring people in like happy hour discounts, buy-one-get-one-free dinners, a free dessert with your meal, or a free bucket of golf balls when you bring two people to the driving range. Those are just a few examples of how businesses incentivize people to spend money at their establishment.
The problem is that most guests don’t discover those offers until they’ve already chosen that business and arrived on-site. GooSee lets tourists and travellers learn about your offers while they are still making their daily plan before they’ve committed anywhere else.
Imagine you’re a traveller and you plan your day where for breakfast you get a free coffee, for lunch you get a free dessert, for the afternoon activity you get an additional 20% off, and for dinner you get a two-for-one meal. GooSee makes that kind of day not just possible but easy to plan.
As a business owner, you get full visibility into how your perk is performing. You will see that your $19/month perk generated, for example, $600 in revenue from GooSee redemptions alone, and GooSee helps drive that foot traffic even on days when the weather isn’t ideal, keeping your business profitable year-round.
The best part is, it’s a community-driven platform. Anyone can add their favourite place for others to go see and experience.
Ottawa is your launch city, and you’re working closely with Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) to bring local merchants onto the platform. Why was it important to start locally, and how do you envision this model scaling to cities across Canada and beyond?
Ben Scholte: With Ottawa being one of Canada’s top tourism and travel destinations, it is a prime place to launch GooSee. Ottawa has over 18 BIAs, and now they will have a way to showcase their local experiences, drive foot traffic, and analyze who is visiting their area and where tourists are spending their time.
Right now, GooSee’s Smart Concierge embeddable widgets are 100% free for hotels, BIAs, and any businesses looking to offer their travelers the best experience and value in their area.
Imagine I’m visiting Ottawa for two nights. How would GooSee plan my trip differently from Google Maps, TripAdvisor, or ChatGPT? What makes the experience unique enough that users would keep coming back?
Ben Scholte: Google Maps shows you everything in Ottawa, but it can be overwhelming, mixing restaurants in with grocery stores and gas stations. TripAdvisor surfaces the same activities all year round, which may not be relevant to your visit. Those options can also be more expensive than what you’re actually looking for; for example, a hidden local coffee shop rarely surfaces on those platforms.
ChatGPT is a popular new way to find places, but it may not be accurate, recommending spots that have closed in recent years or have moved.
GooSee is tailored to you.
If the right partner were reading this story today, what would you want them to know? Who are you looking to connect with – BIAs, tourism boards, municipalities, local merchants, investors, or strategic partners – to help GooSee scale across Canada?
Ben Scholte: GooSee is starting its pilot in Ottawa and then expanding city by city across Canada. I’m looking for local experiential businesses to add their locations to the map and offer perks to travelers.
The first 10 perk redemptions for businesses are completely free, and then each perk is $19 per month after that.
Hotels, BIAs, and tourism boards should reach out to info@GooSee.ca for a demo and to collaborate on bringing their community to GooSee for free.
