Backdoor

Backdoor transforms how people experience nightlife, events, and venues. Users open the mobile app, discover venues and events nearby on an interactive map, browse available passes, and purchase instantly with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or card. When they arrive, they skip the line — their digital pass is verified at the door in seconds. For venues and event organizers, Backdoor replaces spreadsheets and cash boxes with a professional commerce platform: real-time inventory management, Stripe Connect payouts, tiered pricing, and analytics that show exactly who's coming and when.

For Consumers — Discover venues and events near you with map-based search. Purchase passes instantly and store them in-app. Skip lines at the door with quick QR verification. Manage all your passes and purchase history in one place. For Venues — Onboard in minutes with Stripe Connect for instant payouts. Create multiple pass types with tier-based pricing. Track sales, inventory, and revenue in real time. Manage staff roles and permissions across locations. For Event Organizers — Launch multi-day events with per-day scheduling and inventory caps. Sell tickets directly through the web or mobile app. Process fees and platform splits automatically. Access post-event analytics and attendee insights. For Staff — Verify passes at the door with a simple scan. View real-time capacity and check-in counts. Manage entry flow without paper lists or manual tracking.

The core challenge was building a platform that serves three distinct user types — consumers, venue operators, and event organizers — with a seamless experience across web and mobile. Consumers expect instant discovery and checkout. Venues need professional commerce tools without the complexity of enterprise software. Event organizers require flexible ticketing that handles multi-day events, per-day inventory caps, and variable pricing. The platform had to support Stripe Connect for multi-party payments, PostGIS for real-time geolocation queries, biometric authentication for quick sign-in, and push notifications for purchase confirmations and updates — all while maintaining a single codebase across web and mobile.

Backdoor is built as a Turborepo monorepo with three core components: a Next.js 15 web application for consumer checkout and venue/event management dashboards, an Expo React Native mobile app for consumer discovery and purchases, and a shared tRPC server powering both clients with end-to-end type safety. The architecture enables code sharing across platforms while allowing each client to optimize for its context. The mobile app emphasizes map-based discovery, biometric login (Face ID/Touch ID), and Apple Wallet integration. The web app provides full administrative control for venues and event organizers, including Stripe Connect onboarding, inventory management, and revenue reporting.

The backend runs on PostgreSQL with PostGIS for geography-based venue and event queries. Prisma handles schema management and database access with full type safety. tRPC provides the API layer, enabling end-to-end TypeScript from database to UI with zero code generation. Stripe Connect powers all payments, with separate connected accounts for venues and event organizers, automatic fee splitting, and direct payouts. Push notifications use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Android and APNs for iOS, with server-side token management and notification scheduling. The infrastructure runs on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) with automated CI/CD pipelines, Docker containerization, and Azure Container Registry for image management. Azure Blob Storage handles media uploads for venue logos, event banners, and user avatars.

Backdoor delivers a complete commerce platform for the hospitality industry. Consumers get a frictionless experience from discovery to entry — no more waiting in lines or fumbling with screenshots of confirmation emails. Venues gain professional tools previously available only to large chains: real-time inventory, automated payouts, and customer insights. Event organizers can launch ticketed events with complex scheduling requirements in minutes, not weeks. The shared codebase approach cuts development time in half — new features ship simultaneously across web, iOS, and Android. Stripe Connect onboarding takes minutes, and venues start receiving payouts immediately after their first sale.

Backdoor's roadmap includes venue loyalty programs with points and rewards, group booking and split payments for party coordination, dynamic pricing based on demand and time-of-day, integration with reservation systems for table bookings, and expanded event analytics with heatmaps and flow analysis. Plans also include a venue discovery algorithm that learns user preferences and surfaces personalized recommendations.