PassPass

PassPass is a Belgian ticketing platform that we built because the existing options were either too expensive, too American, or too impersonal. We wanted something local, affordable, and actually pleasant to use for both organizers and attendees.

The origin

The idea came from a shared frustration. We were all using Eventbrite by default, not by choice. It’s costly, the UX is dated for organizers, and there’s no local support when something goes wrong at 11pm on event night. So in 2023, with Jean, Liory, and the rest of the team, we started building our own.

PassPass is now backed by ICE Louvain and Start IT CBC, and used by organizers across Belgium for events ranging from student parties to investment conferences.

What it does

The platform covers the full event lifecycle:

• Event pages — organizers create a branded event page with location, dates, descriptions, and custom theming
• Ticket sales — multiple ticket tiers, optional products/add-ons, promo codes (global or per-ticket), time slot booking
• Payments — Stripe-powered (Bancontact, Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay), PCI DSS level 1. Organizers choose to absorb fees or pass them to buyers
• QR check-in — each ticket gets a unique signed QR code. The PassPass Organizer app (iOS + Android) turns any phone into a scanner, with offline support
• Dashboard — real-time sales tracking, attendee lists, export, team roles and permissions
• E-invoicing (Peppol) — automated invoice generation in UBL/XML format, compliant with Belgium’s mandatory B2B e-invoicing regulation starting January 2026
• Custom fields — collect extra info from attendees before or after purchase
• Marketing — automated confirmation/reminder emails, webhook integrations, Meta Pixel and GTM tracking
• Multi-language — FR, NL, EN

Pricing is simple: 0.60 EUR + 2% per ticket sold. No subscription, no hidden fees. Free for free events. That’s roughly 40% cheaper than Eventbrite.

Architecture

The system is split into three main pieces:

• Website (pro.passpass.be) — a Next.js app handling SEO, landing pages, and event discovery
• Dashboard (dashboard.passpass.be) — a Vite + React SPA where organizers manage everything
• API — originally built in Rust, currently being migrated to NestJS to unify the stack and make it easier to evolve the product with the rest of the team

The scanning app is built with React Native and communicates with the API over REST. QR codes encode a signed ticket identifier that can be verified even without network connectivity.

The team

PassPass isn’t a solo project. The core team:

• Jean d’Huart — co-founder, product manager
• Timour Petit (me) — co-founder, full stack developer
• Liory Prud’homme — co-founder, marketing manager
• Henri Lobeau — business development & account management
• Martin Andre — software & full stack engineer
• Eva Borlee — marketing project coordinator

Current focus

The main engineering effort right now is the API migration from Rust to NestJS. The Rust API worked well, but having the backend in a different language ecosystem from the rest of the stack (TypeScript everywhere else) created friction for the team. NestJS gives us a consistent stack while keeping things structured.

Beyond that, we’re actively onboarding new organizers and refining features based on real event usage.