In this episode of the Startup Show I sit down with Catherine Seys, Director of Excurio, to discuss how her company is transforming the way we experience history and culture. Excurio specializes in creating immersive expeditions, leveraging VR to transport users to different times and places in a deeply engaging and interactive way.

What is Excurio?

Excurio’s immersive expeditions are 45-minute virtual reality (VR) adventures set in large, dedicated spaces. Unlike traditional VR setups, these experiences allow users to physically roam freely without worrying about running into walls or other obstacles. This is made possible by advanced tracking technologies that map users’ movements and ensure a smooth, collision-free experience.

Current venues offer experiences such as:

• Traveling to ancient Egypt during the Pharaohs' era.

• Exploring Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

• Witnessing the evolution of life on Earth, in collaboration with the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

• Re-living the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 Paris.

The Technology Behind the Magic

Excurio’s innovative platform incorporates black-and-white markers on walls, enabling headsets to pinpoint user locations in real time. This system allows for a highly interactive and natural VR experience. Users see each other as avatars, ensuring seamless social interactions during the experience.

A Focus on Cultural Accessibility

A standout feature of Excurio’s expeditions is their commitment to blending scholarly accuracy with engaging storytelling. For instance:

• The Horizon of Khufu project involved collaboration with Harvard Egyptologist Peter D’Armanuelle Lyon to accurately reconstruct the Great Pyramid, even including restricted areas and recreating scenes from ancient funerals.

• Their Life Chronicles experience worked closely with paleontologists to build authentic paleo landscapes.

• Tonight with the Impressionists brings art history to life, allowing users to interact with Impressionist painters before they achieved fame.

This approach makes cultural and historical knowledge more accessible and exciting to a broad audience.

The Business Model and Growth

Excurio has demonstrated that VR can be both impactful and profitable. With venues operating successfully worldwide, the company is setting a benchmark for VR-based location-based entertainment (LBE). They’ve also achieved a significant technical milestone: hosting more than 100 simultaneous VR users in a single space.

Looking ahead, Excurio plans to:

1. Enhance technology, improving interactivity within their experiences.

2. Open their platform to allow other creators to develop immersive expeditions.

3. Expand their catalog, with a new title expected in April 2025.

Challenges and Opportunities

Creating immersive experiences isn’t without its difficulties. Excurio balances technological innovation with historical and cultural accuracy, working with experts to ensure authenticity. For example, recreating historical characters involves capturing their beliefs, emotions, and interactions without misrepresenting them.

To learn more about Excurio, visit their website at excurio.com.

In this week's episode of Keep Going we dive into a riveting conversation with Mitch Goldstone, CEO of ScanMyPhotos. Mitch shares an honest and compelling story of navigating adversity, highlighting the resilience and reinvention required to transform challenges into opportunities.

The Story of a Missed Opportunity
Mitch recounts a pivotal moment when his business was featured in a three-minute segment on the CBS Evening News. Anticipating a surge in traffic and orders, Mitch and his team halted all other marketing efforts, banking on this exposure to bring monumental growth. However, the segment aired without directly mentioning Scan My Photos, leaving viewers unaware of the company's role in the stories highlighted. The result? A crushing silence on the website's end, far from the bustling response they expected.

Recalibrating After a Setback
Facing this disappointment head-on, Mitch emphasizes the importance of adaptability. Rather than dwelling on the loss, he and his team pivoted, redesigning their website and introducing innovations such as same-day express scanning. These changes not only addressed customer concerns but also differentiated Scan My Photos from competitors.

Building Resilience Through Experience
The conversation also delves into Mitch’s early days in photography. He shares how the decline of traditional film photography forced his company to evolve, transitioning from retail photo centers to high-speed digital scanning. This shift wasn't easy, but it set the stage for Scan My Photos to become a leader in photo digitization.

The Power of Community and Storytelling
Mitch underscores the value of customer engagement. Many of their clients, once thrilled by the service, become informal ambassadors, sharing their digitized memories and driving word-of-mouth marketing. This community-driven approach has proven far more effective than traditional media coverage.

Looking to the Future
With advancements in AI and virtual reality, Mitch envisions an immersive experience for customers. Imagine revisiting your family vacation to Disneyland, not just through photos but within a virtual environment enriched by music and news clippings from that time. For Mitch, it’s about making memories more dynamic and meaningful.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs
This episode serves as a reminder that failure is an inevitable part of the journey. As Mitch puts it, "You must recalibrate and keep going." His story offers a valuable blueprint for entrepreneurs:

• Diversify your marketing efforts.

• Be ready to adapt and innovate.

• Engage with your community to build authentic connections.

Mitch’s story is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the enduring power of learning from setbacks. Tune into this episode of Keep Going to hear more about how he transformed challenges into opportunities and continues to reinvent his business in a rapidly changing world.

Support the Podcast
If you enjoyed this episode, consider supporting Keep Going by subscribing for as little as $5 a month at keepgoingpod.com. Your support helps bring more inspiring stories to light.

What are your takeaways from Mitch's story? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on social media using #KeepGoingPodcast.