NOFOMO by MDLBEAST

From Saudi to the world: NOFOMO, the new heartbeat in live entertainment

TL;DR

Supported MDLBEAST in seizing the entertainment opportunity in Saudi Arabia.
Built a bilingual (Arabic/English), mobile-first platform for ticketing, loyalty, and engagement.
Iterative, data-driven, boots-on-the-ground updates every two weeks kept the experience ahead of fan needs.
Became a curated platform for external organizers, enabling cross-pollination and new revenue streams.
Powered 150+ events and 450,000+ attendees simultanuously, including Soundstorm, in the first year.
Achieved 61% checkout conversion and 88.5% customer recommendation, with zero marketing spend.

About MDLBEAST

MDLBEAST, based in Saudi Arabia, is an entertainment company rooted in music culture. They produce some of the region’s biggest music events and invest in talent and content, bringing together fans, artists, and organizers to amplify new voices and grow the Middle East’s music scene.

Services

Product & platform strategy UX & UI design Mobile & web development Data strategy & implementation Loyalty & fan engagement Continuous optimization

Year

2023 — 2025

61%

checkout-to-purchase conversion (200%+ above e-commerce norm)

0

marketing budget

‍

200,000+

customers in just 6 months, with zero marketing budget

The success of NOFOMO isn’t a story about a lucky break or genius marketing. When you build what people need and fix what stands in their way, success follows.”

Yannick van Elsué Senior Product Manager

The challenge

A region ready to build its music scene

A trillion-dollar wave is building in live entertainment in the Gulf region, with digital-first, mobile-native audiences demanding qualitative year-round experiences beyond mere goods. Despite global platforms dominating the market, the reality on the ground is fragmented: ticketing is scattered, legacy systems move slow, fraud is common, and fan data stays locked away from creating real-world experiences. Moreover, the Gulf's unique audience and rapid development pace created real opportunity for a homegrown solution to capture a meaningful slice of this fast-growing market. So together, we asked ourselves: how do you build a platform that makes ticketing secure, fast, and more than a one-time transaction, turning it into a year-round engine for loyalty, engagement, and growth?

The Solution

A seamless platform for connected live experiences

NOFOMO was built from scratch as a fully bilingual (Arabic/English), mobile-first platform unifying discovery, ticketing, and event access. It solves real problems: e-ticketing, secure QR codes, fraud prevention, seamless transfers. Additionally, every event became a learning lab, shipping improvements every two weeks. This was made possible by choosing a serverless, event-driven architecture on AWS and React Native for mobile code reuse, letting us move fast without ops overhead. But NOFOMO goes beyond ticketing. A built-in loyalty program drives year-round engagement, shapes features based on behavior, and powers social sharing and in-app transfers. Ticketing becomes a springboard for richer, connected experiences, open to external organizers, built for continuous growth.

Success drivers

Loyalty is built year-round, not just an event.
Build for what your audience craves, not just what you imagine.
Iterate relentlessly.
Owning the platform means owning the future.

success driver 1

Loyalty is built year-round, not just an event

NOFOMO became the always-on channel for fans, rewarding regulars with recognition, exclusive content, early access, and making it easy to share tickets with friends. By tapping into intrinsic motivations of esteem and social connection, the app turned every ticket into a shared experience. This focus drove 80% of multi-ticket buyers to invite friends, kept fans coming back, and led to 88.5% recommending NOFOMO. Proof that real loyalty comes from continuous value and social engagement, not just points.

Success driver 2

Build for what your audience craves, not just what you imagine

NOFOMO’s features were shaped by listening to what fans, event staff, and organizers actually struggled with: slow entry, ticket fraud, and the need to easily share experiences with friends in a region where music culture is still emerging. By solving these specific pain points and making social sharing effortless, we delivered value that resonated with the audience and fit the local context scoring a 4.4 out of 5 for experience.

Success driver 3

Iterate relentlessly

We treated each event as a chance to learn and improve. During Soundstorm, a team of 4 joined the support team on the ground to truly understand the app’s usage, what is missing, what is going wrong and where new opportunities are. By shipping updates every two weeks, measuring friction, and acting on real feedback, we made onboarding 45% faster (from 67 to 37 seconds) and entry 50% smoother than the pre-NOFOMO app. Results that big bang launches can never achieve. Moreover, we’ve continuously achieved a high experience score (4/5) which shows our onsite efforts are appreciated by fans.

success driver 4

Owning the platform means owning the future

With NOFOMO, MDLBEAST built a curated platform that extends beyond its own walls, opening NOFOMO to external organizers. By defining the experience, not just following it, they unlocked new revenue streams and enabled deeper engagement through cross-pollination of events, audiences, and content. They now control the ecosystem and laid the groundwork for future innovation in the region’s live entertainment, already powering over 150 events in year one.