Between Riga and Berlin: Founder Scene Fellows Garry Lazovskis and Minh Vu Ngo are building a restaurant recommendation app – and declaring war on Google.
Friday on the plane to Riga to make workation and street surveys a product – and on Sunday back to Berlin. This is what the past week looked like for Garry Lazovskis and Minh Vu Ngo, fellows at “Start-up scene is looking for super founders”. In 10 weeks they want to use AI to build a consumer app and put an end to fake reviews on Google.
“Startup scene is looking for super founders” is a ten-week startup fellowship from Gründerszene. Eight selected fellows develop consumer startups in Berlin using artificial intelligence – from the idea to the first product. During the program, the fellows work together in the Axel Springer high-rise and are accompanied by experienced entrepreneurs, investors and experts. Partners like OpenAI, Vercel, Dash0 and DHL support them with technology, know-how and mentoring. Gründerszene documents the entire journey with articles, videos and social media content – and shows up close how the next generation of startups is being created today. All resulting products belong to Axel Springer.
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The strategy of the two: Users of their app should receive recommendations for restaurants and bars from friends, creators and locals who know their way around a city – free, personalized and confidential. In an interview with Gründerszene, they revealed exactly how they want to implement their Circle Recs idea.
From trio to founding duo
The two originally had a different plan: They wanted to implement their idea together with fellow Theodora Both. But after the three of them weren’t “productive enough”, Theodora started her own dating app – Garry and Vu, on the other hand, stayed with the recommendation app. Since then, they have sharpened their concept again.
Vu sums it up like this: “We don’t just want to list places, we want to convey a feeling. It’s about going for the vibe.” They not only want to find the best restaurant or bar, but also the right place for the respective situation. The focus is not on the object, but on the moment.
Garry adds that it’s exactly this lifestyle element that’s important to them. If you come to a new city or want to do something spontaneously, you need more than a rigid search. This is exactly where the product comes in: recommendations should not be abstract, but rather social and situational.
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Why the product should be different
The two fellows want to clearly differentiate themselves from other recommendation platforms. Instead of collecting anonymous reviews, the app relies on a mix of private friend groups, public profiles and curated recommendations from people who are actually “local experts”.
They cite the “social layer” as the actual lever. “It’s not about an algorithm telling you where to go. What’s more important is that the recommendation comes from a context that you trust,” they say. Therefore, users should be able to create friend groups and share recommendations within these groups.
Garry says: “We want to create a WhatsApp feel for going out recommendations. The app should feel familiar, exclusive enough for your own group, but also open enough to be expanded by creators or particularly active users.”
An AI search as a technical center
A second unique selling point of the app: the search technology. Garry and Vu want to use a semantic search. What does that mean? The app should read reviews and free text in such a way that users get good results even if they don’t use exactly the right keywords.
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So if you’re looking for a romantic date spot or want a place with a certain mood, you shouldn’t depend on fixed filters. The app is supposed to find the relevant recommendations from many individual reviews and data sets.
Use should be free of charge for end customers. They then want to monetize using an affiliate mechanism and voucher codes. This means that the selected location pays an amount to Circle Recs when a visit is booked via the app. The two fellows are already working on exclusive restaurant and bar partnerships.
They have already tested this concept – more or less. Because: The two fellows spontaneously went on a work trip to Riga at the weekend with Amerigo, also part of the start-up scene camp. In addition to product optimization, traveling and partying, they also asked potential users what they thought of their product. “The response on the street was great!” says Vu. He and Garry would have felt strengthened in their idea.
The real problem: Google as a gatekeeper
Despite the app and positive feedback, the biggest bottleneck at the moment is not in the product itself, but in an external process: the Google verification for the import function of the saved lists is delaying the launch, they say.
It is precisely this function that is intended to simplify onboarding: users should not have to create all the locations in the app manually, but should be able to import their saved Google lists with one click. Garry and Vu consider this mechanism to be central because it would radically simplify the first moment of using their app.
In order to speed up this process, they have already activated a contact at Google.
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Go-to-market via groups and creators
Once this problem is solved, things should really get going. The two want to grow through two levers: firstly, through groups of friends, secondly, through creators and micro-influencers. Here they don’t just want to rely on classic influencers with a wide reach, but on people who don’t have a huge following but are credible in their niche – such as food influencers, travel creators or local insiders.
You can invite friends via a link and then be drawn directly into groups. It is precisely this network effect that should ultimately lead to the success of your idea.
Do you have questions or want to talk to the fellows about their product? Write to them here.
“Start-up scene is looking for super founders” powered by Dash0, DHL, OpenAI & Vercel.