Built by an operator who saw what venues were leaving on the table.
GEORA was created to solve a problem no one was addressing: physical locations generate massive audiences but have no infrastructure to own, engage or monetize those relationships.
Derrick Johnson, M.S.
Founder & CEO, GEORA | Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
Derrick Johnson is the Founder and CEO of Growth Tech Marketing (GTM) and GEORA. A U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and active-duty officer based at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, Derrick brings over 15 years of military leadership to the technology and marketing industry.
Derrick holds a Master of Science from Webster University and has completed the Army Civilian Management Course and the U.S. Army Basic Officer Leadership Course in Military Police. His military career has instilled a disciplined, mission-driven approach to building companies — the same operational rigor that defines how GEORA is built and deployed.
Derrick created GTM to help event venues grow smarter — boosting bookings, protecting reputations and unlocking new revenue streams with AI-powered marketing. Through that work, he identified a deeper problem: physical locations generate massive foot traffic and captive audiences, but have zero infrastructure to own those relationships or monetize them beyond the event itself.
That insight became GEORA — a Connected Audience Infrastructure platform that lets physical locations build permanent, first-party visitor audiences and create a subscription marketplace where businesses pay recurring fees for approved access to those audiences.
Today, GEORA serves 30+ location categories — from event venues and wedding venues to stadiums, universities, conference centers, museums, churches and airports — with a mission to transform every physical location into a revenue-generating audience platform.
“I don’t believe event venues should struggle with outdated marketing, empty calendars, or leaving revenue on the table. Every physical location has an audience worth owning. GEORA gives them the infrastructure to do it.”
Why GEORA Exists
2017
The problem
Working with event venues through Growth Tech Marketing, Derrick saw the same pattern everywhere: venues would host events, fill rooms with hundreds or thousands of visitors, and then lose every single one of those relationships when the event ended. Meanwhile, photographers, caterers, florists, DJs and dozens of other businesses were spending thousands per month on Facebook ads and Google campaigns trying to reach the exact same people who had just walked through that venue's doors.
The venue had the audience. The businesses had the budget. There was no connection between the two.
2020
The insight
What if the venue could own that audience permanently? What if every visitor became part of a first-party database the venue controlled? And what if businesses could subscribe — paying monthly fees — for approved access to that audience?
It wasn't a marketing tool. It wasn't a CRM. It was infrastructure — the same way Stripe is infrastructure for payments and Shopify is infrastructure for commerce. Physical locations needed their own infrastructure for audience ownership and monetization.
Today
The platform
GEORA is Connected Audience Infrastructure for physical locations. The platform serves a three-sided ecosystem:
Physical Locations
Deploy GEORA to capture, own and engage their visitor audience.
Businesses
Subscribe to locations for approved access to those audiences, paying monthly fees set by the location.
Visitors
Use the GEORA app to connect with locations they visit, receiving relevant content and offers from approved businesses.
The result: locations earn recurring revenue from an audience they already have, businesses get efficient access to verified local audiences, and visitors get a better experience at the places they go.
Transform every physical location into a fully optimized, revenue-generating audience platform that thrives year-round.
Audience Ownership
Locations should own their visitor relationships permanently — not rent them from social platforms or ticketing systems.
Recurring Revenue
Every physical location can generate predictable, monthly income from the audience they already have.
Connected Ecosystem
Locations, businesses and visitors all benefit when audience infrastructure replaces fragmented marketing tools.
Want to bring GEORA to your venue?
Book a 30-minute Discovery Call and we'll build a custom revenue model for your specific location.
30 minutes. No commitment. Walk away with a custom revenue model for your venue.