Geoff
Gehrke
Entrepreneur, mobile software designer, former professional athlete
About
Geoff Gehrke
CURRENT ROLE
Founder, CEO, Lead Designer
WEBSITES
LOCATION
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
FIRST JOB
Newspaper Printing Press Operator
OTHER INTERESTS
Tennis, Board Sports, Hiking, Reading
FAVORITE BOOK
The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner
CONNECT
Welcome to my web page. I’m Geoff Gehrke. I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. Thanks for reading.
My present field of work is mobile software design. In short, I’m a graphic designer with a background in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. It’s my job to make apps on your phone easy to use and visually appealing at the same time.
I’ve worked at a lot of different jobs, with the most interesting ones being a professional tennis player, a small business owner, a newspaper printing press operator, a charitable worker and currently a founder and CEO of a tech startup.
I’m also a husband to my life partner Camelia (who also played pro tennis coincidentally) and a proud father to a very energetic and curious one-year-old named Brayden.
Exp
Startup Founder
While running a small business that involved teaching tennis lessons, I encountered many administrative problems that compounded over time. Time and money were wasted doing tasks that could’ve easily been done with software automation. This took away from the enjoyment of my small business and my bottom line. I looked for existing software to solve my problems, but that required the use of separate programs for scheduling, accounting, record keeping, communication, etc. There was no one-size-fits-all solution. Then I wondered why software like this didn’t already exist. Was it only profitable for companies to do this at an enterprise level? Were small business owners too frugal to pay for software to run their businesses? Had other startups tried and failed?
What if there was software that could help a high school student who offered tutoring services or a sports coach that held large classes and camps? On the other hand, clients could easily book, pay and communicate with these instructors too. Software that people had access to at all times from their watches and phones if necessary. It could handle appointments, allow for easy communication and take payments from credit cards to Apple Pay, Venmo and PayPal. On top of that, it would also provide analytics so that someone could optimize their business and make more money.
Most importantly, what if we didn’t charge the business owners and made it their choice as to who would pay a small service fee? At the same time, we could reward our users for their loyalty with points that could convert into cash.
So I reached out to my friend James (who’s writes software for a living and is the smartest person I know) and we created a mobile e-commerce system in the hopes that it would be able to help lots of people. The app is called GoGetter and I use it today to teach tennis lessons in my free time.
What is GoGetter?
GoGetter is an event-based e-commerce app for service professionals and their clientele, where users earn rewards. Anyone can easily set up a service in minutes and start making money. Both professionals and their clients use the same app, and it’s possible to use the app for both roles from one account. You can also operate multiple services from the same account.
You can learn more about the app on GoGetter’s website, or download it from the AppStore here.
What is Tenndeavor?
Tenndeavor (tennis + endeavor) is a small business that provides tennis lessons, camps and clinics at various locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. It was the first company that I started. That experience taught me a lot about what it takes to run a business: personally financing and bootstrapping, negotiating contracts, payroll, hiring and firing, marketing and increasing revenue on a year-over-year basis. The most important thing I learned was how to not micro-manage employees while leading them in a way where they felt empowered and part of a successful team.
For more info, you can check out Tenndeavor’s website or go to the main social media page, which I still manage.
I’m A Tennis Professional
Growing up, I played a lot of organized sports, but I decided to focus on tennis during my early teens. I never planned on playing professionally, but my desire to focus on daily improvement led to a career that allowed me to see the world and meet a lot of great people. By the time I finished playing, I had traveled to 5 continents, 43 countries and 31 states. I also had the opportunity to play with some of my childhood idols, which was a dream come true.
- 35 years experience (began playing at age 7)
- Student athlete NCAA Div 1 (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)
- Reached doubles final in debut pro tournament
- World ranking #709
- Played against several world #1 players
- USTA, USPTA, PTR certified elite professional (teaching)
Cred
Degrees, Patents and Trademarks
I have a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Communication from Cal Poly, which means that I specialize in creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). My focus is in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. I have also taken various post graduate courses in Computer Science at Stanford University (in person) as well as online from MIT. My favorite course I took was CS 183 (Startup) at Stanford in 2012 which was taught by Peter Thiel. He later published a book entitled Zero To One, based on the notes from this class.
Bachelor of Science
Graphic Communication
The major curriculum of the Graphic Communication Department prepares students for careers in the printing, publishing, and packaging industries. The program pairs hands-on printing experience with general education courses providing students with a broad understanding of traditional printing processes and non-print digital imaging processes.
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Post Graduate Studies
Computer Science
Completed various computer science courses in algorithms, mobile application building, Swift and Java programming languages and startup formation.
Stanford University: CS193P, CS183, CS161, CS109, CS103
MIT OpenCourseWare: SMA 5503, 6.006
Startups
YC Startup School: Graduate, 2020
Design Patent
Utility Patent
SERVER SUPPORTED MOBILE APPLICATION FOR SCHEDULING OR CONDUCTING TRANSACTIONS
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Registered Trademark
Refs
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I’ve known Geoff for many years and have witnessed him apply the traits and lessons learned from being a professional athlete into the world of technology. Geoff’s hard work, problem solving and intelligent decision-making led to individual and team successes across many business ventures.
Daniel Kan
Co-Founder, Nyansa
www.nyansa.com -
We appreciate Geoff's leadership as Tenndeavor's founder and chief officer. He has initiated a partnership with Tennis Thanks the Troops and our efforts to make a difference in the lives of those families who have served our country. Thanks Tenndeavor for supporting ThanksUSA's military family scholarship program!
Jean Pletchette
Director of Sports Initiatives, ThanksUSA
www.thanksusa.org -
Geoff is the person you want to be working alongside when faced with the most daunting task or difficult challenge. He knows how to produce in high-pressure environments and holds a proven track record in both athletics and business. Many times our company was faced with impromptu deadlines from early customers and investors. Without warning, Geoff would drop everything and begin working until the product went above and beyond everyone’s standards. As a team member or a leader, Geoff earns my highest recommendation.
Pete Perlegos
Founder, Cloubrain
www.cloubrain.com -
Geoff's motivation is his deeply rooted passion in customer satisfaction, forged after years of experience as a professional tennis coach. This experience has also endowed him with the empathy that powers his ability to solve complex user interaction and interface design problems.
Horia Margarit
Director of Data Science, Booster Fuels
www.trybooster.com
Links
Helpful resources for designers
The following are links to useful websites for anyone wanting to get started as a designer. FYI I don’t receive anything in return for mentioning these sites – they’re just my favorites that I’ve discovered over the years. The one book I recommend reading is Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Enjoy!
Apple Design Resources
Design apps quickly by using Sketch, PSD, and XD templates, guides, and other resources.
Design Fundamentals
Before you can master design, you must first master the fundamentals.
Typography Guide
Choosing the right font: A guide to typography and user experience.
Typographic Terms
A glossary of typographic terms you should know.
Color Theory
Color Theory – A brief guide for designers.
Color UX
How color impacts conversion rates and user experience.
Designing In Color
A complete guide to color in design. How to create and apply color palettes.
Contrast Ratio
A tool that calculates the contrast ratio between colors.
Social Media Colors
A complete set of social media colors.
Logo Design Tips
10 tips for designing the perfect logo.
Optical Effects In UI
Optical effects in user interfaces (for true nerds).
Icon Usability Guide
Making your icons user-friendly: A guide to usability in UI Design.
Icons and UX
How to make icons part of a great user experience.
FDR
Free design resources and mockups.
Adobe Stock
Stock photos, royalty-free images, graphics, vectors and videos.
Is Graphics
Free mockups and UI design tools (PSD, Sketch, Figma).
Illustration Generator
Humaaans design tool. Quickly generate and export graphics.
Drop Shadows, Gradients
An introduction to drop shadows and gradients and how to use them effectively.
Animation
Moving Art: How to animate illustrations the easy way.
Social Media Images
2020 Social media image size cheat sheet.
HTML Templates
99 of the best free HTML templates to make your website sparkle.
Web Image Formatting
Formatting your images for display on the web.
Website Optimization
Website optimization: 17 tools to help improve your website.
iOS vs Android UX
Difference between UX design for iOS and Android.
Building iOS Apps
An article about the real cost of building an app.
iOS Resolution
Info about displays for every iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
iPhone Resolutions Guide
The ultimate guide to iPhone resolutions.
iOS Auto Layout
A tutorial on how to get started with Auto Layout in iOS.
Bottom Navigation Design
The golden rules of bottom navigation design.
App Screenshot Library
Mobile design patterns. A comprehensive library of screenshots from popular apps.
App Screenshots
Inspirational UX/UI patterns and screenshots from various apps.
Designing A Dark Mode For Your iOS App – The Ultimate Guide!
A step-by-step process of designing a Dark Mode for your iOS app.