The trick to successful relationships is to always feel like you’re dating your partner, and Bloveit is here to help.
In our (almost) eight years of marriage, my husband and I have committed to weekly date nights. Typically on Friday nights, it’s the one night a week we reserve just for us. And while we have our go-to spots, we’re always looking to try something new. Which is why I was super excited to learn about Bloveit, a date night concierge service for couples.
Bloveit was kind enough to offer us a complimentary date night to St. Cecilia in Atlanta so we could check out the experience for ourselves. We’ll get into those details in a minute, but first, let’s get to know more about this concept from Bloveit’s CEO & founder, Ugo Ezeamuzie.
Tell us your story and what led you to the path of launching Bloveit?
“Oh man, that’s a long story, but in a nutshell, I’ve always been passionate about dating and relationships. I lived in New York City for about five years and was kind of a “Hitch” for my friends, helping them plan dates and navigate their dating/romantic relationships and even recommending products like this dragon style dildo they could use in their relationships. That experience helped me see just how much of a pain planning dates can be for a lot of people. The idea for Bloveit was conceived in NYC but it was birthed in ATL, and we couldn’t have picked a better city for our launch. Not only does Atlanta have incredible talent coming out of Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Emory, Morehouse and so many other schools, but it has an amazing restaurant scene, tech scene and a demographic that’s responding so well to our product.” If you’re unlucky when it comes to days, you might as well experiment with products. Just make sure to be cautious. No wonder there are information such as sex toy injuries.
“Our mission is to empower people to be their most romantic self. We think helping couples plan date nights in a fast, easy and delightful way is a great first step in accomplishing that mission.”
What’s the Bloveit elevator pitch, and how has Bloveit grown since it launched?
“Bloveit is a date night concierge that helps busy couples plan awesome date nights at the click of a button. We started the date night concierge concept in April 2017 and since then we’ve grown 42X. But not only have we grown, we’re seeing great retention as well because we’re helping couples develop the date night habits they’ve always wanted. So many couples know and talk about the incredible benefits of doing date night on a consistent basis. But many of them have never been able to create a plan and stick to it. Bloveit makes that super fun and easy.”
“We make help couples build a consistent date night habit, spend quality time together, discover new restaurants and ideas in your city, stay intimate & connected, have a blast together and create new memories. Is that what we all want in our relationships?”
The importance of product-market fit cannot be understated when it comes to having a startup succeed. How has Bloveit created its own niche?
“About 99% of the products, apps, and brands out there in the dating and relationship space are created with singles in mind. We wanted to create something for couples. There are so many dating apps out there for every kind of single person and they’re all designed to help singles find someone. But what happens after you’ve already found someone? How do you keep that relationship fresh, fun and exciting for the next 10, 20, 30-plus years? We believe the couples market is completely untapped and is a niche that represents a huge opportunity.”
What are your favorite date nights you’ve been on or planned for clients? Any favorite menus? Fave drinks? Activities?
“Personally, I’m a fan of Barcelona Wine Bar. I just love the vibe and ambiance in there. Plus the tapas are delicious! But I think what’s more fun is planning dates for our couples. We’re seeing couples ask us to help them plan dates to celebrate some of their most special occasions. We’ve had couples plan birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day and many more.”
“As I’m writing this, we’re helping one of our couples with a gender reveal on their Bloveit date. The wife reached out and wanted us to help us surprise her husband with the gender of their baby on the way. That’s incredible! We’re so honored to get to share in those kinds of special moments with our couples. It’s so rewarding!”
What’s your perfect date night? Or the best date you’ve been on in ATL?
“My girlfriend and I’s first date was super low key but really fun. We had dinner at Waffle House in Midtown (classy I know) and then got ice cream at Jeni’s and then walked over to JCT Kitchen for some cocktails and live music. Best first date ever!”
Who are some of those folks you’d like to give shoutouts to?
“I’m super proud of the work my team is doing so obviously shout out to them. Our Techstars mentors and advisors have also been really helpful so shout out them for sure!”
What’s the revenue model for Bloveit?
We make money in two ways:
1. We charge couples $9.99 per month to plan each date night.
2. We negotiate to take a 10-15% cut of the total bill from the restaurant side.
Editor’s note — learn more in this interview Ugo from Bloveit did with Atlanta Tech Edge
What comes next? What are your goals for 2018 and beyond?
“Our primary goal for 2018 is to find product-market fit, and we have a few milestones associated with that goal. For example, we have plans to launch a new version of Bloveit which will have some key features we’ve been working on, like our gifting feature, where someone can gift a Bloveit date to their couple friends. We also have plans to complete our pre-seed round of funding that is live right now. We also want to make a couple of new hires to help us with tech and marketing.”
“As for goals beyond 2018, we want to be our second city by late 2019, and then grow from there.”
Your home is in Atlanta. How is Bloveit helping to support our city’s growth? What do you see for the future of the South?
“We hope to employ a ton of people here in Atlanta in the years to come. We also hope to build the next great consumer brand to come out of Atlanta that rivals the likes of MailChimp, Scoutmob, etc. And I think we can do it because we care about the space so much! We’re so passionate about empowering people to be their most romantic self – that’s our mission and that’s what drives us every day!”
“I think Atlanta has so much potential and with it comes the South as well. I think the tech scene in Atlanta, in particular, is going to explode in the next five years.”
Now here are pictues from our own Bloveit date night at St. Cecilia.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a flower and ‘love note’ from Bloveit waiting on our table.
Chef Craig Richards was kind enough to send out a hamachi crudo appetizer. It was exceptional!
What’s a date night without aphrodisiacs?! The oysters at St. Cecilia were awesome.
This squid ink pasta with clams was sooo good! Bloveit sends you the options for your dinner before arriving, and while I was nervous about the squid ink at first, it was so tasty that my husband and I swapped plates halfway through the meal!
I love Bloveit so much that I became a subscriber. It’s only $9.99 per month and the first month is free. To learn more, check out Bloveit’s website and blog plus follow Bloveit on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.
Thanks again to the Bloveit team for our awesome date night, and be sure to follow along with our adventures at Pretty Southern. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
