The rapid growth of digital technologies is changing the way we access, use, and view self-care. It’s also leveling the playing field for these providers, the bulk of which are small businesses that do not have the resources or knowledge to implement or build custom solutions to manage their businesses. Boulevard is a client experience platform for appointment-based self-care businesses. Serving salons, med spas, spas, barber shops, massage therapy practices, and nail salons, the platform at its core offers a scheduling platform and messaging system that streamlines booking and pre-visit communications. Boulevard also offers payment functionality with touchless options. On the backend, providers can access customer profiles, purchase history, preferences, contact information, and a robust notification system. Founded in 2016, Boulevard was able to triple its customer base in 2021, driving revenue up 188% year-over-year; annual gross merchandise value has exceeded $1B.
LA TechWatch caught up with Boulevard Cofounder and CEO Matt Danna to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $108M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Boulevard raised $70M in Series C funding led by Point72 Private Investments, with participation from existing investors, Index Ventures, Toba Capital, Bonfire Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, BoxGroup, and VMG Partners.
Tell us about your product or service.
Boulevard provides a Client Experience Platform that is purpose-built for appointment-based self-care businesses. These days, the client experience starts well before the client enters the salon, so we start by enabling seamless online appointment scheduling that integrates with our customers’ websites and makes it easier than ever to schedule services. Ongoing messaging via email and text ensures clients show up on time and that all the client details are in our system to ensure a personalized and enjoyable experience while onsite. At checkout, we offer elegant and contactless gratuity and payment processing, as well as ongoing marketing and communications with clients between visits to keep them coming back. In addition, Boulevard offers a lot of business management functionality and reporting to ensure owners have visibility into sales, inventory, and team productivity.
What inspired the start of Boulevard?
Our cofounder and CTO, Sean Stavropoulos and I were working together at another LA startup called Fullscreen back in 2015. I was making fun of Sean’s haircut, or lack thereof, when he mentioned that he would often go months without a haircut because he never had time to call the salon while they were open. From there, we began to wonder why the salon industry had not evolved to offer online experiences like other industries. Our curiosity got the best of us and we started to visit local LA salons and ask questions. Turns out, many of the salons were using technology, but it was antiquated and awful. Front desk staff were often very frustrated and stylists ended up with gaps in their schedules, a revenue killer. We knew there had to be a better way, so we started to solve this problem. We spent a few months hanging out at some of LA’s most prestigious salons to learn what ‘good’ looked like and how to automate it. In 2016, we left our jobs and started to work on Boulevard full-time. Since then, the product has expanded beyond just scheduling appointments to include everything a self-care business needs to run, including marketing, payments, and business reporting. We are currently being used in over 2,000 locations in all 50 states.
How is it different?
If you speak to our customers, you will learn that there are really two areas where we stand out from the competition. The first is our tech-forward approach to solving some long-standing issues in the industry. The best example is how we optimize scheduling. In the past, salons really needed someone at the front desk to optimize a schedule based on unique client needs, provider preferences, and overlaps. Boulevard enables clients to book directly online without the salon having to compromise productivity by using sophisticated yield optimization techniques used in other industries but never before applied in self-care. Second is our reputation for legendary, personalized service. We are champions of this industry and we give our customers the same enthusiasm, attention, and passion that they give to their own clients.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
Boulevard is currently serving appointment-based, self-case businesses in the U.S. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the personal care and beauty market — which includes hair salons, nail salons, barbershops, face and skin care, and other beauty services — is expected to exceed $1.4 trillion by 2025, while the spa sector is also expected to exceed $150 billion in the same timeframe.
What’s your business model?
Boulevard offers a vertical Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that includes payment processing. Therefore, we are a B2B software company that sells direct to U.S.-based self-care businesses. Our software is currently running in more than 2,000 locations across all 50 states, with $1B in payments flowing through our platform annually.
What are your post-COVID office plans?
Boulevard is now a fully remote company, however, 35% of our employees are still living in and around the LA area (where we are based).
What was the funding process like?
Fundraising processes are never easy, especially during a time when the stock market was in flux. We were fortunate enough to receive multiple term sheets, which is something we did not take for granted.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The biggest challenge we faced while raising capital was convincing investors that the self-care market was not as niche as they once thought, but rather a large and growing market—and that there are endless ways to build an incredibly successful company in the space.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Vertical SaaS has really come into fashion in the past few years. Historically, investors shied away from vertical software, especially the fragmented self-care market, because of the perceived “niche” market size. However, there have been many very successful vertical SaaS companies proving that the total addressable market is actually pretty big. In Boulevard’s case, our growth rate, product, service, and team were very well-received by investors. On top of that, we have an incredible customer list and best-in-class gross and net retention.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Over the next six months, we will be investing in our product and engineering teams in order to focus on adding more capabilities to our platform for both existing customers as well as extending our functionality to new markets we serve, such as medspas.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Sean and I liquidated our 401K’s and bootstrapped Boulevard for the first two years of the company. We had a live product with paying customers before we raised any venture capital. During that time, we did what we needed to do to pay the bills – including taking on brief consulting jobs, downgrading apartments, etc. It wasn’t sexy, but we made it work. During that time, we were always working towards the next most important milestone. I’d recommend being ruthless about prioritization, validating assumptions, staying patient, and don’t drink your own Kool-Aid. Building a startup always takes founders far more time, energy, and money than they could have imagined. Make sure that you’re committed enough to your mission to spend a decade or more investing in it.
Sean and I liquidated our 401K’s and bootstrapped Boulevard for the first two years of the company. We had a live product with paying customers before we raised any venture capital. During that time, we did what we needed to do to pay the bills – including taking on brief consulting jobs, downgrading apartments, etc. It wasn’t sexy, but we made it work. During that time, we were always working towards the next most important milestone. I’d recommend being ruthless about prioritization, validating assumptions, staying patient, and don’t drink your own Kool-Aid. Building a startup always takes founders far more time, energy, and money than they could have imagined. Make sure that you’re committed enough to your mission to spend a decade or more investing in it.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
The most important thing for us to do in the near term is to stay focused and execute on the current plan. We will be focusing on growing our engineering teams and adding new capabilities to the platform as well as releasing new features that will help us to better compete in new adjacent markets, such as medspas.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
Elephante in Santa Monica or Bacari’s W. 3rd in WeHo!
