Imagine a candlelit dinner, a private art gallery tour, and round-trip black car service for you and your significant other. Now imagine how nice it’d be if you didn’t have to plan any of that awesome date. BeCouply is a new subscription service for couples where each month they get a unique, all-inclusive date set up for them. It’s like ShoeDazzle for romantic experiences. With pre-seed funding from Mitch Kapor, BeCouply Dates launches today in San Francisco with plans to expand to more cities and a mobile date idea app soon.
BeCouply was founded by real-life couple Becky Cruze and Pius Uzamere (an MIT computer science grad) after they had difficulty coming up with fun new date ideas. The 2-person company solves a big problem for more financially secure couples, and especially guys who are often tasked with impressing their significant others. These couples have the money to spend on the occasional big night out, but don’t have the time or creativity to plan memorable dates.
Users sign up for BeCouply Dates, and each month’s $149 per couple fee covers fine dining, drinks, an experience, and black car transportation. That means no reservations or designated drivers necessary. For its first package, “Couples will visit local food purveyors in San Francisco’s Mission District, meet the chefs, owners and industry experts while noshing on their artisan specialties.” Future packages hinted at include helicopter tours and spa visits. Some are more intimate experiences for two, while others include several couples in a group format.
BeCouply is considering launching its dates service in NYC, LA, Chicago, and more cities. It’s also taking early beta registrations for a mobile app which suggests date ideas and lets you capture and share romantic moments.
I think there’s a startup opportunity wherever a lot of people are willing to spend but the friction comes in decision making and lack of expertise. That’s why fashion subscription startups like ShoeDazzle, BeachMint, and Swag Of The Month are proliferating — people can’t be bothered to shop.
BeCouply’s success will depend on a great user experience that generates word-of-mouth buzz. If you add up a $50 dollar dinner, $20 in drinks, and $30 in car service, couples could be getting a great deal on a unique experience. However, they’ll only pay up if the dates seem really exciting, and I think its initial “meet the chefs” package doesn’t quite cut it. If BeCouply can get to scale and establish strong partnerships with experience vendors, I see lots of couples subscribing to stress-free, fun-filled date nights.
The first 100 couples that sign up using the promo code “TECHCRUNCH” will get $100 off the individual date package.
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