Marriage is hard, but going on dates with your spouse makes it easier.
In fact, according to The Date Night Opportunity, a report by the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project, couples who spend quality time with each other at least once a week are less likely to divorce and 3.5x more likely to report being “very happy” in their marriages.
No one knows this better than Ida Hatchue, founder and CEO of KARL Inc. KARL is a platform that delivers recurring curated dates for couples based on their budget, interests and availability.
KARL, which stands for Keeping All Relationships Loving, was founded because of Hatchue’s own struggles with planning and maintaining consistent date nights with her husband.
“I am married and I know firsthand how hard it is to have date nights. When we got engaged, we had this goal of having date night every other week. That quickly did not happen. I was busy with work and he was busy with work so by the time weekend came around, we did not have the time or energy to plan a date night. Or, if we did, we went to the same spot that we always go to,” said Hatchue.
Originally, Hatchue and her husband, Gael—who is the co-founder and CTO of the company—tried out “date boxes” as a way to easily plan and maintain date nights. These boxes, however, weren’t personalized and cost a lot of money for at-home activities. Unsatisfied with their options, Ida and Gael, along with their other co-founder Cydni Williams, launched KARL out of Harvard Business School in 2020.
With KARL, couples in long-term relationships simply log onto the company’s website, sign up with their email address and then complete a brief onboarding survey. Based on the survey—which asks questions about a couple’s budget, interest and availability—the company will create a personalized date for the couple. These dates will be provided on a recurring basis, either every other week or once a month.
KARL provides a variety of date experiences including hiking, cooking and drinking, just to name a few.
“Love language is another question that we ask about. If their love language is physical touch, then we've given them a guided massage class that was virtual. Or people that really like cooking or really like different types of cuisine, we gave them a live Peruvian cooking class. For people who are really competitive and like games we gave them a curated game that experience to help them learn more about their partner," Hatchue said.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, KARL’s business model was initially structured around offering live virtual events. The company retains instructors from around the world that specialize in different things—for example, KARL had an Argentinian instructor that provided Tango classes.
KARL would then take a commission from those dates' revenues. Now that the pandemic is slowing down, KARL is working on offering out of home date options.
“With this out of home date option that we plan to offer beginning in the fall, we're going to have a subscription service for our consumers and eventually have partnerships with different companies where we can take a commission while offering opportunities for people that you know don't feel comfortable leaving their homes,” she said.
KARL Inc. was a part of the Harvard i-lab’s 2021 Spring Venture Program. During its time in the program, the company was focused on building its virtual platform. While the company continues to work on its platform, KARL’s services will be paused until Fall 2021. In the meantime, KARL is working on a few things like monetizing its platform, updating its website and getting rid of its email feature. Currently, Hatchue has to email customers the onboarding survey from her account. With these new updates, however, customers will be able to create a profile and account directly on KARL.
With KARL, the company’s mission is simple: “To help relationships stay happier, healthier, and long lasting.”
