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When it comes to finding a good event or restaurant for you and your significant other—especially for Valentine’s Day—there are plenty of options out there. Websites, apps. But there really hasn’t been anything specifically made for couples—which is where Gatsby On Demand comes in.
The new Boston-based texting service that aims to be the ultimate concierge for the modern couple, whether it’s for a restaurant or event recommendation or even helping someone get some flowers delivered to their better half at the last minute. And it’s only the beginning of a much larger idea that will eventually become an app.
Aaron Jun, who previously worked for Jana and Fiksu, told BostInno that he and his two co-founders came up with the idea after realizing there’s nothing on the market that really caters to young professional couples in terms of providing recommendations, along with a number of other services, such as getting a table booked.
"So there’s this huge unaddressed market of couples and we want to see something in the world that caters to us," said Jun, who’s in a long-term relationship.
Jun is currently the only full-time person working on Gastby. He said his two other co-founders can’t have their names disclosed yet because they are still working full-time jobs elsewhere. They all work out of WeWork Fort Point right now.
Gatsby On Demand is currently powered by a combination of humans and machine learning, Jun said, likening the service’s backend to a cyborg. He said the plan is to eventually shift the service to be completely based on machine learning and algorithms, jokingly referring to the goal as becoming SkyNet—but for couples, of course.
Human or not, the service follows a recent trend of companies that are focusing on using texting and other messaging services as the primary user interface to connect with customers. Kayak vet Paul English, for instance, is working on Lola Travel, a new travel concierge startup that will let you book travel arrangements by having a casual conversation via text message.
"That's what we'd like Gatsby to be: a machine-based sushi chef."
Gatsby On Demand has been in the wild for a few weeks, and it has been used by about 50 couples so far, Jun said. Couples can text the service to learn what other users are doing on a particular night, get recommendations for a specific event or restaurant that caters to their own taste or get a recommendation for a "romantic, vegan recipe"—whatever that might mean.
The service will also provide couples with recommended events catered for them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that they don’t always have to figure it out.
And if you thought the aforementioned example of having some flowers delivered to someone sounded ridiculous, it isn’t Jun said someone actually texted Gastby On Demand to see if they could send some flowers to their significant other at the last minute. Thanks to having Venmo as a makeshift payment solution, Jun said the delivery was able to happen within a couple hours.
All of this is being built into startup’s long-term vision, an app called Gatsby—just Gatsby—which could be ready with a beta version by the end of this month. Like Gatsby On Demand, Jun said the app will focus on providing different kinds of recommendations, except through a "single-trigger" system. It will also have other features, such as letting you connect with other couples using the app who are, for instance, going to the same bar or restaurant.
Jun said the goal is to provide a concierge service that knows what you will like, similar to Spotify’s Discover Weekly, a playlist feature that recommends new songs based on your listening trends and other reams of data. He also likened it to "walking into a sushi place, sitting at the counter, and telling the chef, 'feed me.'"
"Because the chef knows you and your tastes and the tastes of people similar, every piece served is customized to your tastes," Jun said. "That's what we'd like Gatsby to be: a machine-based sushi chef."
