Los Angeles-based business management platform, Boulevard, is hoping to bring stability and sophistication to salons and spas through their new technology, design and style.
“It all started with the challenges we experienced when booking our own appointments as clients,” said Matt Danna, who co-founded the software with Sean Stavropoulos. The duo used their experience as clients to brainstorm something that would improve businesses and relationships with clients. “Curiosity led us to speak to the salon and spa owners, and we quickly learned that they were being severely underserved by the technology currently available to them.”
An engineer by trade, Danna says he has always been drawn to designing technology for creative individuals. With no real beauty industry background, they started doing their own research by asking hundreds of salon and spa business owners, managers and front desk staff what wasn't working. The conclusion was clear: Rhe systems they were using were not built around how they actually wanted to operate because they were using outdated or the software that was designed with another industry in mind. Danna found that these shared struggles created the opportunity to build a common solution.
“We wanted a full understanding of how our partners operated in their day-to-day, so we started by working behind the front desks of salons around town and familiarizing ourselves with every aspect of their workflows,” Danna said. “From learning how to properly schedule, to seeing which metrics owners looked for when measuring performance, we gained crucial first-hand experience that directly inspired how we designed our platform.”
Danna and Stavropoulos spent time with Janine Jarman from Hairroin Salon to understand product discovery. They also met with Tracey Cunningham and Neil Weisberg from Mèche Salon to learn how day-to-day operations unfolded to and how technology could take operations up a notch.
“Streamlining the little things is what makes the biggest difference because everything adds up to create wasted time in the workplace,” Danna said. “By understanding all the little problems, we were able to build something that makes it easier for our partners to operate their businesses so they can focus their attention on building deeper relationships with their clients.”
Once Danna and Stavropoulos understood what was going wrong, they set out to create the solution. Thus, Boulevard was designed and launched.
The Boulevard technology is engineered to help reduce the costs of a personal care business while maximizing revenue. The platform combines the aspects of self-booking, automatic business operations, and actionable performance data. All in one place, the cloud-based software helps with operations, enabling a front desk staff to provide personalized touches with appointments. With the technology, Boulevard claims to facilitate a better personalized experience with every transaction and interaction with clients.
Some key innovations include a consolidated business management system with flexible settings, customizable self-booking, AI-powered scheduling, inventory management tracking, and customizable reports just to name a few. The detailed data provided can help brand owners make performance-driven business decisions.
“It’s this mix of technical intelligence (reducing client gaps) and personal touches (remembering special accommodations) that creates a better experience on both sides — optimized for businesses and customized for clients,” Danna said.
Boulevard is now available and already operating in LA, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Chicago, Nashville, NYC and Boston though several celebrity stylists already using it, including Chris McMillian, Ken Paves, and Tracey Cunningham.
For more information about Boulevard visit https://www.blvd.co/