My startup journey with Happied.
Bright-eyed and full of hustle, I dove headfirst into the startup world in 2019. For the past five years, Happied has been my baby—evolving through pivots that sometimes felt like starting multiple different startups. The journey has been wild, but I couldn’t be prouder of everything we’ve built and the lessons I’ve picked up along the way!
March 2019
It all started with a mobile app…
In its early days, Happied was all about helping users discover the best happy hours and events at DC’s restaurants and bars. We built an advanced filtering system and recommendation engine to match people with spots that fit their vibe, and, as a result, their tribe or community. You could also upgrade for a paid extended Happy Hour pass to find the best new spots in town. We quickly gained 1500+ users in DC in just a few months.
Learnings - B2C is hard to monetize; partnerships w/ restaurants, bars and event groups were key to growth; it’s hard to build iOS and android apps simultaneously esp with a rogue CTO;
February 2020
COVID shutdowns begin :(
As our local venues all close down, we realized that what we were known for - connecting people to great experiences - was still relevant. We had developed relationships with dozens of restaurants and bars and immediately sprang into action to bridge the two. We were a very early player in the virtual experience space and became experts in how to make virtual events immersive, actually fun and non-awkward. We made $1.5M+ in revenue in this version of Happied and started building a virtual events platform.
Learnings - B2B is where the money’s at; carefully curated cold email outreach works!; starting and running a warehouse to ship kits is a lot of work (great margins though); first to market doesn’t always put you ahead (fundraising and connections do) - both competitors, Confetti and Boombox, raised a lot of money with our same concept before they made any $$;
June 2021
Our re-entry into the SaaS world.
Clients began telling us their biggest struggle was re-engaging their teams as the world opened back up. We saw an opportunity to build a data-driven event planning platform that curated experiences aligned with each company’s culture and values. From off-sites and holiday parties to client dinners and virtual events, our platform handled everything—curating, booking, and managing seamless events that brought teams together. We graduated Techstars and raised $1.9M from top tier investors like Alumni and True.
Learnings - it’s harder to raise when you’ve made so much $$ already; hiring a team of superstars is key to success; leading a product/eng team is hard
December 2022
But what do clients actually want?
Most of our clients turned out to be fully remote or distributed teams, which meant they weren’t looking for constant event planning—they wanted quick, engaging activities throughout the day and a few big in-person gatherings each year. So, we built Mingle and Convene Retreats. Within the first 30 days, 45 teams joined the Mingle waitlist, including HP, Disney, Capital One, and Gusto; and $600k in retreats was closed.
Learnings - what clients say they want isn’t always what they actually need; MRR is a lot easier when you have a focused product; retreats are a big money maker;
April 2024
Older, Wiser, Tired-er
At this point, Happied had hit almost $6M in revenue, mostly from planning corporate retreats, but our platform was burning through profits fast. With my cofounder starting a family and me needing a breather, we decided not to go through another fundraising round. We decided it was time to sunset the tech and double down on offsites. We shifted our focus to scaling the profitable side of the business and empowering our freelance event planners to take the lead.
Learnings - 5 years is a lot in startup years; tough cofounder convos are important; no matter how hard I try, I will cry when someone leaves the team;
January 2025
New Year, New Energy
With our transition into a full-fledged services company, we knew we needed a fresh, fancy website that spoke beyond just the tech world: introducing Happied Travel! Now that Happied mostly runs on its own, and I’ve re-energized after my much needed break, I’m ready to jump back into startup life.
Learnings - some startups are best left as thriving small businesses; I can’t get enough of #startup life
