In our latest article spotlighting Sacramento startup founders and innovators today we feature Bubbl Founder Jon Reyes. I invited Jon to share the story of his startup, Bubbl, lessons he has learned on his entrepreneurial journey, and how COVID-19 is impacting his startup.

Let’s start out by having you introduce yourself and telling people about your startup.

First, I am deeply honored to be a part of this interview and have a massive amount of respect for what you and Laura Good have done with StartupSac and are continuing to do for the entrepreneurial community in Sacramento during this pandemic. I just want to say thank you for continuing to love on all of us and serving us!

My name is Jonathan Reyes, I am the Founder and CEO of Bubbl, The Safe Place To Date. We exist to see the world filled with happy, gratifying relationships! We ​validate our users with photo ID and background checks, by doing this we greatly reduce access by bots and catfishers to the community. We encourage ‘peer reviews’ and reporting of both inappropriate content and behavior. To specifically help daters in real time – we offer on-the-date safety features should a user find themselves in a bad situation. We also partner with local businesses to help our users find fun, safe things to do on their dates.

How did the idea for your startup come about?

This company started by witnessing our friends struggling to meet people in real life because of horror stories they were personally involved in.

Kristi B. was newly single after a long marriage had ended and decided to try a popular dating app. She met someone and after chatting agreed to meet for coffee. After the 1 encounter, she was stalked both at home and at work. When she made a police report, she was informed that he was a ‘known stalker’ with multiple existing restraining orders. After informing the dating app – she was told there is nothing they could do, and they would not refund her 1 yr of pre-paid membership fees.

Talk about the problem/challenge that you’re solving.

There are many problems with existing options:

  • Catfishing – Daily Infographic reports that 80% of online daters lie- or at least fib- on their profile. Catfishing victims have increased 50% over the last couple years. The FBI Internet Crime Report shows there was $323,952,461 lost to catfishing in 2018.
  • Unsafe Dates​ (both people and places)
  • Stalkers, Pedophiles, Murderers & Other Predators. A​ccording to Phactual.com, ​in 2005 alone, 25% percent of rapists used online dating sites to find their victims. This number has risen dramatically.
    • Each year internet predators commit more than 16,000 abductions, 100 murders and thousands of rapes, according to InternetPredatorStatistics.com
    • Human Traffickers use dating apps to target their victims
  • Obscene Behavior​ (receiving inappropriate photos)
  • Ghosting​ (disappearing)
    In addition – ​There is no easy way to get help if/when a date goes badly.

How did you validate that your solution was viable?

We are Founder Institute graduates and YC Startup School graduates. Through these accelerators/entrepreneur boot camps, we interviewed hundreds of people off the streets to verify this was an actual problem and received a tremendous amount of feedback which kept us humble and checking our preconceived notions against that of the communities needs.

What are some of the biggest accomplishments or wins you’ve had so far?

We have graduated Founder Institute and Y Combinator Startup School. We have a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) completed and we’re in the process of onboarding users for our closed beta round. We also began onboarding local restaurants and other startups to our platform as safe date recommendations.

What were some key entrepreneurship lessons-learned you’ve learned so far?

Be prepared to pivot at any point. Murphy’s Law is real, anything that can go wrong will go wrong! I have studied Bruce Lee and love his quote,​ “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ​I have, and am continuing, to learn to follow this.

What stage are you at and what’s next?

We are in the process of developing our next iteration and trying to raise funds, though given this pandemic and the current state of the market that has become exceptionally and increasingly hard.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome as a startup founder?

I would honestly say this current pandemic. Not only has this affected me but everyone has been deeply affected by COVID-19.

How is COVID-19 impacting your business?

As a startup we are focusing on building our community and brand awareness both in the local business arenas and customer arenas. Due to the social and physical distancing orders we are unable to build our presence and are now unlikely to receive funding because our business has been all but essentially shut down. We have had to pivot almost completely due to this pandemic. We are currently focusing on iterating and are now partnering with another company to begin a blood drive for the hospitals while maintaining social distancing practices. We want to continue serving our community during this time.

What is your biggest question/challenge in dealing with this crisis?

I believe our biggest challenge/question is how do we pivot during this, especially given that we do not know how long this will be going on. There is a lot of talk about this lasting well into 2022 and that, honestly, is kind of scary. We are not going to give up at all, we truly and deeply believe in this vision, “To see the world filled with happy, satisfying relationships.” Right now our focus is on surviving this.

How can the Sacramento community help you?

Networking and guidance. While we are focusing on surviving this pandemic we are partnering with another company to put on a blood drive for the Sacramento area. We would love for people to participate and will be sending out a signup form so we can create time slots and continue to adhere to the social distancing guidelines. If you would like to be a part of this please send an email to Jon@gobubbl.com or Mercy@gobubbl.com or submit a survey response here.

What needs do you have to grow and take it to the next level?

We need brand awareness. Tell people that we are continuing to move forward with this passion and belief that we can create the safe place to date for everyone and push against human trafficking.

What’s your take on the startup scene here in the Sacramento area? What has been helpful?

I love the startup scene in Sacramento. The Sacramento startup scene is a beautiful reflection of the identity of Sacramento as a whole. StartupSac, Innogrove, Founder Institute Sacramento Chapter (Shout out Mariah Lichtenstern) Luis Aguilar, and so many more resources have been instrumental in our success so far. The startup community in Sacramento is really like a family.

What do you think as an entrepreneur would be more helpful to have here in the region?

I would definitely love to see more local investors here in the Sacramento region. The Bay Area still holds all of the cards when it comes to investor funding.

Do you have any words of advice, inspiration, or encouragement for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Keep focusing on your dreams. Though things may be uncertain right now, look for the opportunities to serve others and strive to be a blessing.

How can people find out more about you and your startup?

www.gobubbl.com
www.facebook.com/bubbldatingapp
https://www.linkedin.com/company/gobubbl
https://twitter.com/bubbl_app
https://www.instagram.com/bubblapp/