“What do you want to do tonight?”
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
Raise your hand if you and your partner have ever had this back-and-forth dialogue… that continues until you, once again, end up at the trusty-but-less-than thrilling restaurant that has become your go-to when indecision hits. We’ve all been there. But newly-launched app Cobble aims to help you and your significant other reach a mutually happy date-night decision quickly.
Founder Jordan Scott says, “All of the apps that come out today are all about taking your time and attention and energy. The goal for us—not only because we want to be a successful business, but because we think it’s good for the world—is to give people their time back. Get to a decision as quickly as possible, and then you’re out into the world.”
Cobble is a new app that helps couples make decisions about where to go out.
Here’s how it works: You and your partner open the app individually and swipe “yes” or “no” as Cobble suggests curated dates in New York City and “stay in” dates that anyone can utilize: restaurants to try, shows to watch, books to read, recipes to cook and more. When you and your partner both say “yes,” it’s a match. From there, Cobble can store tickets or reservations—and even keep track of your date night stats, like how many places you’ve been together this month.
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Cobble is going to soon be rolling out to other cities and helping people make vacation decisions as well.
We caught up with Scott, who—at just 25—has a mission to transforming relationships across the country.
How It All Began: I noticed there was a huge focus on dating apps over the past decade, but not a lot of answers to what happens after. There’s a big white space in technology after the dating stage, and life after the swipe is totally underrated.
A Journalism Background: I’d always been entrepreneurial and also loved storytelling. After graduating from New York University, I dabbled in media, journalism and broadcasting roles until I realized those jobs weren’t what I wanted long-term. In 2017, before Cobble, I started an editorial site and newsletter called IDK Tonight with curated NYC dates for couples. That content became the foundation for what people swipe yes or no to on Cobble. For me, the technology aspect is important, but it’s the content that can’t be replicated.
Cobble founder Jordan Scott.
Getting A Company Off The Ground: I was fortunate to have a lot of resources. I networked in New York’s start-up community to educate myself as much as possible. And I’m incredibly lucky that my dad chose to leave his insurance company to join Cobble full time when I started working on the app in early 2019. He was my first friends-and-family investor and helped me bring on a couple of engineers. He fully dived into this with me. He’s been a huge asset in the legal and fundraising realms. My passion was how I was able to come in and close those deals. I was so excited to talk to investors, to future employees, to users—and I think that’s what ultimately sold people on Cobble.
Building A Company During A Pandemic: We did our beta testing at the end of 2019 and got great results. We were really excited to do the full public launch in March 2020. The pandemic obviously threw a kink in our plans. At first, I thought that when the pandemic is over, people are going to be even more excited to go out and we’ll have an even better launch. Then as I realized we had no idea when this pandemic would end, I wasn’t going to wait to launch Cobble. So my team augmented our content and created an entirely new vertical for staying in, including what to watch, what to cook, what to order in, what virtual events to attend. Couples could easily filter by staying in or going out and get great content.
A Surprise Success: We had planned a robust city-by-city rollout beyond New York City, but because we had to pivot with the pandemic and create great “staying in” content, now people in other cities can use the app immediately. Launching during the onset of the pandemic has been a success we never saw coming. We’ve had an incredible response and it’s influenced our ability to close our seed round.
Remote Collaboration: The pandemic has also opened up more opportunities when it comes to building out our team. We can work remotely, which allows us to find a wider pool of talent. We’re growing quickly and hiring for growth and tech positions. After the pandemic is over, I’d love to have a place for the team to gather, but content producers are in their cities to be fully tuned into local experiences.
Beyond New York City, Cobble plans to roll out hand-picked, curated experiences for other cities ... [+]
Core Values: Inclusivity is a pillar of this entire company, not only in terms of who we hire, but also the couples that we support and the experiences that we curate. For example, we have an entire filter on Cobble for Black-owned businesses so that users can proactively support that community with their activities.
Best Advice I Ever Got: This came from my dad, who has supported me in every possible way. He made it clear to me that it’s all about who you surround yourself with. Who you get to buy into this dream with you is crucial. The team and partners are what build a successful company. The way to find those right people is really understanding the concept that past success equals future success. Even if that past success isn’t specific to what someone might be doing at Cobble, I trust that because of their past successes, they’ll be able to figure it out at this company.
Worst Advice I Ever Got: A previous employer told me to lower my energy. At the time, I was surprised; I’d been excited and wanted to talk to people and make people happy. To hear that was a gut punch. What I realized looking back is that when anyone tries to tell you to tone it down, they’re dimming your light because of their own insecurity. If you are in a place where you don’t feel like you can raise your hand or don’t feel like you can speak up, it’s a good idea to take a hard look at where you are and think about where you can go next.
Advice To Other Women: Building a company is an exercise in patience. I think the reason that most start-ups fail is because they just don’t hold on long enough. Keep holding on and be open to change. It’s important to have flexibility and allow ideas to grow and morph.
The Future of Cobble: Beyond New York City, we still plan to roll out hand-picked, curated experiences for other cities in the near-term, including San Francisco, Chicago and London. But we really envision Cobble as a decision-making engine first and foremost. Long-term, we want to go beyond “what do you want to do tonight?” Think: What mattress do we want to buy? What vacation rental do we stay in? What country should we visit? What flight should we book? All of the myriad questions that couples ask each other as they move through life. No matter what, we want to make it easier for couples to take action together.
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