Back in 2017 when my co-founders and I started working on Mangomint, like any aspiring entrepreneurs, we were full of hopes and dreams about what the company might become.
We didn’t have the words to describe it perfectly back then, we just knew from dozens of conversations with owners and professionals that there had to be something better than the state-of-the-art software available to salons and spas at the time.
What followed were several years of focused and intense work, taking one step at a time, and slowly but consistently building both Mangomint the software, as well as Mangomint the company.
At times, it felt like we were making very little progress. When you’re a small team and there is a giant mountain of work in front of you, it can feel overwhelming. Despite this, we never doubted our path.
To us, it always felt that as long as we can do right by our customers and their clients, as long as there are even just a few people out there who genuinely care for the software we were building and the mission we were on, it was easy for us to keep going and double down on our efforts.
More than 5 years later, I’m now proud to say that we have accomplished many of the things we initially set out to do. Our software is used by tens of thousands of people to book more than 200,000 appointments and process over $25M in sales every single month.
What makes us proud is not only the software that we have created and the enormous amount of thought and love that went into it, but most importantly, the many stories that we hear from customers about how Mangomint has changed their businesses and the positive impact we had.
Today, we’re excited to announce that we have received an investment of $13M, led by OpenView Venture Partners. This represents a major milestone on our journey and means that we will have more resources to invest in the future of the Mangomint platform and community.
What’s next for Mangomint
The last few years have been about building the foundation of our salon and spa software. We’ve focused on creating the most beautifully designed experience for both professionals and their clients, without compromising on speed, ease-of-use, and full functionality on any device.
That’s not to say that we haven’t innovated on new and unique features. Our Express Booking™, Self Checkout, Intelligent Waitlist, and other advanced automations are among the most popular aspects that people love about Mangomint.
But still, it feels like we are just at the beginning of what is possible and there is so much more we can do. In fact, the more we understand our customers and their needs, the more convinced we are that something big needs to change.
Making software invisible
We have a deeply rooted belief that people fundamentally don’t want to be thinking about salon and spa software. In our experience, professionals as well as their clients often feel like software and tech get in the way of what they actually want to do.
And yet, when we look at the tools that are available today, including Mangomint, we notice that they require way too much attention and add friction to everyday things like communicating with clients, organizing appointments, getting paid, and moving money. They are often poorly integrated, carelessly designed, and complicated to use.
We believe that we all, clients and professionals, would prefer to live in a future where that wasn’t the case and software was in fact so seamlessly embedded in the day-to-day activities of salons and spas, that people no longer have to think about it. Things just work. And software effectively disappears. You could call it “invisible”.
This is a future that we’re excited about. One where human-centered design and thoughtful innovation allows us to create delightful experiences for professionals and their clients. Not chatbots, AI, and other buzzwords that don’t mean much to normal people.
So as we begin this new phase of our company, with a solid foundation and fresh capital to invest, we want to make this our new mission: to make salon and spa software invisible.
It will be a long road to get there. And it may very well be impossible to fully achieve it. But regardless, we are convinced that every small step we take, every small improvement we release that brings us a little closer to fulfilling that mission, will ultimately be worth the effort.
What’s coming in 2023 and beyond
With that big mission set, we have a lot of work that needs to be done. Expect us to accelerate the pace at which we deliver both small and big improvements throughout the entire platform.
This includes long-awaited features such as service-based add-ons, new ways to manage and book resources such as rooms and equipment, entirely new texting and messaging capabilities, HIPAA compliance, major improvements to payroll, and so much more.
There are also a lot of smaller things that users have asked us for. We will remain committed to carefully looking at every single one of them and do our best to address as many as we can while also keeping the software intuitive and easy-to-use for everybody.
Beyond that, there are many bigger initiatives that we’re excited to talk about as we get closer. We also plan to find new ways to involve the growing Mangomint user community in the process.
Thank you to all our customers, partners, investors, team members, and everybody else who has helped Mangomint become what it is today. We can’t wait to see how the next 5 years will shape up.
Daniel Lang is co-founder and CEO of Mangomint, a leader in salon and spa software.
