Massage On Demand, Anyone?

Founder and CEO of Blys, Australia’s fastest-growing on-demand mobile massage service, Ilter Dumduz is an innovative entrepreneur.

Ilter launched the Blys App to eliminate the need for time-poor customers to travel to brick-and-mortar massage premises. Ilter is a recognized leader in Australia’s tech ecosystem and held senior product roles at Domain.com.au and Freelancer.com.

Here, Women Love Tech catches up with Ilter – who is currently a mentor at Founder Institute and co-organizer of one of Australia’s largest product meetups Product Hunt Sydney – to chat about Blys.

Q. Tell us about your Blys.
Blys is an on-demand booking platform for therapeutic massage. We bring Australia’s best massage therapists to your door – where you’re at home, at work or staying in a hotel. It’s like Uber, but for massages.

We enable our clients enjoy a little break from the daily grind, by making professional massage more accessible – whilst creating additional income opportunities for qualified massage therapists.

My proudest moments are when we receive an amazing review from one of our customers about how we made their day, and when our therapists send me an email out of the blue, thanking us for the positive impact we make in their lives. User feedback is our jam in Blys HQ!

Q. How has technology helped your business – both as a start-up and then helping to grow your business?
Blys has been a tech-enabled company from day one. We launched Blys with a laptop and a bunch of 3rd party apps and tools stitched together! That was over a year ago. Our technology and platform evolved significantly since then and can now handle thousands of bookings.

I have a tech background, so instinctively I gravitate towards solving problems with technology and look for solutions that are scalable (e.g. can be handled by software).

Q. How do your customers benefit and how does it make life easier?
Imagine this; it’s Friday night after a massive week at work, or it’s been full on with the kids today, and you’re exhausted – both physically and mentally. All you want is to wind down. Massage sounds like a good idea but it’s too late – your local clinic is already closed. You’re too tired to go out anyways. That’s where Blys comes in. You book yourself an in-home massage online on our website or app, and have a Blys therapist arrive at your door with everything – table, towels, oil and music – in as little as an hour.

Q. Do you have further plans to integrate other technology within the business?
Certainly. Our approach with regards to technology is; don’t build your own solution unless you absolutely have to. There are plenty of amazing products out there that addresses the problems we face at this scale. We like to work with those companies as long as we can. As a fast-growing business, our requirements change rapidly – so this approach enables us to remain agile and adapt to those changing requirements.

Q. Can you share with us 4 of your favourite apps and why
1. Blys – because I can book a gift massage for my wife from work

2. Headspace – because it helps me remain focused

3. Slack – because it keeps me connected to my teams across different cities

4. LastPass – because I have too many accounts to remember passwords for

Q. What tech gadgets couldn’t you live without and why?
The obvious one; my phone. I am practically lost without it since I ran or keep track of all my daily tasks – both personal and professional – on it.

Q. Is there any advice you can share for start-ups in regards to which technology they shouldn’t live without?
I don’t have anything specific technology that I can recommend, it really depends on what you need it for – but as a general advice, your focus should be on the customers and their problems, rather than specific technologies that you might find interesting at the time.

Q.What would you tell your 20 year old self?
“I really like where you’re heading – keep it up!”

Q. What’s your favourite inspirational quote?
“Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” Wayne Dyer

To know more about Blys, click here.