What was the catalyst for launching Bloom Stories?
Believe it or not, we were our own guinea pigs! The concept of Bloom Stories was born when we were looking for erotic content we could enjoy together. Hannah likes to read romance, while I’m more of a visual type. Audio erotica combines the best of both worlds. You get the compelling storytelling of a good book, but with added voices and sounds that really draw you in, kind of like an audio play.
Tell me about the business - what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
We’re all about helping people dive deeper into their pleasure through immersive erotic audio experiences. Our stories are crafted to be real, character-driven adventures that really draw you in. The vast majority of our stories are created specifically for our platform by our in-house team and our talented network of voice actors. We release around six new stories a week, and we’re really proud that our platform is available in English, German, and Spanish. Our user base is predominantly female (about 64%) and ever-growing. Last year, we saw a 50% increase in people tuning in compared to 2022.
How has the business evolved since its launch?
We launched in 2020, under the name Audioesires. At first, we kept our platform pretty simple, launching with just a handful of stories. It felt really important to get the basics right and make sure we were building on a solid foundation. Now, our catalogue features more than 1,000 stories. And last September, we launched our world-first AI-powered chatbots feature, called Bloom Chat, enabling our users to exchange text and voice messages with their favourite Bloom characters. The response has been incredible and we’re excited to continue evolving our offering with innovative new erotic audio launches.
Tell us about the working culture at Bloom Stories?
It’s super collaborative and in true startup fashion we all wear a lot of different hats. Our team is incredible and I feel really lucky that I get to work with them every day. We've got about 25 folks onboard now located across 12 different countries, with plans to keep growing the team as we scale our platform.
How are you funded?
We've bootstrapped the whole operation, so I'm really proud that we're now turning a profit. Being entirely self-funded comes with its challenges but it has allowed us to remain in creative control from day one, something we both feel is important.
What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?
Advertising in this space has proven to be difficult. Most platforms have very strict rules and regulations against erotic or pornographic content. We have dealt with a lot of ad takedowns and account bans since our inception. And very few marketers have experience advertising in this industry. Hence we had to build up the expertise of what is acceptable vs what is not for every platform in-house, which has turned into a true science that we are still learning to master every day.
How does Bloom Stories answer an unmet need?
Audio erotica is filling a huge gap in the market, particularly for women. For years, traditional porn has centred on the male gaze and featured unrealistic portrayals of sex. Audio erotica allows the listener to put themselves at the centre of the narrative in a way traditional porn does not, and our research tells us this is far more appealing to lots of people, but especially women. Plus, when we started, we noticed a significant gap in the market regarding audio content aimed at couples, as opposed to content designed for individual listeners.
Most existing erotic audio content was produced with a single listener in mind, leading to a prevalence of tags like M4F (male voice for female listeners), F4M, M4M, or F4F in the amateur audio scene, particularly on platforms like Reddit. There was a clear shortage of content crafted specifically for couples to enjoy together. We also saw an opportunity to innovate by creating fully produced audio plays that feature multiple voice actors, sound effects, and other elements to offer a truly immersive listening experience. This was something other platforms weren’t offering.
What’s in store for the future?
We’re always looking for ways to keep evolving Bloom Stories and we’re really excited about our latest AI chatbot integration. Going forward, a main focus of ours is expanding on this further and continuing to innovate to push the boundaries of the spicy audio and audio erotica movement. We’ve got some exciting launches planned for this year, so watch this space!
What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?
Ruthless prioritisation. Treat “No” as a gift. To learn more on this, read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.
And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?
I spend most of my time on Slack and Zoom/Google Hangouts running a fully remote company. So my daily routine is not too different from lots of startups these days, I guess.
Throughout the day I religiously use my Walkingpad and it has revolutionised the way I work. Before I started using it, I felt the need to go for a walk or run after work. Now that box is already ticked when I log off for the day, and I easily achieve 30k to 40k steps depending on how long I work that day. I also feel it helps me focus. Walking boosts thinking by improving brain function, aligning mental rhythms, and freeing attention. I am no scientist so here is an article explaining the why
I tend to leave my phone in the office when I spend time with Hannah (my wife and co-founder) and the kids, to focus on the here and now. It doesn't always work but I do my best.
As Hannah and myself run the company together, but we are also spouses, we try to keep our Bloom conversations contained to meeting blocks, so it does not spill over into our private time. It doesn’t always work and running a company together is like sharing a cool passion or hobby. So we are not too mad about it when it happens.
Mike Albertshauser is the cofounder at Bloom Stories.
