Bellhops: The Answer Between Begging Friends & Hiring Movers

Last week, I moved from one side of Grant Park to the other. What was a move small distance-wise (1.2 miles to be exact), was epically tedious and tiresome when it came to effort. Obtaining a U-Haul was tough due to the other 28 million Americans who move between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year, and the memory of lifting my grandmother’s chest of drawers still keeps me up at night. After learning more about Chattanooga-based, Bellhops, I wish that I’d known about the new way to move a few weeks ago. We recently chatted with one of the company’s co-founders to learn more and land a special discount for Hypepotamus readers (see below).

Founded by Auburn grads Cameron Doody and Stephen Vlahos, “Bellhops is the new way to move. Whether you need help with moving, heavy lifting around the house, trips to storage, rearranging furniture or setting up for a party, Bellhops provides hands-free, affordable experiences for those situations you’ve never had a reasonable solution for,” explains Doody. “We’re the answer between begging friends and hiring ‘movers.’ Through our apps and web platform, we provide local, trustworthy students for moving & lifting help in over 130 cities.”

“Three quarters of Americans are ‘do-it-yourselfers’ when it comes to moving,” he continues. “I’m a good example: I’m 29 and live in a 2 bedroom apartment with my wife. We don’t have antique furniture, no piano; just a bunch of heavy stuff. Assuming Bellhops didn’t exist, when it came time to move, I wouldn’t even Google moving companies. I already know I’m renting a U-Haul and begging friends to come help. I certainly don’t want to move myself, but I’m price conscious and don’t have a reasonable option to keep my sleeves rolled down. Movers don’t make sense for most situations, Bellhops is built for everything else.”

Fed up by their friends “constantly being jerks” and asking for help to move things, Doody and Vlahos decided to come up with their own solution. By focusing on small-scale moving, Bellhops is able to charge a lower fee than traditional movers of $40 an hour, per ‘Bellhop.’ The co-founders don’t consider their Bellhops to be movers, but simply, friends who help you move. The price of the company’s service, the ease of the platform, and the friendliness of their ‘Bellhops’ have delighted Atlantans since its inception.

“Atlanta is a strong city for us. With it being so close to our HQ in Chattanooga, Atlanta is a testbed for major metro marketing, launch strategy and beta testing new services we may be interested in,” says Doody. “We’re growing quickly there, currently at around 900% year over year.” Bellhops Communications Specialist, Kate Brennan, added, “Atlanta is one of our strongest markets as we currently contract more than 80 students from Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Morehouse and Kennesaw State.” Moreover, Bellhops was recently announced as one of Switchyards’ first resident companies and will be opening a satellite office in ATL.

Bellhops hasn’t just found success in Georgia’s capital. In September of 2014, Bellhops was named the national winner of the Miller Lite Tap the Future competition and was awarded $200,000 in prize money. In November of the same year, they raised $6 million in Series A funding from Silicon Valley Investors, bringing the company’s total venture funding to $7.8 million. That funding round was led by Binary Capital, a San Francisco based venture capital firm whose founders were early investments in Instagram, SnapChat and Twitter.

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