We are publishing an interview of Ms. Kalpana Sharma, Founder & COO of BeautyGlad.
Please tell us about the founders:
We are two founders. Myself (Kalpana Sharma – Founder & COO) and Vikash Sharma – Founder & CEO.
- Kalpana Sharma is an MCA and belongs to a well-educated family. Her father is a retired government officer. She has worked as a programmer for a year in an MNC. She has also worked as a computer teacher in a reputed college in Greater Noida. She was not satisfied with her carrier and wanted to do something she is more interested in; so, she did Beauty Course and certifications in Beauty & Makeup. She then opened her own beauty parlour in Greater Noida. She has 5 years of experience in Beauty & Wellness sector. She is currently the COO and back bone of BeautyGlad and handles the daily operations of the company.
Kalpana Sharma - Vikash Sharma is a hospitality graduate and has worked for some reputed 5 star hotels for three years before moving to IT Sector where he worked for 5 years in different IT Domains. He is carrying 8 years of corporate experience. He is currently handling Marketing, Customer acquisition and other operations of the company.
Give us a brief background of what founders were doing before starting the venture.
I was running a beauty salon for last three years while Vikash was working in a reputed MNC.
List all the names of the core team members, along with their skill-sets, specific domain expertise & designated roles. How do you see them evolving over time?
- Kalpana Sharma – Founder & COO, Beauty & wellness Expert. I handle the daily operations of the company. I look after the customer relationship, hiring beauticians and providing them the basic customer handling training and knowledge of current market trends in Beauty industry.
- Vikash Sharma – Founder & CEO, he takes care the marketing and other operations of the company.
What is the problem you are trying to solve?
First let me tell you the problems most of Ladies face:
- There are lot of working women who don’t have much time to take beauty services. they don’t want to waste their time in traffic jam and waiting area of the salon.
- Busy housewives- they are busy in their house chores and take care tehir growing kids so doesn’t have much time for salon services.
- Pregnant ladies- they are not able to visit salon.
- Women with small kids- they don’t want to leave their kid behind.
So there are lots of challenges women face. Here BeautyGlad comes as a solution. We provide on-demand beauty services at home in convenient to their time and place.
What challenges did you face when you were starting out?
The major challenge was to find out the skilled and talented beauticians. This is the biggest problem in Beauty sector. Most of the beauticians are not skilled they have not done any courses or certification.
How did you get the initial capital? What returns does it have? Tell us about the investors (if any)
We are totally bootstrapped. We started this startup with our own 10 lacs rupee from our savings. We spent this money on setting up our website, Mobile App, CRM Software, purchasing Beauty Equipment, Hiring beauticians, Uniforms etc. and on infrastructure.
Within 4 months of starting up we have served 500+ Orders which is a good number for a new startup without any marketing.
Please tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
We provide complete beauty solutions like Facials, Waxing, Threading, Bleach, Manicure-pedicure, Hair Cut & Style, Party makeup, Bridal Makeup, Mehndi, etc and wellness services like Yoga and Meditation trainers.
We also going to start beauty advice on different beauty treatment like Acne, blackheads, hair fall, hair split, dandruff etc on a very nominal charges. For this we are in conversation with some Skin specialist (Working in big hospitals) to have them on board.
We are solving a big problem women faces and there are lots of startup providing different services at home which is in trend these days.
What were your assumptions when you entered the market, learning that you have?
We knew that Beauty industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. According to a KPMG report, the beauty and wellness industry in India will be worth US $13 billion by end of 2017. Since a large segment of this arena (70-80%) is unorganized, there is a huge potential for growth.
Our learning from this is that just focus on the quality of the service. If your customer is satisfied and happy, you will definitely grow.
What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
As I told, a large segment of this arena (70-80%) is unorganized, and run by unprofessional and untrained beauticians. so we are trying to mitigate this challenge. we keep on providing training to our all beauticians. there is always good beauty service providers
Yes, competition is always there and I believe this is always for good. When we have competitors we always try to give our best which ultimately help our customers.
As Beauty is a very personalized service and retaining customer is a big challenge so we are more focused on quality over quantity.
What is the strength of the startup and the scale of operations? Who do You Perceive as Your Competition? *
Affordable price and high quality services is our USP. We use only branded and original products. Our all beauticians are well skilled and trained. Every beautician has at least three years of experience and served 500+ Orders.
What is the revenue model? What is the logic behind it? What is the model you are following – Free / Freemium / Premium etc. ? Explain your thought process.
We have a very simple revenue model. Customer can easily book the services through our website or mobile app. They just need to visit our website or download our android app then choose the date/time and services they want and once they book the service our customer support confirms the booking.
Our beautician visit the customer place at allocated time and place and provide the service. Our happy customer pays us by cash or Credit card, Mobile wallet either at the time of booking or after the service.
Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them?
We are targeting different costumers like:
- Housewives with busy schedule
- Office going Women with limited time for salon
- Females who cannot afford an upscale salon
- Pregnant Women/ Young mothers with children.
- Brides- Bridal makeup & packages
We are helping them to save their time and money. This is the biggest benefit of getting beauty services at home. They can enjoy their favourite movie or serial, gossip with friends and can look after their kids while taking the beauty services.
How did you get your first customer?
I was already running a beauty salon and used to get lot of requests for beauty services at home which we were unable to provide at that time. We already had a good customer database of the customers need home services.
So, After launching our startup we served 50+ orders within a week of launch which was a good start.
What is the big picture of your startup? Is this Product leading to something bigger? If so, how?
This is a big challenge we are solving so future is very bright. Business will definitely grow with time.
Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture?
We have started our operations on 1st Oct 2016 and we are growing very fast. So far we have more than 2000+ registered users on our website and app and has served more than 500+ orders in last four months with average ticket size of 800/-.
What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
We are currently serving in Greater Noida & Delhi NCR and going to start our operations in 5 more cities including Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad by June 2017.
We are expecting 100 orders per day from these cities and expected to generate revenue of Rs. 25 Lakh per month by Sept 2017.
What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Nowadays, almost every budding entrepreneur is just after the investors. They just want a tag “Funded”. Please do not build your business for investors. Just focus on the problems you are solving and provide the best and quality services and solutions to your customers.
And, always try to bootstrapped in beginning, Invest your own money this will make you more responsible and you will learn a lot.
