“Startup”, this word itself seems dangerous, isn’t it? The moment you hear this term, you can imagine just few words i.e. “Ups and downs”, “Challenges”, “Roller-coaster ride” and “Risks”. This is just an impression that has been set in our mind, nothing else. The reality behind startups is not as bad as we think. A living example is that of “Beardo”, an Ahmedabad startup, which believes in the saying, “Once you start, never look back”. The company has achieved so much in such a less time that we can’t control ourselves from covering their success story. Want to know the journey of this startup? Well, you got to read it right till the bottom and this might probably change your perception towards the “Risks” involved.
How it all started?
Beardo’s wonderful journey got kick started in the year 2015; the people behind this brand are Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah. No, this was not a totally new or out of the blue thing for the duo. They had already tried listing some beauty products on renowned e-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart etc; soon, they started noticing the boom in the industry of men’s grooming products. This was the “Dimag ki batti jalao” moment for them. Without thinking even a bit, they thought to enter the market of men’s grooming products, with a bang. Of course, it wasn’t possible to capture the whole market at once and so, they decided on a niche i.e. “Products for facial hair”. As the name suggests, Beardo was all about men’s beards! But gradually they felt the need for expansion and captured different segments like oil, serum, hair wax, beard combs, soaps etc. The best thing about the brand is that it started off very simple and ended up becoming men’s favorite.
Tie-ups
Beardo has tied up with Snapdeal and Nykaa, the leading e-commerce stores in India and not only this, it has become the “Top selling brand” on these websites. Furthermore, it has tied up with around 200 salons in Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad and Delhi.
Now comes the risk part!
As we discussed above, wouldn’t you be curious to know if risks were involved in their venture or not? It’s a big NO. By God’s grace, everything was smooth for them and they never came across any “Obstacle”. This was a result of perfect marketing + proper planning + confidence in the brand. Yeah, these 2 men have the capability to capture the world because they are firm on these 3 things. You’ll be surprised to know that even in the first month, they didn’t have any losses as such; their profits were just around 50,000 to 60,000 when they started, but now they earn in crores; cheers to their hard-work and dedication.
Wondering how they started promoting the brand?
This was once again a tricky part; since there’s a lot of competition around, they decided to rely on social media platforms and BINGO, this is what gave them the desired target audience. Again, this took a lot of brainstorming, but nothing could stop the brand from reaching heights of success. Social media combined with a systematic approach has made them what they are today. Not to deny, RVCJ was their best social media partner, LOL!
Suniel Shetty is the brand ambassador of Beardo and he too has taken the brand to new heights! In the words of Avinash, “Everything happened at the right time and the right place and this is how Beardo got successful”.
Why is Beardo different from the rest?
Unlike other brands, Beardo doesn’t believe in competition. It believes in doing something different from the rest, so that people identify the brand and connect to it. Beardo started with a team of 2 and now, it has expanded and formed a team of 50 creative people who are always willing to newness to customers. Here are few things which has helped the brand grow!
• Creative– Without creativity, no brand can grow. Beardo got this perfectly and worked hard towards it.
• International quality at affordable rates– Usually, brands either compromise on the quality or on the price. But with Beardo, there are no worries as the brand focuses at offering International quality products at the lowest possible prices; good that it’s taking care of the middle class segment too.
• Experimenting– If you don’t experiment, you won’t learn. Once again, this is a brilliant factor that made Beardo stand apart.
Advice to startups!
I am sure that after reading all the above information, all startups must be eager to get some curious from Beardo. Well, Avinash says that for a startup to be successful, only 2 things are important;
1) Don’t burn out unnecessary money
Startups tend to take risks with anything and everything; Ashutosh says a strict NO to the same. Proper planning of budget is very important; without it, things might become messy.
2) Try something new
If you want to compete with other brands, you tend to go on the same lines as them. So where are new things involved? As a startup, you must keep experimenting with unique things as that is what will give you a good hold over the market you plan to capture.
3) Funding is not compulsory
It’s surprising to know that Beardo survived without funding for 10 months; this is no joke! Having belief in one’s brand can work wonders. It’s not necessary that since you are a startup, you are surely going to need funding. Avoid as much as you can.
Well, Beardo is going to become bigger soon; yes, now they plan to capture the bath and shower market and we can’t be more excited about it. Their journey has been inspirational and is giving us new goals. We wish them all the best for all their upcoming ventures.
Sponsored By Beardo