YesMadam’s Journey To Empower Women: From Humble Beginnings To Pitching On Shark Tank

In times when endless entrepreneurial endeavors are making it to the news, few stories inspire us to the core. We at YesMadam have a similar story to share. 

Starting small and driven by an unwavering desire to empower women, our D2C brand has grown into a real Shark Tank success story. Come along with us as we reveal the story of our company, which has been instrumental in changing the beauty and wellness sector and has inspired women worldwide to be independent and self-assured.

YesMadam: A Revolutionary Idea in the Beauty Industry

Founded in 2016 by Mayank Arya, Aditya Arya, and Akanksha Vishnoi, YesMadam offers salon and personal care services at home. But the idea from which it was born is really interesting to unfold.

The idea unfolded when Garima Sharma, the company’s director, personally experienced unhygienic and inconsistent home salon services during her pregnancy. She developed a severe allergy due to the replenishment of creams and other ingredients in large boxes. 

This made her realize that there was a huge gap in the market for hygienic salon services at home, which led to the foundation of YesMadam.  

We decided to craft beautiful experiences at YesMadam, focusing on the hygiene and the well-being of our customers. We started personalized services with mono-dose products, giving customers complete transparency on pricing from a brand. Prioritizing the standardization of service, we provided extensive training to our service providers, along with the insurance and dignity they deserve, wherein we serve as a platform for connecting these two. 

What began as a problem statement led to the idea of this start-up, which is now a successful pitching venture on Shark Tank.

Strategic Growth: How YesMadam Expanded Across the Country

Keeping our customers at the core of our business and focusing on the overall well-being of our service providers, we at YesMadam have seen consistent year-on-year expansion from inception. 

Currently, we are operational in 50+ cities with a customer base of over 5 lakhs, 3000+ service providers, and close to 10 lakh bookings yearly. We have 80 % of repeat customers. Validating our commitment to providing hygienic, standardized salon, spa, and wellness services to customers in the comfort of their homes.

The chart below shows our year-on-year growth and depicts our unwavering efforts to provide the best-personalized home salon services.

Navigating Early Challenges: Building A Brand From The Ground Up

Building a team of skilled and efficient service providers is at the heart of every service industry; they can make or break any business model. We at YesMadam understand this and have had our share of struggles, from finding the right professionals to training and monitoring their performance was no cakewalk. The first professional we onboarded absconded with our scooter and was traced only after 3 days.

Earning consumer trust and working with an extensive team of service providers wasn’t easy. But today, when we look back on our journey, we feel that we have made a difference in society and successfully transformed individuals’ lives, making us genuinely confident and proud. 

From receiving zero orders in the initial days to 4000+ bookings in a day, the journey is worth every bit of trying.

Empowering Women: The Impact of YesMadam on Beauticians

We all agree to the fact that the status of women in India has been a subject of great concern, and it varies across different regions, socioeconomic backgrounds, and communities. 

While our business was majorly women-oriented, our third founder, Ms Akanksha Vishnoi, contributed to toughening the marketing approach and etching out a model, keeping women’s benefits at the very core of it. 

Through YesMadam, we had the opportunity to connect with them and got a glimpse of the several forms of exploitation that they were going through; we understood their need for equality, skill enhancement, economic independence, and a better standard of living. We at YesMadam are committed to their upliftment and empowerment. 

At present, we have 3000+ female professionals associated with us. For their overall development and well-being, we have adopted the following practices:  

• We offer financial support to our service providers, assisting them to secure loans with ease.
• We conduct bi-annual rewards and recognition programs and motivational sessions for their mental and emotional well-being.
• We have built a multi-layered safety mechanism, which includes an SOS button in the app, equipping them with pepper sprays and coaching them on handling different situations.

All these efforts have been the breeding ground for cultivating confident, respected individuals with strong professional identities. 

Importance Of Training:

To ensure we deliver the highest quality service, mitigate any risks and continue to maintain standards, we at YesMadam lay great emphasis and focus on training:   

• For every service professional we onboard, we have a stringent training process.
• It begins with the trial phase, wherein we conduct a training need analysis to understand each professional’s skills and expertise.
• Our team of experts then provides specialized training, which includes both theory and practical sessions.
• After the completion of training, a final assessment is conducted, clearing upon which the beauty kit is issued and the professional is ready to go live on field jobs.
• We believe in second chances – we provide retraining to our service providers over deactivating their accounts.
• Refreshers are conducted at regular intervals, to keep them up-to-date with the rapid changes in skin care, necessary safety measures, and details of new products.

Innovation At Its Core: The Technology Driving YesMadam’s Success

Nowadays, everyone is adopting technology; tech-friendliness has enabled faster application adoption, whereas there is a segment for which the human approach resonates.

YesMadam, we understand this, and thus booking service is extremely convenient; customers have the option to book an appointment through our Website or our App available on Android and iOS operating systems or calling our customer care number +91 9797639797.

We have a team of 17 technical experts who are constantly monitoring and upgrading the platform.

Facing the Sharks: YesMadam’s Pitch on Shark Tank Season 3

We entered Shark Tank with a mix of emotions; there was palpable excitement and anxiousness to meet the industry’s stalwarts, the ones who have forged their own success stories.

We knew we had built something special, a sustainable business model, but scaling it to the next level demanded expertise slightly out of our range. We looked at Shark Tank as an excellent opportunity to gain valuable insights from the industry’s visionary leaders.

In anticipation, we spent every waking hour meticulously reviewing our numbers, processes, and other details until we knew them like the back of our hands. 

Lessons Learned: Insights from YesMadam’s Shark Tank Experience

Participating in Shark Tank was an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of emotions. The excitement of meeting the Sharks and pitching our business model was coupled with the immense pressure and nervousness of making a favorable impression. 

There is a lot that we take back from this experience, but some of the valuable lessons are:

1. Know your numbers inside out.
2. Preparation is the key that unlocks all favorable opportunities
3. Feedback is breakfast for champions; accept it graciously and work towards it. 
4. Believe in yourself and your business model.
5. Be honest and transparent in your dealings.

What’s Next for YesMadam: Future Plans and Aspirations

We know we have built something special and are more focused than ever on its future and expansion plans. We will continue to prioritize increasing our market share in the cities we serve and being the one-stop solution for all our customer’s beauty needs. Our primary focus would be on providing home salon service, and we would be looking at opening a few offline stores shortly. Through our venture, we would be looking at giving opportunities to build a strong force of women entrepreneurs and empowering them. 

Growing our business together, building a better future, one woman, one community at a time!