Get your feet pampered from the comfort of your living space with thehapppyfeet [Fabulous Startup]

"We believe that feet have been abused and ignored the most, and we are here to take care of that one bit to a tee," Johny Stephen starts off by introducing thehapppyfeet.com to us succintly.

With ever increasing stress levels in corporate circles, people, especially working women don't have enough time to take care of their feet. Even if they do, their weekend time is wasted on commuting to and fro from the massage parlour. "We make their lives easier by helping her save her Saturday/Sunday so she can spend her time off as time off!" Johny adds.

"One shouldn’t have to walk a long distance or drive after a feet care session, it beats the very purpose of feet pampering!" And with this insight Johny Stephen, Founder and CEO and Sharath Kishan Keshavanarayana, Founder and COO started thehapppyfeet.com.

thehapppyfeet is a feet centric lifestyle brand that’ll come to your home or office and give your feet the pampering they deserve.

"Our vision is to become a platform that is synonymous to feet," says Sharath.

Johny and Sharath are both from Bengaluru and coincidentally joined Akamai Technologies on the same day. "We met while selling cloud computing services for Akamai Technologies to the west coast and east coast region, USA," Johny recalls.

While on a long haul flight to London, years into their jobs, Johny told Sarath about an ultra-relaxing foot massage that he had had in San Francisco. "By the time we arrived in London, we knew that we were going to start something of our own," says Sharath.

They started thehapppyfeet with a seed capital of INR 40 lacs from friends and family in the August of 2012. The service was launched in January, 2013.

thehapppyfeet of today and thehapppyfeet of tomorrow

"Today, thehapppyfeet is the brand the provides feet care services in the comfort of one's home or office via a call. Later, thehapppyfeet becomes the platform that provides wellness services at home or office via a click," explains Johny.

Right now, customers call in the office and schedule an appointment. A therapist is allotted the appointment and he/she goes to the customer's home/office to provide the service.

The team is in the process of building both the iOS & android versions of thehapppyfeet app that’ll provide feetcare services on-demand. The app will have all the critical technical references similar to any geo-based app namely,

• device location identification to have accurate information from where the customer is booking for the service
• providing directions, drawing routes and maps integration for therapists/drivers to reach the customer’s location in a timely manner
• push notifications to customers through the app to track the therapists; ensure, rate & review the services; track previous orders and get-to-know about special offers

The CRM at the backend shall sync in real-time and update the relevant stakeholders on the booked/available slots," explains Sharath.

Target audience and marketing channels

85% of thehapppyfeet customers are women who are stressed for time & play multiple roles as a mother, wife, daughter, and employee/entrepreneur. "They are financially independent, usually leaders in their peer groups & have a sizable set of followers," Johny gives us the customer insights.

"We have enterprises taking our services to reward employees. They invite us to be a part of their corporate events & employee wellness initiatives," he adds.

Customers primarily use thehapppfeet due to the convenience factor associated with it and sign up for monthly/quarterly subscription packages for wellness-related health benefits for themselves & their family members.

"All our advertising has been through digital platforms especially Facebook. We have over 21000 fans on Facebook and our user engagement has increased 500% over the past 6 months. Our posts are primarily promoted amongst women between 27-45 years of age and we target advertising on smartphones & tablets," Sharath explains their marketing strategy.

Revenues and fund-raising plans

The primary revenue driver for thehapppyfeet has been the individual session packs either for feet reflexology or a pedicure at home/office. The team has also sold over 200 quarterly subscription packs over the past 18 months to individuals/families. There are event based pricing models for corporates, marathons or family gatherings on a fairly consistent manner.

In 15 months from January 2013 to March 2014, thehapppyfeet has garnered impressive revenues of INR 70 lacs. The team is already in talks with several angel investors and hope to close the round in the next two months.

Plans for the next 3 months

Over the next 90 days, Sharath and Johny intend to build both the android & iOS versions of ‘thehapppyfeet’ app and build an in-house tech team. Apart from this, they want to build an ecosystem of therapists, starting with 10 therapist-partners and then scale to 20 therapists within Bangalore.

As the team scales their business, they intend to upsell and cross-sell feet care products and footwear solutions as well.

We visited the office of thehapppyfeet located in a quite locality in Bangalore. Watch the video below:

YourStory's take on thehapppyfeet

• The team is following a lean approach where by they don't intend to hire therapists, but make them partners instead.
• An on-demand app much like Uber will ensure that they become a technology company rather than a services company.
• The founding duo has an impressive sales experience and understand the niche very well.
• thehapppyfeet caters to an audience that is ready to pay big bucks for their product.
• Cross-selling other products is much easier with the kind of solicited mindshare they get with their customers.

"Leonardo Da Vinci said that the human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and work of art. We truly believe in it. 'Think Feet, think us' is where we want to be and this is what keeps us going everyday," the duo signs off.

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