UrbanGabru
“Grooming is a silent language towards success as it instills confidence within oneself, and helps to emit charisma.”
As an outward manifestation of inner resilience, grooming habits form an essential aspect of men’s holistic personality development and refine their confidence to exceptional heights. In these hustling lifestyles, it is imperative that men’s grooming products are innovative, simplistic, all-inclusive, and result-oriented. Moreover, there needs to be a strong communication and transparency between the customers and the brand about the knowledge behind the products.
Well, the brand in focus today has nailed its potential in the men’s grooming industry. UrbanGabru is a top grooming brand that inspires men to upgrade themselves with its innovative product range. Its result-oriented products disrupt the status quo of the market, setting a benchmark for the rest.
Coalescing all the nuggets of wisdom about men’s grooming and lifestyle practices, UrbanGabru began its journey in 2017 to educate men through a YouTube channel, “UrbanGabru Men’s Lifestyle”. The brainchild of Mr. Hemant Raulo, UrbanGabru was founded with the ultimate ambition to solve customers’ problems revolving around grooming and lifestyle in an innovative manner. The channel continued to grow steadfastly, and upon completing the milestone of 30,000 subscribers, UrbanGabru used the platform to market and sell its first-ever product, UrbanGabru Beard Oil, in April 2017. Since then, the brand has redefined the Indian grooming industry for men with its line of avant-garde products.
The editorial team of Prime Insights had the privilege of interacting with the brand’s Founder and CEO, Mr. Hemant Raulo, for its enticing release, “Most Innovative Brand of the Year 2023.” We were truly amazed by Mr. Raulo’s journey as he shared many lesser-known facts about his transition into the entrepreneurial ecosystem through the path of YouTube. He also touched upon how UrbanGabru has established robust credibility in the market over the years. Let’s see what the dignitary said to our array of questions!
Meet the Leader Behind it All
Mr. Hemant Raulo, after completing his B.E. in Computer Science from AIT, Pune, in 2013, worked as a SAP Administrator at Accenture Pvt. Ltd. for 3.5 years. However, he always wanted to pursue something of his own. In 2016, he left his corporate job and started on his journey as a self-taught digital marketer.
On researching, he understood that there were enough grooming products for women, but there was a significant void when it came to the grooming needs of men. There was an ever-growing demand for quality-driven products, but the supply was unorganized. Realizing the potential, he decided to take this as his motive for entrepreneurialism and continued to work diligently. Under the name UrbanGabru, he set up his own sole proprietorship firm, which got registered as a private limited company in 2019.
Beginning the Journey of Excellence
The journey began by marketing products to its 30K subscribers on the YouTube channel. The team focused on building a sense of authenticity and trust with the subscribers and motivating them to try the products. Initially, it was not a challenge, but growing the customer base was a tough nut to crack. Once UrbanGabru’s subscribers started using its products, they saw genuine results coming their way. For UrbanGabru, customer trust has been the foundation on which the team continues to build the brand’s success and identity.
From the beginning, UrbanGabru emphasized on creating informative content to educate men on grooming and lifestyle through social media platforms. Moreover, the brand always brings innovative products to the table without compromising on quality. All the products are paraben, sulphate, and benzene free and dermatologically tested. When it comes to ‘Personal Care Appliances,’ they are made anti-scalding and with high ceramic content.
“We don’t believe in copying a product that already exists in the market. We always bring a revolutionary solution. The USP of UrbanGabru is that we keep competing with ourselves and come up with even more innovative solutions than what we already have. Our products help to ease the lives of customers by saving their time, giving them value for their money, and exceeding their expectations. In addition to it, UrbanGabru believes that customer satisfaction is an indelible asset for any organization. The brand has garnered immense success by virtue of its satisfied customers, who voluntarily become the brand’s irreplaceable ambassadors,” asserts the Founder and CEO, Mr. Hemant Raulo.
A Glimpse of the Key Differentiating Parameters
The brand always focuses on offering innovative products to its customers in a way that solves their everyday problems, saves them time, effort, and money, and promises results. For instance, UrbanGabru’s hero product, Hair Removal Cream Spray, helps to remove unwanted body hair in 6–8 minutes with no pain, cuts, or foul smell. Another innovative product, 100% Natural Hair Volumizing Powder, helps to style hair in minutes and keeps it intact for the entire day. The core strategy revolves around building and dominating an entire category by finding the root problem and solving it with radical ideologies.
Mr. Hemant Raulo also highlighted that customers are now much more vigilant about what ingredients are being used in the products. They do not stick to short term results but focus on the long-term impact. They also cross-verify every aspect of the product before buying it. Hence, being transparent takes center stage in gaining customers’ trust, and UrbanGabru takes care with its well-thought formulations.
Road to an Opulent Future
UrbanGabru has recently launched a new category: ‘Personal Care Appliances’ under which the brand has come out with “UrbanGabru’s Body Trimmer”. The brand is gearing up to close a revenue of INR 300 crore in FY 2023, along with an offline expansion from 50K to 100K counters across the country. The near-term aim in focus is to disrupt the hair removal and hair styling categories, thereby making UrbanGabru a household name.
Parting Words from the Luminary’s Desk
Prime Insights thoroughly relished sharing the platform with the charismatic entrepreneur Mr. Hemant Raulo and knowing about his brainchild in elaboration. While coming towards the end of the interaction, we requested that Mr. Raulo share some snippets of wisdom with our readership panel, to which he quotes,
“It is essential that young entrepreneurs who are just starting out recognize the right problem and the right solution before entering the market. Once that is established, half of their work is already done. Next comes building a team of strong leaders and setting up a healthy work environment. Remember, the road of entrepreneurialism is not always a cakewalk, but each challenge is an opportunity for growth. So, your mantra should be to embrace failures as stepping stones to success. Honesty with your vision and passion will be your guiding star in times of doubt. Develop a sense of agility to feedback, seek mentorship from experienced individuals, and surround yourself with a supportive network that believes in your potential.”
