From identifying overlooked consumer habits to building a new footwear care ecosystem, Co-founder Saurabh Gupta explains why future success lies with brands that influence consumer behaviour, not just those that sell products. Most successful startups start with a simple, often overlooked observation rather than a billion-dollar idea.

For Saurabh Gupta, Co-founder of SHOEGR, that observation came during a visit to his sister’s home in Hyderabad. Hanging on a balcony across the street was a pair of expensive Air Jordans, soaking wet, fresh out of a washing machine.

While many saw an ordinary scene, Saurabh recognised a business opportunity.

“If someone spends ₹15,000-20,000 on a pair of shoes, why is their only cleaning choice a washing machine?” he recalls.

That moment led to a key insight: despite India’s premium footwear market and growing sneaker culture, there was no organised footwear care industry. Today, SHOEGR aims to build a new consumer category, not just sell cleaning kits.

Finding Opportunity Where Nobody Was Looking

Before entering entrepreneurship, Saurabh spent over a decade building brands.

Through his agency, Brand Th3ory, he worked with over 100 brands, including Coca-Cola, Snapchat, Honda, PrepLadder, Unacademy, and other leading edtech companies. His learnings in consumer psychology taught him that successful brands solve problems consumers may not recognise.

When he looked at India’s footwear market, the gap was obvious. Consumers had specialised products for skincare, haircare and clothing. Different detergents existed for different fabrics. Yet footwear, which arguably gets dirtier than anything else people wear, had no dedicated care ecosystem.

Instead, people relied on toothpaste, detergents, wet cloths or washing machines, unknowingly shortening the lifespan of expensive footwear. Rather than viewing this as a product opportunity, SHOEGR saw it as a category-building opportunity.

“We didn’t want to build just another product. We wanted to build a habit.”

That philosophy continues to define the company’s growth strategy.

Why Footwear Care Is Becoming India’s Next Consumer Category

According to Saurabh, several macro trends are converging to create the perfect environment for footwear care. India’s sneaker culture has exploded over the past few years. Consumers who once hesitated to spend ₹1,000 on shoes are now comfortably purchasing premium sneakers priced at ₹10,000, ₹20,000, ₹50,000 or even several lakhs.

As footwear became both a fashion statement and an emotional investment, maintenance naturally becomes more important. 

At the same time, consumer awareness around sustainability is growing. Instead of replacing products frequently, people increasingly want to extend the life of what they already own. Proper shoe care not only protects expensive purchases but also reduces waste by keeping shoes out of landfills for longer.

The rapid rise of e-commerce and quick commerce has further accelerated this shift. Footwear care products are highly contextual purchases. A consumer may discover stained sneakers just before an important meeting or notice dirty white shoes before heading out for dinner. In such moments, waiting several days for delivery is no longer acceptable.

Quick commerce has transformed that experience. Within just a few months of expanding across platforms, SHOEGR witnessed significant growth driven by instant availability. For Saurabh, this isn’t merely a distribution advantage; it fundamentally changes purchasing behaviour.

Building a Category Means Educating Consumers First

Creating demand in an entirely new category requires far more than launching products. It requires changing habits.

“The biggest challenge is that consumers don’t know what they don’t know,” Saurabh explains.

People have cleaned shoes incorrectly for years without realising the damage they’re causing. Changing that behaviour requires education before conversion.

Instead of relying solely on advertising, SHOEGR invested heavily in content.

Its YouTube channel with over 1.3 lakh subscribers, has become the company’s strongest growth engine.

The brand creates tutorials on cleaning different materials, restoration techniques, product demonstrations, and answers common consumer questions, from removing wine stains to maintaining suede sneakers.

Whenever consumers search online for solutions to footwear problems, SHOEGR aims to become the trusted source rather than simply another seller. This educational ecosystem has evolved into one of the company’s strongest competitive advantages, something much harder for future competitors to replicate than products.

Innovation Begins With Understanding Real Problems

While many brands innovate by adding features, SHOEGR begins by understanding consumer frustrations.

One of its earliest innovations was India’s first three-brush shoe cleaning system. Recognising that different parts of a shoe require different treatment, the company introduced separate brushes for delicate uppers, rubber or foam midsoles and heavily soiled outsoles.

The philosophy is simple: one cleaning method cannot suit every material. 

The same thinking led to innovations such as shoe laundry bags and laundry pods that reduce damage during machine washing, specialised suede-care products, odour-control solutions, and products designed to restore faded materials. 

For Saurabh, innovation isn’t about launching more SKUs. It’s about solving overlooked everyday problems.

“Our goal is simple,” he says, “whenever someone faces any shoe or foot-related problem, we want SHOEGR to be the first brand they think of.”

Listening to Customers – Every Single Day

One of SHOEGR’s biggest strengths isn’t technology.

It’s conversation.

Even today, Saurabh personally speaks with customers almost every day. Those conversations have directly influenced product development. One such interaction revealed that consumers cleaning suede shoes disliked repeatedly wetting the material because it reduced its natural texture and appearance.

That insight eventually led to the development of SHOEGR’s dedicated dry suede care products and restoration spray that revives colour and texture without excessive moisture. Rather than relying solely on market research, SHOEGR treats customer feedback as an ongoing part of the product development process.

The sneaker community, in particular, became the company’s earliest testing ground, helping refine products while simultaneously building trust among enthusiasts who value footwear the most.

Scaling Profitably in a Challenging D2C Market

Unlike many consumer startups that prioritise aggressive customer acquisition, SHOEGR has taken a disciplined approach. After bootstrapping the business, the company raised a $100,000 pre-seed investment from PedalStart to expand beyond Amazon and establish a presence across marketplaces and quick-commerce platforms.

Today, SHOEGR is EBITDA positive, a significant milestone in India’s D2C ecosystem. The company is now raising approximately ₹6 crore to address what Saurabh describes as “a good problem.”

Demand already exists. Inventory doesn’t.

Instead of raising capital primarily for marketing, SHOEGR plans to use fresh funding to strengthen inventory, improve distribution, launch new products and fulfil growing purchase orders across the country.

For the company, growth is increasingly becoming a distribution challenge rather than a demand-generation challenge.

Beyond Shoes: Building a Complete Care Ecosystem

Although SHOEGR began with sneaker care, its ambitions extend far beyond that. The company envisions three phases of expansion.

The immediate focus remains on strengthening its presence across Amazon, quick-commerce platforms, and other marketplaces, while exploring international opportunities in mature markets such as the UAE, the UK, and the US.

The next phase involves expanding into leather care with products designed for shoes as well as handbags, wallets, belts and other leather accessories. Eventually, SHOEGR plans to enter foot care itself, addressing common issues such as foot odour, flat feet and other neglected consumer problems.

In the long run, Saurabh also sees opportunities in storage solutions and services, gradually building a comprehensive ecosystem around footwear and foot care rather than remaining a single-product company.

How Entrepreneurship Changed the Founder

Building SHOEGR transformed Saurabh as much as it transformed his career. Coming from a creative and branding background, he initially immersed himself in marketing operations.

Over time, he realised that founders create the most value not by managing daily execution but by thinking ahead.

“The founder’s biggest responsibility is to stay free, not free from work, but free to think.”

Today, he spends more time shaping company culture, identifying future opportunities and building long-term vision than managing campaigns.

For him, success isn’t measured solely in revenue.

It lies in creating a mission that every employee can believe in.

At SHOEGR, that mission is simple: helping people keep moving through products that preserve what they value.

Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Reflecting on his entrepreneurial journey, Saurabh offers practical advice that extends far beyond footwear care.

He believes founders building entirely new categories must treat content as infrastructure rather than marketing. Educating consumers creates stronger foundations than simply advertising products.

He also encourages entrepreneurs to focus deeply before expanding widely.

Instead of launching dozens of products across multiple platforms, he advocates mastering one channel with a focused portfolio before scaling further.

Profitability, according to him, should remain a priority even in the age of venture capital. Strong unit economics provide founders with greater flexibility during fundraising and long-term decision-making.

Perhaps his most important lesson, however, is about action.

Perfection, he believes, is an illusion.

Founders should launch, learn from customers, improve continuously and remain relentlessly committed to solving real problems.

Creating a Movement, Not Just a Brand

At first glance, SHOEGR appears to be a footwear care company.

But beneath the surface, it represents something much larger.

It reflects how modern Indian startups are increasingly succeeding not by inventing entirely new technologies, but by identifying neglected consumer behaviours and systematically changing them through education, design, community and thoughtful execution. Saurabh Gupta’s journey demonstrates that category creation isn’t about selling products people already understand.

It’s about helping consumers recognise needs they never knew existed. If India’s footwear care market evolves the way skincare did over the last decade, SHOEGR may well become one of the companies remembered not simply for leading the category, but for creating it in the first place.

To Watch full Interview : https://youtu.be/ugEbgEwS0uA?si=q6JRsGFzvCjERwTc

By : Vanshika Tayal