UrbanYou is an online booking platform which puts clients in touch with cleaning and gardening professionals.
Co-founders Elke Keeley, a former communications strategist, and Noga Edelstein, a former commercial lawyer, left their established corporate careers and took the leap into entrepreneurship.
But for these former colleagues, it was their experiences in their professional careers which inspired the business.
UrbanYou service provider Wagner Neves Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
“I’d spent 15 years working in global technology and media companies, like Yahoo, Foxtel and IBM. One thing I noticed working at these places is that colleagues struggled to get stuff done around their house,” Ms Edelstein said.
The UrbanYou platform aims to make booking household services as simple as online shopping, with next day availability for time-poor customers.
UrbanYou co-founder Noga Edelstein Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
Customer May Boray has used the service for two years, and was initially won over by UrbanYou’s convenience.
“They’ve been amazing to deal with [and] really responsive, especially with feedback,” Ms Boray said.
“One time there was one minor thing that I wasn’t happy with and the cleaner came back on the same day and fixed it.”
Ms Boray is one of thousands of UrbanYou’s repeat clients, which Ms Keeley attributes to the platform’s user-friendliness, and strong customer service.
“We’ve had 60 percent of our customers transact on the platform at least three times per month, so our recurring business is very strong,” Ms Keeley said.
The service is not just winning over clients, but service providers too.
UrbanYou co-founder Elke Keeley Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
One husband-wife cleaning team had struggled to boost their customer base, until UrbanYou gave them the platform they needed to connect directly with clients.
“It was a big solution for us, we needed lots of leads and needed work, and from there, we started growing,” cleaner Wagner Neves said.
The company has a separate app for providers, which aims to simplify the process of finding work for these professionals.
“It’s like an ATM in their pocket - they can see jobs in real-time, they can see where the jobs are going to be,” Ms Keeley said.
The UrbanYou provider app Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
The app also ensures payment security for the providers, introducing a simple yet consistent method of remuneration.
“With gardeners, for example, they’re often told, go look under the flower pot on the back table for the cash at the end of the job. Sometimes it’s not there, and then they are chasing the money,” Ms Edelstein said.
“We take care of all of that. We get the payment for them so it’s a guaranteed payment.”
Since its launch in 2014, the company has turned over $3 million.
Last year, UrbanYou closed a $1 million funding raise in just a fortnight.
The co-founders have high hopes for their business, with plans for national expansion bolstered by their acquisition of domestic cleaning service Home Hello.
“Home Hello had a very strong recurring business, so we decided to bring them on board and acquire them,” Ms Keeley said.
The UrbanYou office Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
“By doing that, we doubled our recurring business subscription overnight.”
The co-founders are confident in their business’ future, and say despite the challenges they’ve encountered along the way, their startup journey has been incredibly worthwhile.
“I didn’t know what I was in for when I left my cushy corporate job to launch a start-up - but I love it,” Ms Edelstein said.
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