Automating the beauty industry. Нow the startup ANNA works
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In our recurring Who Are These People segment, Vector offers founders an opportunity to discuss their projects, covering aspects such as their products, marketing strategies, monetisation, investments, and business plans. The focus this time is on ANNA, a Ukrainian startup that offers a B2B SaaS platform designed to manage and schedule appointments for nails and brows industry. The service aims to help small businesses grow and attract clients while offering a secure alternative to Russian services that prioritises customer data protection and privacy.
Acting editor-in-chief Yuliia Tkach interviewed Yurii Baloha, co-founder and CPO, about the product’s features, marketing strategies, investments, and plans.
How the idea was conceived
ANNA has three co-founders:
- Nikoletta Furdela, CEO. Nikoletta oversees the company’s overall management and handles business development. She has a background in building marketing strategies, product management, and enhancing user experiences. She sets strategic goals, collaborates with customers and stakeholders, and introduces innovative products.
- Yurii Baloha, CPO. A serial entrepreneur and founder of the UDC Group, Yurii has extensive experience creating and managing successful businesses, including a consulting firm and various successful products such as crowdfunding and investment platforms, as well as modules for business interactions with government institutions. He is responsible for product development, analysing market trends, and identifying opportunities for new features. Yurii ensures that the product aligns with the needs of its target audience and evolves based on their feedback.
- Ivan Kryvianyk, CTO. Ivan sets R&D goals, oversees the creation and implementation of technological services, and makes key decisions regarding the company’s technology requirements.
Nikoletta and Yurii had known each other for years before embarking on this joint project. They previously worked together in the accounting sector. They began working on ANNA in March 2023 following extensive testing and adjustments to their hypotheses and team structure. Their vision remained unchanged: to streamline the registration process for clients and eliminate Russian alternatives from the market.
The first prototype was developed in June 2022. In light of the full-scale war, Yurii and Nikoletta felt compelled to create a product that would be genuinely useful.
«It all started with my own pain — both literal and figurative. Because of my hectic schedule and the absence of a convenient appointment booking service, I found it challenging to manage my time effectively. As I looked for a service, I discovered one that seemed appropriate, allowing me to schedule a doctor’s appointment using an online form.
However, I spotted the Altegio icon, which indicated it was a Russian service. Feeling repulsed, I refused to submit my information to the site. There was no phone number for assistance either.
This experience led to our first product version — a task manager combined with a marketplace for various services. Users can add a personal calendar to help them set up meetings with people. There is also a tab that provides access to a section for scheduling a tire replacement for their vehicles. All of this is in one place, complete with reminders and an understanding of their needs.
Regrettably, this version ended with an ineffective partnership and an outsourced IT team that left us in the lurch… We dedicated six months to developing something, aspiring to capture the essence of Silicon Valley as portrayed in movies: startups, cutting-edge technology, virtual monitors, and a bustling office environment. However, it became clear that our outsourced team was not solely focused on the startup’s mission and work culture. We wasted half a year and a significant amount of money.
In the spring of 2023, we changed our strategy to focus on not just my pain points, but also the broader market needs. During that period, there were no existing Ukrainian platforms for scheduling appointments or finding available hairdressers or car wash services. So, we launched a mobile app that allows users to queue and book appointments.
Initially, we offered a wide range of services and categories, addressing the challenges of client visits. ANNA is not a CRM providing calculations, costs, or IP telephony. We focus on solving the problem of managing and overseeing client visits.
Trends today show that younger individuals are less inclined to communicate over the phone. They find it more convenient to book appointments online. Additionally, people’s reluctance to repeatedly install new apps suggests that it may not be wise for businesses to invest in creating their own. They should prioritise development and improvement instead», — Yurii suggests.
To enhance user accessibility, we decided to create an app alongside our website. We later narrowed our focus to the beauty sector, specifically nails & brows.
The team also includes a Mobile Developer responsible for optimising the mobile app. There are speculations that he has recently put a dent in Microsoft’s dominance, according to Yurii. They plan to expand our team further by hiring a designer and another developer.
Product and audience
ANNA is a B2B SaaS platform designed to create and manage appointments in the nails & brows sector. The application is designed for self-employed professionals who scheduling assistance for their services.
Our primary target audience consists of female professionals in Ukraine, but we also have paying customers from Lithuania, Poland, Dubai, the Czech Republic, and Brazil. They all require fast and convenient functionality for scheduling appointments in just three clicks. They want to have multiple options for clients to make appointments in the app, personally or via the web version.
Let’s take the example of a manicure or eyebrow artist who relocated from Kharkiv to Uzhgorod amid the full-scale war. All of her followers on Instagram are clients from Kharkiv. What should she do in the new city? How can she find new clients? By downloading our app, she can quickly complete her profile and begin attracting her first clients and reviews. This way, she already has a foundation upon which she can build her business so she can compete with other professionals in the marketplace and avoiding the need to begin anew.
By this point, we had developed the most efficient app in the beauty sector. From the beginning, we have followed a key principle: to scale our services irrespective of location, number of staff, contact centres, or the practice of cold/hot calling. Our scaling process is automated; we operate without a sales team.
We don’t reach out to clients directly. Typically, when a situation arises that requires our support — such as users struggling to resolve an issue on their own — we step in to assist. The application is designed to be intuitive, and we have made significant adaptations to enhance user experience. According to Yurii, setting up a business on ANNA only takes two minutes. The fastest registration, isn’t it?
Business model and promotion
At present, ANNA serves around 450 active business clients who collectively generate at least 4,000 appointments per month – 90 of these clients are paid subscribers. The app generates revenue through subscriptions as part of a B2B model.
There are three options:
- Free: no expiration date, but it does not send automatic reminders to clients;
- Lite: $8.99 per month, designed for one professional;
- Profi: $14.99 per month, unlimited access for professionals within a registered business.
«One significant benefit of our product is that we ensure data privacy. We do not store information about appointments. If you accidentally delete your business from your account, we cannot restore it because we do not retain that data. Unlike competitors such as Altegio, DIKIDI, or Beauty Master, which may keep your personal data or credit card details, we do not have access to that information. We do not save passwords; our method of verification is solely through SMS». Yurii stresses: «We never disclose data to regulatory authorities or any other entities».
The product is mainly promoted through word-of-mouth recommendations and organic distribution. They do not invest in advertising through influencers because of its transition out of the active development phase. They also participate in industry events. The moment for marketing is just around the corner.
Investments
To date, approximately $300,000 has been invested in the project. They started with one angel investor and have not made use of grants. The team is currently in the active seed round stage, with the main goal for 2025 to attract capital for development and expansion into other markets.
Plans
The goal for next year involves securing a funding round, acquiring 5,000 clients in Ukraine, and starting our move into the Latin American market. This market is untapped and relevant to our product.
We aim to make ANNA accessible to every professional seeking automation and convenience in their tasks. Our primary mission is to enhance the beauty industry by making it more technological, convenient, and accessible to all. We have a clear vision for product development by moving towards the creation of a personal virtual administrator, an assistant that has no equivalents globally», — summarises Yurii Baloha.
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