Karishma Rathaur, a dynamic entrepreneur from Bengaluru, has launched Honestly, an innovative AI-powered beauty platform. Honestly is designed to assist women in choosing the right beauty products while enabling them to share their experiences with others. This platform is supported by peer-reviewed scientific studies and users’ purchase history, making it a reliable resource for beauty enthusiasts.
The Birth of an Entrepreneur
Karishma Rathaur’s entrepreneurial journey began in her college years at Delhi University. Despite her family’s history of unsuccessful business ventures and their general aversion to entrepreneurship, Rathaur harbored a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Her initial foray into business involved managing sponsorship budgets for college events, which, although unsuccessful, introduced her to influential industry figures, including entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo. These encounters sparked her interest in the business world and fueled her desire to work in a corporate environment.
Despite her enthusiasm, Rathaur faced family pressure to secure a stable job. She worked for companies like Google, where she gained invaluable experience and built a robust professional network. These experiences helped her hone the skills and confidence needed to venture into her own business.
The First Steps into Entrepreneurship
Rathaur’s first entrepreneurial venture was Salad, a company co-founded with Aruna Chawla in 2022, focusing on helping women with hormonal health issues through lifestyle changes. However, the business faced significant challenges due to their lack of expertise in health and the difficulty of implementing a product-first approach in India. Despite their efforts, they decided to shut down the venture.
Launching Honestly
Undeterred by the setback, Rathaur embarked on a new journey with Honestly in April this year, alongside co-founder Vivek Madani. Honestly aims to simplify the process of finding the right beauty products by providing comprehensive information on over 600 attributes of various beauty products, such as skin types, efficacy for specific issues like acne, and raw materials. The platform also facilitates a community of users to share information and experiences.
“We are starting with the bestselling brands and will keep growing the catalogue as we scale,” says Rathaur. She adds that while social media and e-commerce platforms have made product discovery easier, consumers often struggle with deciding which product to buy. Honestly bridges this gap by offering better search and comparison tools, as well as a community for users to ask nuanced questions and share experiences.
Insights and Development
One key insight guiding the development of Honestly was the observation that consumers spend significant time researching beauty products before making a purchase. They often cross-reference reviews and try out products in-store despite online reviews. “This is a real, deep-seated problem in the market that Honestly aims to solve,” says Rathaur.
Initially, the founders were inspired by platforms like Flip in the United States, where users buy products and earn rewards for video reviews. However, they encountered challenges with this model. “We found that we were primarily attracting individuals interested in becoming influencers, rather than those deeply passionate about skincare or those with specific skin conditions like eczema or acne,” says Rathaur. The one-to-many communication model also didn’t foster the personalised, in-depth discussions they wanted.
Building a Robust Search System
Today, Honestly is developing a robust search system indexed on ingredient lists and supported by peer-reviewed scientific studies. The system also considers users’ past purchase history from platforms like Nykaa and Amazon to provide tailored product recommendations. It enables threaded conversations wherein only users with similar skin types and purchase behavior can respond, ensuring relevant advice and recommendations.
Honestly integrates AI to fact-check recommendations and claims, ensuring users receive accurate, science-backed information. This feature also aims to counteract misinformation, including misleading beauty hacks. The platform has already garnered considerable interest; a single post on social media platforms, including LinkedIn, attracts between 300 to 500 new users to Honestly’s waitlist today, says Rathaur.
Empowering Women Through Community
The absence of adequate representation of women in leadership positions is a challenge, says Rathaur. “Sometimes while facing a room full of male VCs, it was hard to talk about our problem statement or explain specific issues that women uniquely faced on a day-to-day basis,” she says. Rathaur believes that the way forward lies in women supporting and encouraging other women to start businesses that matter to the community.
Honestly is more than just a platform for beauty product recommendations; it’s a community where women can share their experiences and support each other in their beauty journeys. By leveraging AI and fostering a supportive community, Honestly aims to revolutionize the beauty industry, making it easier for women to find the right products and feel confident in their choices.
