CRISP. caught up Arminder Dhillon, founder and owner of BootBuddy® to talk about business, entrepreneurship and that ingenious product.

 

 

 

Let’s go right back to the beginning, as big fans of your product we’re really fascinated to know more about the journey. What were you doing before you started BootBuddy?

Before BootBuddy, I was at primary school where I spent most of my time playing sports with football being the one which I dedicated most of my time to.

 

How did the idea come about?

As a keen footballer I would train 3-4 times a week and have a game on the weekend when the season ran. I would always be training or playing matches on muddy pitches and never had clean boots! No matter how hard I tried to keep my boots clean for the next match, I was never able to keep up. I always found myself having mucky boots and so I would end up frantically cleaning them the night before Sunday matches.

This problem of always having muddy boots made me think there had to be an easier and quicker way to clean my boots. This is when I sat down and thought about what is needed to clean muddy boots and shoes in general.

The first element was a brush to scrub your boots and shoes with, and the second element was water to help wash any mud away. The third and final element was a plastic knife to remove large clumps of mud which would later become the tail shaped scraper on the back of the BootBuddy. Once I realised that the combination of these three elements helped speed up the process of cleaning boots and muddy shoes the BootBuddy was born.

Here at CRISP. We’re big fans of simplicity and design, how many attempts did you have at getting this design just right.

Getting the design of the BootBuddy just right took a few attempts. Once the final BootBuddy design was chosen I had the help of a family friend who works with 3D prototyping; they created a 3D printout which helped us nail down a design. Even now, with any new products we launch, it takes time to get the design just right.

 

We’re intrigued to know, what did the original design look like?

The original design of the BootBuddy was a smaller water bottle which had a dishwashing brush taped to the side and a plastic knife taped to the back end of the bottle.

 

Can you tell us a bit of the process from taking this to idea to a concept? What was the hardest part between the idea and having a prototype made?

I started off with concept drawings that I showed to our family friend who specialises in 3D prototyping. Once we had our printout, we researched manufacturers and spoke to a vast range of companies until we found one which best suited BootBuddy. The hardest part was having the confidence that the design I had chosen was the correct one as at that stage, you don’t know how it will perform until it is brought to life.

 

How did the opportunity to go on dragons den come about?

We got a phone call out of the blue one morning from someone who claimed to be from Dragons Den, and we thought someone was playing a prank on us. But it turned out to be true and I have to say that at first, the process felt surreal as there were multiple auditions and preshow checks before going into the Den. I think the moment we realised we were really going to pitch to the dragons was when we were in the famous lift waiting to enter the den!

Did you have a game plan in mind or a particular dragon you wanted to work with before you went in?

We hadn’t gone in with a specific game plan. The main thing we focused on was making sure we knew the numbers, remembered all the USPs of the BootBuddy and to make sure we kept our cool! In terms of the Dragons there wasn’t an outright favourite as we could see how much value each Dragon brought to the table.

Was there a particular moment when you realised BootBuddy was a success?

We measure success through how many lives we change. Right at the start of our journey two stories, in particular, stand out to me.

The first was when I was out in our local park and noticed that some of the boys and girls who were playing football were cleaning their boots at the side of the pitch using a BootBuddy. The second story was when a customer had written into us explaining how she used the BootBuddy not only to clean her shoes after a family walk, but she also used the BootBuddy to clean the wheels of her child’s wheelchair. Previously she wasn’t able to go out on these walks with her child as the wheels were too tricky to clean but the BootBuddy offered a portable solution to this problem! This story really meant a lot not just to me but the whole team as BootBuddy was not just a product to offer convenience to its users but in this case to promote the whole family going out together and creating new memories.

 

What does your day-to-day look like now you’re across multiple retailers?

The day to day working with retailers can be stressful but that tends to be when organising the transportation of stock from us to different retailers, this is mainly due to the fact that each retailer has their own requirements for delivery so it can sometimes be tricky but thankfully we have a team who knows what each retailer requires.

 

What effect has the Pandemic had on your business if any?

The pandemic has allowed us to reach a new audience of consumers that may not have considered the BootBuddy pre-pandemic. This audience mainly consists of people that use their BootBuddy for activities other than shoe cleaning.

 

What is next for BootBuddy and what is next for you?

BootBuddy will be looking to widen its product offering and move into new territories. We have exciting plans to launch a new product that will join the BootBuddy family before April this year.

For myself, I will be finishing off my university degree as I am currently in my 2^nd year and then I’ll be looking to start a few more businesses in the future!

What advice would you give young budding entrepreneurs?

To simply throw yourself into a new project and give it your all as the best way to learn is to try new things and even fail! From personal experience, the failures always offer new knowledge on how to tackle tasks. Another thing to do is ask for advice, I think that entrepreneurs are often shown to be these independent workers, but this often isn’t the case. Boot buddy is a key example of this as without our team we wouldn’t be able to carry out tasks efficiently, for example, asking a family friend to help with a 3D prototype led to us having the confidence to push the BootBuddy not just as a product but as the brand that we see today.

I’d also urge them to continue to innovate and find ways to further improve their existing idea. For example, BootBuddy began with only 1 product but now we have different colours, sprays and new products in the pipeline.

 

Outside of work, how do you like to wind down and relax?

Before the current times, I would enjoy going out to see friends and family however this has changed. I now find myself further pursuing my hobbies, one of them being watches. This would involve further learning how to take a watch apart and put it back together or collecting watches for special occasions which hold many different memories and stories.

 

If there was one other innovative product over the past 5 years you would have wished to call your own, what would it be?

I would have to say peloton.

 

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You can watch Arminder and his family in the Den below. Well done to you all!

 

 

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