There is a particular form of bravery which does not seek to make much noise about itself. It does not slip on a rebellious cloak or perform spectacular acts. There are times when such bravery slips out of comfort, steps on to a train and decides that life’s path will change forever even without the benefit of a map. That is the precise nature of the bravery shown by Saurabh Bothra.
Born on June 19, 1992, in Nagpur, Maharashtra. He was brought up in a disciplined environment and he got to see this discipline from close quarters as his father moved from their ancestral village in Amravati to Nagpur and established a successful business for himself. Saurabh learned from these experiences silently and later he would put them to much bigger use than anybody could ever have thought of.
Saurabh belongs to a middle class background with all the conventional expectations from him. However, he did what millions of Indians dreamt of that is pass the toughest entrance exam in the world and land himself a seat in IIT-BHU, Varanasi. With a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from there Saurabh had all that society could offer in terms of security, respectability and future. However, that was not what Saurabh was chasing.
Saurabh did something different after his graduation as well. While the other students started working for some firm and got their offer letters, he took a step back. He had no salary for six consecutive years. He volunteered. He travelled all over India. He spent his time with teachers, monks and common people who had achieved a state of extraordinary calmness in their life. It might look like drifting to everyone else but this was a process of searching for Saurabh.
Everything changed in the most unexpected manner for him as expected in real life of a person. During a trip from Banaras to Nagpur via train, he ended up talking to a bunch of people meditating. And thus, something opened up within him. He started to practice and for the first time in his life, he felt relief from asthma which was troubling him since childhood. He was not just learning yoga he was witnessing its magic.
By 2014, he could finally see clearly what was happening in his mind and he understood that he would never become an engineer. Nor did he want to take over the family business. He tried it for three months only. Yoga was calling him and he decided to share it with others. It was not going to be done in fancy studios with membership programs but on the roads of India.
Saurabh’s unique selling point among the many fitness influencers who came after him was his approach. He did not care about overnight changes and sensational stories. He cared about only one thing that is being consistent.
What he had realized is that the biggest obstacle to achieving wellness was not lack of awareness or determination. It was the simple inability to just keep showing up without making any fuss. Ten minutes of practice daily for a year will be far more effective than a strenuous weekend camp which leaves nothing behind. And thus came the basic idea behind Habuild which was an amalgamation of habit and build.
Co-created with a shared goal of making wellness truly accessible, Habuild was initiated as a digital platform during a period when the concept of practicing yoga digitally was still under scepticism. The yearly membership cost was set to about Rs. 3,999 in a way that there was minimal financial barrier. Free 14-days and 21-days challenge programs were available for new users, attracting individuals who never had practiced any form of exercise: homemakers in their fifties, retired teachers dealing with joint pain issues, working women torn between work and house.
Saurabh gives classes alive, every single day. For five years straight without any gap, even on account of wedding, illness or even when he broke his leg. This is not a statement made to promote the product. Rather, it is the physical incarnation of all he says. For the teachers coming in with a broken leg, their message resonates much more strongly in students than anything spoken can.
The company was not built on aggressive marketing. Rather, it was built on something that works better and more efficiently which is word of mouth by those whose life it has transformed. Grandmother in Nagpur spoke to her daughter in Toronto about the company. Teacher from Jaipur spread the word of free challenge on her WhatsApp group. Retired army man in Pune got some routine in his daily life through the morning classes. Habuild was not just a product anymore; it was a community.
It touched the hearts of mature ladies above forty years and senior citizens, a group that had been neglected or considered inferior by the fitness industry. Saurabh was teaching them as human beings who just needed an entry into fitness and not as frail bodies to be controlled but only as human beings who did not need abandonment.
The same year of 2023, Habuild witnessed a virtual yoga event which was attended by 1,34,057 people at the same time and broke a world record. In 2024, Habuild took another step further to reach a world record of 2,46,252 concurrent viewers for their live yoga event. These numbers did not come through any marketing gimmick rather they were the results of an organic growth of the community which had developed through sheer participation over the years.
Now, Habuild has touched more than 1.5 crore people that is 15 million people across 169 countries. The same IIT graduate Saurabh Bothra who was roaming in India without any money and purpose has now become a teacher of the world’s biggest morning yoga class from wherever he is located. Their YouTube channel has videos related to asana, posture correction and pain relieving tips and their Instagram has the whole story of their journey so far.
All in all, Habuild still is bootstrapped and there are no signs of any venture capitalist investments or influence. As for the financial year 2024-2025, Habuild Healthtech Private Limited earned a turnover of Rs. 112 crore showing an annual increase in revenue of 203 per cent. Additionally, profitability has increased by 237 per cent and net worth has grown by 321 per cent. The platform’s work is managed by a team of 336 full-time employees.
The personal net worth of Saurabh is about Rs. 45 crore, which was achieved through various sources of income, such as subscription plans of Habuild, corporate wellness contracts, YouTube AdSense income estimated to be from $15,000 to $44,000 monthly and public speeches at different events related to topics of wellness and entrepreneurship. His lifestyle resembles his teachings- he eats food only before sunset, keeps silent sometimes and never misses his morning practice.
Saurabh Bothra’s success cannot be described in terms of his career path. It can be considered the story about what happens when a man decides to optimize for meaning instead of social validation. It is the story about six years that seemed to be a failure but turned out to be an education. It is a choice of a practice over money with confidence that in case of a true practice, money will find its way back eventually.
Above all it is a story about the philosophy that the world really needs right now that transformation requires no intensity but persistence. That the strongest thing one can do is just to be there each day caring and intentional enough to make the weight of effort undeniable.
He did not pursue success. He created a reason to never stop!
