"We never wanted to just sell car care chemicals."
The Foam Heroes story didn't start in a lab or with the idea of building a brand. First came regional retail, work with national chains, the hunt for products people actually wanted and constant conversations with customers.
In this conversation, Roman Guryevsky talks about how the car market changed, why One Car moved online and where Foam Heroes really came from.
From chain retail to the car market
Misha: Roman, a lot of people know you as the founder of Foam Heroes, but it all started much earlier. What did the company do at the very beginning?
Roman: Back in 2010 we worked with chain retail in the Murmansk region. Supermarkets, hypermarkets and gas station chains. Car products were one of our lines, but they weren't our main focus yet.
Misha: And when did cars become the priority?
Roman: At some point we noticed something interesting — most of our staff didn't even own cars. It became clear that the car side of the business had to be built by people who genuinely cared about it. So we put together a separate team of car enthusiasts and started digging into the market.
Why we opened our own stores
By 2015 the company was well established in the region, but changes in retail pushed us to look for a new model of growth.
Misha: What made you open your own stores?
Roman: We saw big chains slowly cutting back their car product lineup. But the demand didn't go anywhere. People still wanted quality car care chemicals — it just got harder to buy them.
Misha: And that's when the idea of your own format came up?
Roman: Yes. We decided to build a store where car care and accessories were the main focus, not a small category squeezed in between other products.
An experiment with two formats
Misha: You tested two store models at once?
Roman: One format sat in an automotive cluster — next to car washes, service shops and dealerships. The other was in a mall. We compared the results and saw the second one worked better.
Misha: Why?
Roman: The mall turned out to be more convenient for most shoppers. People came for their own errands and stopped by the store at the same time. So we focused on that format.
When detailing became its own category
One of the key moments was discovering the professional detailing market.
Misha: When did you realize there was a completely separate segment of car care chemicals?
Roman: That was in 2018–2019. We saw products you simply never ran into in classic retail. They were sold only in specialized detailing stores, and that got us very interested.
Instead of expanding the lineup right away, the team decided to first understand what customers actually needed.
The simplest analytics turned out to be the most useful
Misha: You told an interesting story about Excel. Did that really work?
Roman: Yes. Every sales associate logged customer requests in a shared spreadsheet. At the end of the week we looked at which products people asked about most. If several people asked about the same product, we brought in a small batch and tested the demand.
Misha: So the customers built the lineup themselves?
Roman: Basically, yes. It let us make decisions based on real requests instead of guessing.
Why training became part of the job
Misha: A good lineup alone isn't enough. How did you train your staff?
Roman: It mattered to us that our associates understood the products, not just knew their names. So we started sending people to train with specialists in the industry, and step by step we built our own expertise inside the team.
According to Roman, staff knowledge became one of the things that set a specialized store apart from regular retail.
How Foam Heroes came to be
A lot of people assume the brand started as a commercial project. Roman describes it differently.
Misha: At what point did you decide to make your own products?
Roman: It was more of a continuation of our work with customers. We collected feedback constantly and understood which products people were missing. Little by little, the idea of developing our own solutions took shape.
Misha: How hard did that turn out to be?
Roman: Much harder than it looks. Sometimes one formula takes dozens of tests, because a good product has to be more than functional — it has to be clear and easy for the user.
Not every experiment becomes a best seller
Misha: Were there times when the team loved an idea but customers didn't?
Roman: Of course. Air fresheners are a good example. We tried to bring niche perfumery into the car, but it turned out most people prefer familiar scents. For us it was useful experience.
Experiments like this help you understand the market better and not be afraid to adjust your own ideas.
Online, marketplaces and service
Misha: A lot of people say marketplaces are changing the market. How do you see it?
Roman: They really did have a big impact on the industry, but I don't think specialized stores will disappear. We still have what a product page can't give you: advice, help picking the right product, speed and human service.
That's why growing the online store wasn't a replacement for brick and mortar, but a logical extension of it.
The brand's main goal
To wrap up the conversation, Misha asked Roman to put the main mission of Foam Heroes into words.
Misha: What goal do you see as the most important one today?
Roman: I think it's important to grow car culture. Once someone gets interested in caring for their car the right way, they gradually become a car lover, then an enthusiast, and some eventually turn it into a profession. It's a natural path, and we want to support it.
Instead of a conclusion
The story of One Car Market and Foam Heroes is an example of a business that grew out of paying close attention to what buyers need. The road from regional retail to its own brand took years, and at every stage feedback from people stayed the key tool.
That's why many of the decisions Roman talks about start not with production, but with a simple question: what does a driver actually need?
