How IRBIS Air, Plumbing & Electrical grew from zero to $20M in revenue with Yelp Advertising Partner Snow Leopard
What started as two people trying to do good work turned into a company known for quality, transparency, and customer experience—and Yelp played a major role in that.
— Timurlan Alagushov & Vadim Vechkanov, Founders, IRBIS Air, Plumbing & Electrical
Snow Leopard recommends:
Yelp Advertising Partner Program | Yelp Ads | Upgrade Package | Verified License
Summary
When two immigrant HVAC technicians launched IRBIS Air, Plumbing & Electrical in 2019, they had no customers, no network, and no reputation. Digital marketing agency Snow Leopard partnered with them to build a Yelp-first growth strategy that turned a blank slate into one of the most trusted home service brands in the San Jose, CA area.
Here’s what they achieved together:
- $20M in revenue by end of 2025, with Yelp as a primary driver
- An average of 500 Yelp leads per month over the last year
- 900+ reviews and a 4.8-star rating, plus 9,400+ page visits (49% organic) from June 2025 to May 2026
Background
Timurlan Alagushov and Vadim Vechkanov launched IRBIS in 2019 with a clear understanding of their market: Most home service companies had outdated websites, stock photos, poor communication, and no pricing transparency. Vadim focused on delivering exceptional work in the field, including clean installations, clear explanations, and high-quality craftsmanship, while Timurlan focused on the customer experience, prioritizing real photos, fast responses, and complete transparency before a customer ever called. They partnered with Snow Leopard to build the digital presence that would match that level of quality.
Challenge
When IRBIS launched, they had no customer base, no reviews, and no online presence. Breaking into the competitive home services market in San Jose meant building trust from scratch. Snow Leopard’s challenge was to find a platform that could generate leads while simultaneously building a credible, lasting reputation for a brand that didn’t yet exist.
Solution
Snow Leopard identified Yelp as the highest-leverage channel for IRBIS given the platform’s concentration of high-intent home service searches. They built out a full Yelp presence using Yelp Ads, Upgrade Package, and Verified License, and worked closely with Timurlan to optimize every element of the profile: photos, response time, messaging tone, and transparency.
Yelp Ads placed IRBIS in front of homeowners actively searching for HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services, appearing above and below organic search results and on competitor pages. The Upgrade Package helped the profile stand out visually, and Verified License gave new customers immediate confidence in a brand they had never heard of.
The strategy compounded quickly. Within the first year, IRBIS’ San Jose location crossed $1M in revenue, with Yelp driving 70% of that revenue. When COVID hit, their strong Yelp presence kept them growing because customers already trusted them based on what they found on the platform before ever picking up the phone.
Over the past year, IRBIS generated a total of 904,000+ total impressions from June 2025 to May 2026 and more than 6,600 leads. Over 81% of those leads came through messages, signaling strong customer intent and trust in the brand.
We never treated Yelp as just a marketing channel. For us, it became a public record of who we are as a company. Every review, every message, every interaction mattered.
— Vadim Vechkanov, Co-founder, IRBIS Air, Plumbing & Electrical
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