Laundry Goes Techno: Putting Quarters out of Work

Todd Belveal is one of those serial entrepreneurs who make everything look simple. But that's not how it started for him. His summer college internships were at Tiffany's. There he worked his way up - in the truest sense of the word - from the role of elevator driver to sales in Crystal. Belveal flourished under the tutelage of one of the company's most famous shop assistants, Ms. Sein. Tiffanys later offered him a position as operations manager - and became the youngest person in the company's history to hold that executive position. They paid for his MBA on the side.

As early as 2012, Belveal and his team were among the first in the world to develop connected cars. Renting, measuring fuel consumption, unlocking the car, etc. was possible via mobile phone. Silvercar made car rental easier for business travelers. One make, one model and one color of the car (silver Audi A4) and a uniform rental price in the USA quickly made the company the favorite of business travelers. When thousands of silver A4s were bought in 2015-16, Audi also became aware of this.

His first exit

Audi invested in Silvercar and later acquired it in 2017. Following that exit, Belveal decided to take on one of the lowest tech industries: public laundromats; but he did the research first. "It [public laundry] is not even as advanced as the parking industry, ”he lamented some of the surprising statistics. “One in six households, that is more than 40 million Americans, depend on public washing machines. And 80% of the 26,000+ laundromats are run by Quartier. ”Belveal decided to change things.

With a multi-million dollar investment in a technology platform to improve the quarters experience on smartphones, Belveal was able to grow its business quickly. Washlava already has two businesses: college residences and laundromats. "We're already on ten campuses," he said, "campuses are moving fast towards mobile certifications, but laundry is still a long way behind."

In August 2021, Belveal was one of the VIP panelists at the Grit Daily Congressional Startup Day in Tampa, FL. Around this time he stepped down as CEO of Washlava to take on a retired executive position.

Advice for entrepreneurs

On the topics of startups and entrepreneurship. Belveal has a lot to say. “You need to understand the difference in the philosophy of starting a startup that was built to scale quickly and a small business. Startups get a little too much hype, but there are a lot of failures, more so than in small businesses. You almost have to believe more in the idea than in yourself. "

When it comes to investment decisions, he quipped, “I've never booted an idea - it's too slow. It didn't take long to find the Seed Round for Silvercar when I put together the right team. You need help to impress the right investor. "

A friend of mine who does a lot of startups calls them “oscillating psychodramas”.

~ Todd Belveal

He emphasized the courage and tenacity that entrepreneurs need. “Once you take other people's money, you can't stop. You can fail because your business fails, but you cannot stop for any reason. It's one thing people don't understand - it's not like a job. You can't stop until you have exhausted all your options to get a return on investment. Research shows that any liquidity event lasts 7-10 years, so you better be prepared for it. "

When Grit Daily asked Belveal if things have always been easy and gone their way. His answer was an emphatic no - and a deep laugh. “All you do as a founder is to raise money. I was sued by people who did not have the right expectations, I had written bad things about myself in the papers. And you have your own struggles: the stress it puts on you and people can underestimate the risk and constant accountability of what that can mean to a person. Acknowledge burnout and acknowledge when you misbehave. When you're a startup founder, you're going to take a lot of shit from all sides. Make your round of funding, go out to party for dinner, and then start planning your next round. "

To hear more, tune in to the Grit Daily Like a Boss podcast anywhere content is streamed.

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