#6 // Susan Toft, The Laundry Lady // From Local Laundry Service to Tech-Driven Success

In this episode of Bold Ideas, I’m joined by Susan Toft, the founder of The Laundry Lady - the world’s first online marketplace for laundry services. What began in her spare room while juggling new motherhood has grown into a national network empowering hundreds of “laundry ladies and lads” with flexible work, while lightening the mental load for families across Australia. You’ll hear how Susan left a corporate career, learned every job in the business, and documented those learnings into the playbook that enabled scale. We dive into why she chose a contractor model over franchising, how COVID became an inflection point, and the scrappy no-code beginnings that ultimately led to building her own platform, Time Boss. Susan also opens up about raising ~$1m through angels and government support, and why she recommends delaying capital until you truly need it. [00:00:00] – Introduction: Meet Susan Toft and The Laundry Lady’s origin story [00:05:20] – The early days: doing pickups, ironing, and building community at the doorstep [00:09:15] – Documenting everything: turning hands-on learning into a scalable knowledge base [00:12:25] – Why a contractor model (not franchising): lowering barriers and widening access to flexible work [00:16:40] – No-code scrappiness: stitching off-the-shelf tools to mimic “Uber for laundry” [00:20:30] – Life curveball: single motherhood, side-hustling, and keeping the spark alive [00:24:00] – COVID inflection: recommitting to the vision, expanding into Melbourne, and essential-service impact [00:29:45] – Building the product you wish existed: Time Boss and the 18-month “new startup” feeling [00:35:30] – Team, traction & recognition: scaling the HQ while staying values-led [00:38:40] – Capital with purpose: ~$1m raise (angels + grants), what changed, and what didn’t [00:44:10] – Going global: why Canada first, the UK next, and staying true to flexibility [00:48:20] – Grants, accelerators & practical pathways for founders [00:52:00] – Parting wisdom: don’t overthink - start, test, and build the next step Find The Laundry Lady at https://www.thelaundrylady.com.au or on Instagram @laundrylady_aus To get in touch, DM us via Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boldideas_au/