Ep. 69 - A Conversation on Solution Driven Companies with Kristyn Van Ostern Co-Founder of Wash Street

Kristyn lives in New Hampshire with her husband, kids and dogs. She started Wash Street with her co-owner Laura four years ago, and their goal is to make laundry services as accessible as meal kits, house cleaning and oil changes. Kristyn remembers struggling to get ahead in her household. She identified laundry having the most pickups and putdowns and decided to outsource the service. She tried to find a company to outsource this service to and couldn’t find one so she decided to start one.When her kids were young she bought a laundromat and right before the pandemic it started to grow. They were able to stay open as an essential business. They’ve been on a growth streak and have dealt with capacity constraints. They offer pickup and delivery services for their customers in addition to standard laundromat services.The most profitable customer is outside of the city and generally has large families. One of her growth goals is to service and support the customers outside the city. Brooke and Kristyn talk about how important outsourcing has been for both of their businesses and how their own companies started from a need they identified in their own lives. They also discuss Kristyn’s greatest challenge, favorite quote, her biggest failure and how she learned from it. During the slow season, she is surveying and trying to gather information on potential contacts and future clients for the beginning of 2022.