Nobody Took Laundromats Seriously… He Built a $1B Company (Here’s How)

When’s the last time you thought about laundromats? Probably never.But behind the scenes, this “boring” industry is quietly making BILLIONS of dollars every year... still running on coins, legacy systems, and almost no modern software.That’s exactly what Alex Jekowsky saw.After selling his first company, he went looking for a simple SMB investment… and instead found one of the biggest untapped vertical SaaS opportunities in the world.Instead of buying laundromats, he decided to build for them.Today, his company Cents powers over 4,500 locations, processes more than $1B in payments annually, and just raised $140M to scale even further.But the real story isn’t laundromats. It’s the playbook.In this episode, we break down:-How hardware became a massive defensibility moat-The hidden power of retention + expansion over pure acquisition-How to build a business that doesn’t fit the VC “box”… and still winsThis is one of the clearest breakdowns of how to dominate a niche industry, and why the biggest opportunities still live in places most founders ignore.TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro01:05 From startup exit to laundromats12:00 Hardware vs software: the contrarian bet15:50 Why hardware became the moat19:00 The painful M&A that changed everything23:10 What almost killed the business...27:30 Building a company that doesn’t fit the VC playbook31:00 Why distributors beat sales teams36:00 The hidden power of customer expansion41:00 Why most SaaS metrics are misleading46:30 Designing your company for the exit52:00 The truth about IPOs and liquidity57:00 How AI actually fits into vertical SaaSIf you enjoyed this episode, drop a comment and hit subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next!