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

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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 wins This 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 Intro 01:05 From startup exit to laundromats 12:00 Hardware vs software: the contrarian bet 15:50 Why hardware became the moat 19:00 The painful M&A that changed everything 23:10 What almost killed the business... 27:30 Building a company that doesn’t fit the VC playbook 31:00 Why distributors beat sales teams 36:00 The hidden power of customer expansion 41:00 Why most SaaS metrics are misleading 46:30 Designing your company for the exit 52:00 The truth about IPOs and liquidity 57:00 How AI actually fits into vertical SaaS If you enjoyed this episode, drop a comment and hit subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next!

If AI Does ALL The Work… What Are You Even Selling? | David Haber

If AI can do the work… why are we still valuing software like it only sells tools?And if the real opportunity isn’t software (but labor) are we about to underestimate the biggest companies of this cycle?In this episode of Verticals, Luke and Nic sit down with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to break down why vertical AI is fundamentally changing how businesses are built, and why this shift could be bigger than SaaS itself.David explains why AI-native companies aren’t just selling software — they’re replacing labor. And how that single shift unlocks markets that were previously too small to matter.They unpack the new playbook for vertical AI:-Why TAM is no longer software spend, it’s labor-How messy inputs like email, fax, and voice are becoming billion-dollar wedges-Why AI-native companies are turning services businesses into high-margin softwareThey also explore what actually creates defensibility in this new world:-Why owning workflows and outcomes matters more than ever-How proprietary data compounds into a real moat-Why market structure is more important than market sizeAnd they go deep on the biggest strategic question:If AI owns the workflow, the data, and the outcome… Do you even need to charge for the system of record?If you are building, investing, or trying to understand where AI is actually creating value, this is one of the clearest breakdowns of what comes next.👉 FOLLOW DAVID HABERX ➡️ https://x.com/dhaberLINKEDIN ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/haber/👉 FOLLOW LUKE SOPHINOSX ➡️ https://x.com/lukesophinosLINKEDIN ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukesophinos/NEWSLETTER ➡️ https://www.newsletter.lukesophinos.com/👉 FOLLOW NIC POULOSX ➡️ https://x.com/picnoulosLINKEDIN ➡️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/npoulos/NEWSLETTER ➡️ https://insights.euclid.vc/🎬 TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Intro01:28 Why the SaaS-AI shift is bigger than it looks07:09 Why “small markets” suddenly become massive10:06 The 3 ways to attack legacy software15:10 Why incumbents still have an advantage18:02 The real risk (and opportunity) in the AI era27:31 The messy inbox wedge (email, fax, voice)34:31 Why unstructured data is the biggest opportunity40:43 Voice, context, and the future of enterprise data44:15 The biggest mistakes vertical AI founders make45:28 The next wave: financial services, healthcare, industrial AI📃 Topics:1. Vertical AI vs SaaS2. AI replacing labor vs software tools3. System of record vs AI workflows4. AI services vs software margins5. Defensibility in AI startups6. TAM expansion through automation

6 de may de 202648 min

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

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