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by amazingamazing 72 days ago
Not if you’re launching a startup based in the real world. Tell me how AI will make a laundromat business DoA?

If your business is selling services at 40% margin that are entirely digitally based, then maybe you’ll need to cut some margin, sure.
1 comments
SoftTalker 72 days ago
A laundromat isn't a startup in that sense. There's no potential for exponential growth. A VC would never give you money to open a laundromat, you'd go to a bank and get a business loan for that.
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nyeah 72 days ago
Doordash for laundry.
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skeeter2020 72 days ago
Washio was an American on-demand laundry cleaning and delivery service. The company was founded in 2013 by Jordan Metzner, Bob Wall, and Juan Dulanto, and raised $17 million in funding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washio_(company)

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hackingonempty 72 days ago
You jest but I searched "Uber for laundry" and found services partnering with both Uber and Doordash for transportation.
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SoftTalker 71 days ago
Laundries have offered pickup and delivery since ... forever? It's like pizza. The markets are very local, and the growth opportunity is limited.
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nyeah 71 days ago
Taxis have offered pickup and delivery service since forever, and yet here we are.
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SoftTalker 71 days ago
OK, again, the context is a "laundromat" business. Laundry as a service with an app to schedule pickup and delivery? OK, people have tried that. Not that exciting, not that scalable. You still need a lot of facilites, machines, and humans to make that work. It's not something that exists as a virtual product that can be scaled up with an AI.
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nyeah 71 days ago
Ok, again. Taxicabs are not exciting, not scaleable, and involve a lot of machines and humans to make them work.

How many iterations do you have in mind for this?

EDIT: My answer for "can a rapidly growing start-up successfully take on taxicabs?" is "yes."

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amazingamazing 72 days ago
Was uber a startup? Airbnb?
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eesmith 71 days ago
Uber was considered a startup:

"Uber: The history of the ride-hailing app, from start to IPO" https://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-history

"[Uber] quickly became the world's most valuable startup, "disrupted" personal transportation and food delivery, and became an emblem of the arrival of the gig economy" https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/11101...

"Kalanick tried to recruit him to join the startup, but at the time Uber looked like a luxury town-car service, not a worldwide transportation juggernaut." - https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/07/the-inside-story-of-the-ri...

Ditto Airbnb:

"Reservation-booking app Resy just got a massive investment from Airbnb, one of the most valuable startups in the world" https://www.businessinsider.com/resy-airbnb-investment-2017-...

Airbnb is one "of the top Travel, Leisure and Tourism startups funded by Y Combinator" https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/industry/travel-leisur...

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