The business of laundry is steeped in tradition. What happens when you approach an old philosophy of business by integrating new technology solutions? This is the question that Rechelle Balanzat set out to answer. For her, the way laundry and dry-cleaning services worked felt outdated. It was inconvenient, slow, and frustrating for customers to use. If Uber and Lyft could reinvent taxi services, why couldn't she use that same tech approach to solve the pain of laundry and dry-cleaning? That's when she launched Juliette. Soon she found out that the tech issue was only a part of the issue. This led her down the road of reinvention of the entire industry. In today's episode Rechelle shares the unexpected journey of a promising tech company into something more, we talk about how humanity is key to leadership, and how you can scale your own business when you experience obstacles and failure.
Learn more about Juliette at http://www.juliettelaundry.com
Today's episode is sponsored by
Penji: your source for unlimited graphic design at a low monthly subscription. Use code 'JUMBLE' to get 15% off your first month at penji.co
North American TEFL: helping you become TEFL Certified. https://northamericantefl.com
More about Rechelle Balanzat
After graduating from Fordham University with honors in philosophy, Rechelle worked as a junior controller for Kohlberg Capital Corporation, a publicly traded business development company, for 3 years. Finding the work unfulfilling, she left to continue her Italian studies in Florence then travelled through Budapest, Vienna and Prague for inspiration. Upon returning to NYC, Rechelle moved to the creative industry to work for Stellarhead, a visual storytelling agency. It was at Stellarhead that Rechelle learned the power of branding, perception and social media. One year later she left to start her own boutique social media agency, Johnny Social. She signed on Stonehenge, a luxury NYC real estate developer with a portfolio estimated at $2.2 billion, as her first client.
Rechelle’s next big challenge came when Romio, a technology start-up based in Flatiron asked her to write their entire social media strategy. Within 6 months Rechelle had grown Romio’s online community nationwide to 30 cities and over 1.2 million people, helping secure a round of funding for the promising start-up.
Today Rechelle is ready to take what she’s learned in finance, branding, and technology and use it to disrupt the laundry industry.
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