#73: Lean, Mean, and Clean with Ajay Prakash & James Joun

JAYSON WALLER UNLEASHED

Jayson Waller

Business, Society & Culture, Entrepreneurship

4.4 • 649 Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on the show Jayson is talking with Ajay Prakash and James Joun, co-founders of Rinse, a laundry and dry-cleaning app started in 2013. Ajay was COO and CFO of Humble Brands, a consumer product startup. He also had experience at Bonobos, Berkshire Partners, the NBA and Bain & Company. James was a health care investor at Essex Woodlands, a product manager at Genentech, and a consultant with Monitor Group. The company, founded by Ajay Prakash and James Joun, is headquartered in San Francisco. Rinse is a portfolio company of Green D Ventures and Yard Ventures. Rinse started serving customers in 2013, but it was actually 30 years ago when the story really started. Joun’s parents have owned a dry cleaning storefront for more than three decades, and for years he’d been wondering how to increase sales in a particularly static industry. Ajay Prakash, befriended Joun at Dartmouth university. James Joun has degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard Business School. Joun was schooled in operations, such as running contraptions like the topper, which presses pant tops, and in the finer points of separating dirt and stains from all manner of fabrics. Joun now competes against the people who brought him into the business who also happen to be his parents. Links: Follow True Underdog on IG: www.instagram.com/true_underdog Reach out to Jayson directly at [email protected] Follow Jayson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-waller-/ Follow Jayson on Instagram: www.instagram.com/jaysonwallerbam Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.trueunderdog.com Mentioned in the Episode: Rinse’s Website - https://www.rinse.com/ Rinse’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/Rinse James’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesjoun/ Ajay’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprakash03/ Ajay’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/aprakash03 Timestamps: 1:38 - James’s Childhood Experience 3:31 - How James and Ajay Met 6:13 - James and Ajay’s Relationship as Business Partners 7:10 - Bootstrapping the Business From the Start 9:25 - How Rinse Differentiates Itself From Others in the Market 13:46 - 2 Minute Pitch for Rinse 16:33 - Hardest Thing That James and Ajay Have Had to Overcome While Running Rinse 21:11 - Growth Strategy for Rinse Moving Forward 23:08 - ‘Covid Proofing’ Your Company in the Future 26:22 - Cow vs Buffalo 28:17 - What Ajay and James Are Most Proud Of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Jason Waller here true underdog podcast and YouTube channel listen make sure you subscribe
0:05.0	today you can go to iHeartRadio Spotify Apple podcast you can go to our YouTube channel true
0:10.8	underdog or you can visit trueunderdog.com and subscribe to all of it Jason Waller here true
0:28.3	underdog podcast i have got a show for you guys today all the underdogs all the listeners out
0:34.6	there listen we've got two gentlemen right here and today's theme is Lee mean and clean simplicity
0:41.2	wins i've got a jay per cash and james june co-founded rinse a laundry and dry cleaning app started
0:48.1	by college friends and in 2013 now a jay you were the COO and cfo at humble browns a consumer
0:55.7	product startup and you had experience at bonabose burkshire partners the mba and bayonin company
1:00.9	and then james was a wealth care investor at sx woodlands and a product manager at green tech
1:05.6	and a consultant and monitor group guys how are you guys doing right now doing great thanks for
1:10.5	having us well hey i bring the energy so i hope you guys are ready to have some energy right
1:14.9	there's nothing small about this show we like to go big all the time so let's jump right to it so
1:21.6	you know welcome to the show and listen it's over to you james you got your mba from harvard business
1:27.6	school but it was your parents owning a dry cleaning store front where you helped them as a kid
1:32.5	and it's a real link to the story take us way back and share with the listeners your childhood
1:37.4	experiences yeah so i'm i'm the son of uh of immigrants and uh my parents work together a dry
1:45.2	cleaning store uh they put me to work when i was really young so weekend summer i was at the shop
1:51.3	helping them out and you know part of the reason why i studied so hard because i didn't want to
1:56.4	do what they're doing because it was so hard it was what you know is a sort of classic motivation
2:01.1	just to to work hard so that i could use my mind to work not not necessary my hands and so
2:07.0	i worked i studied i met a j in college uh in 1999 you know worked in health care and consulting
2:13.8	got mba you know and i think back in 2013 sort of taken with the idea of starting my own thing
	...

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