Bootstrapping: the founders of Hellocoton launch La Lessive de Paris

Like his partner, Victor Cerutti, Hubert Michaux was frustrated with only producing intangible work. These two digital specialists who met at Netvibes founded in 2008 Hellocotton, a female web portal before selling it four years later to the Prisma group. The two entrepreneurs have just launched The Laundry of Paris, a concept of eco-responsible, plastic-free and ultra-local laundry. Manufactured and packaged in glass bottles in Paris, the product is delivered in packs of four to homes by bicycle couriers to limit the carbon impact. And, following the model of returnable milk bottles, the empty containers are taken back to be washed before being put back into the circuit. The start is encouraging: the start-up is currently recording 80 deliveries per day in Paris and in 29 municipalities around the capital.

Fourteen months of preparation and 100,000 euros

A new player in mass consumption, La Lessive de Paris is nonetheless a DNVB (digital native vertical brand). To build the site and sell the cans online (6.90 euros per liter, delivery included), the entrepreneurial duo set off with an advantage, having in the past succeeded in developing a media brand on the Web. ” We know how grow a community of customers, how to animate it, respond to emails… It’s a brick already acquired for us », Explains Hubert Michaux, who worked fourteen months to make this project feasible. For the development of the formula, composed of 99.9% natural ingredients, a specialized laboratory came to help.

The creators of Parisian laundry are taking up the “bootstrapping” method, which they had succeeded with with Hellocoton. No question of calling on business angels or seed funds. Relying only on their personal savings (100,000 euros to start), they move forward step by step. The plan is to measure the results of the product and, based on the data gathered, to improve again and again until the strongest “pull” is achieved. The most widely followed indicator is that of visit / purchase ratio. Entrepreneurs thus assess the platform’s ability to transform a visitor into a consumer. In the coming weeks, the founders will also take a closer look at the proportion of repeat purchases. On a site where the customer buys according to his needs and not by subscription, this is the sign of sustainable growth.

For Hubert Michaux, who has just recruited a first employee, ecological laundry, without equivalent, is really expected, as were Joone’s baby diapers, which are a hit. ” We have made a success of the ecological transition that the big washers have not made or are pretending to do », Considers the entrepreneur. The brand hopes to reach 200 deliveries per day by the end of the year.