[Startup Institute Lecture Series #4] “The Innovation of Laundry makes the Innovation of Food, Clothing, and Shelter” – Laundrygo CEO Cho Sung-woo

The fourth lecture of the Lecture Series, organized by Korea University Business School (Dean: Jae Wook Kim) Startup Institute (Director: Hojung Shin), was held on September 22^nd (Tue). The Lecture Series is part of the Entrepreneurship Academy hosted by the Seung Myung-Ho Center for Entrepreneurship Education - an educational institution within the Startup Institute, and is a lecture conducted by start-up mentors working in the field. This lecture was titled "The Innovation of Laundry makes the Innovation of Food, Clothing, and Shelter," and was delivered by Cho Sung-woo, CEO of Laundrygo. It was conducted as a real-time online lecture due to the COVID-19.

CEO Cho Sung-woo has been operating a mobile laundry service called 'Laundrygo' since 2018. "The change in laundry can even bring about innovation in the living space," CEO Cho said, explaining the company's name and the meaning of the lecture title. If the laundry service is activated, it can replace the space occupied by washing machines and drying racks in the living space.

Cho introduced his experience in running the social commerce "Dumb n Dumbers" in the past, naturally sharing his episodes of failure. Cho's episode gives the message that various experiences, regardless of failure or success, could eventually lead to new business ideas. The business idea of Laundrygo also came from a happening in which all of his belongings were stolen from a trip to the United States, but except his laundry.

Laundrygo is the start of untact laundry services and a new generation of the laundry business, Cho said. As the third-generation laundry business that connects the first and second generations of the local laundry industry with the franchise laundry, it has a total of five core competitiveness: △mobile laundry service, △untact delivery, △smart factory, △all-in-one service, and △subscription economy. Unlike the previous generation of laundry, Laundrygo does not rely on offline stores, so full online services can be maintained at no additional cost. In addition, all services will be carried out without any contact using ‘Laundlet', a smart laundry collection box developed by the company. Smart factory reduces the cost of washing and keeps the quality of washing process consistently. Laundrygo will implement an "all-in-one service" that will unify the laundry space that had been dispersed to laundry, coin laundry, and home etc. by providing various services such as water washing as well as dry cleaning. Lastly, the company is making excellent use of the subscription economy by offering various price systems according to various lifestyles.

In addition, the company uses eco-friendly vinyl clothing, and also enforces eco-friendly policies such aas collecting clothing covers and hangers from customers, while recycling and reusing them. Moreover, the company is seeking ways to accumulate big data on people's actual medical lives through laundry and utilize them in various ways in the fashion industry. Lastly, Cho wrapped up his lecture by presenting two phrases: "Don't lose your original intention" and "Pursue your mission, not the trend."