Pressbox and Tide Cleaners: Vijen Patel. The $1.99 Gamble That Built a National Brand

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Oct 6, 2025

Vijen Patel, co-founder of Pressbox (now Tide Cleaners), shares his journey from private equity to launching a locker-based dry-cleaning service. He discusses how a $1.99 price point exposed a gap in the market, leading to a scalable business model. Vijen highlights the importance of unit economics, their low-tech approach, and how they achieved a 98% customer retention goal. After selling to Procter & Gamble, he founded The 81 Collection, investing in 'boring' businesses that power the economy.

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INSIGHT

Rent-Free Lockers Flip Unit Economics

Removing storefront rent and on-site labor flips dry-cleaning economics dramatically.
Lockers in buildings let PressBox target ~40% margins versus industry ~15%.

ADVICE

Do The Unit-Economics Math First

Do the unit-economics math before scaling to choose the most efficient model.
Optimize for transactions per hour; PressBox did 26 vs. 4–6 for pickup services.

ADVICE

Use A Sticky, Familiar Price

Use a simple, memorable price to overcome friction and drive trial.
PressBox promoted $1.99 per shirt to tap an entrenched consumer price expectation.

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What if the best startup isn’t sexy at all? In 2013, Vijen Patel left private equity to pursue “the least-worst idea”: dry cleaning. No patents. No app wizardry. Just laundry lockers in high-rises, ruthless unit economics, and a $1.99-a-shirt price that was seared into America’s brain.

From bootstrapping routes at 5 a.m. to breaking even in 6 weeks, Vijen and co-founder Drew McKenna scaled Pressbox to hundreds of locations, stared down well-funded competitors, and ultimately sold to Procter & Gamble, where Pressbox became Tide Cleaners (now ~1,200 locations). After the exit, Vijen launched The 81 Collection, a VC fund backing “boring” businesses that quietly power the economy.

This episode is a masterclass in building profit first, creating user behavior (not changing it), and protecting customer retention like your life depends on it.

What you’ll learn:

How the “least-worst idea” found product-market fit
How sidestepping rent + labor can flip margins from 15% to ~40%
The efficiency insight that beat “Uber-for-X” rivals
The new-residence edge: creating customer habits with a welcome-kit
Why Pressbox had to set crazy-high retention goals (98%!)
How to keep competitors close—and turn a Goliath into your buyer
The post-exit premise: “boring” businesses are engines of the middle class

Timestamps:

Choosing dry cleaning with a private equity lens: don’t do it for passion–focus on practicality — 00:09:30
The SMS “app”: low tech, high convenience — 00:14:14
Unit economics breakthrough: lockers (26 transactions per hr) versus scheduled pickup (4-6) — 00:18:55
The $1.99 insight: a price everyone expected — 00:24:58
How getting into Chicago’s top high-rise was a game-changer — 00:31:11
Margins that work: if you’re a high-rise “amenity,” you don’t pay rent — 00:33:08
Competing with Washio: convenience wins — 00:39:07
Vertical integration: building the plant, staffing via Spanish newspapers — 00:41:48
P&G looms: head-to-head, then the acquisition dance — 00:51:25
Burnout, trade-offs, and life after exit: launching a VC fund that specializes in boring businesses — 01:03:28

This episode was produced by Alex Cheng with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Olivia Rockeman. Our engineers were Patrick Murray and Maggie Luthar.

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