Is a Boring Business a Better Bet Than a New AI Product?

Sovereign Growth · Beyonds Journal · 2026-11-05

At Christmas dinner in 2023, Ireland McCaughey, then 25, listened as her family talked about friends who were preparing to retire and whose children didn't want to take over their car washes, laundromats or parking lots. "We realized there was a really huge gap where people our age were kind of overlooking the more traditional industries," she later told Fortune. "A lot of the people that own them are kind of aging out and looking to sell them." They chose to build a new one: Fortune writes that the appeal for them lay in "proving that one of Main Street's oldest industries could be reimagined." Within months, she and her co-founder, Ben Razin, moved from Orange County to New York and took on what Fortune calls "real debt." They signed a lease in July 2024 and in early 2025 opened Launderette, a laundromat with a coffee bar and work tables, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

If you have deep knowledge of an industry and want to build something of your own, you may be weighing the same choice in a different form: build an AI product first and find out later who will pay for it, or start from a job people already pay to have done and bring AI into it. Fortune describes the second kind as the "boring businesses" most of the founders' peers ignored.

Our reading: a job people already pay for comes with 3 things a product-first AI startup has to earn, and with a price paid upfront: debt, a physical site and fixed costs. For a founder with AI skills, the opening is often inside these jobs: doing them with fewer hands, or selling software to the businesses that do them.

Why would a founder choose a laundromat?

Because nobody has to be persuaded that clean laundry matters. "People don't walk around thinking about where to do their laundry, they already have a laundromat," Razin wrote on the company's blog in April 2026. To Fortune he described the other side of that habit: "Once you have a customer, it's very difficult to lose them."

This issue's Lead reads Launderette as a playground: every way one job gets done in a particular place, under that place's rules. The question here is what an old playground gives a founder, and what it charges.

In the U.S., the supply of such businesses is set to grow. McKinsey estimates that "By 2035… about six million SMBs," small and medium-sized businesses, "will be on the market as their owners retire," and that "More than one million of these firms are viable candidates for sale or employee ownership." For a domain expert, that means more of these old playgrounds will come up for sale.

How much demand is there for a job like laundry?

It can be measured before you spend anything. In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2024 household survey, 16 million of 43 million renter households had no clothes washer at home, and among renters in apartments the figure was 47% (our calculation from the survey's tables). The Coin Laundry Association, the industry body, counts "about 29,500 coin laundries in the United States" with "nearly $5 billion in gross revenue annually."

16M — U.S. renter households with no clothes washer at home, of 43 million. U.S. EIA, RECS 2024

29,500 — Coin laundries in the U.S., with nearly $5 billion in gross revenue a year. Coin Laundry Association

Businesses like these also tend to last. In U.S. labor statistics, 58.2% of "other services" establishments (a group that includes laundries) that opened in the year ended March 2015 were still operating 5 years later, against 50.2% for all private businesses. The category is broad, and survival says nothing about profit; it does show that these businesses outlast the average.

Still operating 5 years after opening: U.S. establishments opened in the year to March 2015 (U.S. BLS, Business Employment Dynamics)

* Other services, including laundries: 58.2%

All private businesses: 50.2%

Compare the main risk on the other path. In CB Insights' 2026 analysis of 385 venture-backed startups that shut down, poor product-market fit, meaning not enough people wanted what they built, was a cause in 43% of cases, and "Two-thirds of product-market fit (PMF) failures were early-stage companies that never found a market." In our view, an old playground lowers that particular risk and leaves every other one in place.

How do you finance a boring business?

Mostly with debt, and the lending system is built for it. An SBA 7(a) loan, the U.S. Small Business Administration's standard small-business loan, goes up to $5 million, usually for up to 10 years; loans for real estate, and for equipment with a useful life of more than 10 years, can run up to 25 years. Since July 2026, borrowers can combine a 7(a) loan with a 504 loan, the SBA's loan for property and large equipment, for up to 0 million.

Laundromats use this route often enough to have their own statistics. Wash Weekly, a trade publication, analyzed SBA loan records and found 994 laundromat loans approved between 2021 and June 2026, worth $761.9 million, with a median of $441,500 for loans made in 2021–2023. The same data shows the risk: of the 2005–2007 loans that have run their course, 30.5% were written off, against 4.6% for the 2010s. Lenders know laundromats, and their own records show how often laundromat loans go bad.

SBA laundromat loans written off, among loans that have run their course (Wash Weekly, 30 Aug 2026)

* Made in 2005–2007: 30.5%

Made in the 2010s: 4.6%

Launderette was financed with "real debt" and, according to its own site, an investment from Razin's mother: "She believed in us before we had anything to show — and invested in us to make it real." A loan keeps ownership with the founders. It is paid for in interest, in personal risk and in a monthly payment that arrives whether customers do or not. We'd class a business financed mainly this way as close to bootstrapped, running on its own revenue and the founders' money; here a lender and family money take the place of a startup's investors.

Where does AI fit into an old business?

In 2 places: inside the business, and in the software sold to it.

Software for laundromats already attracts investment. Cents, which makes payment and management software for laundries and dry cleaners, says it is "trusted by over 5,000 garment care locations that process over billion in payments annually", and it raised a 40 million Series C in March 2026. Its AI receptionist, according to the company, "Filters 80-100% of inquiries before they reach your team." In the trades (plumbers, electricians, heating engineers), ServiceTitan, which now calls itself "AI for the trades", reported revenue of $961 million for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, from about 10,800 customers.

Fortune's account of Launderette mentions no AI inside the business. In this story, AI sits in the software sold to businesses like it. As we see it, the jobs stay, and AI changes what it costs to do them. For a domain expert, that makes such a job a strong place to start: the people who already pay to have it done are known, and so is what it costs them today.

Isn't a boring business just hard work with a smaller upside?

Often, yes. The costs are physical and fixed. In an American Coin-Op reader poll of laundromat owners, which its publisher calls unscientific, rent or mortgage payments averaged 18.4% of 2025 gross revenue and labor or payroll 20.5%, and 65.1% named the high cost of utilities among their biggest challenges, more than any other. The Coin Laundry Association says a store can generate cash flow "between 5,000 and $300,000 per year." Razin's summary of the first year: "The first year is the toughest."

Buying an existing business is no shortcut either. The 2026 Stanford search fund study tracks 862 search funds launched since 1984, each set up to find and buy one small company. Historically, 58% of concluded search funds acquired a company, so about 4 in 10 searches ended without buying one, according to a summary of the study.

Our reading: an old playground trades market risk for operating risk. A new AI product risks finding no one who pays. A boring business knows who pays and risks the rent, the machines and the margin. Which risk you would rather carry depends on what you know best.

An old playground trades market risk for operating risk. A new AI product risks finding no one who pays. A boring business knows who pays and risks the rent, the machines and the margin.

How do you compare the two paths for your own field?

Take one job from your field that customers already pay to have done, and fill in both columns.

	Product first, market later	A job people pay for, with AI inside
Who pays today, and how much	Usually unknown until you test	Known: write down who pays and the price
How demand is measured	Your own tests and early sales	Public data, industry bodies, competitors' revenue
How you finance the first version	Savings, grants, investors	Savings, loans, grants, sometimes the seller
What AI changes	The whole product	Part of the job: cost, speed, precision or reach
The main risk	No one pays	High fixed costs and debt

If the right-hand column fills in faster, start there this week: write down the job, then find one public number for its demand and one price people pay for it today.

Part of a first version can sometimes be paid for without debt or investors. The free Funding Navigator maps verified non-repayable funding routes with deadlines and eligibility notes, each linked to its official source. It shows what may be available; the funding body confirms eligibility.

Tool — Funding Navigator: non-repayable funding routes with deadlines, each linked to its official source.

FAQ

What is a boring business?

A boring business is an established, unglamorous service that people pay for out of habit or necessity: laundromats, car washes, cleaning, repairs. Founders are drawn to them because demand is proven and lenders understand them. The trade-off is fixed costs, physical operations and usually slower growth than a successful tech startup's.

Is a laundromat a good business?

It can be. The U.S. has about 29,500 laundromats with nearly $5 billion in annual revenue, and 16 million renter households have no washer at home. Owners report rent and labor as large shares of revenue, and the Coin Laundry Association says a store can generate between 5,000 and $300,000 a year in cash flow.

How do people finance a laundromat?

Mostly with loans. SBA 7(a) loans go up to $5 million, usually for up to 10 years and up to 25 years for real estate, and an analysis of SBA data counted 994 laundromat loans approved between 2021 and June 2026. Founders also use savings, family money and seller financing.

How is AI used in laundromats and other service businesses?

Mostly through software sold to operators. Cents, used by over 5,000 laundry and dry-cleaning locations, sells an AI receptionist that answers customer inquiries. In the trades, ServiceTitan sells AI tools for booking calls, scheduling and dispatch.

Should I start an AI startup or buy a small business?

It depends on which risk you would rather carry. A new AI product risks finding no market; in CB Insights' 2026 data, poor product-market fit was a cause in 43% of venture-backed shutdowns. A small business has proven demand and carries fixed costs, debt and operating risk. Some domain experts combine the two by bringing AI into a job they already know well.

Sources

Tatiana Sataua, "'Your back's against the wall': How two Gen-Z founders bet everything on a Brooklyn laundromat," Fortune, August 9, 2026: link
Ben Razin, "We Opened a Laundromat in Williamsburg. Here's What We Learned.," Launderette blog, April 30, 2026: link
Launderette, Our Story: link
McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, "The Great Ownership Transfer," February 26, 2026: link
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2024, table HC3.2 (preliminary, March 2026): link
Coin Laundry Association, Industry overview: link
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, establishment survival, NAICS 81: link
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics, establishment survival, all private: link
CB Insights, "The top 9 reasons startups fail," March 5, 2026: link
U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) loans: link
U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) terms, conditions and eligibility: link
U.S. Small Business Administration, "Small businesses now eligible for 0 million in SBA financing," July 7, 2026: link
"What 8,042 federal loans say about buying a laundromat," Wash Weekly, August 30, 2026: link
Cents, "Cents acquires Insight Systems," July 14, 2026: link
Cents, homepage: link
ServiceTitan, fiscal 2027 second-quarter results, September 8, 2026: link
ServiceTitan, fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter and full-year results, March 12, 2026: link
American Coin-Op, reader poll, March 31, 2026: link
Stanford GSB, 2026 Search Fund Study: Selected Observations: link
Clearly Acquired, summary of the 2026 Stanford search fund study, July 1, 2026: link
Beyonds Journal, "How a Blue Ocean Is Created: Before the First Line of Code, Look at the Playground Your Product Is Aiming to Play On": link
Funding Navigator, Beyonds: link

Beyonds Journal, issue 003

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Figure · The playgroundOne job, one place, many players: laundry in New York

PlaceNew YorkIn small European villages, families do their laundry at home. Another place, other rules.

The job“My laundry has to be clean”

Players · every way the job gets done

Washing by hand

Washing machine at home

Dry cleaner

Housekeeper

LaundromatWhere Launderette plays

Ways that involve no product count too: washing by hand and the housekeeper compete with the laundromat.

Rules, norms and habits of this place

37%of homes across New York State have no clothes washer

Apartments have historically been cramped, and many come without a washing machine
There is a real culture of taking your clothes to the laundromat
The usual laundromat: bright white light, bags piled on the machines, an hour of waiting

New player · Launderette, Williamsburg, early 2025A laundromat in Brooklyn where the hour of waiting becomes time you’d want to spend there.Takes the form the city already uses, a laundromat, and removes what the others accept: bag storage moved to a basement, a front area for working and gathering, a power outlet at every seat, a coffee bar.

Figure · What sits inside whatShelf, market, category and niche all sit inside one playground

PlaygroundEvery way people in New York get “my laundry has to be clean” done

Other markets, same job

Washing machines

Dry cleaning

Home services

Washing by hand · no product, no market

LaundromatsMarket: the money spent on them. Category: laundromats compared with each other.

Niche: a laundromat for students

Shelf: the laundromats you choose between

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