At 23, Alex Jekowsky saw an enormous opportunity hiding inside laundromats. Five years later, his company Cents generated $60 million in annual revenue with only 80 employees, EBITDA margins above 20%, and 99% customer retention. TryCents provides laundromats, dry cleaners, and shared laundry rooms with an all-in-one platform combining software, custom hardware, payments, online ordering, marketing automation, delivery logistics, and AI customer service. The company grew from $700,000 in revenue in 2021 to $60 million in 2025. It now powers laundry rooms in nearly 7,000 apartment buildings, processes approximately $140 million per month, and has deployed roughly 200,000 to 250,000 hardware devices. In this interview, Alex explains how Cents built its vertical SaaS machine, why the company raised $140 million despite already being profitable, and how founders can avoid raising at valuations that destroy their future options. CHAPTERS HOW DID CENTS FIND A $60M OPPORTUNITY? 00:00 What does Cents sell to laundromats? 02:10 Why did Alex start building the company at 23? 03:55 Why build software instead of buying laundromats? HOW DID CENTS GROW FROM $700K TO $60M? 07:04 How did Alex land the first customers? 10:19 How did revenue jump from $700K to $60M? 14:01 Why does Cents have 99% customer retention? HOW DOES AN 80-PERSON COMPANY MAKE $60M? 16:11 How does Cents generate $750K per employee? 17:02 How did Alex build 98% employee retention? 18:59 Why raise $140M when the company is profitable? WHAT WAS REALLY INSIDE THE $140M FINANCING? 21:46 How much went to employees versus growth? 22:12 What valuation did investors pay? 24:57 Why can a high valuation hurt founders? HOW DO HARDWARE, PAYMENTS, AND SOFTWARE WORK TOGETHER? 27:49 How did Alex preserve founder and employee ownership? 29:34 Where does Cents’ revenue come from? 31:37 How many Cents devices are operating today? Learn more about Cents: https://www.trycents.com Explore non-dilutive capital for B2B SaaS founders: https://founderpath.com Subscribe for more interviews revealing the real revenue, funding, ownership, and growth metrics behind the world’s fastest-growing software companies. #SaaS #Entrepreneurship #Laundromat