#25: Scaling through a pandemic: UK’s fastest growing sustainable car & fleet washing service with Christian Duncan and Mike Grindy (Co-founders of Dropless)

START UP. START NOW.

I am joined by Mike Grindy and Christian Duncan, founders of Dropless. Dropless is a fully digital service that allows you to easily schedule, manage and pay for a car wash or valet in seconds. They have been running for nearly 4 years and now employ over 100 people. Dropless recognised the car wash industry was fragmented and outdated, with a bad reputation for off-the-books operations and the mistreatment of workers. With a strong eco conscience and a desire to change the industry for the better, Dropless offers end-to-end vehicle management that uses a sustainable nano solution (saving over 150 litres of water per wash), that is delivered to your door via their mobile app.

Mike’s career journey started out in the early 2000’s as a musician signed to Island Records and found himself in the digital marketing world. His first enterprise was building online auction systems for the charity sector which swiftly merged into a charity focussed SEO and PPC agency based in Hampton with a few employees. With a solid client base Mike rebranded the agency as Passion Digital, a performance marketing agency, and relocated to Clapham, London. His experience in utilising digital to grow businesses, data analysis and brand building, as well as a desire to change the waste clearance sector for the better led to him starting a waste clearance business called Junkwize, of which he is still a major shareholder and non-executive. This experience led him to being able to bring to life the idea of Dropless.

Christian spent his late teens and early 20's playing at a high level of Rugby and managed to represent Great Britain Student against Australia during his last year of university. When realising that making the cut professionally was a high chance, he packed up and moved to London not knowing what lay ahead. Starting his career in sales and then moving into the consulting space, Christian found that being a small cog in a large machine just wasn't for him. After 7 years of climbing the corporate ladder, he joined a small start up in the B2B SaaS world and put his sales cap back on, immediately falling in love with the young hungry start-up life. This love for building things new, fresh, and fun found him where he is today.

Listen in to find out more about Dropless, co-founder relationships, scaling during a pandemic and how Dropless are revolutionising the car washing industry.

Connect with Mike Grindy via: LinkedIn. Connect with Christian Duncan via: LinkedIn.

Find out more about Dropless via: website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

A new episode EVERY WEEK, showcasing the journeys of inspirational entrepreneurs, side hustlers and their mentors. We discuss their successes, challenges and how they overcame setbacks. Focusing mainly on what they wish they had known when starting out. The podcast aims to give aspiring entrepreneurs the confidence to Start Up and Start Now by showcasing real and relatable entrepreneurs. After all, seeing is believing!

Connect with START UP. START NOW. and to nominate a guest please visit: www.startupstartnow.co.uk. To connect with Sharena Shiv please visit: www.sharena.co.uk.