A different kind of Palo Alto entrepreneur…living in a car vs. driving a Tesla
Simon Brooks is not your typical Palo Alto entrepreneur. Rather than attending Stanford, Simon’s background includes stints as a mortgage broker, game designer and bartender in his native England and Louisville, Kentucky. After the financial crisis, Simon headed west and joined the Hacker Dojo hub in Mountain View with the dream of developing a gaming app.
But like many others before him, Simon found his luck – and money- running out after a few months in the Bay Area. He began sleeping in his car to survive and feared becoming permanently homeless.
Cleaning the office to get by offers ‘lightbulb’ moment
So when Hacker Dojo offered free membership to anyone willing to clean the office in the afternoon, Simon jumped on the chance. Little did he know that this decision would put his entrepreneurial ambitions on a completely different path.
“No one else in Hacker Dojo wanted this job, but I really like to clean,” said Simon. “And when members told me my efforts were much better than our paid service, I started to research the cleaning industry to find out more about it.”
What Simon learned is that that this admittedly unsexy business is huge. Over $51 billion is spent on commercial cleaning in the US each year, yet no one had successfully tried to ‘disrupt it.’ So in late 2015, Simon started Squiffy Clean, a Palo Alto-based start up that aims to make cleaning services not only better for companies, but also for the people who do this hard work.
What’s different about Squiffy Clean? Transparency, working conditions and environmental impact.
Greater transparency in pricing
Based on a three-question online survey, Squiffy Clean can provide potential customers with an instant quote. Compare that to a traditional cleaning companies, which usually require over a week to set up a sales call and provide a written quote.
“There is so much data available about how long it takes to all cleaning tasks, from vacuuming to mopping,” said Simon. “Using this data, Squiffy Clean gives clients an immediate quote with transparency about how we determined our pricing.”
Improved working conditions and safety – especially for women
“We all know that the people who clean offices at night have difficult working conditions and low wages,” Simon said. “But once I started to look closer, I discovered how rotten the cleaning industry is, especially for women.”
Specifically, Simon was appalled to learn the rates of sexual assault and abuse- often by their own supervisors- that are suffered by female workers. According to a documentary on PBS “Frontline,” one large commercial cleaning company called ABM has been sued 42 times by workers who claim to have been raped, abused or assaulted while on the job.
To address this issue, Squiffy Clean always pairs female workers for night shifts. “Why would you send a woman alone into a building at night by herself? That makes no sense,” Simon said.
Better wages to attract and retain good employees
And beyond safety, Squiffy Clean is also focused on the economic well being of its workers, for both practical and philosophical reasons. “We want to attract and retain great people, and to do that we have to treat them well,” said Simon, whose own financial struggles give him empathy for Squiffy Clean’s workers.
The coveted ‘golden plunger’ is awarded to the Squiffy Clean employee of the month.
“Turnover is rampant in this industry due to the low wages and bad conditions, so at Squiffy Clean we pay people well, offer them equity in the company and try to make the workplace rewarding and fun.”
‘Green’ products leave a scent customers love
According to Squiffy Clean’s FAQ’s, its clients love the scent that the company leaves behind. While he won’t disclose his secrets, Simon admits that the good smell is intentional. “It’s from the environmentally friendly, plant-based products we use,” he said. “Bleach and other cheap products are not only bad for the planet, they are harmful for anybody who comes in contact with them- both cleaners and office workers.”
Reid Hoffman joins Squiffy Clean’s crowdfunding effort
Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s hard to raise investment funds for a cleaning start up. So Simon has created a crowd funding effort on Kiva.org that ends on March 27th to raise $10,000 seed Squiffy Clean’s growth.
PayPal founder Reid Hoffman has invested in Squiffy Clean. Photo from Kiva.org
To prove Squiffy Clean’s potential, Silicon Valley superstar Reid Hoffman is one of the investors listed on Kiva.org.
“We’re trying to show traction and revenue before attracting bigger investors,” Simon explained. “Cleaning might not be as trendy as virtual realty or robots, but it is a huge industry and there is a lot of money to be made. Squiffy Clean offers a new approach to the business, with transparent, data-driven pricing and our unique mission to help workers. We are excited to grow our business locally and scale it to other cities.”
Learn more about Squiffy Clean
To invest in Squiffy Clean’s growth, visit its page on Kiva.org, or learn more about the company at www.squiffyclean.com.
Great column/report in every sense of the word…Really hope that Simon makes it and that his business grows accordingly…
Thanks Peter I appreciate it. We’re really growing quite fast and love what we’re doing!