Laundry Lady
Susan Toft is a Sunshine Coast–based entrepreneur and the CEO and Founder of The Laundry Lady, the world’s first online marketplace for door-to-door laundry services. Through a growing network of 350+ Laundry Ladies and Lads across Australia and New Zealand — with expansion into Canada underway — Susan has built one of the region’s fastest-growing mobile laundry services, connecting busy households and businesses with convenient, tech-enabled solutions. She is also the creator and CEO of TimeBoss, an AI-driven operations platform that powers the business. With more than 25 years’ experience in international marketing, project management, and business development — including senior roles with Austrade and PADI Asia Pacific — Susan brings deep commercial expertise and a strong passion for innovation and entrepreneurship.
A single mum of two, Susan is a relatable and inspiring founder who actively supports emerging entrepreneurs and champions flexible, home-based work opportunities. Her leadership and innovation have earned national recognition, including Founder of the Year (Women in Digital), AFR Most Innovative Companies, multiple Telstra Best of Business awards, and AusMumpreneur wins. A regular speaker at major technology and business events — and a featured guest on Shark Tank Australia — Susan is known for sharing practical insights on scaling startups, empowering women in business, and building purpose-driven companies.
Susan Toft
CEO & Founder of The Laundry Lady
thelaundrylady.com.au
linkedin.com/in/susan-toft-b855ab41/
About the Company
The Laundry Lady is Australia’s fastest-growing mobile laundry service and the world’s first online marketplace connecting busy households and businesses with convenient, door-to-door washing and ironing. Through our network of 350+ independent Laundry Ladies and Lads across Australia and New Zealand — with Canada next on the horizon — we deliver reliable, tech-enabled laundry solutions at the click of a button. Powered by our AI-driven platform, TimeBoss, we combine innovation with everyday practicality to make laundry effortless for our customers.
We’re passionate about creating flexible, home-based business opportunities that empower people — especially women — to build income around their lifestyle. Our commitment to innovation, people, and growth has earned national recognition, including awards from Women in Digital, AFR Most Innovative Companies, Smart50, AusMumpreneur, and Telstra Best of Business. More than a laundry service, we’re a purpose-driven platform transforming how laundry is done while supporting a growing community of entrepreneurs across multiple countries.
The Unsexy Business That Went Viral on Shark Tank is the story of how Susan Toft built The Laundry Lady from a scrappy idea in 2012 into a scalable tech company with nearly 500 contractors across Australia and New Zealand, and now expanding into Canada. In this episode, Susan breaks down what it really takes to grow a service business like a tech company.
We talk about the bottlenecks that nearly stalled the journey, the reality of bootstrapping for years, how she rebuilt her systems and platform over time, and why Shark Tank became marketing gold even though laundry is not exactly a headline-grabbing industry.
You will also hear the leadership decisions that changed everything, including hiring an operations manager, letting go of day-to-day control, building a culture where people do not need permission to take time off, and scaling a business while protecting family time.
Key topics covered:
- How The Laundry Lady works and why it scales
- Bootstrapping lessons and funding reality
- Tech as the biggest bottleneck and how to work around it
- Shark Tank exposure and what it unlocked
- International expansion strategy and the contractor first approach
- Systems, process, and progressive perfection