OtoParlat

What did it do?

OtoParlat was an Istanbul service that, on receiving an order through its mobile app or website, went to the customer's location and cleaned the car without using water. The customer chose the service, the vehicle, the location and the time, and for standard cleans a cleaning professional was dispatched. The start-up said it saved an average of 90 litres of water per car.

Why did it shut down?

As founder Akif Can Tuncel told egirişim, the start-up began with 400,000 lira raised from people around him and over time raised a further 170,000 lira. Together with revenue of close to 200,000 lira, OtoParlat spent more than 700,000 lira; in June 2020 egirişim reported that operations had ended in recent months. As early as 2019 egirişim had written that the start-up faced challenges such as the difficulty of creating a new market and competition from traditional car washes. No information was published to show that plans to move to a marketplace model and expand to other big cities had been put into practice. The fact that the service was delivered in the field by human labour can be read as a structure that kept the cost of every order high (interpretation).

The story

OtoParlat was a mobile car-wash start-up that Akif Can Tuncel launched in Istanbul in 2018. The idea was simple: the customer chose the service, the vehicle, the location and the time in the app, and a cleaning professional came to wherever the car was and cleaned it without using water. The start-up said it used a product that was 80 per cent organic and saved an average of 90 litres of water per car.

Tuncel started out with financial backing from nine friends. The first sale came in June 2018, the month the company was founded; the mobile app went live in the autumn. OtoParlat was one of 12 start-ups selected for the fourth cohort of the Workup Entrepreneurship Programme, whose main backer is İş Bankası. As Webrazzi reported in March 2019, the app had been downloaded 5,450 times and 20 per cent of users bought a service. Prices ranged from 35 to 60 TL, and payments were taken online only. In May 2019 egirişim wrote that there were 6,200 registered users on the system and that the number of orders was growing by 50 per cent every month.

The plans were big: move to a marketplace model, expand to Turkey's other big cities in 2020 and abroad in 2021. In the same article, however, egirişim noted that a tough market lay ahead and that, besides the difficulties of creating a new market, the start-up would also have to compete with traditional car washes.

In June 2020 egirişim reported that Tuncel had ended OtoParlat's operations in recent months and was focusing on a new venture. The figures Tuncel shared summed up the financial side of the story: the start-up had begun with 400,000 lira raised from people around him and had raised a further 170,000 lira over time. Together with revenue of close to 200,000 lira, OtoParlat had spent more than 700,000 lira in total.

OtoParlat's story is a reminder of how decisive unit economics are in a model where the service can only be delivered by a field team. Even while demand grows, the labour and logistics cost of fulfilling every order can quickly exhaust a start-up built on limited capital.

Lessons for founders

• In a service delivered by a field team, prove profitability per order before you grow.
• Measure your burn rate early; limited capital raised from people around you cannot wait for investment that is slow to arrive.
• If you are trying to create a new habit, build the cost of educating the market into your plan.

Sources

1. The failure story of OtoParlat, which cleaned your car where it stood without water and burned through 700,000 TL (egirişim, 2020-06-29)
2. Online car-wash service: OtoParlat (Webrazzi, 2019-03-27)
3. OtoParlat: the start-up that cleans your car where it stands, without water (egirişim, 2019-05-07)

This section is compiled from public sources (Wikidata, news archives and company announcements). Figures are given as they appear in those sources; unknown fields are left blank. If you spot a mistake in an entry, you can send us a correction.

Is something in this entry wrong? Request a correction → Method