Looking Back At Where Mr. Turtle Began

By: Benjamin Arts

Laundry Turtle’s YouTube Thumbnail from 2023

Two years ago, I pitched an idea at Cal Poly Entrepreneurs’ Startup Launch Weekend called Laundry Turtle. At that point, it was just an idea, a hypothesis! It was an early vision for reducing plastic waste through refillable laundry detergent (and only detergent) stations.

That weekend, with an incredible team consisting of Kevin J Polanco, Luke Van Der Kooij, Michael Hennessy, and myself, we spent 54 hours bringing that vision to life. Luke and Michael worked on our very first prototype (based on my initial sketch found below), while Kevin and I focused on the business side. Together, we built out the foundations of what would become Mr. Turtle!

Turtle Laundry Initial Machine Drawing from 2023 (Benjamin Arts)

At the end of the weekend… We won 1st place, taking home $1000, and the validation that this crazy idea might just work!

I actually wrote about this moment a year and a half ago in this article, saying:

“Mr. Turtle’s real start began at Cal Poly Entrepreneur’s Startup Launch Weekend (SLW). I’d been sitting with the idea, name, and concept of Mr. Turtle for about three weeks leading up to this point, mostly balancing schoolwork and attempting to plot the launch. Knowing that the competition was coming soon, I decided to throw together an elevator pitch to ‘wow’ the judges. I put on some nice clothes and got ready to present in front of the entrepreneurship club. That weekend, the first Mr. Turtle team was born. I’ll spare you the details for now, but let’s just say it ended well!”

Now, two years later, we can discuss the details! It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come. The Laundry Turtle idea has grown into Mr. Turtle, a real business making a real impact. I am grateful for Colin Brown, who joined the journey later on and brought my updated machine drawings to life with incredible building skills. Together through customer research and development, we built the machines that you see today!

Our team has evolved, our machines have improved, and our mission has never been stronger: Together, we can refill to save our oceans, one bottle at a time!

For those curious, here’s the original pitch video: https://youtu.be/KzZ0t-FGnpk

Looking back now, it’s incredible that we still have that documented pitch, a snapshot of the very beginning! To think… that’s really how it all started!

None of this would have been possible without the support, encouragement, and belief of so many people along the way. Thank you to everyone who has supported my idea, challenged it, and helped bring it to life!

Best,

Benjamin