CEO sat on a toilet for 50 hours to raise funds for his venture. And now...
2 min read . Updated: 07 Oct 2021, 11:37 PM IST
Premium- Who Gives A Crap, which started making toilet paper with the sole aim to improve sanitation in developing countries, raised $30 million recently.
If you were asked to sit on a toilet for almost 50 hours to get some money, would you do it? Well most people won't. However, it means a rare few will still consider doing it, if the cause is appealing. A CEO of an Australian company falls into that rare category.
"Who Gives A Crap" - Yes, you have heard it right. It's the name of the company and the CEO, who sat on a toilet paper in a draughty warehouse and refused to move until he raised enough pre-orders to start production, is Simon Griffiths. 50-odd and-grueling hours later, the company had raised over $50,000 and delivered its first product in March 2013. ( Watch the video here )
But then, it begs the question: What exactly is the company meant for and what is it producing? Why does its millennial-CEO desperate for funds?
"Who Gives A Crap" started when it learnt that 2.4 billion people don't have access to a toilet, roughly 40% of the global population. It means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children per day, or one child every two minutes.
The numbers are quite scary indeed. In order to address this, the company started making what they call as "great toilet paper" and it donates 50% of profits to non-profit partners. The aim is to ensure everyone has access to clean water and a toilet and improve sanitation in the developing world.
Founded in 2012, the "Who Gives A Crap" has been been self-funded since the beginning, which is incredibly unusual for a high-growth startup. However, despite that, the growth has been continuous and on an upward trajectory.
And the reason behind that is not just because its toilet paper is gracing bathrooms across the country, but also because it donates half the profits. The company claims to have donated over $10 million till date, but is ambitious to donate billions.
"To reach our ambitious (audacious, even) impact trajectory, we need to scale the business. To do that, we need additional capital – that’s why we started entertaining the idea of investors," the CEO says.
Most startups take funding and operate while losing money until the business gets bigger and hopefully becomes profitable.
However, because "we were donating half of our profits, we wanted to be profitable as quickly as possible to make donations and prove that our business model could work," Simon noted.
And guess what, after 9 years of self funding, the company boasts of its first investors, raising $30 million from Verlinvest, The Craftory, Jamjar, Airtree, Grok Ventures, Giant Leap and Athletic Ventures.
