Fleet · B2B · laptop rental for companies
Have suppliers ship laptops straight to customers; keep only a few spares for swaps
Almost no inventory risk; broken devices replaced instead of repaired
What they did
What happened
In their words
How He Makes $40M/yr Renting Laptops for $50/Mo
HostLet me just make sure I understand something. So, let's say your first customer ever, right, they're renting a MacBook Air 13-in with an M3 chip, right, and you're charging them $59 a month. Don't you guys have to go buy the computer for 2K?
Sevan Marian… have to buy the machine and then you get a machine back, it's I mean doesn't make sense. Uh so, the fact that it's a 36 months contract allow us to resell the contract to a bank, you know? And the bank will pay us up front for the total value of the contract. So, we buy the computer, but we get the the full value of the contract up front, which allow us to to you know to to make our margin and and and our profit, you know, uh from day one. So, if the client goes bankrupt with uh 100 Fleet computer, you know? Um we already got the money for the contract, and it's the bank who take the risk, the credit risk. We don't pre-buy computer and and have them in a warehouse waiting to sell them, no? We work and in like directly with suppliers. So, our suppliers uh delivers the client directly, you know? So, we don't have stock, inventory um risk also. Uh so, it's very very asset-light business model, and that's why we are we can scale, we can double the revenue next month.
HostSo, just to confirm this, right, if someone's paying you 59 bucks a month, right, times a 36-month contract, that's $2,124. You're taking that contract and selling it to a bank, and the bank is wiring you $2,124 on day one, is that right?
HostSo, if we looked at your balance sheet today, what dollars of inventory would you would we see you guys holding on your balance sheet that you haven't sold off to the bank? Is it in the millions?
Sevan MarianSo, we have a stock of computer that we keep for re- for fast replacement, you know? Because we ensure client, in B2B it's very important, we ensure client continuity in the in the use of the device, no? So, if there is a uh an issue with a computer, we don't we we don't make the client wait for a repair and get back the computer because the employee will not be able to work on uh on a machine during this time. So, we we replace it. So, we have a little stock to ensure the service in every in every country we operate, but it's uh it's very like it's it's almost nothing, you know?
HostYou mentioned you guys are very profitable. Are are we talking like 20% EBITDA margin post the LBO, or are you still like 30, 40%?
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More from this episode
- Sell each 36-month laptop rental contract to a bank for cash on day oneFunded ~50,000 devices with no VC; bank keeps ~10%, carries customer credit risk
- Buy laptops back cheaply when contracts end, refurbish them and resell
- Rent laptops to startups for ~EUR 50 a month with warranty and software includedProduct-market fit at launch; EUR 1.5M revenue in year one
- Sell a paid add-on to secure and remotely manage rented laptops~EUR 1M ARR, a small slice of total revenue
- After a bad year at home, put the effort into opening new countriesGrew 60% in 2024 and 90% in 2025; now in 20 countries
- Replace about half the leadership team when revenue dropsGrowth returned the next year (+60%); many changes at once
- Let every employee sell all their shares in the buyout, then grant new onesEmployees cashed out several million euros; now a key recruiting story
Tags: asset-light, drop-ship, no-inventory, device-replacement, b2b