By Jan Finlayson, NewBoCo Events Coordinator
Sitting in an emergency room with second-degree burns on his arm, Alex Beaumier had a sudden moment of clarity. He was at a crossroads. He could either keep treating Beau Laundry Co. — the eco-friendly laundry products company he launched in 2023 — as a side hustle that would likely plateau, or go all in.
“I’m either going to take this seriously, or I need to quit,” he remembers thinking.
A few weeks later, that late-night decision brought him to ENTREFest, NewBoCo’s annual entrepreneurship conference. There, he delivered his first business pitch, swept two major awards, and connected with a community of founders who understood the work of building something from scratch.
It all started with a simple question: Why does laundry have to smell so generic?
A Fresh Take on an Everyday Chore
Beaumier didn’t set out to reinvent the laundry aisle; he just wanted his clothes to smell better. He had started using wool dryer balls instead of traditional dryer sheets, but wasn’t impressed with the lack of scent options on the market. Meanwhile, his growing interest in colognes made him wonder why everyday laundry products couldn’t offer elevated fragrances.
“Tide, Gain, Snuggle. It seems like they all smell like lavender, fresh linen, or a tropical breeze,” he recalls. “I wanted something unique.”
Specifically, he wanted sophisticated, cologne-inspired scents. Drawing on his data science background, Beaumier built an ingredient matrix of popular detergents to analyze their chemical formulations and isolate what worked.
Friends became his initial focus group. When they (and soon their partners) started asking where they could buy his custom-scented dryer balls and detergents, the Marion, Iowa-based Beau Laundry Co. officially had its first customer base.
Building a Brand With a Sense of Humor
If you’ve ever run into Beaumier at a local Iowa farmer’s market or vendor show, you’ve probably heard his bold invitation: “Come smell my balls.”
Dryer balls, that is.
The cheeky line quickly became a signature marketing tool, though Beaumier hesitated at first. Coming from a corporate background, he initially assumed running a business demanded a formal, serious tone. But during his first vendor event, shoppers and neighboring vendors immediately began making their own jokes.
“I thought, okay, so my humor can fit into this,” he says.
That customer reaction gave him permission to bring his natural personality into the brand. Today, that humor cuts through the noise in a crowded home-goods market and gives shoppers an easy, memorable entry point into a conversation.
Behind the lighthearted branding is an entrepreneur whose earlier ventures — including a pandemic-era UV pen sanitizer and a trash-can concierge service — taught him essential lessons about operational efficiency and breaking big ideas into step-by-step goals.
“I think my superpower is spotting niches,” he says. “I like discovering things that don’t exist that I think should.”
The First Pitch and a New Mindset
Determined to scale after his ER wake-up call, Beaumier bought a ticket to ENTREFest and entered the Hy-Vee Pitch Competition. Having never delivered a formal business pitch before, he kept his expectations remarkably low.
“If I can get some people to laugh, that’s a win in my book,” he says. “If I come in last place, that’s totally fine with me.”
He opened his presentation slide deck with his signature line about smelling his dryer balls. The audience erupted, and the panel of judges took notice. Beaumier walked away with both first place in the Hy-Vee Pitch Competition and the People’s Choice Award.
“I couldn’t believe it, honestly,” he says. “I thought they must be pranking me.”
The recognition sparked an immediate shift in how he viewed his daily role: “Let’s transition from entrepreneur to CEO; someone who makes decisions and is capable of growing the company.”
Beyond the Prize Money
The prize winnings allowed Beaumier to replace a second-hand marketplace kitchen oven with a commercial unit, significantly expanding his dryer ball production capacity. He was even able to “pay it forward.” When another local business suffered a sudden equipment breakdown, Beaumier loaned them his new oven, saving their operations.
The peer support network was equally transformative. Working remotely in IT, Beaumier rarely spent days alongside fellow founders. ENTREFest changed that.
“When you attend an event where people are doing what you’re doing, and they’re excited about it, you get excited, too,” he says. “I think I finally found my people here.”
Looking Ahead: Scaling Up
Today, Beaumier is standardizing production processes to transition from hands-on manufacturing to executive leadership. His goal? Hitting $30,000 in monthly revenue and expanding Beau Laundry Co. into a nationally recognized brand.
For anyone holding onto a business idea, Beaumier’s advice is straightforward: “No one’s going to give you permission to do it. You just have to try. Take at least one baby step per day.”
For Beaumier, taking that single step late one night in the ER transformed a quirky side project into a thriving enterprise. The burn on his arm healed, but the drive to build something bigger stuck. Sometimes, all it takes to turn an idea into a business is the courage to step up to the mic and invite the world to “smell your balls.”
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About ENTREFest
ENTREFest is Iowa’s premier multi-day conference celebrating entrepreneurship, innovation, and small business growth. The annual event brings together creators, startup founders, and community leaders from across the Midwest for keynotes, hands-on workshops, and high-energy networking. Mark your calendars for ENTREFest 2027, June 9–11 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for early-stage startup pitch competitions, multi-track business strategy sessions, and neighborhood-wide venue activations.