Got the money, but not the time? Try Veluxe

Core workouts, blow-drys, garden upkeep: you can’t imagine how quickly a D.C. socialite’s calendar can balloon out of control.

“I found myself without enough time in the day to get done what I wanted to get done,” said Susanna Quinn, the wife of the influential lobbyist Jack Quinn and now a lifestyle app entrepreneur. So, “I started bringing providers into my home,” she said.

Quinn quickly realized that she might not be the only one in the D.C. metro area having to juggle so many fancy obligations. After all, the region has the highest concentration of “Super Zips” — hubs for the wealthy and well-educated — in the country.
“How can I scale this?” Quinn wondered. “I realized the answer was on my phone.”
That’s how she came to found Veluxe, a mobile app that seeks to disrupt the luxury lifestyle industry by allowing users to reserve in-home services on the go.
The app launched in Beta earlier this month and is already reveling in its exclusivity.
At this stage, access to the app is invitation-only. According to the Washington Post, early subscribers include a congresswoman, a “local news anchor, a fashion editor,” and other thinkfluencers.
Of the businesses available on the site, you can expect nothing less than the crème de la crème: Quinn wants to partner with “the best hairstylists in the country.”
Not only are the service providers screened for quality, they also have to submit to a thorough code of conduct and a background check befitting the security needs of Veluxe’s elite customer base: no criminals, sex offenders, or anyone involved in a lawsuit.

The former Capitol Hill staffer and speechwriter also selected her business partners among the rarefied crowd of D.C.’s upper crust.
She met her “most helpful” advisor, TrackMaven CEO Allen Gannett, through a common friend, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.).
Veluxe’s board of curators includes Carl Ray, the personal makeup artist of Michelle Obama; Hilary Phelps (sister of Michael), the founder of health and happiness website Genuine Joy; and Brendan Brazier, the founder of Thrive Magazine, a website that promotes vegan diets for athletes.
Veluxe will operate on a per-transaction fee model (the app is free). It will also donate 10 cents per order to Share Our Strength, a D.C. nonprofit that provides healthy meals to disadvantaged kids.
Quinn said she’s tapping into a growing market: the well-heeled and busy.
“My vision for Veluxe is really a lifestyle company,” she said. “Not just an app on which you transact a yoga session or a blow-dry.”