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French startup Fleet<\/a> has been growing nicely over the past four years as the company has deployed nearly 10,000 devices with long-term leasing contracts. The company hasn\u2019t raised any outside funding and is reinvesting as much of its revenue in the company as possible.<\/p>\n Originally, Fleet had a very simple product offering. Companies of all sizes could rent a fleet of MacBooks instead of buying them. Instead of spending a lot of money at once, companies could turn these capital expenditures into predictable operating expenditures.<\/p>\n The Fleet team has designed the company so that it remains as lean as possible. It doesn\u2019t have any warehouse with huge piles of laptops. It doesn\u2019t have a big credit line with a bank.<\/p>\n When a client orders a bunch of laptops, it sends a request to a financial partner based on several criteria so that it can finance those devices. The client signs a contract on Fleet\u2019s website and then the order is processed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are connected to the APIs of seven financial partners in France \u2014\u00a0they represent pretty much the entire market. We have completely automated the process,\u201d Fleet co-founder and CEO Alexandre Berriche told me.<\/p>\n Fleet\u2019s pricing is transparent. The company displays on its website how much it\u2019s going to cost to order a specific laptop model. \u201cWe price our devices in a way that it takes into account the rates because it depends on the risk of the customer, the size of the orders and also the suppliers,\u201d Berriche said.<\/p>\n If a Fleet customer files for bankruptcy, the financial institution is responsible of the credit line. Fleet doesn\u2019t carry any risk in case of a failed payment.<\/p>\n But financial companies are willing to work with Fleet because it\u2019s hard to address that market \u2014 and very small companies in particular. A company can order a single laptop on Fleet. It works because it\u2019s automated.<\/p>\n And because many startups are currently trying to increase their runway, companies can also lease back their devices using Fleet to spread out the cost of their existing equipment over time.<\/p>\n In addition to Mac and Windows laptops, Fleet has added other things that you can rent on its platform, such as smartphones, tablets, accessories, and even phone booths and furniture.<\/p>\n Some of Fleet\u2019s customers are reaching the end of their laptop leases after three years, which means that they\u2019re eligible for refreshes. That\u2019s why the company now has a proper donation program for unused devices. Fleet partners with nonprofits and can redirect old laptops to teams that could still use these computers. Fleet also accepts laptops that weren\u2019t originally issued through its platform.<\/p>\n The startup now wants to add new features and services. For instance, Fleet has partnered with Evy<\/a> to offer insurance products. The company also wants to add mobile device management (MDM) features to locate lost devices and remotely lock them.<\/p>\n The idea is that centralizing products like MDM has some value in itself as you don\u2019t need to think about it \u2014 you don\u2019t need to compare different services and sign a new contract with yet another company.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really inspired by this U.S. company called Rippling<\/a>. We have unbundled SaaS products so much that recreating tools that can handle everything from A to Z on a big segment has some value,\u201d Berriche said. \u201cWe\u2019re building the operating system for the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nExpanding beyond laptops<\/h2>\n