FasPark: 3 Lessons from a Disruptive Parking Startup

Clint Costa Nov 28, 2012 Tweet

FasPark is a Chicago-based startup whose mission is to solve the ever-vexing problem of finding street parking in crowded urban areas.  Available right now in Chicago and Munich (and soon to begin in six other U.S. and international cities), the FasPark technology is different from other parking startups.

Instead of helping users to reserve and pay for a parking space, FasPark utilizes sophisticated data analysis to shepherd its users to locations offering the highest probability of parking success.  FasPark seeks to eliminate 50 to 70 percent of the time drivers spend circling a block looking for parking (and/or yelling profanities, missing dinner reservations and movie times, etc.).

FasPark’s Chief Marketing Officer, Gerry Bociuc, sat down to talk about the company’s journey thus far, and relayed three valuable lessons during our conversation:

• Defying Convention: FasPark started as a consumer-focused technology.  Nearly by accident, the founders took a meeting with an automobile manufacturer and found interest in the B2B market.  Instead of abandoning the consumer market, FasPark split its strategy and continues to seek both markets.  FasPark found early on that its consumer focus was actually a huge help in making B2B connections as the user base helped provide social proof of the company and product.

•  Fostering Early Adopters: As it launched a brand new technology that operated differently from other parking startups, FasPark knew it needed true-blue early adopters.  FasPark launched its app first for Android phones, believing the more tech-focused user base would stay patient through the inevitable bugs and tech issues (FasPark will soon be available for iPhone users as well, and is available as a web app).  FasPark has also keyed its corporate culture to responsiveness, vowing to actively seek feedback from its users and to never allow customer communications to languish unanswered in some unknown email inbox.

•  Making Strong Alliances: FasPark has found a friend in the City of Chicago after pitching the environmental and other benefits of the technology to city officials.  Chicago has shared detailed information to feed FasPark’s analytical engine, which has been key to refining the product for Chicago-based users.

FasPark welcomes new users to check out the app, find parking and provide feedback.  Check them out here.