I owed $5,000 in parking tickets — then turned my frustration into a $1 billion business
Wall Street Banker who collected $5,000 in parking fines reveals how adversity fueled a $1 billion business idea – which YOU can benefit too
- Mark Lawrence was working for Bank of America when he was bombarded with fines
- But Lawrence turned his frustration into a business idea called “SpotHero” — an app that connects free parking lots with drivers
- SpotHero has now booked more than $1 billion in parking reservations
A 37-year-old entrepreneur who once earned $5,000 in parking tickets has revealed how he turns his frustration into a $1 billion business idea.
Mark Lawrence was working as a financial analyst at Bank of America when he got fed up with nowhere to park in downtown Chicago.
After he was fired in 2010 during the banking crisis, he launched the SpotHero app that allows people with their own parking space to rent it out.
Last year, the company hit the milestone of booking more than $1 billion in online parking reservations — though SpotHero declined to say how much it made in revenue during that time.
It has been used by more than 10 million drivers in 300 cities in the US and Canada.
Mark Lawrence, 37, earned $5,000 in parking tickets while working as a Wall Street banker
He used his frustrations to fuel his $1 billion business idea – an app that allowed individuals with private parking lots to rent out
“The whole idea was that there isn’t enough parking, [and] how do we make parking easy?’ Lawrence told CNBC.
But he added that he soon realized that the problem was not a lack of parking facilities, but that most people “just don’t know where it is.”
By some estimates, there are a total of about two billion parking spaces across the country — enough space to cover the entire state of Connecticut. It also adds up to seven spots for each car.
As a Wall Street banker, Lawrence said he was often too busy to remember to move his car — which is why he collected so many tickets.
He had already started using his spare time to find a solution to the problem when he founded SpotHero with two friends – Jeremy Smith and Larry Kiss.
CNBC reported that they put $6,000 of their own savings into startup costs.
Parking lot owners effectively advertise their space on the app for a fee. There is no fixed rate, which means that users can effectively charge whatever they want.
But the app can advise a reasonable rate to charge for the spot, depending on the location and time of day.
On his website, the average rent for a space during commute hours and a major event is between $12 and $25.
A weekend place costs an average of $12-$24, while an overnight stay costs between $24 and $28.
For a year and a half, the company struggled to stay afloat with 100 parking spaces before partnering with a multi-storey car park.
Lawrence, right, is pictured with his co-founder Larry Kiss, left. The duo joined forces with Jeremy Smith to launch the company in 2011
Last year, the company reached the milestone of booking more than $1 billion in online parking reservations
In 2012, SpotHero brought in $100,000 a month in revenue.
Lawrence said his biggest challenge was guiding garage and parking lot owners into the digital age, as many still trade in cash only.
He would then visit lots at different times of the day and take pictures of the vacant lots to show owners how much money they could make.
A 2019 study by CarRentals.com found that 16 major U.S. cities were responsible for $1.4 billion in fines annually.
The amount of the fines varies by state. A report was published last year Investopedia found that San Francisco imposed the highest charges for parking violations, as obstructing traffic could cost motorists up to $1,000.
It was followed by New York City — where drivers can expect a $65 fine just for parking diagonally on the curb — and Chicago, respectively.
His app is one of many parking rental apps that have become extremely popular in recent years.
For example, rival company Parkopedia is used in more than 90 countries around the world.