A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb for car spaces - The Journal
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Transcript of A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb for car spaces - The Journal
8/12/2016 A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb for car spaces
http://www.thejournal.ie/garretflowerparkpnp22808284Jun2016/ 1/5
A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb forcar spacesGarret Flower started the Krust bakery when he was just 23.
AFTER FOUR YEARS in the doughnut and coffeegame, Garret Flower is turning to a new, more hightech venture.
The cofounder of Krüst, which operates an outlet inDublin city centre as well as a wholesale bakerybusiness, is jumping ship to focus on Parkpnp, whichhe hopes will become the Airbnb for car parkingspaces.
The fledgling company has developed a smartphone app that allows people to find spotsnearby and even place their own residential spaces on the market, mirroring the ‘sharingeconomy’ model of the US homeletting giant.
According to the 27yearold, Parkpnp is well under way – although it has only had a softlaunch for its iOS and Android apps ahead of a bigger push next month.
“Our team is 12strong already,” he told Fora. “That’s unusual, normally you have a fewshareholders at the start but we’ve got twelve guys and they’re all committed and pumpedfor it.
“We need a team to pump it out because we don’t just want to be in Ireland. Dublin
is one city and we want to be in more cities once we’ve proved it works.”
To date, the business has been bankrolled by a combined investment of €500,000 fromSean Melly’s venture capital firm Powerscourt Capital and Enterprise Ireland.
Flower said he understands tech is a different game to that of running brickandmortarstores and that lots of funding can be needed to build it fast to the necessary scale.
“Krüst was built organically … but if I’m going to launch a tech business, especially amarketplace, this type of business doesn’t grow like that.
“You need big backers to launch a marketplace and a team. I’ve had four years of
mistakes building a traditional business and it was very tough, especially in the food
industry, but I’ve learned how to speed things up really fast.”
Monday 6 Jun, 2016 http://jrnl.ie/2808284
Krüst coowners Garret Flower(left) and Rob Kramer
8/12/2016 A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb for car spaces
http://www.thejournal.ie/garretflowerparkpnp22808284Jun2016/ 2/5
Flower set up Krüst in 2012, when he was 23, with coowner Rob Kramer, who takes overthe business.
The coffee shop and bakery is probably best known for pioneering the ‘cronut’ in Dublin,while it has also struck deals with Applegreen and other national outlets to supply theirpastries.
Kramer will focus on exports with Krüst’s wholesale division and oversee plans to makefurther inroads in the catering industry.
Proven model
Flower said the idea for Parkpnp came to him last September after he bought his first carand couldn’t get parking around Ranelagh, in Dublin’s south, during a quick visit to thearea.
He said he couldn’t believe that no one else had tried to make the idea work in Irelandand was blown away by how successful the model was in the US.
“There’s people listing their space in front of their house or underneath their apartmentblock or outside in a field area. There is no scope to how big the market can be.
“What I’ve seen is the US companies that are doing it, it’s still just a baby market. They’reonly in a handful of major cities.
“So I thought, why not give this a go in Ireland? I tried to come up with reasons why
this wouldn’t work here, like any business I would start, and found it would be a
good idea.”
One of the major players from the US whose path Parkpnp will be looking to follow isSpotHero. The ondemand parking app raised funding last year of $20 million and itclaims to have processed over 3 million parking bookings this year alone.
Source: RollingNews.ie
Garret Flower (left) with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Krüst co
owner Rob Kramer
8/12/2016 A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb for car spaces
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Source: Parkpnp/Twitter
Targets
Parkpnp has plans to rapidly expand after its Dublin rollout, which will happen betweennow and the end of the year. After targeting the Irish capital, Flower said he hopes tolaunch in Manchester and then spread operations to other cities in the UK that havecongestion problems.
He also touched on plans to build out the commercial side of the Parkpnp model, whichwill involving striking deals with larger car park operators.
“There’s two sides to the business. On the residential side, we take a 20% cut becausewe’re the marketing channel and customer service and bringing people to those spaces.We feel we’re a service.
“We also have a commercial aspect to the business. We’ve approach car parks and
hotels across the country, because we’re able to install a piece of hardware at the
front of each entry and exit lane that allows you to use your phone to tap in, tap out
and pay through your phone for parking.”
Winning @dublinbeta can't beat it!! Now to take on theworld of Parking!! #Parkingrevolution8:38 PM 14 Dec 2015
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Parkpnp Ltd @parkpnphq
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8/12/2016 A doughnut entrepreneur is trying to build Ireland's Airbnb for car spaces
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Flower said Brown Thomas and the coach station car park in Galway have agreed for thehardware to be installed at their locations. Parkpnp is also in talks with highprofile hotelchains around Dublin Airport to install a similar setup.
“This is a commonsense product. We are allowing operators to make more money andpushing it out to a marketing channel they’ve never had before.
“What really slows this type of company is when other businesses worry what is he
taking off us. This has the chance to increase their revenue which is why I think it is
such an easy offering that I’m certain will work.”
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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Source: Parkpnp