Secrets of the $131 Billion Parking Industry with Jonathon Barkl (Co-founder and CEO of AirGarage)

Nov 8, 2023

Jonathon Barkl, Co-founder and CEO of Air Garage, discusses the business model of parking, the outdated nature of the $131 billion parking industry, and how Air Garage increases parking lot profitability. He shares the inspiration behind Air Garage and the sales lessons learned. Jonathon also talks about securing funding, dynamic pricing in parking, and the impact of parking on cities.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

Transforming the Parking Industry with Software and Technology

03:41 • 5min

The Evolving Parking Industry

09:07 • 6min

The Impact of Parking on Cities

15:03 • 18min

Dynamic Pricing in the Parking Industry

32:34 • 24min

Payment System and Future of Checkout-free Experience

56:36 • 15min

Origins and Early Stages of Air Garage

01:11:54 • 6min

The Importance of Applying Sales Techniques and Understanding What You're Selling

01:17:54 • 3min

Early Days of Air Garage

01:20:56 • 23min

Raising a Series A Funding Round

01:43:37 • 22min

Advantages of Parking with Air Garage versus Traditional Parking

02:05:11 • 2min

Jonathon Barkl is the Co-founder and CEO of AirGarage, a full-stack parking management company that helps real estate owners increase their income.

Jonathon and his co-founders Chelsea and Scott started the company in 2017. They’ve since raised roughly $15 million from investors including Founders Fund, Floodgate, a16z, Abstract, and prior guest of the show Ryan Delk.

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Topics discussed:

A crash course on the business model of parking
Why parking lots make most of their money from tickets and towing
The reason American cities dedicate up to 30% of space to parking
How the $131 Billion parking industry evolved to be so complicated and outdated
Why dynamic pricing in parking is harder than hotels and airlines
The three primary business models for a parking lot
Why Air Garage can increase a parking lots profitability by 4-5x
How part of its business was inspired by scooter companies like Bird and Lime
Starting “Airbnb for Driveways” in 2016 to solve their own problem as college students
The sales lessons Jonathon learned doing door-to-door sales in the Arizona heat
How getting scammed out of $6,000 led to pivoting their business model
Moving to San Francisco with no connections and raising a Seed round
How they closed a Series A in a week
The importance of investor brand when hiring early employees
Why Jonathon cares so much about branding as a parking company

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Referenced:

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Where to find Jonathon:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathonbarkl
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathonbarkl

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Where to find Turner:

Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak
Banana Capital: https://bananacapital.vc

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Production and distribution by: https://www.supermix.io

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