AUTHOR: MARIA CHRONOPOULOU | PHOTOGRAPHY: VASILIS KOUROUPIS
– To begin with, I would like to ask who you are.
– My name is John Katsiotis, and together with Kostas Arkadas, we are founders of ParkAround. We have worked together in the past and one day we decided to try to do something of our own. So, we created a parking app that helped drivers parking on the street to communicate with one other and say “I’m leaving now, come and get my place”. This was the initial idea, but it failed bigtime. This is because we realized that it’s really difficult to do anything besides pulling out (the car) when you are ready to go.
– So how did ParkAround originate?
– When we discovered this problem with parking, we thought that, on the one hand, there are a lot of vacant parking spots in private carparks that remain empty every day. On the other hand, there are so many cars on the streets seeking a parking spot. So, we decided to use the technology and knowledge we already had to build a platform which helps drivers to find a parking space in their area and to reserve it. The platform also helps private carpark owners to introduce new customers to their business. So that’s how it began.
– Do you think that the crisis had a positive influence on you starting up?
– Not to start with. The crisis wasn’t a factor in convincing us start something of our own. Actually, we had a very good professional mindset, and this helped us to get going. However, the crisis did help us to find carparks which must have lost over 70% of their traffic in the past five or six years. If there hadn’t been a crisis, maybe the owners wouldn’t have been open to this kind of collaboration.
– When did ParkAround start?
– In March 2013, we were accepted into an accelerator program in the Netherlands called the Rockstart Accelerator, which is one of the top three in Europe. We were accepted from the 400 companies from all over the world that submitted an application. From these, 10 applicants were chosen to receive help with technical and business parts and anything else that they needed to set up their company. We spent March to June in Amsterdam. We then decided to go back and run our company in Greece, choosing Athens to be the center of our business activities. We began meeting with investors and, in October 2013, we received our first investment.
– How does ParkAround work? What exactly does it let users do? They enter the app and then how does it work?
– Briefly, the user’s first step is to enter the address of his/her destination, whether this is in a city center, an airport or a port. Secondly, he/she will select how long he/she wants to park for. The third step is to pick a carpark, and last but not least, he/she needs to provide us with the car’s registration number/plate and an email address. That’s all we need to make a reservation.
– Which were the biggest challenges you had to face?
– Our biggest challenge was training the parking market. This was a market (unused to using) technology and we had to familiarize it a little. This meant finding carparks that were willing to conform to what we needed of them as well as informing customers of our solution to help them. These were our two main challenges, the same faced by any new innovation, I guess.
– Are you only located in Athens?
– We are located both in Greece and Spain. Specifically, you can find us in Athens city center, the airport, the Port of Piraeus and in five other Greek airports and ports. In Spain, we are situated in 11 airports. Speaking of which, I would like to mention that we have two kinds of product. The first of these is called city, which helps you to park while moving around the city and allows you to park by the hour. The second is called travel, which helps you park while traveling.
– So, if a traveler wants to come to Greece, can he use your app?
– Absolutely. The app comes in both English and Spanish. We also collaborate with rent-a-car businesses, which let travelers know that they also have the option of using ParkAround.
– Is there anything similar to ParkAround in other countries? And if so, how do you differentiate yourselves?
– There are several apps from other countries that are also trying to solve the problem of parking. There are similar apps in the US, the UK and Spain. ParkAround is different in the following ways. We give the user the option to pay as they go rather than always prepaying. In addition, we provide people with opportunities to book good offers from a price list, which includes discounts most of the time.
– And what does it cost? What’s the price range?
It differs according to the area. For instance, in downtown Athens, in Syntagma, it costs nine euros for the first hour and one euro for every subsequent hour. We have managed to provide offers starting from five euros per hour which also charge one euro for each subsequent hour.
– Do you work exclusively with carparks?
– We collaborate with private carparks, insurance companies and online travel agencies.
– Can someone collaborate with you for an event?
– Of course, we can provide for events like corporate events, where companies can book a certain number of parking spots and make their payment directly to us. We will then manage the whole process to ensure that it runs smoothly.
– What do you believe is the key element for somebody wanting to start (a business) on their own?
– The key is to just decide, because there are always a lot of things that can hold you back. It has become a little easier nowadays, as people have less to lose. Nevertheless, it’s never easy to start something new and I think we don’t go ahead with it because we’re scared of failing. But failure is part of the game and sometimes it can be liberating. If something doesn’t work, when you have accepted that it has failed, you can then start something else.
– Perfect! I would like to thank you very much.
– We thank you as well.
