Help us win $10k to solve urban parking by voting for ParqEx! See all the finalists and vote at www.fastcompany.com/
Last week, our COO Matt Schaefer delivered the elevator pitch of a lifetime.
In partnership with WeWork (our favorite co-working space!) Hyatt and Fast Company recently hosted a Pitch It To Win It contest. Forty startups were invited to enter: 20 pitched their business idea in Chicago and 20 in DC.
The 60-second pitches were being filmed and timed with a stopwatch so Matt—despite being pretty new to ParqEx himself—had to get it just right. (Think Shark Tank with the twist that each entrant gives their elevator speech in an actual elevator.)
“I thought I got a little tongue-tied but felt good about it overall,” he says. The Fast Company staff judges—looking for the most compelling pitches based on both delivery and business idea—felt good about it too because ParqEx was selected to move on to the public voting phase of the competition.
Four finalists from Chicago (including us!) and four from DC will now be placed opposite each other in a bracket. At this stage, it’ll be up to the public to watch the pitches and vote for their favorite idea. The company with the most votes in each arm of the bracket by 11:59 pm (ET) Monday will move on to round two on Tuesday, and so forth through November 18. Voting restarts each day so if we make it to round two of the bracket, be sure to vote again! The grand prize winner will be announced on Thursday, November 19.
The pitch videos will be placed on the Fast Company website on Monday, November 16 and we need YOU (yes, you!) to help us advance further so we can use the prize money to build you (yes, you!) the best private parking marketplace possible. Stay tuned to our Twitter and Facebook pages for the link to vote once it goes live, and wish us luck!
In case you can’t wait for the video, here’s Matt’s pitch:
Hi, I’m Matt Schaefer, COO of ParqEx. And I’d like to talk for a moment about parking in our cities. Every day thousands, perhaps even millions of people drive around town frustratingly looking for convenient and affordable parking. This is especially true in the neighborhoods outside of downtown areas, where there aren’t many commercial options available. At the same time, there are plenty of home owners, condo owners, businesses, and real estate companies that have parking they don’t use all the time. Unfortunately, it has been difficult for them to make it available to the public. That is, until ParqEx. ParqEx is a technology platform—accessible via smartphone or the web—that makes it easy and safe for owners to put their spots on the market, and provides drivers with immediate access to this exclusive inventory. Now they can find that hidden gem of a spot near their friend’s house, all while the owner earns some extra income. ParqEx is the private parking marketplace that is solving the urban parking dilemma. Thank you.
