Manos Chatzopoulos came to the University of Chicago as a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics in 2013. But when heading to campus he found a bigger challenge than deciphering the cosmos: navigating the treacherous parking in Hyde Park.
"It would take me, best case scenario, 15 minutes driving around the block trying to find a free curbside spot," he said. "I wouldn't pay $200 to $300 to my apartment complex for a spot because I thought it was a waste of money."
"I thought there has to be a tech enabled, data driven solution that helps people locate [a spot] faster," he added.
So Chatzopoulos turned his attention away from the stars, and focused on the streets--free curbside street parking that is. He created ParkZen, an app that helps people find free curbside parking in crowded urban neighborhoods using an algorithm that measures the movement of a smartphone.
But Chatzopolous, who is competing with ParkZen in UChicago's New Venture Challenge this June, will have to navigate Chicago's already packed parking startup scene to grow. Are there any spots open for an additional parking startup?
The big differentiator from parking giants SpotHero and ParkWhiz is that ParkZen focuses on free curbside parking, not meters or garages. ParkZen uses an algorithm that Chatzopoulos created to measure the movement of an individual using the accelerometers and gyroscopes in smartphones (which can tell if you're running, biking, or driving). When a user pulls away from a free spot, the app recognizes that they're back on the road and flags the open spot. Users can see open spots on a map, as well as how long they've been open (indicating the likelihood that they're still available). The app also remembers where your car is parked, and sends push notifications when there is scheduled street cleaning to help users cut down on unexpected tickets.
This means the app is heavily dependent on a critical mass of users who are leaving and taking free curbside parking. So far ParkZen is working with 60 users, including beta testers, and have plans to increase marketing through social media and street teams in Hyde Park, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview in coming weeks through a $3,000 grant they received from the I-Corps program (also all the funding they have to date). Chatzopoulous is working with cofounders Zach Jenkins (a senior computer science major at UChicago) and Russell Corey (an MBA student at Booth), plus three marketing and business development employees on the startup.
Chatzopoulos said ParkZen will not charge customers to use the app, and is exploring various revenue options that will be implemented in the future. For example, if a free spot isn't open, they're looking into entering into affiliate programs with parking meter companies, and other parking startups, to direct drivers to next tier spots that are available nearby. Additionally, they want to encourage owners of underutilized driveways to offer up their spots when they aren't using them, for cheaper than nearby garages.
However, these features are also similar to 1871-basd Parknav, which offers the likelihood a spot will be available on a given street, and ParqEx, which lets users rent out their parking space.
So Chatzopoulos is banking on drivers' fierce pursuit of a free spot, as a way to onboard users.
"Everything seems to hate looking for free parking," he said. "But everybody seems to want to look for free parking and not resort to a pay-to-park option."
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