5 Minutes with Dave Shannon from Anyspace

by Corey | Oct 20, 2019 

Corey Hinde – G’day Dave – tell us briefly, what made you guys want to explore the storage business idea?
Dave Shannon –  I had just found out we were having twins and needed more space fast so tried to move everything in our spare room into storage .

I needed access to gear, I didn’t want it 15mins drive away with only 9-6pm access etc.  So I asked my neighbour and he let me rent his garage, it was great in every aspect for me.

CH:  I’ve just been in the USA, and the storage market over there is massive.  You guys are projecting growth here too… why do you think the storage needs in NZ are likely to grow?

DS: There will always be a need for storage in NZ, its growing rapidly from what we can see. Especially with the increase in town housing in the main city centers, these designs provide little to no storage let alone car parking for the stereotypical kiwi.

CH:  Peer to peer businesses – they are a very appealing model – what’s your favourite Peer to peer business and can you see more of these popping up?
DS: I really like the Systems ‘Neighbor’ uses in Salt Lake city, its simple, easy to use and well designed. We actually only found out about these guys recently, but our companies are similar. I hope we see more Peer to Peer systems starting up in NZ, there is a thousand different options out there. Peer to Peer systems if done correctly a great way to save and earn for people . 

There are far too many big companies creating monopolies here in all sorts of kiwi industries that put profit far ahead of people. I love how Peer to Peer companies like Airbnb etc have created something from nothing and were able to give the consumer more options.

CH:  Your website looks pretty sharp and well built – did you guys outsource that or do you have a web whiz on your team?
DS: Thanks! We did out source it and would highly recommend Brown Paper Bag they have made the whole setup bloody easy for us. 

CH:  Obviously you’ve got a bit of a chicken or egg situation here…. you need people with spare space, and you need people with space requirements… where do you start and how is it going so far?
DS: Absolutely, firstly we have a couple of great reps who find our listings for us and for people who are wanting specific space so they helped to get out listing up early. Also facebook and radio have been the other main sources of listing for us. We have had 300,000 radio ad listens, it's pretty good for exposure.

CH:  I’ve never met a business owner who met their initial targets faster than they projected… maybe I don’t get out enough…. you guys are optimistic and happy at this point?
DS: Yeah we have meet ours, we thought there would be more push back in the first couple of months. People have been really good to deal with 99% of the time.

CH:  What’s the weirdest listing you’ve seen so far?
DS: Renter side -People asking to live in garages we get that a bit, normally just students looking for cheap rent. Host side -We have had people listing their home offices, a couple were asking $350pw to use their room as an office during the day .

CH:  Do you think parking spaces are going to become a big part of Anyspace?
DS: Yeah we do, the other options for renting parks in NZ are either not working or a complete rip off with huge percentages charged. We have new carparks being listing everyday.

CH:  Any surprises or key lessons so far in your early days?
DS: Yeah you need a lot of time to setup a peer to peer company we have found, its exciting but really time consuming in the first months. The happiest customers are the best form of advertising, its been great to see how some people have heard about us.   
  
CH:  I wish you guys all the best.  I’ve seen storage grow, I can see how useful your service is, and from myself and the team – best of luck!
DS: Thanks Corey its been great seeing how many people are using our system already!

Learn more about Anyspace right here: https://anyspace.co.nz

Check back for more “5 Mins with” sometime soon!

Article first published here.