Jonathon Barkl: Building AirGarage from 'Airbnb for Driveways' to Parking Powerhouse

Season 1, Episode 10: On this episode of No Cap by CRE Daily, we sit down with Jonathon Barkl, CEO and co-founder of AirGarage, to dive deep into his journey from college student to revolutionizing the parking industry. Jonathon shares the origin story of AirGarage, starting as an "Airbnb for driveways" and evolving through a series of pivots into a full-stack, tech-first parking operator.

We explore AirGarage's progression from working with a local church parking lot in 2018 to partnering with real estate owners across urban areas, unlocking underutilized real estate in churches, hotels, and businesses. Jonathon explains how AirGarage is rethinking the parking experience from the ground up, challenging the status quo of a fragmented industry plagued by misaligned incentives and outdated technology.

TOPICS

00:00 - Intro 01:26 - Solving for Parking on Campus 05:10 - Learning How to Sell is the Most Important Skill 09:49 - Growing Up with Entrepreneurs 12:17 - Renting Out Parking Lots 16:56 - Downloading an App to Park? 19:53 - Making Parking Seamless 22:34 - First-Principles Approach to Parking 26:06 - Developing Full-Stack Technology for Parking 29:26 - Why Understanding Your Parking Occupancy is Important 34:34 - Challenges to Adoption for AirGarage 41:15 - Technology Approach to Parking Lot Property Management 44:55 - How Not to Get Lost in a Parking Lot 46:28 - AirGarage’s Process of Scaling 54:42 - The Future of Parking

We want to thank our sponsor Viking Capital.

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About No Cap Podcast

Commercial real estate is a $20 trillion industry and a force that shapes America’s economic fabric and culture. No Cap by CRE Daily is the commercial real estate podcast that gives you an unfiltered ”No Cap” look into the industry’s biggest trends and the money game behind them. Each week co-hosts Jack Stone and Alex Gornik break down the latest headlines with some of the most influential and entertaining figures in commercial real estate.

About CRE Daily

CRE Daily is a digital media company covering the business of commercial real estate. Our mission is to empower professionals with the knowledge they need to make smarter decisions and do more business. We do this through our flagship newsletter (CRE Daily) which is read by 65,000+ investors, developers, brokers, and business leaders across the country. Our smart brevity format combined with need-to-know trends has made us one of the fastest growing media brands in commercial real estate.