Spot On: Entrepreneur's Parking App Drives onto Smartphones

Whether you're catching a game at Wrigley Field or spending the afternoon strolling through Lincoln Park Zoo, the frustration that often comes with finding a parking spot in Chicago's busiest neighborhoods can overshadow the fun of a trip.

But north suburban native Mark Lawrence, 26, is hoping to change that. Joined by partners Jeremy Smith and Larry Kiss, he has created SpotHero, a website and smartphone app devoted to finding cheap and available parking throughout the city. 

“The idea came from my personal frustrations with parking,” Lawrence said. “You really don’t know where a space is going to be or how much you’re going to pay. You have to drive in circles. Street parking spots may exist; they may not. I thought, ‘How do we make parking easier?’”

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Lawrence spent his early childhood years in Chicago's south loop before moving with his family to Glenview and eventually settling in Winnetka. He graduated from New Trier High School in 2004 and from Bradley University in 2008.

That’s when an idea for downtown parking turned into a business venture, he said.

Lawrence’s tech startup can be compared to the popular travel website Orbitz, but rather than finding discounted hotel accommodations, SpotHero hunts for affordable parking. More than 100 parking garages—a few of which are around Lake View—have already joined the service, and Lawrence says his company is growing larger by the day.

“Something as small and mundane as parking, when that experience goes well, it completely changes the dynamic of your day and where you’re going,” he said.

His team began working on SpotHero in June 2010 but didn’t launch until July 2011.

“At first we were just focused on the Wrigley Field area to make parking easier, but now we’re all across downtown Chicago," he said. "We’ve expanded quite a bit, and our mobile app was just launched (in August). ... What we want to do is expand to other cities, replicate the model and make parking easier."

Once travelers decide on a destination, they can visit the SpotHero website or use the free iPhone application. Entering an address gives you a list of parking facilities in the area along with their distance from you, cost and time parameters.

Customers then pay by credit card online and can print out a receipt or pull it up on their smartphone to use at the garage. Lawrence says drivers like it because they’re guaranteed a parking space they can choose before leaving the house, and garage owners like it because they’re guaranteed another customer.

“This is really valuable for people living in suburbs ... because there’s cost savings and convenience,” Lawrence said. “You want to go to the city, but parking is a big deal. But if you know you can go for $10 total, it could bring more people to the city of Chicago in general.”

Lawrence hopes that by changing something as seemingly minute as parking, he can draw more people to the city, in turn, slightly boosting Chicago’s economy.

Some of the deals SpotHero has negotiated start for as little as $6, he said. Chicagoans can also list personal spaces they're renting on the site and make extra cash.

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