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From Real Estate to Trucking? Evan Shelley’s Journey to Solving the Truck Parking Crisis
Manage episode 383740238 series 3518247
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In this episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, host Brent Hutto is joined by Evan Shelley, Co-Founder and CEO of Truck Parking Club.
Join them as they:
- Explore Evan’s transition from real estate to truck parking
- Discuss the challenges of starting a company and building out a product
- Examine how the Truck Parking Club app solves the parking problem
- And more!
Evan Shelly is the Co-Founder and CEO of Truck Parking Club, a company committed to helping to provide parking for truckers by monetizing vacant properties for landowners. As a truck parking expert, Evan is working to help solve the truck parking shortage and bring awareness to the issue.
Episode Highlights:
[02:44] Evan’s background in trucking actually comes from real estate. He was working on commercial and industrial land deals and he came across an industrial land deal that he wanted for a warehouse space. It didn’t work out to be suitable for a warehouse in the end, so he spoke to the investors to determine what the land could be used for instead. One of them mentioned the high demand for truck parking in the area; that there wasn’t enough, and this location looked perfect for it. The municipality, however, was not a fan of the idea, and they refused it. This was in 2021 and it led Evan to talk to people in trucking about the problem. Eventually, this led to the founding of Truck Parking Club, leveraging technology to use existing space for truckers to book parking in real-time.
[10:01] Truck Parking Club is approaching its one-year anniversary. Over the year, they have grown to a team of eight who are all dedicated to solving the problem of parking for truckers. As Evan explains, starting any company is difficult and he found it extremely hard to get going. He created the first product for bookings but, as a non-technical guy, he just created the bare minimum. It was a constant battle to get bookings in, and technology doesn’t always work perfectly. Bugs come up and have to be dealt with, particularly when, as Evan did, a product is taken to the market early. Believing they provide the most value to owner-operators and smaller teams, the team has focussed on providing value to them down-market, rather than large carriers. To help with this, they actually hired former truckers as their customer service representatives.
[19:51] In order to make sure the Truck Parking Club app solves the problem it is required to, Evan and his team constantly think about the “what”. What does the trucker need? The answer: they need to be able to find parking efficiently. They need a product that allows them to book it efficiently. It needs to be the fastest and easiest part of their day. Thus, Evan and his team designed the process to take as few clicks as possible, to be as seamless as possible. They also have a 24/7 customer helpline to resolve any issues that do crop up, maintaining a positive experience for all. As simple as it sounds, that is truly it. Their biggest focus is customer experience and that is likely what their success over the past year is owed to.
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