Pavemint - Interview with the co-founder of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Before working on Pavemint, I worked for an app called Strut as the Head of Content, working closely with the CTO to refine features. Before that, I project managed and speced the development of an internal tool to help manage writers at the ad agency I was working at.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

The biggest challenge has been making assumptions about what users want, and then being proven wrong during our beta and once our app hit the market, and therefore having to quickly respond and pivot based on user feedback.

_{Sarah Zurell}

Sarah Zurell is the Chief Brand Officer, Executive Vice President, and Co-Founder of Pavemint, a peer-to-peer app that connects people looking for parking with people who have spaces to share. Alongside partners Randall Jamail and Karen Romine, Sarah set out to create Pavemint, which launched in Q4 2017, in order to improve the environment and city mobility. Sarah has taken on a hyper-focused role at Pavemint, developing the brand’s image and managing the marketing, communications, design, product, development, and customer care teams. Prior to Pavemint, Sarah was the Head of Content for Google Ventures’ company, Strut, a fashion tech startup out of San Francisco. Sarah volunteers as a Consultant for Milana Vayntrub’s charity, Can’t Do Nothing, which has received over 8M impressions and been featured on multiple major news outlets. Sarah is also on the advisory board of Civicas, an organization of female leaders with an aligned mission to invest resources which enhance civic life. In addition, Sarah was elected to the board of directors of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 2018.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

I have a few, though they aren’t brand new. One that I absolutely love is the app Saucey. It’s a great resource to be able to send a bottle of champagne when a friend launches a new product! I also really like Acorn for investment, because you don’t even notice the money leaving your account.

How long have you been working on this app?

I have been working on Pavemint for about two years.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

The ability to reserve parking in advance or on demand.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

With the maturity of the on-demand market and peer-to-peer economies, consumer expectations for new platforms are at an all-time high. While there are a few peer-to-peer parking apps in the marketplace, we believe we've created a platform that is full featured and complex enough to meet those expectations and inspire the level of trust and confidence that today's savvy user needs in order to sign up and give us some of their time. We've also worked very hard to populate the platform with well-optimized private parking spaces in high-demand areas. Currently, we have over 4,000 parking spaces in LA, more than any other P2P app on the market. Lastly, we've developed an interface that allows users to not only access these parking spaces, but also search or browse to find events and outings in their area, and reserve an exclusive space nearby in just a few taps.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

After great feedback from our users, we are working on a number of enhancements and new features that will further streamline our user experience, give our Hosts even more advanced flexibility and control over their listings, enable compliance with parking tax requirements at the city government level, and give our Guests an updated interface in order to make reserving a space even easier.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

We would love for any new users in LA to make a parking reservation with the app or create a listing if they have a spare parking space. They can also share the app with their friends! After all, the more people who use Pavemint, the more we help reduce the 30% of city traffic caused by parking and the 4.2 million tons of CO2 dumped into our atmosphere every year because of the way we currently park. New users can use the coupon code: ASTROPAVER to receive $10 off their first five reservations.