# SpotHero: Mark Lawrence

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2025-03-10
- Length: 1h 07m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence

## Summary

Mark Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of SpotHero, explains how he and co-founder Jeremy Smith launched a digital parking platform in Chicago in 2011, initially attempting a peer-to-peer model before pivoting to partnerships with parking garages. Lawrence details his strategy of slow, strategic growth in single cities like Chicago and Washington DC to build deep relationships with operators, resisting intense pressure from well-funded competitors like Lux and Zerks to pivot to unsustainable on-demand valet services. He describes the financial stress of early fundraising, the acquisition of competitor Parking Panda, and how SpotHero survived the pandemic to become the largest digital parking platform in North America, servicing approximately 300 cities.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=0) Introduction: Mark Lawrence and SpotHero
- [4:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=261) Bank of America, Layoffs, and the Idea for SpotHero
- [13:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=787) The Peer-to-Peer Pilot: Wrigley Field and Craigslist
- [24:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=1484) Pivoting to Garages and Early Growth
- [35:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=2121) Investor Pressure and the Strategy of Slow Growth
- [48:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=2919) The San Francisco Battle: Lux, Zerks, and Valet
- [57:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=3428) Series B, Acquiring Parking Panda, and Scaling
- [1:01:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-03-10-spothero-mark-lawrence#t=3709) The Pandemic, Layoffs, and Recovery

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Retail, wholesale & distribution](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/retail-and-distribution)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- SpotHero (product)
- Bank of America (company)
- Motorola (company)
- Wrigley Field (other)
- Craigslist (other)
- Central Parking (company)
- Y Combinator (other)
- TechStars (other)
- Lux (company)
- Zerks (company)
- Parking Panda (company)
- Uber (company)
- Lyft (company)

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- [#035 - How a hardware startup’s product goes viral, with Christian Smith of TrackR, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-08-16-035-how-a-hardware-startups-product-goes-viral-with-christian-smith-of-trackr-us) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
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## Citing this page

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