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Show HN: I'm 17 and built a startup to find or sell parking spots (parkt.app)

63 points by delamri ↗ HN
Hey HN! I'm Dris, I'm 17, and for the past few months, I've been solo-developing Parkt, an app that lets you quickly reserve or sell parking spots.

Parking sucks - it's expensive, hard to find, and you usually overpay or get a ticket.

With Parkt, you can reserve parking in 2 taps, or list your unused space in under 5 minutes.

It's now free to download on iOS (with Android coming soon)! You can also check out a demo on the site if you're interested.

If you know someone who might use Parkt, sharing the app would be super helpful! Feedback is also appreciated.

43 comments

[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 94.2 ms ] thread
darajava
Great job! I can’t even use the app yet because I don’t have a SIM to hand but I can’t believe the quality of the landing page, trailer, and value proposition. Great tagline too. You did it all yourself?
delamri
Thank you! Yes, most of it was done solo w/feedback from others. I've been making videos for over 10 years and developing for the past 5, so that might explain a bit.
p2hari
Nice, Are you using Tamagui? If yes, how was your experience?
delamri
No, not using any UI libraries for the app. I'll look into Tamagui though.
sanketsahu
Would love to hear your thoughts on gluestack as well.
navis05
Great product, website and marketing. Really focused on a specific need and market and made it accessible

Small note, it seems the beta comes before alpha? Usually it’s the other way around

didgeoridoo
With the visual distinction between them, I actually read “beta” and “alpha” as two separate products, with alpha being like a premium tier that would coexist with beta.

I’m sure this isn’t actually the case, but it’s funny how swapping the order just disabled my brain’s ability to view them as typical software release phases.

simjnd
I wonder if it's because they're young and all the "Sigma, Alpha and Beta" memes led them to believe Alpha is better than Beta so it should come after. That would be really intersting.
navjack27
[flagged]
reacharavindh
You could have raised the same points without being so dismissive and cynical. It is okay for people who think differently than you do to try their ideas in an open market.
bdjsiqoocwk
> I'm glad you found a way to monetize something you don't even own.

Ignorant take.

He's monetizing a solution to "can't find parking" which he does own.

didgeoridoo
@delamri you’ll encounter this exact guy a lot in your entrepreneurial career. One of the greatest skills you can develop is tuning him out without also shutting yourself off to legitimate constructive criticism.
throwaway88532
I thought the same thing at first, but then I opened the page. It is more AirB&B, but for spaces to park. Looks similar to Just Park and Parksie.

Tip to Dris: update description to be clear about what type of spaces it is for.

froggertoaster
Layered in this awful post is some criticism worth at least thinking about.
didgeoridoo
Ok the app is beautiful and seems like it solves a real need. But the thing I’m most impressed with is that you actually seem to have written up a real ToS that covers most top-of-mind issues, including a section for recommended insurance coverage.

Recognizing that the “app” is just one piece of a larger business model (including considerations for legal, support, etc) is a legitimately mind-blowing level of professionalism for a 17 year old. You’re going to go far.

tonyoconnell
Great job on the website. You will go a long way. Good luck on your new venture.
nhggfu
those scrolling brand logos with 0 context are a bit weird.
SOLAR_FIELDS
What's the difference between this tool and something like SpotHero?
delamri
Great question. While apps like SpotHero & ParkWhiz either don't allow individual users to make listings or have very limited functionality, Parkt focuses entirely on that. Additionally, the app is intended to be as simple as possible to use. If you check it out, it takes just 2 clicks to find & reserve a spot vs 6+ on other apps. The end goal is to minimize the time spent on the app while providing as much value as possible (if that makes sense). Everything from the way the app is designed, the way reservations are created, & more was done with the user in mind.

The marketplace model also encourages competitive pricing in contrast to price-fixing present in most parking lots by lowering barriers to entry.

A main concern starting out was the high involvement for users in selling parking spots. With Parkt, it takes less than 5 minutes to setup & list a spot. After that, there's very limited involvement. Parkt handles promotion, scheduling, reservations, and payments, which pay out directly to the seller's bank account. Additionally, the exact location/address of a spot is only shown to after a user has already made a reservation. This mitigates a bit of the risk of random people parking in spots.

Basically, the app is designed to be as seamless as possible for sellers and buyers.

Hope this answers some of your questions! Sorry if it's a bit long.

jrmg
Maybe I’m unusual, but I’d be much more likely to make an account if I could browse the app up to the point where my personal information is needed for a transaction, rather than being required to make an account upfront.

As it is, I didn’t go any further than the sign-in wall, because I didn’t want to give my details to an app I didn’t know would be useful.

delamri
Not at all, this is probably the most common feedback I've been getting. Working on an update that lets you view the app w/o creating an account + signing up with Google, Apple, etc,.
adrianlv512
Looks great. FYI: Story and Sellers links in the header bar don't do anything on Firefox/Linux.
blazerunner
Also not working for me (MacOS 14.4, Chrome 128.0.6613.113). Not great for building brand trust. Everything else looks so polished that this stood out experience-wise.

The marketing site and app looks great. Congrats on shipping!

delamri
Thanks! Yeah, the pages weren't linked properly.
owenpalmer
Hi Dris, I'm super impressed with your landing page, and I really love the idea! I'm sure I'll get the opportunity to use your app at some point! I think it solves a real problem.

I would also like to make a note about haters and mentioning your age on HN. Unfortunately, sharing your early teenage success/skills automatically makes you a verbal target of some really, really nasty people. They are small, insecure people, who falsely parade as "constructive critics", doing anything to elevate themselves relative to you, which means being full of hate and trying to tear you down. I had a personal experience with this from an HN post I did a few years ago [0], and I remember it affecting my emotional state in a negative way. I think it's really cool that you're building things, so I hope I can encourage you with this. It's very important that you avoid things that hinder your personal development.

Stay strong, and I look forward to installing/using your app when the android build is released.

Happy Coding!

-Owen

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32589714

sabbaticaldev
> I would also like to make a note about haters and mentioning your age on HN

it is not hate. HN hates growth hack and over-professional work and long replies in threads screams “I am not a teenager but i’m pretending to”

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delamri
Thanks! I've unfortunately also had plenty of experience with those kinds of people. I'll let you know when the Android version is out!
Protonu3102
I think this can become a banger. Pretty good copywriting.
magnetowasright
Looks great! Reads professionally, it's a cool idea, and I hope it goes well for you

I also am experiencing the bug where the 'story' and 'sellers' links don't work.

My only feedback is two pet UX peeves/hills upon which I have chosen to die and these opinions are apparently very in the minority - I know it's popular right now, but the website content transitioning into existence on scroll is so extremely irritating to me. I genuinely don't understand why it's so common now. Back in my day (lol), sites whose content popped in (then due to being poorly optimised) were (rightly) penalised in search rankings. It's really frustrating as I'm trying to read about the service and I have to scroll back up because things have popped in, finally. I am in the habit of scrolling all the way to the bottom of the web page now to just force the content to just bloody show but I just hate it lol. Same with the mid/light grey text on white background (which is also present on the website) - it might look mint on a nice 4K Mac screen in great lighting for those under 30 with 20/20 vision but it's (imo) unnecessarily hard to read otherwise. I'm finished being the old man yelling at cloud now.

delamri
Thank you! Haha, yeah my parents said the same thing about the transitions. I'll increase the contrast of the text a bit and see how it looks.
catsma21
what's stopping people from selling spots that aren't theirs or don't exixst
delamri
Good question. To list a spot, users first have to link their bank account with Stripe, which requires identity verification. Additionally, users can easily report listings. Like plenty of other apps, it's impossible to completely stop fraudulent activity. We can just do the best to mitigate it.
nonstopdev
Great work! Had a similar project i built before COVID and saw the need and value here. Once the pandemic hit I never went back to it but this is a great execution of this!
delamri
I appreciate it! Would you mind sharing the name of it? I might've come across it while building Parkt.
siamese_puff
You should reach out to the creator of AirGarage who I attended college with (friend of a friend). He started out doing this and pivoted.