photographs: sarah selhi, courtesy of spaceishare; peter diamandis bygetty imagesThe Upstart
The besT advice you've received:
“One of the founders of eBay said he got
started by selling Beanie Babies and PEZ.
He told me to focus on doing one thing
really well, then grow from there.”The worsT advice you've received:
“I quit my old job to start this company.
A few people questioned whether
it was a good idea and told me I should
play it safe.”PasT life:
“I’ve worked in sales
at other start-ups, and
I spent a bit of time in
waste management.”Tech jargon you use Too much:
“I use a lot of acronyms. I hate
them, but they’re convenient.”Tech jargon you haTe:
“Terms like ‘AI’ and ‘machine
learning’ are really trendy right
now. I think people overuse
them because it’s what investors
want to hear.”aPP you can’T
live wiThouT:
“Shazam. It’s the
first app I ever
used and
I still love it.”your go-To
office aTTire:
“Jeans and a tee with
the SpaceiShare
logo on it. I’d wear
it every day if
it wasn’t weird.”your Tech
role model:
“X Prize
Foundation chair
Peter Diamandis.
He thinks big,
and isn’t afraid
of ambitious
projects.”how much you sPenT iniTially:
“Two of my former colleagues and I put
up $100,000, with some help from our
families, to build an early version of the
platform. Our first priority was securing
insurance—we use the same company
as Airbnb and Uber to make sure hosts
and renters are covered.”your Turning PoinT:
“I pitched at the Toronto Dragons’ Den
auditions and soon after, they called to tell
me they wanted me to be on the show.
The opportunity to share my idea
with some of Canada’s most successful
entrepreneurs was pivotal.”your big-Time backers:
“The MergeLane Accelerator Program
helped us with $25,000 in financing."how iT works:
“We connect people who have extra space
with people who need it—it’s essentially
Airbnb for storage. Users can list or search
for space near them, then reserve and
pay for it online.”eureka momenT:
“My Auntie Joan moved to Edmonton for
a few years and put some of her stuff into
storage. When I found out she was paying
$500 a month, my jaw dropped. I looked
at my empty basement and thought, ‘I would
have done it for way less.’ That got me
thinking about how many other people
have wasted space they’d be willing to
share. In a city like Toronto, where condos
are tiny, there's always a need for storage.”SARAH SELHI
Founder and CEO of SpaceiShare,
a peer-to-peer marketplace for storage
and parking space.COMPANY HQ: richmond and Peter
fOuNded: 2015
eMPlOYees: 6
users: 1, 600Toronto’s boldest innovators on what
they’re making and how it works
Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage.SINCE 1928
UPSTART_SEND.indd 46 18-10-30 10:02 AM