Member Article

ParkatmyHouse founder on entrepreneurship

It’s Entrepreneurship Week on Bdaily. We heard from Anthony Eskinazi, founder of ParkatmyHouse, which is the world’s largest online parking marketplace. Anthony Eskinazi founded the company in 2006 to confront the problems around how to park cheaply without parking tickets and how to avoid the needless pollution and traffic caused by circling. The company is backed by the venture capital arm of BMW. Here, he told Bdaily about his views on being an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship means different things to different people. What does it mean to you?

To me, entrepreneurship means an opportunity to be creative and affect so many peoples lives. The type of creativity you get to exercise as an entrepreneur is often stifled in your typical 9-5. I like being in control of my own destiny and dictating the direction the company goes in, it’s a great feeling.

What skills are needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

Focus, ambition, arrogance and a never say die attitude. You need laser focus on your goal, if you don’t focus you can’t execute and if you don’t execute fast in business, you can guarantee someone else will get there first. Ambition is self-explanatory, you need to set your sights high and do whatever it takes to get there. Arrogance and a never say die attitude go hand in hand. There are so many knock backs when starting up a business, you have to be able to get back up, dust yourself off and start again.

What was the most important lesson you learnt during your entrepreneurial journey?

The most important lesson I’ve learnt is to try and get a co-founder on board as early as possible. Entrepreneurship can be a very lonely journey and it’s so important to have someone to celebrate the highs with. But having a co-founder is equally, if not more important, during the lows.

What excites you most about your industry and business?

Parking is a 100 year old industry that has seen little disruption and we’re at the forefront of changing it. With our parking marketplace, we’re trying to change consumer behaviour and tapping into the trend for collaborative consumption, which is a great opportunity but also a really tough challenge.

Is the UK well-equipped to support entrepreneurs?

We’re getting there but there are definitely improvements to be made. Generous EMI schemes and entrepreneurs relief go some way to supporting startups, but it’s definitely not enough. We need more tax breaks for hiring staff, cutting of the red tape and more access to government grants as the money doesn’t flow as quickly as it does in Silicon Valley. We’re way behind the US on that front.

What should the UK government be doing to foster an improved business culture for new and seasoned entrepreneurs?

The government could help change the mindset of the public that failure does not need to be looked down upon and this education should really start in school. As children we’re taught that there is only one way to success and that’s to be right. Many of the best entrepreneurs failed early on though, and it’s the attitude to those failures that separates the winners and losers in business. Success should be celebrated and those who fail and who are prepared to go again should get all the help they need.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anthony Eskinazi .