Why Raedam Failed

Preface

Writing is not necessarily a strong suit of mine, and I often find it hard to convey my thoughts and ideas coherently. To address that problem, I created a block of time in my daily schedule that forced me to convert my current thoughts and ideas into words on paper.

Background

I started Raedam during my sophomore year at Portland State University. Raedam’s mission was based on the belief that the parking industry’s archaic methods and systems could be updated to benefit individuals and cities.

With today’s technology, why is it still necessary to rely on outdated count boards or roam around looking for open parking spaces? If you have ever asked that question, I can offer a few insights.

Why I Started Raedam

In any situation, my mind defaults to seeing my surroundings as systems. I find myself looking for ways to simplify those systems to create a more efficient and enjoyable process.

Portland State is in downtown Portland, where parking is scarce and people’s patience can be even scarcer. The problem felt obvious, immediate, and fixable.

Understanding the Parking Industry

In populous cities, much of the parking supply sits on public streets and is controlled by local government. Working with government entities to deploy new technology was difficult, but I learned that working with the small number of private companies that own or operate much of the remaining parking supply was not necessarily easier.

Those operators had limited incentive to build a better system for themselves or their customers. Demand for parking remained high and supply remained low. If a driver could not find space in one facility, there was a good chance the next several nearby facilities were owned by the same company.

The Primary Point of Failure

The central failure took me nearly three years to understand. Despite having mentors and advisors who repeatedly warned me about it, I continued executing strategic plans that were not based on how the market actually worked. I was executing against how I thought the market should work.

What I Learned

Throughout the Raedam journey, I met with advisors and mentors to get feedback on the business, product, and everything in between. I was fortunate to learn from people whose own journeys included both success and failure.

Their experience gave me the resources and connections to stress-test my ideas and assumptions. In retrospect, I did not use that wisdom to its full capacity. That led to difficult and costly mistakes that could have been avoided.

It is cliché, but find and engage with mentors who have experience in what you are trying to do. They can save you from repeating mistakes they have already lived through, and time is the scarcest resource of all.

I do not regret making those mistakes. At the time I wrote this, I was working on another startup and the lessons from Raedam were still fresh. Had I not experienced them firsthand, I could not honestly say whether I would have avoided them the second time around.

Final Thoughts, as I Wrote Them in 2021

1. For a small startup without prior success, a go-to-market strategy that depends heavily on government approval or contracts is exceptionally difficult.
2. A complicated startup requires full-time attention. Trying to build hardware and software for a B2B2C model while treating the company as anything less than a full-time commitment created too much complexity.
3. Hardware is rewarding because you can touch what you built, but it adds cost, operational burden, and slower iteration. I underestimated all three.
4. Listen to mentors and advisors, especially when they have already experienced the problem in front of you. Think independently and validate the advice, but do not dismiss an inexpensive warning only to learn the expensive version yourself.