Spacefy Inc.
Former eBay Canada COO maps out plan for Spacefy
DGAP-News: Spacefy Inc. / Key word(s): Miscellaneous Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – January 16, 2019) – Spacefy Inc. (CSE: SPFY) (‘Spacefy’, or the ‘Company’). In response to investor questions arising from Russ Patterson’s appointment, the Company is pleased to share the following question and answers from Russ: What is Spacefy? What’s the business model? What type of spaces are listed on Spacefy? What was your role at eBay? What attracted you to join Spacefy? It appeals to me that Judeh Siwady, Spacefy’s founder and first CEO, is sticking around to help me as he has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer by the Board of Directors. It’s nice to have an orderly transition of leadership. I spent a couple months getting to know Judeh and his team before I agreed to join, and I think we make a terrific team. Then there’s the potential of the business. We’re still an early stage company, so when you compare our valuation on a per space basis to some of our peers, it gets me pretty excited. I mean, you’ve got AirBnB at something like $8k per space, Peerspace at $7k, Breather at over $500k per space… These companies are all a little different from us of course, but the point is that there is tremendous value to be unlocked in peer to peer space rentals. With Spacefy sitting at just over $2k per space, it’s a compelling comparison. AirBnB has led the way, and now you’re seeing lots of niche players for commercial space rentals who are doing exciting things. That’s a nice wave to be part of. I also love that Spacefy is a marketplace positioned in the sharing economy, like Uber and AirBnB. At their roots, both of those businesses were founded around the idea of helping people to monetize unused resources. There’s something very elegant about that, and it reminds me of what originally attracted me to join eBay many years ago, when they were still mostly a C2C auction platform for used goods. We were keeping stuff out of landfill, creating online communities, unlocking a ton of value for shareholders, and having a blast doing it. Spacefy holds that same excitement for me as the early days at eBay. It gives me an opportunity to pull together and apply everything I’ve learned in my career – from marketplaces to technology to business management and leadership. I also get to apply my education and personal interests in a way that makes me feel this job was tailor-made for me. In the late eighties, I was an aspiring filmmaker attending Ryerson Film School. I remember trying to negotiate with business owners to let me shoot my 16mm films in their venues. It was very time-consuming, and it took a lot of shoe leather. Everyone on the Spacefy team has a deep interest in art, music, performance and film. This is a business that is fun and rewarding for us. Art can happen when creativity, content and context converge in interesting ways. At our best, we like to think our platform helps make that convergence happen. How does Spacefy differentiate itself from other space-sharing marketplaces? What is Spacefy’s global footprint? Once we’ve honed our playbook, it will be exciting to expand to other international markets. I ran a bilingual eBay.ca website on an international eBay platform for many years, and I learned a lot about how to set up your customer experiences, platform and processes for international scale. We’re building local with global in mind. What’s the opportunity for Spacefy? It’s not hard to imagine getting from where we are now to 10,000 spaces and beyond. And if we’re able to do that and we’re able to get to a value per space that’s more in line with our peers, that would really be something. Could we get to $5k per space? That would mean a $50 million valuation. So, it’s pretty exciting. The ceiling on this business is not low, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. What’s the most unusual Spacefy booking to date? What are your priorities for 2019? There are two key lessons I learned at eBay. I think these are X-factors for success. First, you need to be obsessed about the needs of both sides of the marketplace. It’s not like being a retailer – we are an ecosystem business. Successful marketplaces balance the needs of both parties to the transaction thoughtfully. That’s a minimum condition for communities of interest to emerge with you, grow with you, and stay with you. Second, you need to be relentless about developing the best possible team, and the best possible culture. I am proud that I was able to develop a reputation for finding and developing top talent as a leader at eBay, and I’m looking forward to applying those skills at Spacefy. Contact Information Adelaide Capital Markets Inc. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD‐LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain ‘forward‐looking statements’ under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward‐looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, including but not limited to estimates of the market opportunity size for Spacefy, the timing for reaching 10,000 spaces, speculation about future valuation of Spacefy’s spaces and business, and international expansion of the Spacefy business. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements, including risks related to factors beyond the control of the Company. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward‐looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward‐looking statements. Spacefy Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward‐looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated documents http://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42224
16.01.2019 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a service of EQS Group AG. |
Language: | English |
Company: | Spacefy Inc. |
Canada | |
ISIN: | CA84624Q1028 |
End of News | DGAP News Service |