Please visit www.elaunchers.com/parknav to learn more about ParkNav and watch my ParkNav video.

Back in the day before the emergence of GPS, if I wanted to go to Binghamton, New York, from Germantown, in 1989, what I would have to do is that I would have to go to the local AAA retail outlet, that was in the business of giving you passport photographs and maps, tell them that I want to go there, I am a member, and they would give me a fold-out map and they would use a highlighter to articulate a route and then write down directions, on which road am I going to pick, and so forth. They would give me turn-by-turn directions on a handwritten 3x5” card and give me a combination of 3 maps, one Germantown close-up, one Binghamton close-up and one Interstate highway map with highlighted routes to how I can go from eLaunchers’ office in Germantown to Binghamton, New York.

And then I would drive, the person sitting in the passenger seat would be called the navigator who will look at the map, and you keep folding and unfolding the map so that the driver did not need to take his eyes off the road (and guide me to show the direction to get to the destination). What you do is you take out the map, put it on the back of the trunk, and then you’re looking at where you are, where you came from, where you want to go, and so on and so forth. Along the way on the highway, you may stop at a rest area where they have a big map so you can see where you are, it gave you a sense of geography and your location with respect to your destination.

That’s how life used to be, and it was great, we were all grateful for Triple A. Back in the mid 90s my mom bought me a $400 device from Garmin, it was a GPS. We did not have smartphones at that time, but we had the flip phone and the Garmin. I no longer needed to go to Triple A. Now, I can punch in my doctor's office address in Binghamton, and I could just follow the little blue arrow on Garmin and go to my destination without stopping to look at the Triple A map or ask someone for directions.

Many jokes are written about why men don’t stop and ask for directions, but the bottom line is, Garmin disrupted AAA. Of course, we all know that that was just the beginning of the movement and today every vehicle comes with its own built-in GPS device that helps you go from point A to point B safely and comfortably, and if you happen to be in an older vehicle that doesn’t have it, every smart phone has its own Google Maps or free app that will help you go from where you are to where you want to be.

The evolution of the mapping software and GPS changed how the world became the way it is today. There is a reason why Triple A retail outlets are gone: they no longer have a purpose in life.

Now, from 1989 since I came to America, until this afternoon on the end of March, 2021, a problem in my life has never been solved. I don’t know where am I going to find parking in Binghamton, New York when I arrive. I have to be at my meeting at 11:00AM. It is a 4-hour drive, if I leave at 7:00AM and if I don’t hit traffic, I know that I will be there by 11:00Am. But if I show up there at 10:50 AM to 11:05 AM, I will be late for my meeting. When I get to Binghamton, I would like to know, with reasonable accuracy, where I’m going to park. What kind of street parking is available, garage parking is available, does the doctor’s clinic have a decent place to park, or do I have to look for street parking? I will actually spend some time this week looking at the landscape and figure out where can I secure parking so that I don’t want to be late. I actually genuinely have an anxiety about showing up in the conference room by 11:00AM.

Let us fast forward the clock 5 years from now, I now have a brand new BMW. It has its own built-in GPS, that not only tells me how long it’s going to take me to go from Germantown to Binghamton on Monday, what time I am likely to be there based on the current speed and traffic pattern, but more importantly, my BMW is going to tell me exactly what the parking situation is going to be like, when I get there, so it will navigate me to Street A or Street B, based on where I am likely going to find any available public parking in a safe neighborhood. Now, why did I say 5 years from now? Because I am not going to be in the market for a new BMW until 5 years, but BMW already has this technology. And people who buy a brand new BMW today, or buy a brand new Porsche today actually have the luxury of what the parking is going to be like.

The underlying technology is, parknav.com, that uses artificial intelligence, and it uses open data available to municipalities and governments, which are the road sensors, which are the street cameras, which are the satellite imageries, and all the hundreds of data sources that are available to a machine that is self-learning how to be more and more accurate. As time goes, by the machines are going to become more and more accurate. So Parknav, or my BMW will be able to tell me which street to go and where to park on a public street parking so that I can park and walk into my meeting at 11:00AM without being late. Prior to Parknav in my life, I was taught in a sales meeting at my job back in 1989, by my boss Mr. Matt Perone, if you have a sales call to make in Boston, and if your meeting is at 11:00AM and if you are not looking at the building 30 minutes before your meeting, you are automatically late.

It takes you 1 hour to go from Hingham, Massachusetts to Downtown Boston, and it takes you another 30 minutes to leave your vehicle and arrive in the conference room. That was 1989, in 2021 March, if I have an appointment at 2:00 PM in the afternoon, at somewhere in Washington, DC I have that exact same anxiety. This problem is not yet solved, at least not for me.

My first car is a BMW, and my dream car is a Porsche Panamera.  I have been driving a BMW X5 since 2002, then I had I had one in 2006, 2009, and 2012, post-Covid my 2012 BMW was totaled so I had to buy a new vehicle, at a time where I wasn’t looking to buy a new car, I was trying to conserve cash, so I migrated to a brand new Honda Passport, and that is what I am driving today.

It has a decent GPS, it does not have Parknav applications. So, my anxiety won’t be resolved until I buy a vehicle that has this technology built-in. But here is what I am excited about: the very technology, that is going to change how we are going to be in my next car that I will buy, it will either be a BMW X5 or a Porsche Panamera. My next car will be one of these 2 vehicles and because Parknav has BMW and Porsche as clients, I am 100% confident that my next vehicle will have this technology in it. So, I’m excited about my future, and how my next car is going to come with a feature that relieves my anxiety about where I’m going to park.

Here is what I am really excited about, the thing that is going to change the way I will be in my next car, that company, I am hired to work for. I am taking on the road, of being head of marketing for that company. I get to work with, I was invited to be an early investor. Now, it is our company. Our company is going to build the dream car, that is going to give me a feature that I have never had in my life: a car telling me where to park itself. I mean, look at Tesla, Tesla has a self-driving car that self-parks itself but even Tesla does not know where to park.

So, if anybody wants to talk to me about my current Passport, my next car, and my parking anxiety and how they can learn about the technology, that is going to change how things will be in their next car, they should look at an opportunity to invest in Parknav at www.wefunder.com/parknav. If you want to talk to me about Parknav, my passion for the problem, and the way Parknav is solving the problem, book an appointment with me and we are going to have some fun and trade some war stories about parking lots.

As you know, everything is smaller, better, faster, and more convenient. My smartphone is attached to my lifeline like my wallet, I can check on Weather to decide what to wear, I can create a timer to go feed my dog at a designated time, I have reasonable predictability about everything that I want in my life thanks to my smartphone, but my smartphone does not tell me where to park, where the available parking is at this time, so I am excited about the future where the Parknav app and a Parknav-powered BMW or Porsche is going to solve the problem.

To learn more about ParkNav investment opportunity, please visit www.elaunchers.com/parknav.