Find Camps and Van Rentals with Park My Van

Jethro Batts is the founder and CEO of Park My Van, helping travellers find easier and cheaper ways to go camping, glamping and caravanning in Australia. Jethro is a part of our Travel Massive Sydney team and is happy to share the Park My Van (PMV) insider tips on how to build a startup.

Who is your startup for?

It’s for any traveller looking to hire a camper van and a place to park on their camping holiday down under. PMV offers a way to compare 30+ campervan rental companies and 5,500 verified park accommodation sites online in Australia.  

What inspired you to create this startup?

We wanted to disrupt a predominately offline industry, by bringing comparative services online. At the time, it was really hard to find a single place to search all the parks and camper van rental providers online. We wanted to create a place to easily search and book campers.

How did you build your startup?

My co-founder and I launched with our own funds, before finding the right industry investors to help get us on the road, so to speak. Afterwards we assembled a team of designers and developers to execute the concept. With the right mix of marketing know-how and tech skills, we were able to bring the Park My Van vision to life.

What makes your startup different from other similar startups out there?

Thanks to Camps Australia Wide, we now house one of the largest databases of verified park accommodation listings online. This means when travellers search for park accommodation they are searching secure parks. There is a big problem in our industry with travellers parking illegally and being hit with hefty fines. We want to make sure our travellers find peace of mind on the road. 

How did you get your startup off the ground and gain traction?

Unlike most tech startups, we spent a lot of money offline to hit the right customer touchpoints. This helped with brand awareness, but traction and conversions came online through paid advertising. Marketing has been the key to turning the Park My Van wheels. Through content creation and social media we find a lot of organic traffic to the site.

How is your startup changing the future of the industry?

Park My Van aims to help make travel easier (and cheaper). We want to be a convenient, relevant, quality source of information to enable our campers to make quick decisions. By digitalising a previously offline industry, we are changing the way our campers access resources to plan their next escape.

Do you have any tips for new entrepreneurs who want to create a successful startup?

I’m in my 30’s now, so I have plenty of tips gained from my 20’s in startups of what not to do! The big one for any venture, is always choose who you go into business with like your about to marry them. It is like a marriage (and might even last as long) so you have to make sure you choose the right one(s).

Travel Start-Up is a monthly series that profiles unique online travel start-ups in the Travel Massive community around the world. Connect with Jethro and Park My Van on Facebook and Travel Massive.