INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Minnesota, followed by high school in New Jersey, followed by college in New Hampshire
Then he really began to bounce around
Park worked as a trader in New York out of college, embraced the ski-bum life in Utah, then headed to Asia for Uber, where he spent six
years, running its expansion team, then managing its entire Southeast Asia business out of Singapore.More specifically, he was responsible
Instead, he says that in Singapore, something unusual happened
friends could benefit from the same experience, and before long, he was talking with his Dartmouth classmate turned product and industrial
designer Christian Talmage about forming their own company
Enter Oliver Space, which provides a lot of what that Singaporean landlord delivered to Park
It furnishes places for busy professionals, making moving into a new home as easy as hanging up their clothes.The now year-old service is
available in the Bay Area only
And Oliver Space employs just a dozen people so far
But the company has already gained enough traction to attract $6.8 million in seed funding from an interesting array of investors, including
Mayfield, Abstract Ventures, investors Jana Messerschmidt and April Underwood, Opendoor founder Eric Wu, and Kevin and Julia Hartz of
Eventbrite, among others.Now, Oliver Space just has to grow as quickly, or more so, than other furniture-as-service startups to recently
Among these is Fernish, a two-year-old, LA-based startup that helps people rent from brands like Crate - Barrel, Floyd and Campaign
Another rival is Feather, a two-year-old, New York-based furniture rental startup that similarly works with known brands like West Elm and
Pottery Barn and meanwhile closed a $12 million round a few months ago led by Spark Capital
manufacturers in China and elsewhere, says Park
Part of its focus is on being able to assemble, and later disassemble, its furnishings fast, so that when a customer walks into his or her
home, everything is picture perfect.Park also stresses design, saying that Oliver Space wants to replace that friend with great taste to
whom a college graduate or busy young professional would otherwise turn for help
which it will happily rent to its customers on a monthly or even yearly basis
In fact, the longer a customer commits to rent items, the less they pay
If they decide eventually to buy the items, Oliver Space will sell them at their retail price, deducting all of their previous rental
Oliver Space has plans to inspect, clean and repair pieces as needed
A lot depends on execution as Oliver Space grows out of the Bay Area and into other markets
At least, with a reported 9.8 million tons of furniture that is thrown into a landfill every year in the U.S
