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Transforming Urban Spaces Into Profitable Storage Facilities w/ Peter Smyth from White Label Storage
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Company Overview & Background
- Founded by Peter and Alex (met at Harvard Business School)
- Started as Local Locker in NYC - urban storage platform focused on unused spaces
- Evolved into White Label Storage - third-party management service
- Alex just had second boy (now 5 kids between the two founders)
- Currently operate 30 stores under management platform
- 50+ stores in pipeline
- Growth from 15 to 30 stores in past year
Business Model Evolution
- Local Locker: B2C model focused on urban storage
- White Label Storage: B2B management service
Operational Philosophy
- Client-first approach at every level
- Built own website to reduce client costs ($500/month industry standard)
- Focus on stripping out unnecessary costs
- Improved onboarding process based on Rippling’s milestone approach
- Emphasizes building partnerships vs being fee provider
- Treats single-asset owners’ properties as retirement plans
Technology & Innovation
- Recently launched streamlined payment collection system
- Developing proprietary revenue management tool (Q3 launch target)
Team Structure & Management
- 30 total employees
- ~20 in operations (split between facility level and customer service)
- Separate sales/marketing and local teams
- Implemented specialized roles to reduce “cognitive burden”
Market Outlook & Industry Trends
* Seeing demand normalization post-COVID correction
- Extra Space potentially returning to smaller markets
- Major challenge: “slash rate” promos creating pricing confusion
- Focus on maintaining steady rates vs chasing promotional pricing
- Under-investment in assets remains common industry problem
- Expects institutional buyers to return to remote markets
36 episodes