A New York on-demand storage company has added a serious heavyweight to its executive team.
Pete Warhurst, founder of PODS, will join RedBin in an executive role this month.
Warhurst founded PODS and was CEO when it sold for $430 million in 2007.
“When I first started RedBin, I knew I wanted to put together an all-star team,” said RedBin founder and CEO Thomas Anderson in an interview with the SpareFoot Storage Beat.
Anderson said he contacted Warhurst last year and sent him a pitch deck for the company.
Anderson started RedBin in early 2015 offering pick up, delivery and storage of items stashed in plastic totes. RedBin competes directly with several other newly minted full-service storage companies in New York including MakeSpace, Box Butler, Clutter and others. Anderson also owns Oakdale Self-Storage in Long Island and has a long career in freight logistics.
“[Warhurst] came up to New York City and we went back and forth on the business plan; what he thought would work and wouldn’t work, and he really liked the model,” Anderson said.
RedBin trucks ready to pick and deliver small storage bins for consumers.
“PODS for city people”
Warhurst described the concept as “PODS for city people.”
“Mobile on-demand storage is a space that I am very familiar with and believe that these small RedBins will be the next big thing in storage and I wanted to be a part of it,” Warhurst said in a statement
Warhurst founded the innovative moving and storage company PODS in 1998, where he served as CEO until the company was sold to Arcapita for $430 million in 2007.
RedBin has a 10-year lease on a 50,000-square-foot space in Brookyln
Big plans for RedBin
Anderson said Warhurst’s exact title hasn’t been determined but that he will play a large role at the company.
This year, Anderson said the company aims to quickly accelerate growth and open in new cities. Anderson said they are considering Philadelphia and Boston now.
Anderson also said the company will focus on securing more commercial and government accounts.
“What we are looking for are high volume customers, companies..that need to keep basic files and we can do that on the cheap,” Anderson said, “Storing bins for $5 (a month) we make a lot of money on, and it’s still a great price point for the consumer.”
Anderson said the company is building out a new 50,000-square-foot space in the Brooklyn building it currently operates out of. RedBin has a 10-year lease on the new space.
“We don’t intend on going anywhere,” Anderson said.
