MakeSpace – Cloud Storage For Your Physical Things

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Written by: Sam Rosen, Founder & CEO of MakeSpace

Two and a half years ago, I was knee deep in water. As well as destroying mostly everything else in its path, Hurricane Sandy flooded my former girlfriend’s apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was six long hours of moving everything out of the apartment, taping boxes, packing everything up, loading it into a moving truck, and schlepping it to a storage unit — the same way people had been using storage for 80+ years.

Hurricane Sandy had hit late in the Hurricane season, meaning Winter was upon us. That same week, a snow storm was heading our way. I asked my former girlfriend if she had her snow boots and she replied, “No.” They had been packed up and were now buried in the storage unit across town. Of course, this meant that I had to drive back to the storage unit to fish them out.

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Once I arrived at the storage unit, opened the gate, and looked inside, I realized this was going to be a nightmare. I had no idea which of the 30-something boxes the boots were in. I was going to have to open every single box.

As I stood there staring at the boxes, I jokingly thought, “I need an app where you just push a button and storage arrives at your door. Dropbox should do physical storage.”

One year later in October of 2013, my team and I launched MakeSpace to solve the very same problem that one in every 10 households in America face — lugging boxes to and from a storage unit and spending hours digging through those boxes just to find a few items.

Here’s how MakeSpace works:

• Schedule

  Schedule a MakeSpace bin drop-off online or by calling 800-920-9440.

• Pack

  Pack the durable, 3-cubic feet bins we deliver with belongings you’d like to store. We also take large items such as bikes, AC units, skis, snowboards, and luggage so you have more space in your apartment to do what you want.

• Cloud

  Schedule a pickup. When your bins arrive at our secure storage facility, we’ll create a visual catalog of each one so you always know what you’re storing. When you need something back, browse your visual catalog and schedule a delivery in just a few clicks.

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Since launching, we’ve expanded our 5-star-rated, on-demand storage service from NYC to Chicago, with Washington, D.C. slated for April and more cities by the end of June. Through it all, we’ve proudly seen our customers “hack” MakeSpace into being more than just an on-demand storage service, but also an extension of their on-the-go lifestyle.

For example, menswear icon Nick Wooster uses MakeSpace as his infinite closet. When Vine Star Jerome Jarre travels the world, MakeSpace keeps his fan mail in mint condition. Other interesting use cases come from digital nomads. Entrepreneur Tyler Tringas uses MakeSpace to live like James Bond, while professional photographer Collin Hughes and entrepreneur Courtney Boyd Myers use MakeSpace as their remote control home.

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If you’re outside of NYC and Chicago, you can use MakeSpace Air anywhere in the lower 48 states. The difference is that you receive sturdy tape-free boxes (instead of bins) to pack, which are picked up and delivered back to you by one of our shipping partners. So if you want your beach wear to meet you in Miami, your snowboarding gear to greet you in Aspen, or your belongings to show up at your new home — without ever stepping foot inside a storage unit — we got you covered.

Two and a half years ago, I was knee deep in water. Today, my team and I are knee deep in making sure our customers never have to leave home to access their belongings. And we couldn’t be happier!

It’s a mission that has Fast Company calling MakeSpace one of the top 10 most innovative companies, alongside Google, Tesla, Samsung, and GoPro. Join us for the ride at MakeSpace.com, and enjoy the hassle-free convenience of getting your stuff picked up, stored, and delivered to you in just a few clicks. Because your stuff should be accessible in the same way your documents, music, and photos are: on any device, in any location, and at any time.