Anyone that has experienced self-storage knows how notoriously difficult, expensive, and impersonal the process can be. But Rahul Gandhi, co-founder and CEO of MakeSpace, was determined to take the struggle out of storing the stuff you love, but may not need right now. His answer? A full service storage solution that brings technology and convenience to an outdated industry in need of a revamp.
Rahul was an entrepreneur at heart, even at a young age. Rahul’s father immigrated from India in the 1970s, leaving a successful career managing hotels to open restaurants in New York City. His son viewed him as a visionary. Working at his father’s restaurants at age 10, Rahul learned a valuable lesson that would serve him throughout his adult life: if you learn customer’s needs, prioritize the customer experience, and personalize your interactions, they’ll be customers for life.
Rahul also saw first-hand the risk and uncertainty that came with operating restaurants, which led him to seek out stability when he started his own career. He worked on Wall Street, then with AOL, and went to business school. In 2012 Rahul was living in Brooklyn when Hurricane Sandy hit, and the flooding and destruction was unlike anything he had seen up to that point in his life. Sandy was Rahul’s first experience with self-storage, when he needed to move some of his belongings out of his apartment. He was astonished by the complexity and expense, labor intensive nature of the experience, and by the poor customer experience. He knew there was an opportunity to improve the model, so he teamed up with similar visionaries, and MakeSpace was born.
Under Rahul’s leadership, MakeSpace is disrupting the $38 billion dollar storage industry, providing struggle-free storage powered by best-in-class technology and operations. MakeSpace offers long-term and short-term storage options, and customers use the company’s convenient app and photo inventory to schedule pickups and deliveries. Gone are the days that customers have to do the heavy lifting. No more wrapping furniture, or transporting your stuff to distant facilities. Instead, MakeSpace picks up your stuff, stores it, and brings it back to you when you need it. Customers never have to visit a storage facility again. They can make the most of their space while still having the ability to retrieve their items whenever they’d like. Moreover, this enables MakeSpace to deliver a personal approach to storage. Rahul explains, “Traditional storage companies have no point of relationship with you, for MakeSpace it’s different. We’re sitting in your home with you helping you pack your stuff and we give you a storage unit that you can seamlessly access on your phone in your pocket.”
In order to operate a successful business, Rahul prioritizes a diversified talent pool, and believes that even as a CEO, being fully in-touch with the daily operations is vastly important. That’s why Rahul has worked every role within MakeSpace since its inception in 2013. “You’ve got to do it yourself to understand this. You have to work every role to understand how the business works,” says Rahul. Through this, he also was able to integrate technology into the business model where it made the most sense. While he believes the human element is still invaluable, Rahul understands that taking advantage of software can be the key to problem solving in a more effective manner.
As MakeSpace continues to disrupt the industry and to bring a personalized and innovative approach to storage, Rahul is intent on building a future in which people can create more space and optimize their surroundings. “To empower the world, to live beyond the constraints of stuff—reclaiming physical and mental space for all.” That is MakeSpace’s mission, and Rahul is set on helping make that happen with storage.
Rahul Gandhi is a co-founder and the CEO at MakeSpace, a full service storage company based in New York that is revolutionizing the storage industry. Rahul founded MakeSpace in 2013 as a result of his experience with self-storage during Hurricane Sandy. He created MakeSpace as a means to revolutionize the antiquated storage industry, combining innovative technology with a customer-first approach to service.
Prior to starting MakeSpace, Rahul was a Principal at High Peaks Venture Partners and a Senior Manager on AOL’s Corporate Development team. He also previously worked in investment banking for Bank of America Securities and in venture capital for both Genacast Ventures and Comcast Interactive Capital. Rahul received a BBA from The George Washington University School of Business, an MS from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
