Noah White knows self-storage. He should, his family owns and operates seven facilities with over 200,000 square feet of under roof storage space and 50,000 cubic feet of record storage space, serving nearly one thousand customers.
After years of watching his customers struggle with their 'stuff', an idea began to take shape in White's mind.
"I think any storage unit operator has had the experience of watching a family of four pick through an entire unit just to find one item. Whether they use self-storage or not, people just don't know what items they have or where to find them. I realized that there is real value in helping people not only store but manage the whereabouts of their possessions."
From there it was easy to imagine how such a service could add to the bottom line of a self-storage operation.
White continues: "I started thinking about helping my customers keep track of their items," which inspired him to coin a new term: microstorage. "Microstorage allows my customers to rent only the space they need, even if it is just one cubic foot. As a storage operator, this is a great thing because it allows us to maximize the profitability and flexibility of our existing space."
After being met with an enthusiastic response from friends, family and existing customers, White set out to locate a software developer who could design and build the software suite and web site that would power Itimizit.
Not surprisingly, it was social media that led White to Jason Wilkinson, an independent software developer working in Martinsburg, West Virginia. By the end of the their first meeting, it was clear that the ideas they had put on paper would one day become a viable product with the potential to launch the self-storage industry into the 21st century.
White and Wilkinson spent the next eighteen months meticulously building and perfecting their web application.
White explains, "Right away we knew that other storage operations would want to use Itimizit so we built it from the ground up as a franchise-able product. Suddenly Itimizit went from something we would offer to our local customers to a true tech start-up that would actively seek storage partners all over the country."
Kevin Callanan, Winchester Medical Center Foundation Director, had a problem. His staff spent too much time looking for the things they needed to do their jobs instead of actually doing their jobs.
Now, Itimizit helps the Foundation store, track, and manage the hundreds of items they use to host year-round fundraising events.
"We were incredibly excited about the Foundation's enthusiasm for Itimizit." says Wilkinson. "We had always assumed that our first customer would be one of our friends or family members. That level of validation so early on showed us that not only was the initial idea good, our product was too."
The founders feel that Itimizit's growth potential is staggering. They're focused on building the business by delivering outstanding customer service, via word of mouth, and locating forward-looking storage operators with the vision and dedication to help grow Itimizit into a nation-wide service and brand.
"If you own a top-notch storage operation and want to share in and build upon what we've created, we want to hear from you." says White. "Itimizit is a powerful tool that will help you grow and expand your business and we've only just started to change how people manage their 'stuff'."