Another Day, Another Launch: WELLAND.

We're honkin' our way around Southern Ontario!

Our latest launch was for the City of Welland - right in the heart of Canada's Niagara Region. Honk is the mobile parking provider for St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Oakville, so it was really only a matter of time before Welland joined the Honk family! One parking app that covers the Niagara Region - talk about convenience.

What does this mean? Residents and tourists to the City of Welland can now ditch the coin and be on their way faster with Honk. Honk's available at all on and off street parking in the Welland.

Sharing a video of the launch event with all of y'all. Listen to Michael Back talk about the company & what it means for drivers, followed by a quick how-to use Honk to find/book/extend/pay for parking!

It’s Our Birthday and We’ll Self-Promote If We Want To!

Happy 4th birthday to us!

Birthdays are a time to reflect on the past, to see how far one’s come, and to plan out the next 365 days ahead. And boy, what a whirlwind of a year we’ve had at Honk! We could not be more proud. So many accomplishments over these past 12 months: from new hires, city and campus launches, feature updates, and partnerships to awards, it’s been one hell of a ride!

Four years ago Honk was all but a dream. We wanted to make parking in Canada better - give it a digital makeover. Take out the hassle, and get drivers on their way faster and more efficiently. Fast forward 4 years, and look at us now! We’re quite literally coast to coast across Canada with hundreds of thousands of happy honkers using us - relying on us - for their parking.

Here’s a list of some of our proudest moments from the past year:

Launches:

• City of London

• Off-street parking with EasyPark in the City of Vancouver

• Campus parking at University of Alberta

• Boat parking: Gananoque, Port Perry, McNab/Braeside

• City of Oakville

• City of Waterloo

Michael alongside Mayor Dave Jaworsky, BIA president Patti Brooks and Coun. Melissa Durrel at the official launch of Honk at City of Waterloo.

Partnerships & Awards:

• Ranked #6 on Canada’s Top Growth Companies

• Huge collaboration with Masterpass

• Zipcar partnership

• Toronto Community Housing Partnership offering excess monthly spots at a discount

We’re blowing out these cyber candles, and then rolling up our sleeves to get back to work to make Honk even better, faster, smarter and cheaper!

- The Honk Team

Leafs Nation 2017/18 and Where to Park It (The Car, That Is).

With the 2017/2018 NHL season right around the corner, the loyal and die-hard Leafs Nation is gearing up for the final year their team plays in the Air Canada Centre, and hopefully brings home Lord Stanley before the arena takes on the ‘Scotiabank’ name. Which by the way, if you’re not in-the-know with the latest hockey-related news, Scotiabank is paying a whopping $800 million for a renaming deal. Read more about it here.

There’s lots the team (and its fanbase) has to look forward to this year -- seeing what the 2016 Rookie of The Year, Auston Matthews, has in store this season, and with the acquisition of Patrick Marleau, the younger Leafs will learn first-hand from a seasoned vet in the league.

Hosting the New York Rangers for the Home Opener on Saturday October 7th, there’s lots of rumblings in the Honk office as to projections for the Leafs this season. There are some Habs fans in the office too - so things can get a little bit.. heated?

One thing the office can fully agree on (not surprisingly): parking for home games, duh. To avoid the hectic nightmare that is trying to find a reasonably priced parking spot around the ACC - it’s a given that you should use Honk to pre-book parking at Brookfield Place for ease of mind and hassle-free parking. We’re honestly not biased, we swear. You just can’t beat the convenience, and the price tag - $10 FLAT for game-day parking!

Not-so-shameless-plug: Book your parking at the ACC in advance with Honk at an unbeatable price of $10! 

Are you one of the lucky ones who snagged a pair of home game tickets? Pre-book your parking now so it’s out of the way, and all you have to worry about is that the Leafs bring their A Game on October 7th to kick off the season.

Let's go boys!

A (not-so-typical) Typical Summer Internship at Honk. Written by the Intern.

This past summer I was fortunate enough to intern at Honk. It was quite the journey, I had a great summer dabbling in all business functions at a tech startup, seeing firsthand how all the pieces work together. I met a lot of great people and was thoroughly impressed with positive workplace atmosphere, as I enjoyed coming to work each and every day.

First Day @ Honk |

7:00 AM - Still in bed. Didn’t have to start until 10:00 AM. (Winning!)

10:00 AM - Came into the office and met with CFO (Jordan). I am working under him for the summer in a variety of capacities, ranging from market reporting to preparing materials for decks. (No coffee runs!)

12:00 PM - First team lunch, this is where I formally met the entire team. No doubt a ton of moving parts in a fast paced startup, these monthly meetings are used to ensure all team members across all teams are in-the-know about updates and changes. Communication is KEY. Also, lunch is DEE-LICIOUS.

4:00 PM - I am finally added to the Honk Slack channel and thus officially feel like a part of the team.

Sales Exposure |

A large part of my summer consisted of working closely with the sales team - Eddie, Tyson & Kacey. I researched and established promotional material for pitching to new and existing clients in order to expand Honk’s operations.

9:00 AM - Tasked with acting as a translator on a call to a french speaking municipality. This is the first time I have used my French Immersion education in over 5 years. Whoever said you didn’t need French in Toronto...you wrong, friend.

11:30 AM - The sales team meets to discuss sales strategy and funnel planning. My job is to update Honk’s internal database or take notes to keep the team on track.

Sales & Customer Support/Operations reppin' the new Honk gear.

Operations / Marketing Exposure |

Another large aspect of my summer was working with the operations team and creating informational dashboards to keep clients informed and happy, as well as working closely with our marketing manager, Rachel, to help with our marketing efforts.

10:00 AM - Meet with Mia or Kacey to determine if any existing clients need reporting and to discuss deliverables.

10:15 AM - Annoy the dev. team about various SQL functions, which I learned over the summer.

11:00 AM - Rachel has me draft our varying press releases, and make edits. Honk is growing like crazy this summer - I have a huge funnel of releases to dabble at.

3:00 PM - Finish the dashboard and present the findings to either the sales team or Mia. Occasionally, this data is used for marketing purposes or for press releases.

Summer Social |

8:00 PM - Arrive at Rec Room. Food is abundant and we have received tokens to play arcade games as well as participate in a virtual reality game of Ghostbusters.

10:00 PM - Kacey is exhibiting considerable talent at live Karaoke, and I am very full from all the delicious appetizers.

11:00 PM - Jeremy is now evoking some inner Gord Downie on the mic and everyone at Honk is impressed with his hidden talent.

11:15 PM - I have just beaten Tyson, Eddie and Andre at the football oriented arcade game. Riding a high (this may have been the highlight of the internship, not gonna lie).

12:00 AM - I have been gifted the team’s tokens and was able to make a big purchase of Dots Candy and a flashlight. All in all - a great night!

Final Thoughts |

I now know more about the parking industry than I ever thought possible. My friends continually asked me throughout the summer “how is the parking space?”. Jokes aside, it’s been super interesting to get a deep dive into how an industry that is typically an afterthought in the day-to-day lives of most people, can be as complex as it is. And how technology can really transform such an old fashioned space.

Ghostbusters VR Game @ The Rec Centre.

An open letter from Honk CEO on Canada’s 150th Birthday: The Future of Tech Belongs to the Great White North

As I travel the globe representing Honk; the innovative Canadian payment app transforming parking, 9 times out of 10 my introduction is immediately greeted by a joke about how difficult it must be to find parking near my igloo “eh?”. Original, I know.

Igloo jokes aside, I pride myself on being an ambassador abroad and can talk about my love for hockey with my boys, hiking the Rockies, and canoeing and portaging through our great country’s lakes and rivers. There’s never a dull moment living in the Great White North. 

When I reflect on the reasons I love this country (poutine offerings aside), I become even more thankful that Honk is Canadian. This past year, Honk has been able to expand from coast to coast - quite literally, from Victoria, BC to Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Partnering with municipalities, universities, real estate owners and parking operators to get Canadians to their destinations faster and more efficiently. This growth is largely driven by Canada’s increasingly favourable business environment for tech - “Silicon Valley North”. This label is no myth. Honk, like many other startups, are thriving in Canada’s innovative, diverse and rapidly growing tech hubs.

 Canada’s welcoming business environment leads the G20. We benefit from having access to one of the most highly educated workforces in the world, rapid growth in research and development, low business costs and flexible immigration. Venture capital is on the rise with investors from all around the world looking for a piece of the action. The message has never been clearer – Canada is open for business.

 But this isn’t simply a fleeting boom. I’ve been in the tech industry for over two decades and this is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The energy is different and most importantly, so are the results. Canadian tech companies are now emerging as leaders on the world stage and this success is contagious.

The Great White North is a startup nation. This is our moment.

Our 150th gives us an opportunity to not only reflect on the past but also plan for a brighter future. I believe the best is yet to come for our young nation. Success won’t come easy and Canadian tech entrepreneurs need to build quickly on this momentum.

 We must tell our story to get ahead, even if that means putting politeness and humility aside. Canadians must support our own businesses first and prioritize their success. Our tech leaders must be bold, embrace inevitable failures and continue to welcome the best and the brightest with open arms.

 Fellow Canadians, we have so much to be proud of this holiday. Happy Birthday to our beloved nation – now, if I could just park my truck in my igloo..

Michael Back

~Proud Canadian~

Founder and CEO of Honk