Florida resident JJ Paulsen says growing up in a Florida Gators family meant many trips to Gainesville and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and there's one thing he'll never forget from all those years of going to Gators games.
“A lot of my best memories from growing up are from that game. The only bad memory was getting there and finding parking,” said the 20-year-old Orlando native, now an economics major at the University of Florida. “There was actually a running joke in my family about how long it would take us to find parking next time.”
Paulsen, who also worked selling parking at Florida State football games, and his business partner, Dustin Karp, also a Florida native, decided there had to be a better way to buy and sell parking, so they founded Perch, a service aimed at simplifying the process for everyone involved. In its first year, Perch helped more than 2,000 college football fans find parking at Florida State home games.
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Now Paulsen and Karp are bringing Partch to Athens.
“Nobody goes somewhere to park their car. They go there to watch a football game,” Paulsen said. “Parking is an everyday thing that a lot of people don't think about much, but for fans going to the game, the parking lot is their first and last impression. When you go to a game, the first thing you do is park your car and the last thing you do is get your car out and leave.”
“Our ultimate goal is to make that process as simple as possible and ensure that fans who come to our games have a great first and last impression that keeps them coming back year after year.”
Partch has already signed a deal for one parcel near Sanford Stadium, and Paulsen said he and Karp are in the process of contacting other parcel owners to set up a digital marketplace to make the game-day experience a little less stressful for buyers and sellers who have not yet reserved a space.
“We worked together to build this platform, and businesses, homes, churches, elementary schools – pretty much any business that has parking for sale on game day – can list their location on our platform and fans coming to the game can reserve a spot,” Paulsen said.
Paulsen added that parking lot owners set their own prices for the spaces, and that for its inaugural season in Athens, the company will not take a fee to build inventory and goodwill.
“This season, we will be running a promotion to waive transaction fees for the first year for all new onboarding lots to encourage more people to try out our platform and see how much easier it can make people's lives,” he said.
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“This platform has been built by football fans for football fans and we are focused on increasing our inventory and helping as many car park owners and football fans as possible.”
Paulsen also wants to expand beyond Gainesville and Athens, and is targeting Florida State University, the University of Alabama, Virginia and Tennessee as potential locations for Perches.When asked what the personalized game-day experience will be like in Gainesville this fall, Paulsen said he and Karp will make parking lot owners and customers their top priority.
“The platform is built to be completely sustainable, so everyone who signs up with us gets their own custom dashboard that lists their prices and bookings,” he said. “They don't need us to do anything directly. We give as much power as possible to the plot owners, but I'm in charge of customer support, so if a customer contacts me with an issue or question, I make sure I'm there to answer and help the plot owner.”
With renovations expected to close Georgia-Florida games in 2026 and 2027 at Jacksonville's EverBank Stadium, the storied rivalry could move to another venue and potentially become a home-and-home game in the coming years.
If that's the case, Paulsen said Partch would be thrilled to welcome Bulldog fans to Gainesville.
“Last year, we helped out a lot of away team fans looking for parking,” he said. “We never discriminate because they're Gators fans, and we make sure we have parking for them when the Bulldogs come to Gainesville.”
For more information, visit www.parkwithperch.com.
