Makespace, one of the many startups that launched to give consumers a new option for storing their stuff, has a new chief executive, TechCrunch has confirmed.
The company’s thirty year-old co-founder and chief executive Sam Rosen is stepping down to make room at the top for Rahul Gandhi, Rosen’s fellow founder and Makespace’s chief operating officer. News of the change at the top was first reported in Wired.
The 37 year-old Gandhi said the executive change had full approval of the board and discussions had been underway for the last several months.
Always more operationally minded than Rosen, Gandhi said that “along the way we always had conversations that as the business would hit scale he would hand over the keys.”
New York-based Makespace has raised $57.6 million in financing from leading venture capital firms including Upfront Ventures and 8VC. Some of the New York’s biggest names in sports and entertainment like Carmelo Anthony and Nasir “Nas” Jones have invested in the company, along with Winkelvoss Capital — the investment vehicle for the Winkelvoss twins.
Since its launch the company has signed up thousands of customers, according to Gandhi and is on pace to double its revenue this year.
Gandhi and Rosen met through University of Virginia alumni networks and became friends. A former investor with the firm Primary Ventures, Gandhi left his role at the firm to help Cohen build out Makespace.
Makespace isn’t the only company to try and haul off with some of the physical storage industry. Los Angeles-based Clutter has raised nearly $100 million to go after the same opportunity — and the company recently expanded its services from simply storing items to moving them as well.