startup idea -- a "bank" for objects those things that you don't want to lose but don't want to hold and take up space in your house, you give it to us and we keep it safe a bank not for money but for possessions e.g. my old laptops that I have deep emotional connectinos with -- don't want to throw, but don't want to bring with me when I 旅居 those things you don't want to lose and can't afford to travel with 那些有重大情感连接的物件 --- This idea falls under a category often called **"Valet Storage"** or **"On-Demand Storage."** While it sounds appealing on an emotional level (solving the problem of clutter vs. sentimentality), it is historically one of the most difficult business models to make profitable. Here is a breakdown of why this is a "bad" idea (or rather, an extremely difficult one), supported by economic realities, consumer psychology, and examples of failed startups. --- ### 1. The "Valet Storage" Graveyard (Past Precedents) The most damning evidence against this idea is that Silicon Valley poured hundreds of millions of dollars into this exact concept between 2013 and 2019, and almost all of them failed or were sold for parts. * **The Examples:** Startups like **Omni, Clutter, MakeSpace, and Trove.** * **The Pitch:** They offered to pick up your items, photograph them, catalogue them in an app ("Cloud storage for your physical things"), and bring them back when you wanted them. * ** The Result:** * **Omni:** Raised \$35M. Sold its tech for pennies to Coinbase and shut down operations. * **MakeSpace:** Raised over \$150M. Struggled with profitability due to logistics costs and was eventually acquired by Iron Mountain (a traditional storage company) largely for its customer list, not its business model. * **Why they failed:** The logistics of picking up specific items (e.g., one laptop) and redelivering them are astronomically expensive compared to the small monthly fee people are willing to pay. ### 2. The "Dead Asset" Problem (Psychology) You compared this to a bank. This analogy fails because of the difference between **Capital** and **Liabilities**. * **Banks:** I put money in a bank because I usually get interest (or safety), and money is *fungible* (one dollar is the same as another). I use that money to transact. It is "alive." * **Object Bank:** Storing an old laptop or a childhood toy is a "dead cost." It generates no value for the customer while it sits there. * **The Churn Reality:** When times get tough (recession, inflation), the first subscription people cancel is the storage fee for the box of stuff they haven't looked at in 3 years. The customer eventually realizes: *"Why am I paying \$300 a year to house a laptop worth \$50?"* * **Evidence:** The "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" phenomenon. Once people stop seeing the object in their house, their emotional attachment fades, and they eventually decide to just throw it away rather than keep paying rent on it. ### 3. The Unit Economics of "Sentimental Items" Your specific example—an old laptop or sentimental object—is the hardest category to monetize. * **Volume vs. Handling:** Traditional self-storage (Public Storage, etc.) makes money by renting you 50 square feet of concrete and **ignoring you.** They have almost zero labor costs. * **Your Idea:** Requires highly secure intake, cataloging, climate control, and insurance. * **The Math:** * To make a profit on storing a single laptop (taking up 0.5 sq ft), accounting for the warehouse lease, insurance, security, and staff, you might need to charge \$5–\$10/month. * Most consumers will buy a 2TB hard drive, copy the data, and recycle the laptop rather than pay \$100/year to store the physical shell. ### 4. The "Sentimental Value" Insurance Trap You mentioned maintaining items with "deep emotional connections." This is a legal nightmare. * **The Problem:** How do you insure a teddy bear? Market value: \$1. Sentimental value: Priceless. * **The Risk:** If your warehouse has a leak, a fire, or a theft (which happens), you cannot replace the item. * **The Litigation:** If a bank loses your \$100 bill, they give you another \$100 bill. If you lose a user's "Grandma's Diary," there is no replacement. Emotional damages lawsuits can effectively bankrupt the startup. Traditional storage units have contracts that explicitly limit liability to the *monetary* value of items (usually pennies per pound), which defeats your brand promise of "keeping precious things safe." ### 5. The "Digital Nomad" (旅居) Logic Gap You mentioned this is for people who are traveling/living abroad. * **Accessibility:** If I am *旅居* in Bali and I suddenly want my "emotional object" that is stored in your "bank" in New York, the shipping cost to retrieve it is astronomical. * **Comparison:** * **Safety Deposit Box:** Banks already offer small boxes for roughly \$50–\$100/year. They are nuclear-bunker safe. Why would I trust a startup over Chase or HSBC? * **Legacybox/Digitization:** For photos, tapes, and letters, services like *Legacybox* digitize them so you can carry them on your phone. This removes the need for physical storage entirely. ### 6. What actually works (The Pivot) The idea of "managing stuff" isn't bad, but the "Bank for Sentimental Objects" model is. Here is where the money actually is: 1. **High-Value Asset Storage (The "Freeport" Model):** Store things that *appreciate* in value. Fine wine, art, classic cars, or collectible sneakers. People pay for this because the storage proves the item's provenance and protects an investment. (Example: **Otis**, **Masterworks**). 2. **Digitization Services:** Don't store the laptop. Offer a service that extracts the hard drive, uploads the data to a private cloud, and recycles the shell. You preserve the *memory*, not the plastic. 3. **Luxury Wardrobe Management:** There are services (like **Vault Couture**) that store high-end couture for the super-rich, catalog it, and ship it to their hotel when they travel. This works because the items are worth \$10k+ and the clients are not price-sensitive. ### Summary The idea is bad because it targets **low-value (monetary) items** with **high-cost logistics**, selling to a customer base (nomads/travelers) who are trying to **minimize expenses**, while competing against **cheap self-storage** and **ultra-secure bank vaults**.