If you've ever driven around a busy city looking for a parking space, you know how frustrating it can be.
But what if you could turn parking into something… fun?
Parking Defenders is a new free app designed to take the stress out of finding a place to leave your motor.
Designed in Greece for iPhone, Windows Phone and Android smartphones, it intends to turn parking into a game. If you have a spot already you can offer it to other users - and if one takes you up on it, you earn points. Likewise if you need a spot, put out a request and when it's accepted follow the directions to your car's new home.
Jon Katsiotis, co-founder of Parking Defenders, says the app could change your life.
"It helps drivers find parking spaces quicker, cheaper and easier than ever before," he said. "Save money, earn money and spend more time out of their car."
"The parking business is a huge market," he admits. And "there are a lot of different information that we need to integrate to make easily consumable for our users"
But Parking Defenders says it can make the world a better - or at least less stressful - place.
"We think that we can make a part of this world a bit better and easier through eliminating parking issues," he said. "We do what we do for fun and then we focus on our business."
The company was recently invited to showcase its product at the Microsoft Bizspark European Summit, and won plaudits for its unique approach.
Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president for strategic and emerging business development at Microsoft, said that it was among several startups at the summit which had the potential to change lives.
"The startups that succeed partially as a result of the support of BizSpark will affect the lives of your readers," he said.
"What form that will take is as broad as the portfolio of exciting startups in our program. From a broad macro-economic level, Microsoft believes that Europe’s economic success depends on the ability of high-potential startups to grow and thrive; what’s good for startups, is good for us, is good for Europe."
He added that while working with start-ups is a business, inspiration is about something more
He said: "I have a belief that people fundamentally want to achieve good things and be the best they can. I think that technology can certainly help to amplify that, but fundamentally I’m a humanist, not an engineer, so my inspiration usually comes from people."