CEO Katharine Lau Has The Right ‘Stuf’

You wouldn’t necessarily know it if you saw it, but there are many underutilized spaces all across American cities. Natural entrepreneur Katharine Lau certainly noticed. 

“I spent my entire career in commercial real estate. And over the years, I’ve become obsessed with underutilized real estate.

“It just seemed wasteful to me that someone built or bought this building and there’s all this space underneath that’s really not being utilized.”

Someone had to do something about these spaces. Why not Lau?

“It wasn’t until I had this spring cleaning and I needed self-storage, and I was trying to rent a unit where I was like, ‘Wow, this sucks.” Like, ‘This is awful. It’s far away. It’s sketchy.’

“There’s all this real estate in my neighborhood around the corner, and people need better storage solutions that are easy to access and just a better experience overall.”

So Lau co-founded Stuf, a next-generation self-storage company. Stuf partners with real estate companies and building owners to take these underutilized spaces and monetize them as tech-enabled storage spaces 

A Place To Keep Your ‘Stuf’

Have you seen some of “Big Storage?” Companies like Public Storage and U-Haul have large spaces. No one is saying that self-storage had to be cute, but it can certainly be more inviting and modern. 

Stuf makes self-storage ridiculously convenient. You download their app, book your space, drop your “stuf” off, and go about your business. 

“We don’t have a single on-site employee. Everything is done through our laptops or our phones.

“Our customers, rather than needing a key, or needing a pin pad, or anything like that, one click on their phone and they’re in the space.

“On the operational side, we have eyes in the space so we know what’s going on. We have sensors, security cameras, access control. 

“So, that even though we’re not there, we’re there. We secure items and make sure customers have a good experience.”

Movin’ and Groovin’

Not many people walk by a vacant lot and see its potential. It takes a certain mindset to look at nothing and see something. The “entrepreneurial spirit” has always existed in Lau’s world since childhood. 

“I was always curious about [entreprenurship]. I joined large companies – stable, very bureaucratic companies coming out of college. That was a good experience, but it was just so slow-moving, and things didn’t really change day-to-day.

“That was pretty frustrating. It wasn’t until I joined a startup where I was like wow, wow. We can actually move and groove, and get creative, try new ideas.

“That really opened my eyes.”

Lau had found her future and hit the ground running. You can hear her passion in how she describes the work.

“I really like figuring out new things for the first time – finding the vendors, learning how to design it, learning what customers care about. I think that really puts me in a good position as the CEO and founder of a startup to be pioneering those new ideas.”

Of course, as with any new business, there were a couple of humps and bumps here and there. How you handle these challenges shows what kind of leader you are.

“This is the first time that I’ve had to really engage consumers, understand their psychology, understand what they care about when they’re looking for self-storage.

“If we’re now selling to and serving consumers, how is the marketing different? How do we operate differently? How do we set up the legal structure of the business in a way that makes sense? So so many things to account for simply because we’re serving a new stakeholder.”

While a CEO has to wear many hats for many situations, a great CEO knows their best strengths are relying on their team. 

“Obviously you’re looking for skill sets, experiences that can really elevate your company, or make you go faster, do more.

“What I really look for when I’m meeting people or interviewing candidates is are they going the extra mile? Do they just answer the questions I ask or did they show not tell. Did they care enough to do a reverse reference check on the company? Is this a big decision for them that they care about? Because it goes both ways.”

“I want to say every team member or every person on our team has gone the extra mile or went the extra mile during the interview process, and so it means they’re going to do more than just their job.”

Stuf has been able to grow, not just under Lau’s leadership, but because of how her leadership has inspired better work from her team. 

“There’s one person on our team who is always really, really creative with ideas. So if we’re faced with a delay or something like it’s going over budget, he has five different things, five different ideas. He gets so excited about that.

“I felt like his energy, I wanted to pull that out and bring that to the rest of the team so that they could approach the problem in a similar way.”

Paying It Forward

Given that Lau is an Asian-American woman in a white male-dominated industry (and country), she’s under a specific kind of pressure. She doesn’t just have to succeed because it’s a life requirement, she also has to succeed for the sake of Asian-American women everywhere. It’s an unfair burden, but a burden nonetheless. 

“It’s so top of mind for me. Because of that, I don’t take business decisions lightly. I don’t overspend. We run a pretty lean operation, but we can do a lot with very little. 

“I think the way I grew up, how I was raised really colors every part of this business operation because it’s so much of who I am.”

Lau doesn’t just take her success and run with it, she gives back. 

“I’ve been a mentor. Or I’ve been mentored by many people throughout my career. I think mentorship is really important. I was a mentor for Apex for Youth for three years, and then after that was co-chair of the associate board. 

“[Apex] is a mentorship program that serves underprivileged Asian-American, Asian and immigrant youth in New York City. So, I’m giving back to exactly the same cause that affected my parents. They were immigrants and had to learn how to live in America.

“I just think giving back, creating opportunities, having a team myself of two-thirds diverse people, show women or people of color that those are the ways I use my platform to give back and to make a change.”

Lau has been active in Apex for a long time. It’s a mentorship program for Asian-American youth but is open to all immigrants. 

“The programs are really about everything from college preparation to how to adapt to and assimilate into American culture and succeed. 

“There are a lot of things stacked against immigrant children. The way that standardized test questions are designed, the way that schoolyard communication and bullying can really affect children. 

“So, the programs are really about preparing students for all types of situations, both personal and professional.”

Lau also finds the motivation to set a rewarding example in her own personal life. 

“I’m seeing that now with my own daughter, how we mold and shape young people. So that’s really rewarding, and I hope I’m offering the same type of mentorship to people on my team, other young women that I know.”

“I hope through actions, I hope through the relationships I’ve cultivated and seeing those around me become successful because of a little bit of help from me, I think that’s what I’m going to be most proud of, or I hope she would be most proud of.”

Sexy Self-Storage

When you imagine the next big CEO you’d likely picture someone developing metaverse tech or artificial intelligence. You would not necessarily expect a woman in self-storage. 

“I think self-storage has never received a lot of attention because it’s not sexy or cool. But it serves one in 10 Americans, and it’s a really creative way to extend the boundaries of home and work.”

Lau’s passion for entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and exploring a new industry is so clear in her descriptions of the work. 

“I really love hearing the customer feedback, good and bad. Because I feel like initially when you design the business [you think] this offering or this solution serves this type of customer. 

“But what you quickly find is maybe what you initially thought in your original hypothesis isn’t true. 

“An example of that is I thought Stuff would really serve consumers first and foremost, so people who are moving, who need an extra closet.

“What I quickly learned was that there are tons of small businesses or even large businesses out there who need storage, and we’ve changed the way we’ve operated because of that.”

Katharine Lau and her success with Stuf surely inspire the next generation of CEOs and entrepreneurs. 

“My initial advice to a young entrepreneur would really be to get a little bit of experience under your belt before you go out on your own and invest money, invest time, and invest energy.

“I think, at least personally, I’ve gained a lot from the experiences at even larger companies, at startups. And that took time. Had I tried to do this at 22 right out of college, I really don’t think I would be successful.” 

Stuf was listed on FastCompany’s 10 Most Innovative Urban Development Companies in 2022. You can expect to see and hear a lot more from Katharine Lau as she passionately and effectively champions the entrepreneurial spirit while giving back to a community that has shared so much with her. 

If you need inspiration for getting out and starting your own company, look no further than Katharine Lau. She’s got the right ‘Stuf.”