Origin Story
Mistall Insight Inc. was founded by Blake Laufer in 2017.
Blake is a self-described “entreprenerd” who loves technology, and founded his first startup Logic4U Software Solutions in the early 1990s building parking permit management and handheld enforcement systems for DOS and later Windows. Blake’s first hire was a young up-and-coming salesperson named Franklin McPherson.
By 1999, with several dozen customers, Blake and sold Logic4U to T2 Systems. Both Blake and Franklin joined the rapidly growing T2 team. As VP of Development and QA, Blake was the lead architect on T2 Flex®, the parking industry’s first completely web-based, cloud-hosted management system – one of many firsts in the industry.
In 2016, based on industry feedback, Blake saw an opportunity to build a cost-effective Artificial Intelligence driven camera system to count cars in surface lots, an area of parking management that is traditionally underserved for data collection. Blake returned to his entrepreneurial roots and founded Mistall shortly thereafter.
In 2022, the band got back together. Franklin McPherson came to Mistall to lead Sales and Marketing.
Stall Counter is Mistall’s original approach to vehicle counting and uses time-lapse photography rather than streaming video. This enables the cameras to be ultra-low power so they can run on solar power and transmit using cellular or WiFi – leading to the first completely off-grid surface counting system. Stall Counter also works in an AC environment with off-the-shelf security cameras.
Zone Counter was launched in 2022 for counting vehicles in garages, including between levels and in nested areas. These cameras utilize unique depth sensor video technology with Artificial Intelligence for highly accurate and cost-effective garage counts. Zone Counter is the next generation of garage counting technology, serving demand for counting to guidance.
Blake realized that cameras and hardware are just one component of a successful occupancy solution. Subsequently Blake created a robust dashboard to manage Stall Counters and Zone Counters, as well as third-party occupancy data.
There are many sources of occupancy data in the parking industry (usually in in separate systems) but when this data is combined it provides an important perspective for the modern parking operation, and valuable wayfinding information for the parker.
The Mistall Platform is used to see your key occupancy metrics, regardless of source. Data comes from your ecosystem of Mistall cameras, space sensors, mobile phone payments, license plate recognition, parking meters, PARCS, security cameras and loops. Whatever the data source, the data can help guide your parkers to empty spaces, guide your enforcement to write more citations, and guide your parking operation to success.
Mistall has grown to more than 50 installations across the US and Canada, and recently added sites in Europe and Asia. With Mistall you can Count what Counts.