In this episode of Harder Than It Looks, host Brian Wolff sits down with Shareena Sandbrook, Chief Commercial Development Officer at Towne. Shareena was the Co-Founder and CEO of Frogparking, a global parking technology company she co-founded with her father, Don Sandbrook, in 2009. How do you build a global parking company from a small town in New Zealand? For Shareena, the answer involved a lot of plane rides, a lot of late nights, and a willingness to back herself. She left her young daughters at the airport more times than she can count, installed sensors herself in downtown LA in heels and a suitcase, and closed her first city deal (4,500 spaces) before her team really knew what they were doing. Sixteen years later, that first client is still with her. Shareena grew up entrepreneurial. Her father is a self-described "crazy inventor" who pulled her into the workshop early and taught her to chase ideas no one else was working on. Before Frogparking, she sold satellite tracking software to aviation customers back when prospects would squint at the sky and ask, "Where is the cloud?" When she and her dad turned their attention to parking, the industry was still chalking tires. They saw an opening. In 2025, Frogparking was acquired by Towne, where it became the foundation of Nexity by Towne, the industry’s first fully integrated parking and mobility platform delivered by a single provider. Shareena now leads design and development, integration, and ongoing growth, with her sights set on what she calls "world domination" and a billion-dollar company. Key Takeaways 1. Solve real problems, and growth follows. Frogparking grew because it spotted clear gaps: wardens chalking tires, clunky access control, vendor stacks duct-taped together. The team built technology that answered customer pain directly. 2. Focus beats everything. Shareena’s playbook is relentless focus on the right strategic deals, the right customers, and a reputation worth protecting. Reputation, she says, is "absolutely critical." 3. Integration is the future of parking. A patchwork of disconnected systems is holding the industry back. One end-to-end platform from a single provider wins day in and day out: faster operations, less revenue leakage, better user experience. 4. Leadership is about shared purpose. Treat your team like family, bring them into the goal, and connect their work to a bigger mission. Nobody is above the job, including the CEO with a suitcase in downtown LA at midnight. Episode Highlights [01:00] Meet Shareena Sandbrook and the road that led her to Towne [02:10] Growing up entrepreneurial in New Zealand and selling SaaS before the cloud was a thing [04:20] The first big city deal: 4,500 spaces, a public-private partnership, and a client still with her 16 years later [05:00] Pushing into the U.S. and spending half her life on a plane [09:30] Where the name Frogparking actually came from (hint: a sensor that looked like a frog) [10:40] Building reputation through relentless focus on the right strategic deals [12:30] Pivoting during COVID: cashless, ticketless, and patented gates that reset on impact [17:00] Extending the platform into parking guidance, access control, valet, enforcement, and permitting [19:30] Why a patchwork of fifty clunky systems is finally on its way out [21:50] The Towne rebrand and the launch of Nexity by Towne [24:30] How the team uses AI internally and in product, without making it a buzzword [27:00] Managing a tight, eclectic developer team (Monster energy and potato chips included) [29:30] What end-to-end actually looks like at Irvine Spectrum, Laguna Beach, Nike, and USC [33:30] Six months in: the contrast between scrappy startup life and life inside Towne [35:30] Leadership philosophy: family first, no titles above the work [39:00] Lightning round: the hardest things, the magic wand, hunting on horseback, and what she is most proud of About the Guest Shareena Sandbrook is the Chief Commercial Development Officer of Towne. Formerly, Sandbrook was the Co-Founder and CEO of Frogparking, a global parking technology company she co-founded with her father, Don Sandbrook, in 2009. Under her leadership, Frogparking expanded into the U.S. and grew into one of the industry’s most advanced parking platforms, with a portfolio of over 30 patented technologies serving cities, airports, universities, and private operators across North America and Australasia. In 2025, Frogparking was acquired by Towne, where it became the foundation of Nexity by Towne, Towne’s next-generation, end-to-end parking technology platform. Sandbrook continues to lead design and development, integration, and ongoing growth.
