The creator of SpareRoom saw a business opportunity where no one imagined: learn his story.
Rupert Hunt was only 29 years old when he created the site “SpareRoom”. This website served to facilitate the search for renting shared houses in London. The idea was for tenants to pay “what they could pay”, in order to get to live with the right people and not restrict the possibilities with the price.
The curious thing was that at 38 years old, After divorcing his wife, he would become a user of his own website. And his huge house in the center of London would be ideal for renting out the spare rooms. His desire to be accompanied means that even today, he continues to share the house in the same way.
Rupert Hunt
How Rupert Hunt became a millionaire
Without a doubt, the growing housing crisis experienced internationally is a determining factor for this type of project to be successful, but SpareRoom has approximately 11 million people who visit the website monthly. Numbers that are not bad for a business born on his father’s farm in the north of England.
Tired of searching through newspapers and advertisements for a place to live, in 1999 he decided to create IntoLondon, a website dedicated to making the rental search easier. He worked as a stocker in a supermarket and played the bass, so in his free time he looked for extra income and opted for web design.
In 2002 he moved to Manchester and realized the same problem existed, so he started paying more attention to his page. And in 2004 he changed the name to SpareRoom. The business model is free, but also allows customers to pay to position their ads.
The big leap was in 2007, when he realized that he had to hire developers to help him respond to the demand for work he had. She placed an ad saying she was looking for housemates who would only “pay what they could” and was flooded with requests and media coverage.
He later used the same strategy in Manhattan, United States. And with 80 employees, SpareRoom has annual sales of more than $10 million.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
