Happyzine chats with Zoove founder Martin Ryan

What is Zoove?

Zoove is a website to give away your extra stuff and pick up other stuff you might need, all for free.  It works on the same concept as Trade Me, except that there is no money changing hands.

Why and when did you start it?

Zoove went live in June 2010, but I’d been thinking about it for almost a year beforehand – trying to talk myself out of going to all the effort. But I thought it was such a good idea that I had to make it happen. There is so much decent quality stuff that we throw out unnecessarily.

How’s it going thus far?

There’s a lot of interest, there are nearly 1000 users who have signed up since June, but people are generally signing up to see what free stuff they can get, rather than thinking about what they can clear out of their lives and give away. The site really needs a few users to do a good clear out of
their garages to get some steam up.

Who are you?

I’m a dad of one and three quarters – our second is due in March. My wife and I live in Lower Hutt and I work in Wellington in IT. I dabble in websites as a hobby and have previously built sites for my mum’s business, our church and a forum for the IT product I work with.

What lead you to Zoove?

I felt there was a gap for stuff that was too good to throw out, but that people would feel a little silly selling. For example a ten year old laptop. The only other real alternative before Zoove was an American site that has a similar concept, but it executes the idea in a Web 1.0 type way and I thought I could make it work a lot better, as well as big up the Kiwi side of it.

There’s also the Trade Me option, but Zoove gives you the opportunity to help someone out, rather than just make a few dollars.

Where would you like to take Zoove?

My goal is to have 100 listings going on the site every single day across the country and to keep all of that stuff out of landfill. I’d also like to see a lot of families helped out, as financially it’s tough to raise a family these days.

What can people gain from being involved in Zoove?

As a receiver the gain is easy to see – you get free stuff. As a giver you get warm fuzzies when you help someone out, you keep stuff out of landfill, and by supporting the site you make it more likely that someone will give away something that you need in the future.

What’s the coolest thing about running it for you?

I should probably say the greenie side of things, but it’s actually the creative aspect. It’s great to have a project go from an idea to execution and see that idea grow. It’s like watching one of your kids progress.

What’s your favourite ice cream?

Goody goody gumdrops. I’m not even sure if you can still get it these days. Surely you can, they wouldn’t kill a kiwi classic would they?

What do you think about Zumba as an exercise option?

Never tried it, but it looks fun. I pulled a quad playing football the other day though. I didn’t even know you could pull a quad.

Check out www.zoove.co.nz

Charlotte Squire

Tags: recycle, reduce, reuse