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Pioneers & Protagonists

10 questions for Jess Ratcliffe, founder of GaBoom

The easiest way to explain GaBoom is …
a peer-to-peer video game swapping website. Members list the games that they want and the games that they have to swap; GaBoom then matches members together who can make a swap and offers a simple and secure way of posting their games to one another.

The idea came…
from the fact that I used to swap my video games with my friends and neighbours and one day thought, “wouldn’t it be awesome if we could swap our games with other people from around the UK”. I first had the idea to create GaBoom when I was 15 years old.

When I told my friends about my idea for GaBoom they said…
“Go for it!” My friends and family have been extremely supportive and are a great support network. They’re always there for me to bounce ideas off them and give me honest feedback. My parents were particularly supportive when I made my decision to leave University to focus on GaBoom full-time.

How did you know it was the right time to leave University and work on GaBoom fulltime…
I knew it was time because I was spending all of my time on GaBoom and not attending lectures. Having had this idea since I was 15, I knew I had to seize the opportunity to start GaBoom and put all my time and energy into making it a success.

Favourite moment in the GaBoom journey so far…
has been surviving the ‘Dragons’ when I appeared in the Series 8 finale of Dragons’ Den last September. I had a great experience on the show and received some fantastic comments, particularly from Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden.

The biggest challenge to overcome…
is finding a team. I’ve found it difficult to find and build a reliable team. I currently work on GaBoom by myself, but wish I had a team to help me take GaBoom forward.

A unique factoid/statistic that surprises people about GaBoom is…
people are always surprised when I tell them the size of GaBoom’s potential audience in the U.K, which is the number of people that play video games. The figure is 33.7 million people.

If you weren’t doing GaBoom …
I’d like to think I would have found a different idea to work on. I’ve wanted to start my own business for a very long time, so I don’t think I would have stopped trying if I wasn’t working on GaBoom.

The greatest advice anyone has given you about running a start-up…
is “You’ve got to be hungry!” - advice I live by. Although it isn’t meant literally, if you’re hungry, you’ll do everything in your power to find food. It reminds me to work hard and do everything I can to make GaBoom a success.

Name four people you would like to meet one day…
it would be my dream to meet Sir Richard Branson, Pierre Omidyar, Meg Whitman and Oprah Winfrey. It’s my goal to meet them all one day!

Archive of Pioneers & Protagonists Interviews

  10 Questions for Benita Matofska, founder of The People Who Share

  10 questions for Marta Nowinska, founder of Swapsity

  10 questions for Ryan Rzepecki, founder of SocialBicycles

  10 questions for Jamie Wong, founder of Vayable

  10 questions for Theo Kitchener, founder of The ShareHood

  10 questions for Kelly Scales, founder of Bid & Borrow

  10 questions for Campbell McKellar, Founder of Loosecubes

  10 questions for Marcio Nigro, founder of Caronetas

  10 questions for Jess Ratcliffe, founder of GaBoom

  10 questions for Philipp Rogge, founder of frents

  10 questions for Tim Hyer, founder of Rentcycle

  10 questions for Barbara Pantuso, founder of Hey, Neighbor!

  Ella T. Gorgla, Founder of I-ELLA

  Cathy Tao, co-founder of Tourboarding

  Mike Karnjanaprakorn, cofounder of Skillshare

  Juha Koponen, Founder of Netcycler

  Michelle Shearer, Founder of MamaBake

  Leah Busque, Founder and CEO of TaskRabbit

  Ron J. Williams, founder of SnapGoods

  Stephen Rapoport, founder of Crashpadder

  Anthony Eskinazi, founder of ParkatmyHouse

  Drummond Gilbert, founder of goCarShare

  David Mahfouda, Founder of Weeels

  Andreas Randow, Founder of StudioShare.org

  Emma Jamvold, Founder of SwapItBaby

  Dave Llorens, CEO of One Block Off The Grid

  Orli Cotel, co-founder of Swap for Good

  Owen Rees-Hayward, Co-founder of Thingloop

  Juliette Anich, Co-founder of The Clothing Exchange

  Keara Schwartz, Founder of Share Some Sugar

  Hans Schoenburg, co-founder of GiftFlow

  Meriel Lenfestey, Co-founder of Ecomodo

  Steve Sammartino, Founder of rentoid.com

  Micki Krimmel, Founder of NeighborGoods

  Shelby Clark, Founder of RelayRides

  James Reinhart, Founder of thredUp

For a complete archive of Pioneers & Protagonists Interviews click HERE.