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Pioneers & Protagonists

Ron J. Williams, founder of SnapGoods

SnapGoods aims to…
make borrowing, renting, and trying a standard consumer option and practice. We want to eradicate excess and uncertain consumption by providing the safest way for people to borrow or rent what they need anywhere from anyone.

The idea came …
after successfully renting a motorcycle using a classifieds site in an unintended way. I got only as much as I needed (weekend’s worth) and the owner got paid for an idling asset. It hit me as I shook his hand: made safer and easier, THIS is social, sustainable commerce.

I believe it’s the right moment for SnapGoods because …
people of all types are clamoring for opportunities to save money and live more sustainably, without living like monks. This is a fun time to be growing.

The easiest way to explain SnapGoods is …
we make it simple and safe to rent or borrow anything from anyone, particularly if you are a creative (film, photo, music), a DIY-er, or a gadget geek with a penchant for the bleeding edge.

The biggest misperception about SnapGoods is…
that the lender’s stuff is at great risk of getting lost or damaged. We manage that risk through a cool, proprietary validation scheme and offer a unique SnapGoods guarantee that makes the lender whole in the event of any issues.

The biggest challenge to overcome is …
achieving geographic density and scale.

The best SnapGoods moment so far was…
when we learned that as a result of connecting to hook each other up, two of our users had actually hooked up and started dating. It reminded us how much more this is about the connection than it is about the goods.

Another example of Collaborative Consumption I admire is …
Loosecubes - a community of independent people building a global network of shared workspaces.

In the future for SnapGoods …
people will never make an uninformed, unsure or wasteful purchase before seeing which of their neighbors, friends, followers or fans they can Snap up gear from. We want SnapGoods to be a standard bearer for Collaborative Consumption in action.

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.