‘Not having the money forced me to be creative and resourceful’: how SpareRoom flourished on a shoestring

Rupert Hunt, CEO of the house-share website, tells Zlata Rodionova about growing a business without funding, taking in lodgers for a dollar a month, and and what it takes to find the perfect flatmate

On top of the world: Hunt's business turned over £10m last year (SpareRoom)

More of us are sharing our homes for longer and if you have ever needed to find somewhere to live – and fast – chances are you trawled SpareRoom for flatmates.

Set up in 2004 by Rupert Hunt, then just 29, the website now has 12 million registered users and nearly 90 employees across the UK and the US. In 2019, the company turned over an impressive £10m.

Hunt, who is now 44, set up SpareRoom with £5,000 borrowed on a credit card and no external investment. To this day he reckons it’s one of the best business decisions he ever made.