{"id":1583,"date":"2016-05-03T08:58:21","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T07:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2020-08-14T12:13:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T11:13:33","slug":"spotlight-roomr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/spotlight-roomr\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight – Roomr"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roomr<\/a>\u00a0isn\u2019t about filling space but building houseshares. It champions housemates, community, friendship, the second family. I had a chat with co-founder Paul<\/a> about the app, and how it plans to solve, and make enjoyable, the housesharing search in London.<\/em><\/p>\n

The home has changed. We don\u2019t establish roots the way we used to anymore. We are expanding its definition beyond brick borders. With the rise of the sharing economy, led by companies like Airbnb and Couchsurfing, homes are no longer seen as private, isolated dwellings, but open and inviting to all.<\/p>\n

<\/div>
<\/svg><\/div>

\"OK, this could be something big, so I\u2019m going to just lock myself away and build it out\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Created by ex-colleagues, Jordan and Paul, Roomr, like many great things in life, came as a result of multiple side-projects: \u201cLots of them make it as far as a sketch\u201d Paul tells me, \u201csome visual design and a few get to the prototype stage. Everything from subscription groceries to location-based team finding apps. Roomr was different because I thought: OK, this could be something big, so I'm going to just lock myself away and build it out. It took many evenings and late nights, but I got it to a place where I felt it was step 0.1 (a proof of concept) rather than just step zero (a good idea).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe past 5 years living in London led me to think that there must be a better way.\u201d \u201cI used Marvel to build a simple one pager to introduce me and my friend, as a way for potential housemates to get to know us. We wanted to find someone who we\u2019d get on with and be friends as well as housemates. I shared it on our room ad and the response was really positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he's right, there must be a better way. London is shocking when it comes to finding a place, with extortionate rent made worse by bad technology. Sites like Gumtree, Craiglists and Spareroom, are messy to use, unreliable and stressful. The experience is never a straight line, but resembles more of a maze with seemingly no way out. Roomr cuts it down to a 3-step process by standing as the mediator between the person looking to be part of a houseshare and those who are looking for someone to join them. Recently, Roomr used a Squarespace site<\/a> with embedded Marvel prototypes to test its UI. With the option of either the full app experience or a step-by-step user journey, the process shows just how straight-forward\u00a0the journey towards finding a houseshare can be.<\/p>\n