Marcus McGrigor

Will the Chickens come home to 'The Roost'

The Mission

• The Roost's purpose is to make furnishing and changing your space as easy as possible through its visualisation software. The Roost provides the platform on which to envisage, curate and purchase your dream living spaces, whether that be a home office, a family room, nursery, open-plan kitchen or living room. In one line, The Roost is the only company that brings everything together to help customers buy furniture online. Customers can explore carefully curated premium brands to discover their own personal style. Users can visualise their space with their drag-and-drop design software. Everything in one place and buying in one seamless checkout.

The Mastermind

• Will Plowden graduated from Edinburgh University in 2020, before joining the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, the UK's leading entrepreneur development programme backed and endorsed by Blackstone, McKinsey, CVC, Rothschild and the London Stock Exchange Group. The founder alumni have collectively raised more than £140m in early-stage funding and created 2,600+ new jobs in more than 170 live ventures. This experience helped him to scale up The Roost, turning it from dream to reality. The Roost.com has been fully operational since May 2023.

The Market

• People live in physical, geographical spaces. They reside in flats, apartments, maisonettes, houses, bungalows, mansions, care homes, barges. I could go on. But, one thing is consistent with these spaces: they need to be furnished, habitable and pleasant places to live. It is a huge market with global reach. It is a competitive space though with global giants and household name Ikea being the go-to retailer for cheap, good quality furniture. The Roost works with more luxury, bespoke brands from the UK and Europe and is capable of enticing customers at the higher-end of the market.

• The numbers, according to Statista:
  • In the year 2024, the Furniture market in the United Kingdom is projected to generate a revenue of US$24.07bn.
  • It is anticipated that this market will witness an annual growth rate of 2.89% (CAGR 2024-2028).
  • Amongst the various segments within this market, the largest one is the Living Room Furniture segment, which is estimated to have a market cap of US$5.80bn in 2024.
  • When compared on a global scale, the United States stands out as the country generating the highest revenue in the Furniture market, with a predicted revenue of US$253bn in 2024.
  • Taking into account population figures, the per-person revenue in the United Kingdom's Furniture market is expected to be US$354.20 in 2024.
  • The United Kingdom's furniture market is experiencing a surge in demand for sustainable and eco-friendly products.

Competitors

• As previously mentioned, the furniture and home furnishings market is a competitive one with plenty of competition. According to Will his main competitors can be mapped as such:

The Business

• The Roost has 3 main employees and an incoming intern. Will Plowden (Founder & MD) heads up the tech and operations of the company, while Esme Amberg (Head of Content) and Harriett Jenkins (Head of PR & Supplier Relations) make sure that quality and design remain a top priority. Through the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, Will works into a mentor, who offers advice and counsel to help with the scale up.

• My suspicion is that The Roost is pre-revenue at this stage, but has impressive customer growth month on month. Predominant costs include, tech and marketing support via agencies and other operational costs like subscriptions etc.