How Gumtree got started

 Gumtree was founded in March 2000 by Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall as a local London classified ads and community site.  What’s the story on how Gumtree.com got started?

 I think that  when people start out to create a business be it bricks and mortar or an on-line venture they never think about how successful it could be or even if it will make them huge profits, for some people it’s a case of a desire to  help people, or a project that they are passionate about.

Now everyone is familiar with Gumtree.com as the go to on-line classifieds and community website.  Classified ads are either free or paid for depending on the product and the market category. 

How Gumtree got started

But just how did Gumtree get started, well I’ve had to do a little bit of google researching to bring you this post.

Well according to www.londonlovesbusiness.com who have a fantastic article on their website,
Title: The mysterious founders of Gumtree.com.   The two friends Michael  and Simon decided to build a website to help the huge numbers of  Australian,  South African and New Zealanders who were based  in the UK  at that time.  The name Gumtree was chosen after they asked their target audience to vote on the names.   To read the full article go here

So what happened next….

They nurtured and grew the business through four years.  The website soon started to be profitable and was getting noticed.  After receiving an offer from eBay they sold the business.  So Gumtree went from dot.com start up, to being sold to a multi national business in just 5 years.  If you are interested in how it was reported in the news  you can still find that on-line here.
Guardian on Thursday 19 May 2005

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/may/19/business.newmedia

It just goes to show that online success can come in all shapes and forms, never underestimate the power of this relatively new industry.

The global digital marketplace is still growing are you going to be a part of it?