Case Study: Furniturebox
About Furniturebox
Industry: E-commerce
Team size: 11-20
Runway East Location: Bristol Bridge
Launched in 2015 by Monty and Dan at the age of 17, Furniturebox is an expanding online furniture business dedicated to beautiful, quality and affordable products backed up with exceptional customer service. Something that the two founders believe is responsible for the company's fast growth.
We spoke to James Ewens, their Head of Ecommerce, to see how having a base in Runway East Bristol Bridge has helped the young brand grow.
James Ewens, Head of Ecommerce
How did you find out about us?
Furniturebox had no presence in Bristol up until recently. The founders approached me to work for them and we spoke about creating a hub in the city. We decided to take a look at flexible spaces and Runway obviously came up in our search.
We wouldn't have been able to do any of these projects without Runway.
What made you choose us?
Runway just stood out immediately. It felt like the nicest place to house a business. The location of the Bristol Bridge site is fantastic, but the main thing was being surrounded by other really interesting small but growing businesses and startups. There's definitely a "startup vibe" with loads of entrepreneurial
What have you loved about being a Runway East member?
I'd say the networking and chance encounters of being around other interesting businesses is so valuable. One of our partners is on the floor above us, another is down the hall and others dotted around the Bristol Bridge and Temple Meads sites. We wouldn't have been able to meet these teams without Runway and we really couldn't have foreseen how fruitful these relationships would've been.
The shared Slack space (between Runway East members) is also incredible – both for socials and networking, but also for ideas and collaboration.
We've grown significantly since we joined the space: from 6 to 13. We currently rotate who's in or remote, and the flexibility that we get to do this is fantastic. In fact this office is the third we've had since joining – again, this just goes to show how flexible the Runway team are in allowing businesses to grow, move about and adapt their space. This isn't something you get with competitors.
What are your growth plans?
Well, we're growing and keep looking at increasing headcount! To be honest, even if we grew to 30 people, we'd still want a presence at Runway East because of the networking and collaboration opportunities. We love it here.