10 Questions With Michelle Power, Founder of Ziilch

Of all the Collaborative Consumption startups spawned in Australia in the past few years, Ziilch in my opinion is the most promising. Why? It’s not just a “nice idea” a category many collcons startups fall into, it solves a real need. A need that’s as current now as it was 50 years ago and will be 50 years into the future – people need to get rid of their junk. I caught up with Michelle and asked her ten questions.

1.What is Ziilch?

Ziilch.com.au is a free reuse and repurpose website for people to give away stuff they don’t want anymore to other people that can use it. Ziilch is devoted to leading the way towards a more sustainable way of utilising old, unwanted and pre-loved items rather than throwing them into hard waste or bins that may ultimately find their way to landfill.

2.Where did the idea come from? Are there similar sites around the world?

The inspiration for ziilch came when my husband and I were undertaking home renovations in 2009. We had a number of renovation materials and items stored in our garage that were unsuitable for donation but deserved to go to new homes. Rather than being discarded in a skip or left out for hard rubbish I believed that a forum such as ziilch could revolutionise they way we manage unwanted items and keep good things out of landfill.

There are certainly some similar initiatives world-wide, which simply reinforces that people are re-thinking their roles as consumers. The most interesting interpretation of the concept is a travelling vending machine called Swap-o-Matic which allows people to donate, receive and swap items without spending money.

We’ve found that there are a lot of buzz words floating around at the moment: collaborative consumption, unconscious consumption, perceived obsolescence, sustainable living; but at the core of this, the success of sites similar to ziilch will be based on a combination of people wanting to be environmentally responsible and the reality that the current economic climate has changed peoples perceptions of spending and saving money.

3.What does it take to get something like this off the ground? Any major setbacks?

Ziilch has been an enormous investment in time over the past couple of years and passion has driven all of the ziilch team to make the website a reality. We have had number of small set backs but this was to be expected with a project of this size and nature. Recently some national exposure on A Current Affair brought our website crashing down for almost a week as it couldn’t deal with the large volume of visitors. I must say that we were worried about the fallout but our ziilch community was so supportive of our situation and instead receiving negative comments in our inbox, we received letters of encouragement.

4.Who are the people behind Ziilch? 

There is a small but fabulous team behind ziilch who have kept the wheels turning over the past couple years.  The ziilch team currently includes myself, Richard Milne in Business Operations and Development; Kevin Nugegoda our Technology Manager and Don Milne our Social Media Manager.

5.Has the site taken off as you had imagined? What’s been the response to Ziilch?

Ziilch has been steadily building momentum over the past few months. To date we have almost 13,000 members and we’ve had over 9000 free and wanted listings. The response to ziilch has been very positive and we’ve had some incredible listings on the site; from a pile of sand to a Jacuzzi! The ziilch community is very strong and we have a very loyal member base.

6.What’s been the most challenging thing for you with regards to running the business? 

Time management. Ziilch can be all consuming and I have personally needed to balance my priorities between a young family, my role at Visual Unity and my passion for ziilch. Ultimately it means I work a lot of late nights but I love what I do.

7.Any interesting stories from the site? Valuable items posted? Weird/interesting items?

We have had some touching stories emailed to us. One was from a member who was a victim of the Black Saturday fires. She has managed to get a large number of items from ziilch to help rebuild her life and home. It’s great to see, as a community, people’s generosity and compassion. However, ziilch is not just for people who are looking to save money, decluttering      their home or need a hand setting up their house. We have a number of ziilch members who are committed to doing their part for the environment. We have listings from members who pot their garden cuttings to give away and other members who have been doing “road-side rescues” and listing the items on ziilch. People are passionate about keeping good stuff, which can be reused or repurposed, out of landfill.

8.Do you have plans for major growth? Have you had external interest from investors?

We are currently focusing on building our membership base across Australia. We have a loyal following in Melbourne and we hope to replicate this across major cities and regional areas.

9.What do you think of the explosion of tech start ups around the world and in Australia? Where do you think this comes from and which sites do you think are the most promising?

Well it’s quite obvious that these days you don’t have to move to Silicon Valley to pursue your tech dream. Australian companies are finding that overseas investors are scouting startups locally.

There are some great Australian online startups I am personally very fond of who are pioneering the collaborative consumption movement in Australia:www.meemeep.com and www.openshed.com.au

10.Who / What inspires you? 

Many things in everyday life inspire me: books, quotes, colleagues, family and friends. However, if I’m looking for a quick fix of entrepreneurial inspiration I often click through to readitforme.com or thestartupdaily.com