David Wong, the founder of Plantedd self interviews on Startacus

by Startacus Admin

David Wong, the founder of Plantedd, wants you to find exactly what you want to grow in the garden (or if you’re not a gardener, then your mum or your neighbour down the street). Plantedd is like an online plant fair that brings together independent plant nurseries from across the UK who are selling plants that you don’t get at big chain garden centres. We asked David to tell us a bit more about Plantedd and self interview on Startacus: 

Why did you create Plantedd?
I want everybody to know about our wonderful heritage of plant nurseries that we have in the UK. British nurseries are easily some of the best in the world and I want people to buy from these guys because they care about growing the best plants and they know their stuff, so what you’re getting from them is a little bit special. The trouble is, it’s difficult to find them! I used to spend ages trying to find the nurseries that sold the particular plants that I was looking for, so I came up with Plantedd to make it easy for everybody to get the best plants from the best growers.

How does it work?
It’s like eBay, except we have set prices instead of auctions. For example, you come on to the Plantedd website looking for that plant that your mum used to grow. We’ve got it, so you order it and pay for it. The nursery will then send you your order, and Plantedd gets a commission on the transaction.

What are you focusing on at the moment?
We’re working on something that’s going to help build a community around the marketplace. There are lots of gardeners out there and they have a lot to say! We’re also in the middle of fundraising and that’s going well, but it’s been very time consuming. I guess there’s never enough time though when you’re running your own startup!

Is there any advice that you can give to somebody who is non-technical and has an idea for a website?
Developers aren’t there just to implement your big idea. You need to engage with the technical side of things and get your hands dirty even if you aren’t actually doing any coding. Don’t be a tourist and only dip your toes into the occasional tech event just because you’re shopping for a developer or technical co-founder. If you’re serious about this then you really need to immerse yourself in it and enjoy technology.

What are your thoughts on the future of ecommerce?
I think that mobile, social curation and predictive analytics are going to transform ecommerce in the next few years. We’ll all be shopping a lot more on our mobiles and browsing products that have been suggested by our network, and retailers will be able to offer targeted versions of their websites that are personalised for you – for example, a Mac user might get shown products in a higher price range because information from historical data indicates that this group are more strongly influenced by quality.

Can you tell the folk on Startacus why gardeners should buy from Plantedd?
When you buy from Plantedd you’re supporting British nurseries and you’re getting plants from independent sellers who are specialists in what they grow, so you can be sure that these are good, strong plants that have a better chance of flourishing in your garden. You’re also going to come across wee gems that you would never find in a garden centre. We’re a friendly bunch at Plantedd, so Startacus readers should come by and say hi on Twitter or Facebook.

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By the way...did we tell you that you're looking rather splendid today?

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Published on: 3rd March 2013