In a world where basic needs often go unmet, Racct.com is bridging the furniture aid gap between abundance and poverty. Jack Ogle, the CEO and co-founder of Racct.com, shares insights into their mission and the impact they’re making.

Imagine this scenario: You have a surplus of furniture, while others in your community struggle to furnish their homes. There is a clear disconnect, but the solution often seems out of reach. That’s where Racct.com steps in, offering help to those in need and a sense of purpose to those with excess.

Jack and Jonathan have established a network of support by means of strategic collaborations and local initiatives, which facilitate the smooth and respectful connection of donors and recipients.

But the impact goes beyond mere transactions; it includes protecting one’s dignity and encouraging a feeling of belonging. Racct.com serves as a unifying force, with the common goal of encouraging and supporting one another. Whether it’s a couch, a table, or a bed, each piece of furniture carries with it the potential to transform lives and inspire hope.

Our Chat with Founders of Racct

Q: Please give us a little introduction about yourself. 

Jack: Yes, so my name is Jack Ogle. I’m the CEO, the co-founder of Racct.com. At Racct, we repurpose the things you love. Yeah, that’s about it.

Q: So, how does Racct work exactly?

Jack: What we do is charge a fee for the removal and donation of large and small items, but mostly large furniture items that are hard to donate or find a new home for.

We’ve also aggregated a large community of people in need of furniture here in California, in the Bay Area specifically. So, we’ll pick a piece of furniture or maybe an appliance up from a house in the Bay Area, and then we’ll communicate with our network of people in need. These include immigrants to the US, migrants, refugees, and the recently housed. Then we will communicate with them and take it directly to the recipients. So, what we see is almost like a handover from the previous owner to the new owner.

Q: How do you come in contact with these people who are in need of this furniture and appliances?

Jack: That’s a great question. So, we’ve been able to find these small pockets of people who are in need of this furniture through friends, actually. Just having friends at a local college, for example, we may post some items in a roommate’s group chat, and then from there, we spin off our own groups, and people basically can add themselves because it’s just a typical group chat now. And we’re building the software out for that as we speak.

Q: You’re just operating in San Francisco, right?

Jack: That’s correct, yes.

Q: Are you and Jonathan doing all this yourselves, or do you also have a crew or an operations team for this?

Jack: That’s a great point. So, we’re a really lean team. The only employees of the company right now are the founders, John and I. We are building a team, as we speak, of people who we can ping for on-demand service. So, we are aggregating people with trucks and people who can lift heavy things to help us execute these jobs.

Q: Racct is not a non-profit, right?

Jack: That’s correct. Racct is a for-profit. We believe that pretty much every item we get, we can either repurpose or donate.

Q: Can only individuals with excess furniture, use your service or offices and shops too?

Jack: Yes, Racct has the capability to service consumers as well as businesses. So, we’re open to everyone and there’s no job that’s too big. We can serve everyone.

Q: And what is the size of the truck which you guys are currently using?

Jack: So, we currently use pickup trucks. However, if you have a big order, we can do as many pickup trucks as it takes.

Q: Would it be wrong to assume that you guys are bootstrapping this right now?

Jack: No, that’s correct. We are currently bootstrapping.

Q: Do you guys plan to raise money?

Jack: Yes, we plan to raise money pretty much as soon as we hit product-market fit. So, as soon as we get that product where we want it to be.

John and I are building the product as we are scaling it. So, we’re trying to move as fast as we can to get to product-market and then from there, we go to Sand Hill Road just down the road from here and raise money.

Q: So you guys are building the product yourselves?

Jack: So, in terms of roles in the company, we are both software engineers. We both are self-taught. Right now, I am the CEO and I handle all sales and marketing. And John handles all of the technical side. So, he’s the technical guy who puts all the pieces together.

Q: Both of you guys are self-taught?

Jack: Yes, we’re both, yeah. So, we went to the University of Chicago, and neither of us majored in computer science. I majored in data science and economics. So, I got some computer science and I can program. But I self-taught all web development and software development. And I guess also if you major in computer science, they’re not going to teach you web development or app development. So, but yeah, so I studied data science, economics, John studied economics and biology, but he is very doggedly self-taught.

Q: Now the obvious question, YC..?

Jack: So, yeah. YC is something we love to be a part of. We’ve applied I think four different times. We’ve not gotten in yet. The last time we applied, we got an interview. So, that was super awesome. So, we were super stoked about that. We, however, did not get selected, but we’re gonna keep trying. We’re gonna keep applying. And I think someday, I think they’ll have to let us in.

Q: One thing I noticed using your software, as I was adding items, it was telling me that you have this much space left on your truck. How did you do that? I mean, surely you did not take the dimensions of all possible items yourself? How does that work?

Jack: So, yeah, that’s a great point. We did a little bit of analysis based on our own experience, right? So, we’ve been doing all these jobs. So, we kind of went through all the line items that we were going to offer for removal, and we basically gave them a score. And then we just weighed that and basically summed it all up, and then that’s where we get that percentage. So, if it’s like a couch, it’s going to take up most of the truck, so it gets like a seven out of ten, for example. And, you know, if its a mattress, so even though it’s big, you can always put it on top, strap it down, or put it on top of the truck. So, that’s, maybe two or three. So, that’s how we came up with that. 

Q: How is your guys relationship as co-founders. When did you guys first meet, talk me through that stage?

Jonathan: Yeah, me and Jack, so, we met, I would say, actually, we were seniors in high school. And, there was one visit day to UChicago, and we both did RTC. I’m not sure if Jack had mentioned that, but we went to this training session in the morning, and we were the two new guys who were excited to meet everyone, but we didn’t really know each other. And, I think we said just like, hi, and not much else. And, then, come the fall, it’s like, oh, I remember you a little bit. And, from there, it was a lot easier to be friends because we had that day together.

Q: How do you guys plan to acquire more users? putting out ads or will it still just be word of mouth and organic?

Jonathan: So, we basically launched two weeks ago. Since then, from the first week to the second week, we saw a 12% revenue growth. So, we were super excited about that, and we want to keep those numbers up. So we’re like working night and day to acquire customers any way we can like through cold outreach, through word of mouth. We’re delighting the users. We’re going to their houses and we’re giving them flowers. We learned about their interests, like, this one guy who loves beer, so we got, you know, a ton of beer. And, so, we’re trying to delight users so that they tell their friends and we can grow and basically provide the best experience possible.

We appreciate Jack and Jonathan for taking time out of their busy schedule to have this conversation with us. We wish them the best of luck for Racct.com.