Matt Ovenden is a chartered mechanical engineer and serial entrepreneur, with a number of cleantech and renewable energy businesses under his belt since 2009. In 2017, Matt launched Borrow A Boat, aka the ‘Airbnb’ of boats, making waves in the charter industry by offering a modern marketplace solution with the aim of making boating more accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusive for all. A pioneer of peer-to-peer charter, Matt has driven multiple crowdfunding rounds in order to help fuel continued growth, with expansion into new countries - including the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Why Borrow A Boat?

We believe time spent on the water and embracing the ‘blue mind’ is the perfect antidote to modern city-living and has been an avid boater since childhood. I grew up waterskiing and wakeboarding in the Blackwater Estuary, as well as racing Dart catamarans before enjoying yacht sailing as a teenager – something I still enjoy, both in the UK and abroad, today.

The inspiration for Borrow A Boat was seeded in 2016 when I wanted to introduce my young family to the joys of boating but struggled to charter a catamaran for a family holiday. Many traditional charter companies only offer 7-day minimum charters, whilst boating clubs require expensive joining or membership fees and boat ownership - just astronomically expensive. I realised the opportunity, boating needed to be offered in an easy access pay-as-you-go style model to fit in with modern lifestyles and changing consumer habits. And despite witnessing other industries revolutionised by marketplaces – giving consumers unparalleled choice and ease of browsing and buying online - the boat rental and yacht charter industry was missing this accessibility and flexibility. As such I set out to create, what is now, one of the UK’s leading boat rental and yacht charter marketplaces.

Can you explain how Borrow A Boat aims to make boating more accessible through their 21st-century boating marketplace?

Borrow A Boat is opening up boating to the masses – we are a modern marketplace for boating of all kinds, with / without a skipper, from simple day hires to luxury crewed yachts and superyachts. You don’t need any specific experience to borrow a boat from Borrow A Boat, and all budgets and price points can be catered for – we make boating as accessible as it should be in the 21st century.

What strategic plans and developments can we expect from CEO Matt Ovenden and the group of investors following the acquisition of Borrow A Boat?

The focus with the business this year has been one of focusing purely on the power of the technology to automate and scale functions, which allows the business to serve existing clients well but also grow customer numbers and revenue without the team or overheads growing. We’re a tech company at the end of the day and the technology will power the growth going forward as we build market share digitising the global boating market.

How has Borrow A Boat contributed to increasing participation in boating and helping the boating industry grow since its launch in 2017?

We’ve been making it easier for anyone to go boating since 2017 when Borrow A Boat launched – and we’ve been helping boat owners since that time too, since private boat owners can list their boats for charter on Borrow A Boat enabling them to monetise and under-utilised asset when not being used, which helps pay for the costs involved in keeping a boat.

What are three essential tips you would recommend to fellow entrepreneurs for taking care of their mental health?

Getting organised, and staying organised. Typically as an entrepreneur it’s a case of there being so much to do, more than you will have time for – as typically team size will be constrained by budget, and therefore there’s always 101 things to do – this can be overwhelming if you don’t use a system to constantly organise your tasks and prioritise them. Using tools like task management software and regularly checking in on the priorities can really help in making it simpler to work through what’s got to get done.

If you could have any superpower to help you in your role as a founder, what would it be and why?

I suppose the ability to see into the future. We do the best we can with this anyway – usually a new start-up is setting out to make something better, or improve something in the future. The vision of how the business will work and how great it will be, and how it will affect a market is key to lay out – and to constantly get across to other people, from your customers, to investors, to people joining your team – so the better you are at really understanding the future needs of your relevant customers / businesses, the better you can lay out the vision for the company and take people with you.

To boat or not to boat?

To boat! Boating is a wonderful past-time – people do it for all sorts of reasons, but most people tend to like the idea of being on the water and boating in one way, shape or form. Some like the thrill of racing, or adventurous long legs in high seas with waves splashing in their face, others like to learn the skills involved of handling and sailing boats, including anchoring, mooring up, and the craft of sailing itself, getting from A to B purely under the power of the wind – whereas others like to just relax on board with friends, family, socialise, swim, snorkel, and travel and explore new countries and island chains by boat. Boating has something for everyone.

How do you believe the evolution of tech will impact your industry over the next 10 years?

I think AI is increasingly going to play a role in customer service levels, and the way things are automated – we’re already looking at a number of ways to build automation systems further with AI, and I believe it will have a dramatic effect on a lot of industries over the next 10yrs.

What plans do you have for Borrow A Boat over the next two years?

We are growing fast in a number of countries currently, and we’ll aim to keep steadily building market share and boosting customer numbers and revenue – in parallel we have an exciting new product coming out soon which will help boat owners in particular to manage their boats and facilitate their bookings… watch this space for news on that coming soon!