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# How to build a sharing economy business
- URL: https://theinspirationspace.co/how-to-build-a-sharing-economy-business/
- Published: 2026-08-21T10:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-09T10:31:02.000Z
- Description: How to turn one underused tent into a peer-to-peer marketplace - and what it takes to make a sharing model work.
- Author: Inspiration Space
- Tags: Ideas & Offers, #watch-and-learn, Watch & Learn, #resource, Strategy & Planning, Sustainability & Carbon Literacy, #webinar

Could you build a business around something people already own but rarely use?

Rebecca Heaps, founder of Tentshare, explains how she turned one underused bell tent into a peer-to-peer marketplace connecting tent owners with people who want to camp without buying more equipment.

## What you’ll learn

- How to test a marketplace without developing expensive technology
- How to balance supply and demand on a peer-to-peer platform
- How partnerships can solve gaps in the marketplace
- Where repair, cleaning and maintenance services fit
- How to protect the original purpose as the business grows
- Why sharing platforms often take longer to establish

## Watch this if

You are exploring a marketplace, rental or peer-to-peer business model and want a candid look at the practical and commercial decisions behind it.

## Chapters

- **0:00** What is the sharing economy?
- **3:29** How the idea for Tentshare began
- **5:04** Starting with an affordable marketplace platform
- **7:00** Why peer-to-peer businesses are complicated
- **8:04** Making sharing more convenient than buying
- **10:37** New business models built around existing assets
- **13:05** Balancing supply and demand
- **14:21** Solving a marketplace gap through partnership
- **16:41** Repair, maintenance and the Tent Academy
- **20:09** Keeping tents out of landfill
- **28:36** Sharing-economy opportunities beyond tents
- **33:05** When a platform stops being part of the sharing economy
- **34:31** Protecting the values behind the business
- **42:24** Do you need investment to grow?
- **44:06** Testing the model before building expensive technology
- **48:35** Learning from mistakes
- **53:13** Why sharing platforms take time to grow
- **58:36** Creating work that aligns with your values

## What to do next

Look for something people around you own but rarely use. Could access, rental, repair, maintenance, delivery or local knowledge turn that unused capacity into a useful business?