Pulling into the parking lot of Gone.com‘s headquarters at an office park just south of Seattle, I knew this wasn’t going to be a typical startup visit.
The company’s CEO and co-founder, Yash Wagh, greeted me as I entered a converted warehouse space filled with furniture, desk chairs, home decor, and thousands of other used items ready for resale.
Wagh, a former supply chain leader at Amazon, teamed up with OfferUp co-founders Nick Huzar and Arean van Veelen to launch a logistics-driven marketplace reimagining the secondhand goods economy.
“Someone else’s trash is our treasure,” Wagh said.
Gone recently emerged from stealth. It raised a $6.3 million seed round led by Seattle-area firm FUSE, with Breakwater Ventures, Evergreen Gavekal, TiE Angels, Tampa Bay Ventures, OneSixOne Ventures, and other angels participating. Jeff Hill and Ben Hoskins of 1-800-GOT-JUNK also invested.
It’s easier than ever to buy something online with a single click. But getting rid of stuff isn’t as seamless.
Gone addresses this problem by offering free pickups of reusable goods, using its own trucks as well as third-party delivery partners. The company leverages AI to help determine which products to collect, how to price them, and to optimize supply chain logistics.
Products are resold through various channels: Gone’s online shop, its storefront in Renton, Wash., and third-party platforms like OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist.
“Our concept is to unlock the value that is sitting in people’s homes,” Wagh said.
Wagh said the ability to pick up items for free, paired with its automation technology, gives Gone an edge over existing junk haulers and thrift stores.
The startup shares some similarities to OfferUp, the popular used goods marketplace based in nearby Bellevue, Wash. But it tackles a different part of the “re-commerce” experience.
“OfferUp works well for selling individual items,” said Huzar. “But if you want an entire office cleared out or need to clear a large space quickly, Gone is the easy button. A truck shows up and it’s gone.”
Gone is averaging 20-to-25 pickups a week — enough to keep its 12,000-square-foot hub in Renton filled to the brim. It’s now shifting focus to the demand side, aiming to drive foot traffic and e-commerce sales.
It’s also exploring partnerships with movers, real estate agents, and office liquidators.
Gone is using Seattle as a sandbox and ironing out its business model before expanding to other cities. It has 16 employees.
Huzar stepped down as CEO of OfferUp in 2021 and later launched a nonprofit focused on the climate change impacts from consumption, sparked in part from his interest in “circularity,” or the local movement of goods. He’s also co-founder of Juicer, a new Seattle startup selling EV charging infrastructure.
van Veelen, who stepped down as OfferUp’s CTO in 2017, is chief experience officer at Gone.
Wagh first reached out to Huzar with a cold message on LinkedIn. They eventually developed the idea behind Gone after driving around Seattle and picking up used items from people desperate to get rid of their stuff.
Inside Gone’s warehouse, Wagh pointed to a wood-sculpted console table formed from gnarled tree roots. It looked like something from a high-end design catalog — but like everything at Gone, it was salvaged.
The table sits at the entrance of Gone’s warehouse, positioned just below a mossy wall decor with the company’s logo embedded prominently in the center.
Wagh said it reminds him of the sustainability-focused mission behind Gone: to help shift consumer buying habits in an effort to reduce emissions and promote circular consumption.
“Buying new can feel psychologically good,” he said. “But it’s not good for the planet.”
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