How Two College Roommates Built a $3.5M Warhammer Marketplace
Will Hanna and Zak Singh never imagined their late-night Warhammer battles in a cramped Cambridge dorm would spark a $3.5 million startup. As college roommates bonded over painting intricate miniatures and strategizing epic tabletop wars, they stumbled upon a painful truth: buying and selling these tiny masterpieces was a nightmare.
Early Days: From Dorm Room Skirmishes to Startup Spark
Will and Zak met as freshmen at Cambridge University in 2022, thrown together by random roommate assignment. Will, a computer science major with a knack for coding, had grown up assembling plastic kits into fantastical armies. Zak, studying economics, discovered Warhammer through Will's endless boxes of minis cluttering their shared space. What started as casual games evolved into all-nighters, glue fumes filling the air as they meticulously detailed Space Marines and Orks.
By their junior year, frustration set in. Will wanted to upgrade his collection but found eBay listings buried under spam, Facebook groups riddled with scams, and shipping costs eating half the value of a $50 miniature. Zak, ever the analyst, crunched numbers: the global Warhammer market hovered around $1 billion annually, yet collectors relied on fragmented platforms built for sneakers or comics, not delicate 28mm figures requiring special packaging.
"We'd spend hours hunting for that one rare Necron warrior, only to get ghosted by sellers or pay extortionate fees. It hit us—why doesn't this hobby have its own marketplace?" — Will Hanna, recalling the dorm epiphany.
In early 2025, during a particularly grueling exam week, they prototyped Miniswap on a whim. Will hacked together a simple web app using React and a basic auction system, while Zak sketched seller verification flows. They launched a bare-bones MVP to their local Warhammer club, offering free listings for feedback. The response was electric: 50 sign-ups in 48 hours, but reality quickly crashed the party.
Initial challenges piled up. Payment processors balked at "toy soldiers," flagging transactions as suspicious. Custom packaging proved elusive—minis arrived shattered without foam inserts. User acquisition stalled; their Instagram ads targeting "Warhammer 40k" yielded trolls and zero conversions. Worst, trust was nonexistent: a flood of fake listings eroded early momentum. Will and Zak burned through £2,000 in savings, sleeping three hours a night while balancing theses and part-time jobs.
One low point came when a viral Reddit thread called Miniswap "another scam site," tanking sign-ups overnight. They debated quitting, but a single heartfelt email from a seller—a dad gifting his son a custom army—reignited their fire.
Key Milestones: Traction, YC, and the Big Raise
- First Customers (March 2025): Pivoting to niche Discord servers, they onboarded 200 verified sellers. First sale: a painted Primaris Captain for £120. Revenue trickled in at £500/month, but retention soared—90% repeat buyers praised the clean interface.
- Pivot to Community-First (May 2025): Realizing auctions alienated casual traders, they shifted to fixed-price listings with built-in escrow. Added "Mini-Verifier," an AI tool scanning photos for authenticity. Downloads spiked 400% after a Games Workshop store shoutout.
- First Real Revenue (July 2025): Hit £10k/month as word spread via Warhammer YouTubers. Partnered with specialist shippers for "MiniSafe" boxes, slashing damage claims by 95%. Broke even, quit their barista gigs.
- Y Combinator Acceptance (August 2025): As part of YC's Fall 2025 cohort, they refined their pitch: "Etsy for epic battles." Demo Day wowed investors with 5,000 active users and £50k MRR. Landed $3.5M led by Funder's Club, with Spot VC and Pioneer Fund joining, valuing Miniswap at $15M post-money.
Post-funding, growth exploded. Miniswap expanded beyond Warhammer to Infinity and Bolt Action, hitting 20,000 users. They hired their first employee—a fellow Cambridge alum for ops—and opened a London office. By year-end, annualized revenue topped $1M, with 2% take rates on $50M in GMV.
"YC was our boot camp. We went from dorm hackers to a real team, learning that speed trumps perfection every time." — Zak Singh on the YC transformation.
Lessons Learned: Battle-Tested Advice for Founders
- Build for your obsessed users first. Will and Zak ignored broad marketplaces, laser-focusing on Warhammer diehards. Their MVP solved acute pains like fragile shipping, creating evangelists who spread the word organically. Early founders often chase mass appeal; start niche to dominate.
- Trust is your moat in marketplaces. Scams killed their launch, so they invested in seller badges, AI verification, and escrow from day one. Result: 99.8% satisfaction. Lesson: Spend on friction reducers upfront—it's cheaper than rebuilding reputation.
- Pivot ruthlessly, but preserve your core vision. Auctions to fixed-price was painful, but they kept the "hobby-first" ethos. YC demo day forced weekly iterations; founders should treat pivots as experiments, not failures.
Today, Miniswap stands as a beacon for "complex hobbies," proving roommates with glue-stained fingers can conquer fragmented markets. Will and Zak still play weekly games, now in their sleek office, minis arrayed like trophies of their improbable rise.
What is your biggest takeaway from Will and Zak's journey? Have you built something from a shared passion, or faced a similar marketplace hurdle? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
