Meet The Founder

Hi, I'm Joe.

First of all, thank you for being here. Whether you've been with WinHive from the very beginning or you've only just found us, I wanted to take a little time to introduce myself and tell you how all this came about.

I'm 29 years old, and alongside running WinHive I work as a registered nurse in mental health. I've always been someone who gets a lot of happiness from making other people happy. It might sound simple, but knowing you've made somebody's day a little brighter really does mean something to me. It's part of why I love my job, and it's also a big part of why I started WinHive.

Now, the name itself has a rather ridiculous backstory. Believe it or not, I'm absolutely terrified of wasps. I'm talking about the sort of dramatic performance where everything stops the moment one enters the room. Somehow, while I was thinking of names for the website, WinHive popped into my head. I liked the idea of a hive being somewhere lots of people come together, each playing their own little part in building something bigger. I thought it was perfect. As for the wasps, I'm still working on that fear!

I'd seen big competition companies like Omaze and BOTB on the television, offering these amazing houses, cars and huge prizes. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to win a million-pound house as much as anyone. But I kept thinking about the sheer number of people who enter and how difficult it can be for somebody to have that lovely feeling of actually winning.

That's when the idea really started to grow. What if I could make a website where the smaller wins mattered just as much? A little gadget, something nice for the house, some Hive Credit, or maybe even a holiday one day. Sometimes it isn't about how much something costs. It's that moment you see you've won, have a little smile to yourself and feel like something good has happened.

I know not everyone can win every competition, and as WinHive grows the chances will change as more people enter. But my hope has always been to give as many people as possible a chance to enjoy that winning feeling in one way or another. That's the dream behind it.

Before I launched the website, I spent a lot of time researching the prize draw industry. One thing that stood out to me was how important a genuine free postal entry route is. I didn't want ours to feel like a line in the small print. We use a dedicated business address to handle postal entries, and I built a system so valid entries are registered properly and entrants receive an email confirming they've been entered. If someone chooses the free route, I want them to feel just as respected as somebody entering online.

I also worked hard to follow the guidance in the DCMS Voluntary Code of Good Practice for Prize Draw Operators. I contacted the relevant Government department, asked questions and spent a lot of time thinking through fairness, transparency and the way our draws operate. I'm proud that WinHive is publicly listed as a signatory to the Code. That isn't a Government certification of every part of the website, but it is a commitment I've taken seriously. I've also invested in independent reviews and carry out regular checks because I know trust has to be earned, not just promised.

Once I'd started building the competitions, I found myself wondering why visiting a competition website should only be about spending money. What about the days when you don't fancy entering anything, but still want something fun to do?

That's where the Hive came from. The idea that you could collect your daily bees, earn Honey, find little decorations and build your own unique place without having to make a deposit. Seeing the different Hives people have created is genuinely one of my favourite things. And getting to give somebody £10 Hive Credit through the monthly leaderboard is another lovely excuse to make someone's day.

Then I started thinking about people who would like to join in but don't want to spend their hard-earned money. Life is expensive enough, isn't it? That's why I looked into rewarded surveys. The idea is to let people complete available surveys and earn Hive Credit to use on WinHive instead. Where a qualifying survey earns WinHive 30p, my aim is to give the member that same 30p value in Hive Credit, according to the reward shown. It's a way for people to participate without needing to put money in, and I'm really pleased we can offer that.

Something I feel very strongly about is keeping things safe. Working in mental health has shown me how important it is to notice when something that should be enjoyable might be becoming a worry. I never want somebody spending more than they can afford because of WinHive. We've introduced customer protection checks that can flag concerning activity for review, and I want to keep improving those safeguards. This is meant to be fun. The moment it starts causing somebody stress, we've missed the point.

To everyone with an OG tag on your account, I also want to say a proper thank you. That little tag means you were one of our first 150 members. You were here when the website was still finding its feet and I was probably changing something every five minutes. You took a chance on something small and new, and your messages, entries, surveys and feedback helped make it real. I won't forget that.

As the community has grown, I've wanted to find more ways for us to do something positive together. That's how Hive For Good started. It lets members choose to give even a tiny bit of Hive Credit towards a featured charity. Even 1p matters. I love the idea that all these little contributions from different people can add up to something really meaningful.

And I think there's one more thing that's important for you to know about me. I'm not a millionaire, and I'm certainly not a big company with a huge team behind me. I'm a nurse, a husband and somebody who had an idea he really believed in. There have been a lot of late nights, frustrating problems and moments where I've had to learn things the hard way, but I care so much about what I'm building.

I didn't start WinHive because I wanted to get rich. My aim is to put as much as I can back into the website, the prizes and new ways for people to have fun. I want this to be somewhere you come because you enjoy it, not somewhere you come back to with a feeling of dread. A lovely little community where you feel welcome, listened to and hopefully, every now and again, very lucky.

Of course, WinHive isn't perfect. Neither am I. I'll make mistakes, learn from them and keep trying to make the website better. But I don't want us to lose the personal side of things as we grow. I want you to know there's a real person here who genuinely cares about the people visiting.

If you've got feedback, an idea, a suggestion or you just fancy a chat, please email me at joe@winhive.co.uk. I can't always reply as quickly as I'd like because of my nursing job, but I really do appreciate hearing from you.

So thank you. Thank you for reading my story, for giving WinHive a chance and for helping me turn what was once just an idea into something real. I hope it brings you a little excitement, a little happiness and maybe a lovely winning moment. And if it makes your day just that little bit brighter, then that's exactly what I started it for.