

Darius Monsef – COLOURlovers – 1 of 2 - dariusmonsef
http://www.founderly.com/2011/08/darius-monsef-colourlovers-1-of-2

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dariusmonsef
Probably odd submission etiquette to submit my own interview... but I did the
interview because I wanted to share some of my story with and help other
founders... and well, there are a lot of you here. Would love to answer any
other questions you might have about founding COLOURlovers, getting into YC,
raising $, building a non-profit, etc.

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tableslice
COLOURloves is probably one of my favorite web apps. We used it to create the
color palette for our startup. It comes in pretty handy for developers who
lack an understanding of color and design, but want to find an easy tool for
incorporating colors into their web service to improve the user experience.

The other thing we love about COLOURlovers is that we think Darius is kinda
crazy (in a very good way) because you have to be somewhat crazy to commit
yourself to building a product and company around something as abstract as
color. This type of behavior demonstrates both unrequited passion for the
product and the ability to envision a world that is improved by enabling
people to experience and discover color in a fun and easy way.

This type of product development requires both artistic sensibilities and
product/engineering sensibilities, which is a rare combination to find in most
entrepreneurs.

Thanks for sharing your story Bubs! And please keep the hits rolling with
COLOURlovers : )

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dariusmonsef
I'm probably a little crazy in a bad way too :)

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ecaroth
Here's a problem I have all the time as both a designer and a developer - When
I am first building a project the dev is obviously important, fun to do, and
essential to get right to use as the framework for the whole project. BUT the
design is the outlet of all your vision, the face of your new baby, and
something you think about in your sleep. How did you / do you stop obsessing
about getting design perfect and tweaking every detail, and shift focus to
development instead. I find myself pounding out dev code for a couple days
till a piece is functional, then reworking the design of that feature for a
week. How do you manage both, especially when you are working on an early
stage and/or solo project?

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alexkearns
I am the exact opposite to you. I find the design much more fun and it is what
I do first. I will usually pretty much have the design worked out before I
start any dev work, which is perhaps a bit odd given that I am a much better
coder than designer.

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ecaroth
My process usually goes like this: design main page with 20 iterations, code
20% of project, redesign main page, code another 20% of project, redesign main
page again and make some additional pages, etc... It's a vicious cycle -
though I don't think I am a bad designer by any means I think my designs just
always grow stale in the couple days I take off from design to program.

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alexkearns
A tip. Don't think too much about the design or the coding.

Instead, think about the product you're making. Make it the focus of your
imagination and energy. Imagine it complete. Dwell on the people who will be
using it. Dream of all the money that will be coming in.

I find, at least, that when your focus is on the product and completing it,
you get less distracted by redesignitus. You are more willing to put up with
minor design issues or slightly imperfect code because your primary goal is
not to create an amazing design or do beautiful coding (though both are good)
but to release a product.

I hope that makes sense!

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alexkearns
Interesting interview. Thanks. I am always interested in companies that make
products that allow others to create products (meta products, if you like).

My start-up/project - <http://www.tiki-toki.com> \- is in a similar space,
allowing people to create timelines. Thus far, I have focused mainly on the
actual product, rather than building up the community. But if colourlovers is
anything to go by, I should probably start turning my attention to the
community.

Btw, we recommend to our users that they use colourlovers.com if they want to
find a nice colour scheme for their timelines.

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ecaroth
Never seen/heard of your product before this thread but MAN is it cool. Just
wanted to throw some kudos your way!

