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.
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 : )
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?
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.
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.
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 think you're being a perfectionist. But I can empathise. If a design is not inspiring you, it is difficult to conjure up the mental effort to code it into a reality.
Having said that, you are iterating too much. 20 times for one page is way too much. And then redesigning from scratch again. Better to have a half decent looking product completed than a beautiful one half complete.
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.
