Erik: What makes your work meaningful?
Richard: At our core, Moo is about design, right?
I think when we talk about where we're going, we talk about our vision for the business
in the long term, right?
And our vision is great design for everyone, right?
Really simple, generic almost, but very, very -- we're very, very big, I think.
And what we're trying to do in a small way today is kind of a stepping stone on the path
to that grander vision.
We're trying to help small businesses to stand out, to look good.
We do that by -- in very simple ways, like by making little cards for them that, you
know, that are gonna be nice quality, not too expensive, and, you know, nice design.
And, you know, if I think about what we were doing when we started, it was something very
different.
I think we now discovered like a real mission, which is helping this kind of small businesses
and individuals who buy from us.
And I think without, you know, we didn't think we had a cause when we started.
That wasn't my interest, it was to make a product, but I think what we found is small
businesses really need us to help them, you know, kind of promote themselves, and I think
we've kind of become an important player and that's very meaningful to us, to be able to
help.
You know, you can sell a whole load of product.
You can sell anything, right?
You can decide to start a business and sell anything, but when your product starts becoming
useful, it starts helping people, whether you said I was going to or not, the fact that
it happens now, we are incredibly conscious of the fact that -- sometimes our product
is the difference between a small business, you know, making a deal or not making it -- it's
only a business card, it's only a small thing.
So thinking in the now, in the moment, in the short term, we're helping little businesses
stand out, we're helping, you know, companies to make an impression to other small companies,
and that's cool, that's meaningful in a small sense.
I think where we're going is something even bigger than that and more exciting.
The examples I'm always giving internally are -- and like them or loathe them, IKEA
has changed the living room, okay?
It's changed.
In the UK, they did an ad campaign that's called chuck out your chintz'.
You know, all those doilies, and, you know, old furniture and things, and IKEA really
revolutionized what the living room looks like in the world.
It brought Scandinavian design at low cost to the world.
And I think that's a fascinating -- I don't know whether they set out to do that, but
they've made people's lives and environments look that little bit nicer, you know, feel
better about themselves, you know, whatever.
And I think what we're trying to do with design, and graphic design, print design, we launched
a logo product partnership with HP recently, so it's a logo design, and we're building
out that portfolio of design products that will help small businesses look great in a
way that's accessible, that has never been accessible before.
The revolution that I try to describe, and this is a pretty tenuous argument, but I talk
to people about Mad Men, right?
And if you look at -- if you watch Mad Men, you see this explosion in the US, in the kind
of '50s and '60s, where big business discovered that design and great copywriting could transform
their brands into things that more people wanted to kind of buy, or shop with, or whatever.
And for 50 years this sort of TV-industrial complex, you know, they put ads on TV, people
would, you know, has been the preserve of these big corporations.
But today you can use technology to purchase design in the form of business cards that
we make today.
The tiny micro-businesses, businesses of one person can leverage design and technology
like Moo to stand out, to become a brand, you know, to be different, to be all the things
that big businesses want to be.
You know, those tools have just become way, way more accessible.
So I think our future mission is, is helping great design be accessible for everyone.
You know, great design for everyone is where we're going.
And I think where IKEA have made the living rooms of the world look that little bit more
stylish, we want to help small businesses do the same thing for their brand, for their
identity, and make them feel good about themselves.
You know, everyone who starts a business has a passion for something.
It doesn't matter what it is.
It could be running a fast food restaurant.
It could be being a cleaner.
It could be being a taxi driver.
It's all, you know, you go and work for yourself.
It's an incredibly empowering and amazing, you know, moment when you start your first
business.
We wanna help them look as good as possible and be, you know, be the best they can be.
We help -- we use design, we use print, and those are kind of tools of our trade.