How ‘word of card’ helped MOO grow into a successful business
MOO founder Richard Moross
MOO started out as a very different business than what it is today. Founder Richard Moross originally had the idea for a social network with calling cards as the business model – users stored their personal information online, and gave out cards with alphanumeric codes that gave recipients access to your info. That version didn’t take off. “It obviously didn’t work in the way I thought it would, but people loved the cards, so I focused on being a cool service for other people’s social networks,” he says. Moross now describes MOO as an online printing company – one that has nothing to do with cows. They print custom business cards, their popular MiniCards, and other products like postcards.
MOO MiniCards
Although he started the London-based company when he was only four years out of college, it wasn’t Moross’ first experience with a startup. His first job was in a startup that didn’t work out, and he learned what it feels like when things go wrong. “I didn’t want to see that happen with MOO,” he says. “Fear can be a good motivator.” One of the most important things for him was cultivating a great team. “Finding great people is always challenging, and can take a long time to find real superstars,” Moross says. “We’ve got an awesome team at MOO, super-smart and all really nice people.”
Since MOO’s launch in 2004 they’ve launched successful partnerships with sites like Flickr (Moross says the Flickr integration really made the company take off), and expanded to over 180 countries. They print millions of their cards every month and have raised over $5 million in venture capital funding. Now that MOO is growing rapidly, Moross thinks it’s important to maintain a startup atmosphere (they currently have almost 50 employees). He does this by keeping things challenging, giving people big responsibilities and acting like a small business – he advises other entrepreneurs to act like a startup even if you’re getting big, and to make sure your team goes to the pub regularly after work.
Part of MOO’s popularity can be attributed to the fact that each card is unique, almost like a collector’s item. Individuals can print cards with a variety of designs using their own photos. These cards are a talking point, and Moross says that has contributed to the company’s success. “So much of our success has come from our customers telling their colleagues and friends about us, and MOO has spread around the world fueled by strong word of mouth,” he says. “We call it ‘word of card.’” He says that their team focuses their efforts on making great products, and their customers do the rest.
For any entrepreneurs that are in the place he was when he was starting MOO he says to do one simple thing: focus. “Find the five most important things to do for your business and do them brilliantly, everything else can wait. As Jim Barksdale said ‘the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.’” The main thing for MOO this year is fixing. “The company is doing extremely well: we’re profitable and growing rapidly. 2010 is a year of fixing for us, upgrading our systems and updating our products,” he says. “Beyond that, I see nothing slowing us down, it’s a big market and we’re tackling it on several continents. We’re going to continue to make great, high quality print products, grow our customer base and diversify our offering.” Oh, and one other important requirement: “have lots of fun along the way.”
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6 Responses to “How ‘word of card’ helped MOO grow into a successful business”
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Moo cards were an unlikely phenomenon because of their size. People love them because they are of such high quality and un-businesslike, however, I
I’ve always been impressed by the design quality offered by MOO. Such a simple service, yet it’s revolutionary and fresh.
What a great niche business! I love the concept.
Do anyone know if they ship in Canada (at a relative good price)?
Hey Christian,
They certainly do ship to Canada. We printed our private beta invite codes on Moo cards, and they ship quickly.
Hope that helps, and that you give them a try!
Cheers,
Erin
Have been a big fan of Moo cards since a friend first showed me his little ‘box’ of them – in fact, we just got a whole lot of cards for a client who’s relaunching their brand identity. They have all different-coloured backs, and they’re very tactile – apparently even boring finance managers express delight, if you can believe it.
Have used Moo cards for several clients now and am quite happy. The only drawback is the shipping/customs fees, which drive up the price quite a bit. And the text doesn’t always turn out perfectly crisp – it’s like the cards are printed on top of the laminate or something (and yes, we used high-res files – I’ve seen the same problem on cards that we didn’t set up, too).
Anyway, Moo cards do deliver nice wow factor in the moment!
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