MoodShare is a tool for creative professionals which solves the thorny problem of not being able to read other people’s minds. Instead, we believe that collaborative mood boards are the best way to get consensus around an idea and it’s execution.

MoodShare was conceived in the Summer of 2009 out of my frustration with certain parts of the creative process. Six weeks later, I had quit my job as Associate Creative Director of R/GA London with no Technical Co-Founder, but no end of stubborn determination to see it made.

In early 2010 James Robb joined as my co-founder, and by March that year we were one of the 80 teams (selected from over 1,000 applications) pitching to Paul Graham at YCombinator.

It has been a roller-coaster ever since, and we have learnt the hard way why there’s lots of talk within adland about creating product but very little action. Quite simply, there is a vast gulf of understanding between knowing how to make (and be willing to support) digital products as opposed to knowing how to make advertising. To say that we’ve learnt a lot would be a phenomenal understatement.

We went closed Alpha in December 2010 and open Beta in March 2011, just in time to present as part of the UK Trade & Investment delegation to SXSWi. We grew 1200% that month, and since then we have been growing consistently at 35% month-on-month.

Welcome to the end of the beginning :)

MoodShare. Selling ideas just got easier

The-Affair was the first fashion brand in the world to be inspired exclusively by literature.

Co-founded by myself and David Black in late 2007, the brand is a response to the mindless mindless hip-hop and pop cultural references that define streetwear. We decided instead to recognise and target the discerning intellect of men who read.

With no experience in e-commerce, yet no intention of creating a traditional wholesale business model, we applied what we knew about building other people’s brands online to our own.

Knowing that we would have no physical presence on the high-street, we created the first version of the website based on the simple insight that fitting rooms have full length mirrors for a reason. We decided to shoot every model in glorious 360 degrees to mimic the actual experience of trying the shirts on. It was awarded the FWA Site of the Day, and suddenly we had a business.

Since then it has been a daily roller-coaster of gut-feeling, wrong assumptions, expensive mistakes, innumerous long nights and weekends. But I wouldn’t trade the experience of seeing strangers wearing your product for all the money in the world.

The-Affair. Fashioned by Literature