Today I dropped in to the London OpenCoffee Club to meet up with Dennis Howlett, Sam Sethi and some others. While I was introducing Dennis to Cristiano Betta and Stephen McCurry, Cristiano handed over one of those cool, small business cards that I’ve seen bloggers use. Dennis showed his and they started to discuss the pictures they’d chosen for the back. I started to ask the where and the how and the pricing, when a tall guy popped his head amongst our group and said:
“Where did you get those then?”
Dennis started to explain that they come from MOO, when the guy smiled , apologised and explained that he was Richard Moross the founder and CEO of MOO.com. He obviously gets quite a kick out of seeing his product in action, and the experience of the way bloggers share the concept, as well as handing over their contact details. He spends very little on marketing, so the buzz on the product is being spread in classic, viral, word of mouth fashion by bloggers and technology early adopters, just like we did today.
We quizzed Richard about his company. He explained the “secret, special sauce” is the way they handle the digital printing of the cards so that you can have a different photograph on every single one if you fancy. The key differentiator is the size. They are a cool, small size (28mm x 70mm mincards), targeted at bloggers and young people. They keep their costs low, with distribution from their base in Clerkenwell (in London) via the main Royal Mail Mount Pleasant sorting office near by. The other thing that differentiates them, Richard said, is the usability of the web site. He explained that one of their significant but best value investments was £10,000 spent with an agency to get the design of the process in to four slick steps. That sets them apart from the likes of VistaPrint, who might be low cost with more products, but navigating and using their site, uploading graphics or laying out text is hardly a pleasant experience. MOO’s a very different story - seductively straightforward. Richard plans to add products like card holders, and he has some new things lined up for Christmas, but at the moment the company is steadily growing. He proudly proclaimed that their products have now been delivered to 143 different countries. I was impressed by both the guy, and his product, and within a relatively short time (because delivery is really quick) I’ll be handing out MOO cards of my own. Cool!
