Behind the scenes at mydeco.com

After selling lastminute.com for $1.1 billion dollars, Brent Hoberman found himself struggling to do up a family home in London. Realising that there was a gap in the market, he set about revolutionising the way we shop for our interiors, investing heavily in a website that would allow homeowners to recreate their rooms in 3D virtual reality and visualise for the first time how potential purchases would look. In 2007, mydeco.com was launched and today has a thriving online community, where members of the public write blogs, post photos and share tips on design and diy. Its online magazine is widely credited as having the last word on what's hot and what's not in the world of interiors - a fact due in no small part to its Features Editor, Annie Deakin. So what's it like to work for Brent Hoberman? What does the office look like? Are there any perks to the job? Annie gives us the low down on life behind the scenes at mydeco.

INTERVIEW

When did you start working for mydeco.com?

January 2008.

How did you get the job?

I'd been writing full time for ES Magazine for three years and fancied a change so went freelance. I loved it - writing from home, choosing my own hours - I re-found my freedom. From hitching a lift with greasy truckers for a story in The Independent to interviewing Jade Jagger for Harrods Magazine, my work was very varied - and best of all, I could choose what to write about. I was writing freelance for mydeco.com when I got a call asking if I'd be interested in a full time position. I'm hopeless at saying no.

Tell me about what it was like when you first started?

I was totally overwhelmed after my first meeting. Everyone was talking in another language - IE, UI, PPP, RSS... the jargon meant nothing to me and I was managing a team of five. On my first day, David Kelly, our CEO (former COO of ebay and operations director of amazon) took me out for pizza. He told me that for the magazine to survive, I would have to fight my case every single day. The magazine is one of seven departments on the site. He quoted examples at ebay and amazon when employees would battle out to have their stories featured on the homepage. It's taught me to be pushy.

How do you think mydeco.com has changed the way we shop for our interiors?

mydeco.com makes it easier for you to decorate your home in your own unique style. From the comfort of your armchair, you can shop over 650 retailers from the big names like John Lewis and Heal's to independent designers like Tina Tsang. You can get trend advice and read interviews with leading designers like Marc Newson and Kelly Hoppen. We want to democratise design by bringing it to a street level. You can test out what you want before buying with our 3D tool; you can furnish a photo of your bedroom with wallpaper and ‘try' out new furniture on your floor plan to scale.

What is it like working for Brent Hoberman?

Exhilarating - and exhausting ! He is well known for being a brilliant boss - there's always a lot of teeth (he's always grinning) and a lot of ‘Why haven't you done this yet?' and ‘It can't be that hard...' when he's asking the (near) impossible. I learnt quickly that Brent's expectations have no limits - in his eyes, mydeco.com will take over the world! Ultimately, it says much about his managerial skills that much of the mydeco.com team worked under him at lastminute.com. He makes you want to work hard. Our motto is: sleep next week.

Martha Lane-Fox (co-founder of lastminute.com) is non-executive director of mydeco.com. How often does she pop into the office and what is she like?

Martha is very involved with the marketing and branding side of the company. She attends regular board and advisory meetings. Everything she says makes sense - you can never believe that you didn't think of it yourself! She really inspires the team with her ideas… and her karaoke nights at Lucky Voice are fab. Everyone starts humming in the office on Friday afternoons in anticipation to a singing session at Lucky Voice!

You must have spoken to loads of interior designers as features editor at mydeco.com. Who has been the most inspiring and why?

I'm very fond of Barbara Hulaniki, who founded Biba in the Seventies. She lives in Miami but we can chat on the phone for hours. Last time we spoke, she told me all about getting caught up in a hurricane and dancing with The Rolling Stones. Philippe Starck is a legend in his own way; when I first met him, he asked me how often I had sex in a day - talk about breaking the ice. He is fantastically French and flamboyant. But as for an icon, Sir Terence Conran has such a twinkle in his eye and understands the design world better than anyone out there - he's been in the industry for over 50 years. Conran always speaks so wisely and gently - you'd be hard pushed to find a cross word about him.

Describe your average day in the office.

Dash to the office clutching a skinny Americano and wolf down a yoghurt while my computer loads up. If it's Monday or Friday, I have morning meetings to run through the metrics (traffic, conversion etc). Other days, I crack on writing and editing stories for the website, planning the weekly newsletter, giving quotes to journalists on trend patterns, writing my weekly column for The Independent and keeping an eye on images across the site.

What is the best thing about working for mydeco.com?

Experimenting. Because of the nature of a start-up, we're always testing out new methods to see what works best. Each team member is carving out their own path meaning we all have enormous freedom and scope for fresh ideas and new tools. I have a print background and love the immediacy with which I can tell how many people read each article and which words work best in headlines on the website.

And the worst?

Waking up in the middle of the night panicking about a broken link in a story. I can never switch off - my laptop never leaves my side these days!

Describe the office itself.

We've been working in a temporary short term office since launch but we are moving to somewhere more permanent which we can make our home. I'd love to say my desk was slick and our room was immaculate but it's more of a pigsty with papers flying everywhere. The one redeeming feature is the walls, which are covered in incredible 3D room designs and magazine cuttings.

Are there any perks to the job?

Working from home for the odd day or afternoon is a real indulgence. I spent a glorious sunny day in Paris courtesy of Habitat recently... oh, and there's always chocolate and fruit in the office.

Describe your best moment during your time so far as features editor.

Confirming my weekly design column (800 words) for The Independent. I still get a buzz when papers like The Financial Times and Daily Mail call me for quotes about interior trends. And, I won't forget the first time we sent our first newsletter out - it was 8 hours overdue but better late than never!

And what about the worst?

A fire alarm going off when we were on deadline. There was Wi-Fi on the pavement - our business manager Annabel Kilner was crunching deals with her laptop resting on a bollard on Victoria Street. Hence, her nickname ‘Briefcase' among her friends. Tech issues drive me demented and I don't love cancelling commitments because of work.

With the credit crunch and rising costs, the interiors market must be suffering along with everything else. In your capacity as Features Editor, have you noticed any changes in the way that people are approaching their interiors?

It's the classic cliché of don't move, improve. I've noticed a rocketing increase in DIY subjects - wallpaper is one of our most clicked on terms (bird designs being particularly popular). It seems people really want to make their home more of a home. When your house becomes less an investment and more a home, you're more likely to put up expensive wallpaper and buy beautiful furniture.

As Features Editor of mydeco.com magazine what is your main objective?

To be bang on trend, to educate my readers about good design and track down affordable yet stylish products. Online magazines are fairly new. The scope for opportunity is much bigger than for print. I aim to spark dialogues, debate and insight from our community. We want to democratize design and help people have confidence in their own decorating skills. I want to spread the word about mydeco in national and regional press - it's exciting watching the business grow from strength to strength.

Interview by Emily Jenkinson

To read The Good Web Guide's review for mydeco.com, click here. To read the mydeco Magazine, click here.

26th September 2008