It is a Tuesday morning in Brighton, and illustrator Leon Edler is sitting in his studio, wanting again at seven years of spectacular errors. The sort of errors that price cash, psychological well being, and really practically a enterprise that individuals genuinely cherished.
When Leon and his enterprise companion Chris Clarke launched RoomFifty—an internet store promoting restricted version prints by main illustrators—they made £25,000 of their first three weeks. The enterprise continued to be well-liked and broadly acclaimed over the following seven years. And but behind the scenes, the founders wrestled with large blind spots and a seeming incapacity to deal with the industrial aspect of working a enterprise.
They by no means paid themselves, haemorrhaged cash on tech they could not repair, and stayed in what one in all them described as “an abusive relationship” with their very own enterprise.
Then Leon shut the doorways. Had a breakdown. Obtained identified. And discovered what they’d been doing fallacious all alongside.
Warning: This is not a redemption story wrapped in inspirational Instagram quotes. It is a forensic examination of how two gifted creatives constructed one thing folks cherished, then systematically destroyed it by way of a mix of naivety, psychological well being struggles, and the error of pondering that being good at making issues means you are good at working issues.
The launch (and the primary mistake)
October 2017. Six weeks from preliminary thought to launch. RoomFifty—an internet store promoting restricted version prints by 50 of the world’s greatest illustrators and designers—opens its digital doorways. The response is fast. £25,000 in three weeks. Illustrator Leon Edler and designer Chris Clarke are shocked.
“I realised that I did not need to run a store full time,” Leon admits now. “I needed to attract and write.” So that they employed a store supervisor. Then one other. And stepped again from the day-to-day working of a enterprise that desperately wanted its founders’ consideration.
RoomFifty was well-liked and well-respected, and was featured in publications corresponding to The Observer and The Instances. They even labored with the Design Museum. However as soon as the enjoyable, artistic stuff was achieved—launching new seasons, collaborations, thrilling initiatives—Leon and Chris would lose curiosity. They appeared to have a complete incapacity to take a look at spreadsheets or speak to accountants. And that is what makes a enterprise viable.
“We would get excited by large initiatives and fully ignore the day-to-day working of a enterprise,” admits Leon. “Regardless of that, we had been effectively revered by folks within the business—we had been used as an unofficial illustration company by artwork administrators on the lookout for the very best artists. We had been contacted by firms desirous to work with us for our concepts and curatorial expertise. There are such a lot of swanky design workplaces with RoomFifty on the partitions.”
“By 2024, except for the artwork being quite a bit higher than most locations, there was nothing distinctive concerning the enterprise,” says Leon. “After we launched, a variety of comparable firms sprang up and, truthfully, except for the artwork, they had been doing it higher.”
The shiny object (and the second mistake)
By 2020, they’d cash within the financial institution. Reasonably than consolidating what they’d constructed, they’d an thought for a sister firm: MakeRoom, a platform the place artists may promote prints fulfilled by RoomFifty. Add your recordsdata, embed a store in your web site, they usually’d deal with printing, packing and delivery. Throughout a pandemic, when artists had been struggling, it appeared excellent. Artists cherished it. So Leon and Chris spent months creating the idea and paid a growth firm all their cash to construct it.
“We had this tech startup that had no cash and no tech data,” Leon says. Then, in July 2020, Leon was identified with testicular most cancers. Surgical procedure on the Friday after a Wednesday prognosis. No chemo wanted, however the isolation of getting most cancers throughout a pandemic triggered extreme nervousness.
“Nobody tells you ways boring nervousness is,” he displays. “It simply would not shut the fuck up, saying the identical factor again and again. And it is all conspiracy theories about your self.”
In the meantime, RoomFifty was being uncared for. Two companies, two founders with day jobs, and an underpaid supervisor with no tech data, making an attempt to maintain every thing working. When issues went fallacious—and with tech, they all the time do—they could not repair it shortly or cheaply.
“Customer support has all the time been actually essential to us,” says Leon. “Not offering the service you need and letting folks down feels horrible.”
The departure (and the third mistake)
In 2022, their supervisor, Ellie, give up. She needed a traditional job that paid correctly and wasn’t chaotic. Leon took over, however RoomFifty wasn’t bringing within the cash it as soon as had. Even when some issues went effectively, they did issues fallacious. “Regardless of intervals the place we had cash within the financial institution, we by no means paid ourselves,” displays Leon. “It appears mad now. We did not even issue it into our prices.”
A part of this, he thinks, was a sense that being artists working a enterprise was someway “a bit scummy”. They’d somewhat fund issues just like the Younger Upstart Competitors—free for illustrators to enter, with a money prize for winners.
“Doing all that stuff is nice, however I’ve realised that in the event you do not pay your self, or plan to, you finally develop into resentful of the work you set into it, and so you do not work as laborious as you would, and so gross sales begin to fall.”
After six months of Leon working every thing alongside his personal illustration work, they’d had sufficient. They regarded for a companion to run each companies. They discovered a London agency that did printing and growth. However with out going into particulars, the 2 firms weren’t a great match for one another, and the partnership ultimately bumped into the bottom.
The timing was terrible. Chris had had a child, they usually had been anticipating one other. Leon was going by way of a divorce. In September 2024, they closed RoomFifty. “I felt this large reduction,” says Leon. “I felt calm.”
Then the emails began arriving. Artists and clients mentioned how unhappy they had been. There was nonetheless monumental goodwill for what RoomFifty represented—even when the execution had struggled.
The relaunch, and the breakdown
Leon began planning a relaunch. Closing down RoomFifty had allowed him to see it objectively for the primary time, and he may see once more the way it could possibly be distinctive in 2025. The way it ought to come again and the way it could possibly be totally different to all the opposite print outlets that had sprung up in its wake.
“We might have extra of a voice and a face,” Leon explains. “I really feel like RoomFifty is curated and sort. We do promote the very best work; we do have the very best artists. We all know them personally as a result of we’re working artists and designers. That signifies that we all know what artists need and tips on how to current that work. However we are able to additionally do extra—extra providers, extra content material. However none of that must be po-faced. It may be enjoyable and fascinating.”
His thoughts buzzed with concepts. He gained again artists who’d left, discovered new ones, and secured dream collaborators. It was going brilliantly.
Then every thing caught up with him. A breakdown on the town. Could not cease crying, could not breathe. Suicidal ideas. He moved in together with his dad and mom, went on antidepressants, and was referred for an ADHD evaluation.
“I believe it was solely after the divorce that I actually skilled the worst results of it,” he explains. “My marriage stored my world small and easy—it was actually simply work and youngsters. And whereas that alone might be unfulfilling—little or no free time, hobbies or socialising—in some methods it suited my mind. There wasn’t a lot to ruminate over.”
Publish-divorce, making an attempt to handle two kids, a contract profession, a writing profession, a failing enterprise, a home transfer and the trauma of the divorce course of; “it was like opening the door on a airplane. The whole lot simply got here speeding in and I could not cope any extra.”
The ADHD prognosis modified every thing. He stopped beating himself up about what he could not do. He understood why RoomFifty had failed. He wanted a enterprise companion with a real stake, somebody with all the skills he lacked.
The answer (and the brand new starting)
As a substitute of making a refined pitch deck, Leon despatched out a primary PDF. This is what I am good at. This is what I am horrible at. This is what I’ll and will not do. This is the potential. The response was outstanding. Extra curiosity than any earlier shiny presentation. And the right companion turned out to be sitting in the identical Leeds studio the place Leon had been working for a 12 months: Chris Cox from Made By Bridge.
“He confirmed how a lot he cherished the thought and the potential and what he would give to it,” says Leon. “We get on rather well, he’s actually expert, he loves and understands the enterprise, and there may be lastly a state of affairs the place all features are taken care of. We’ve actually learnt from all of the errors we made, and it feels now, practically eight years in, that RoomFifty may lastly attain its potential. It is obtained three folks working it, who like one another, have fully totally different expertise and completely respect one another for what they do.”
The brand new RoomFifty launches this month. Not only a print store, however a enterprise with providers, assets and ambitions past promoting stunning issues. “It is going to be private and enjoyable however skilled and tremendous top quality,” Leon guarantees. “There can be one thing for everybody and a few actually high-end stuff.”
What they realized
The teachings are brutally easy. Pay your self from the beginning, or resentment will rot your motivation. Do not construct what you’ll be able to’t preserve. Rent individuals who fill your gaps, not simply people who find themselves accessible. Perceive your personal mind earlier than making an attempt to know enterprise. And when one thing is not working, ask for assist earlier than it breaks you.
As for the revamped RoomFifty, “Chris and I mentioned it needed to be worthwhile, private, not take itself significantly, distinctive, helpful, superb work, and changeable,” Leon explains. “We’re distinctive in that we’re an artist and a designer. We actually know these artists and admire this work. So we are able to make one thing that different folks cannot.”
Seven years, two enterprise failures, most cancers, divorce, breakdowns and an ADHD prognosis later, Leon is lastly constructing the enterprise he all the time imagined. However this time he is aware of what he is doing—and extra importantly, what he cannot do (and has discovered somebody who can).
The relaunch occurs this month. No bullshit press releases. No shiny Instagram posts pretending every thing’s all the time been tremendous. Simply honesty about what went fallacious, and readability about what comes subsequent. Early launch for subscribers is that this week, and will probably be open to everybody on 21 November.
Typically you want to fully collapse to know tips on how to put your self again collectively correctly.
