Darius A. Monsef IV
Encyclopedia
Darius A. Monsef IV is an internet entrepreneur
& philanthropist
known most widely as the founder of the design community COLOURlovers
and co-founder & board member of the All Hands Volunteers international charitable organization. As an alumnus of Y Combinator
and mentor with 500 Startups & PIE PDX, Monsef is an active participant in the internet startup community. He is also the author of the book Color Inspirations, published in 2011 by F+W Media and was named a "Design Visionary to Watch" by House Beautiful
Magazine.
, Tucson, Arizona
and Orlando, Florida
.
he began working on a website to allow people from around the world to share their color ideas and inspirations. Convinced that color was a fascinating topic that could be explored more deeply by the collective power of the internet, Monsef launched the COLOURlovers
site in December 2004. Initially, the site functioned as a way to allow people to share, rate and comment on color combinations. As time went on, the number of registered users grew and its functionality expanded to encompass color trends as well a blog, forums, and other methods of interaction for its active user community. Monsef has curated one of the best online communities in the world, being nominated for a prestigious Webby Award as "The Best Community Website" of 2007 and subsequently in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Monsef has continued to build the COLOURlovers community into a multi-million dollar internet property. In May 2011, Monsef raised one million dollars for COLOURlovers from investors including Atlas Venture
, Morado Ventures, Founder Collective, Charles River Ventures
, 500 Startups, Seraph Group & Zelkova Ventures, Matt Mullenweg
, Alexis Ohanian, Don Hutchison
, Dharmesh Shah, Jared Friedman, and Shawn Bercuson.
to head up building community around their Photosynth technology where he spent 10 months working inside of the Live Labs incubator in Bellevue, Washington
. He also led the redesign of the Photosynth website in 2009. In partnership with CNN
, Monsef helped curate the Photosynth of the historical presidential inauguration of Barack Obama
.
before stepping down from an operational role. He joined the All Hands Volunteers board of directors in 2009. In April 2011, Monsef and his wife Kaili travelled to Leogane, Haiti to spend their Honeymoon working with the All Hands Volunteers' project based there. He and his wife worked on a school he had raised $30,000 from friends and family to build.
Internet entrepreneur
An Internet entrepreneur is an entrepreneur that applies innovation to create new businesses on the Internet.Internet entrepreneurs are part of the more general category of digital entrepreneurs...
& philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
known most widely as the founder of the design community COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers is a social network service and blog that focuses on colour inspiration and colour trends for both personal andprofessional creative projects...
and co-founder & board member of the All Hands Volunteers international charitable organization. As an alumnus of Y Combinator
Y Combinator
Y Combinator is an American seed-stage startup funding firm, started in March 2005. Y Combinator provides seed money, advice, and connections at two 3-month programs per year...
and mentor with 500 Startups & PIE PDX, Monsef is an active participant in the internet startup community. He is also the author of the book Color Inspirations, published in 2011 by F+W Media and was named a "Design Visionary to Watch" by House Beautiful
House Beautiful
House Beautiful is an interior decorating magazine that focuses on decorating and the domestic arts. First published in 1896, it is currently published by the Hearst Corporation, who purchased it in 1934...
Magazine.
Early life
Monsef was born in Honokaa, Hawaii and spent most of his childhood in his hometown of Kamuela, Hawaii until graduating from Parker School in 1999. After leaving Hawaii, Monsef lived in multiple cities across the United States including Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
and Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
.
COLOURlovers
In fall 2004, after Monsef took an "uninspiring" class on color theory at the Art Institute of PortlandArt Institute of Portland
The Art Institute of Portland is a college in Portland, Oregon, United States that grants bachelor and associate degrees in advertising, apparel accessory design, apparel design, design management, design studies, digital film and video, game art and design, graphic design, industrial design,...
he began working on a website to allow people from around the world to share their color ideas and inspirations. Convinced that color was a fascinating topic that could be explored more deeply by the collective power of the internet, Monsef launched the COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers is a social network service and blog that focuses on colour inspiration and colour trends for both personal andprofessional creative projects...
site in December 2004. Initially, the site functioned as a way to allow people to share, rate and comment on color combinations. As time went on, the number of registered users grew and its functionality expanded to encompass color trends as well a blog, forums, and other methods of interaction for its active user community. Monsef has curated one of the best online communities in the world, being nominated for a prestigious Webby Award as "The Best Community Website" of 2007 and subsequently in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Monsef has continued to build the COLOURlovers community into a multi-million dollar internet property. In May 2011, Monsef raised one million dollars for COLOURlovers from investors including Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is an international early-stage venture capital firm that invests in communications, information technology, and life sciences companies. From the late 1990s through the mid-2000s the firm was leading investor in startup companies in both the U.S. and Europe...
, Morado Ventures, Founder Collective, Charles River Ventures
Charles River Ventures
Charles River Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in technology and new media companies.The firm, which is based in Waltham, Massachusetts and Menlo Park, California, was founded in 1970 to commercialise research that came out of MIT...
, 500 Startups, Seraph Group & Zelkova Ventures, Matt Mullenweg
Matt Mullenweg
Matthew Charles Mullenweg is an online social media entrepreneur, web developer and musician living in San Francisco, California. He is best known for his development of the free and open source web software, WordPress...
, Alexis Ohanian, Don Hutchison
Don Hutchison
Donald Hutchison is a Scottish ex-footballer who generally played in midfield but sometimes as a forward. He was a much travelled player with spells at both Liverpool and Everton as well as Sheffield United, Sunderland and West Ham United twice...
, Dharmesh Shah, Jared Friedman, and Shawn Bercuson.
Microsoft
In late 2008, Monsef was recruited by MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
to head up building community around their Photosynth technology where he spent 10 months working inside of the Live Labs incubator in Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
. He also led the redesign of the Photosynth website in 2009. In partnership with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Monsef helped curate the Photosynth of the historical presidential inauguration of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
FriendsCall.Me
In April 2009, Monsef along with COLOURlovers co-founder Chris Williams launched FriendsCall.me as a service to help manage online social identities. The service searched more than one hundred online communities to check to see if a given username was registered or not. It also allowed registered members to create their own aggregated profile listing all of the places around the web they kept an active presence. Monsef and Williams launched the site after only working on it for a little over two weeks. Less than a year after launch, FriendsCall.me was acquired by KnowEm for an undisclosed amount.All Hands Volunteers
In 2005, Monsef travelled to Thailand in the wake of the Asian Tsunami to help those affected recover from the disaster. He joined a small group of backpacking volunteers in Bang Tao Village and stayed for 5 months to help manage the project as it grew. Monsef met retired technology executive David Campbell in Thailand and upon returning home to the U.S. they founded All Hands Volunteers (formerly known as Hands On Worldwide) as a 501c3 non-profit. Monsef served as Operations Director for All Hands Volunteer's Katrina Relief Project in Biloxi, MS organizing over 1,500 volunteers and delivering millions of dollars in volunteer labor and supplies. He was awarded the Key to the City of Biloxi for the work his organization did there. He also directed projects in Santo Domingo, Philippines and Pisco, PeruPisco, Peru
Pisco is a city located in the Ica Region of Peru, the capital of the Pisco Province. The city is around 9 metres above sea level. Originally the villa of Pisco was founded in 1640, close to the indigenous emplacement of the same name...
before stepping down from an operational role. He joined the All Hands Volunteers board of directors in 2009. In April 2011, Monsef and his wife Kaili travelled to Leogane, Haiti to spend their Honeymoon working with the All Hands Volunteers' project based there. He and his wife worked on a school he had raised $30,000 from friends and family to build.
Awards and Honors
- Key to the City, Biloxi MS
- Webby Awards, Best Community Nominee (COLOURlovers) 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007