Tint founder Djordje Dikic is on a mission to transform the way Australians buy paint by stripping it back to a simple and enjoyable online experience. We chat with the millennial CEO about why he named the paints in his business after hip-hop songs and how he turned his business into a lifestyle brand. Inside Retail: What does your ideal day look like? Djordje Dikic: My ideal working day would be walking in the office, fresh-faced and ready to roll at 9am. Dash out for a quick 45-minute oat mil
at milk latte, followed by a two-hour meditation session with our product team to help uncover groundbreaking customer experiences; effectively disrupting the $2 billion Australian paint industry without breaking a sweat. Off to my second coffee after lunch (this time, decaf to keep those Zen vibes strong) before a check-in with the team where we don’t get kicked out of the Zoom meeting room after 40 minutes because we’re still on a free plan. Around 3pm, I’d pop out to the local organic store to stock up on all the things necessary to nourish my mind and body, then head home to host a virtual board meeting via an improv TikTok video. #millennialCEOgoals
A guy can dream … My actual ideal day is successfully transforming from the under-slept dad of a newborn baby to running two companies at full pace by 9am. It takes a lot of coffee and it helps that I’m surrounded by passionate, motivated people who energise me to deliver on our mission to empower everyone to transform their space through the power of paint.
IR: What’s something surprising that you’ve learned about customers since launching Tint?
DD: I’ve been amazed by the reception we’ve got from our customers, particularly in identifying Tint as a fashion and lifestyle brand rather than a paint brand. We worked hard to turn paint into a lifestyle choice by taking out all the painful bits of the paint journey, like replacing messy sample pots with super easy colour stickers, delivering paint cans to your door instead of the endless trips to the hardware store, and curating a beautiful range of 70 colours that you’ll love, instead of having thousands of colours you dread looking through. It’s all about making it easy for people to create a space that reflects them.
IR: What was the last thing that you mastered?
DD: Personally, how to change a nappy without waking the baby. Professionally, I think we really nailed naming our colours – I mean, who doesn’t want “Savage Garden” on their walls? Many of our colour names have an additional meaning, like “C.R.E.A.M”, our warm white named after the famous Wu Tang song. We wanted to bring some urban culture into people’s homes, even if they never “get” it.
IR: Best piece of business advice you’ve ever heard:
DD: Have strong beliefs, but be willing to change them based on new data.
IR: What books/magazines/podcasts are you reading and listening to at the moment?
DD: NPR’s How I Built This by Guy Raz. It’s an absolute masterclass on how some of the world’s greatest founders think and what they went through. Guy’s unassuming, inquisitive style of interview really opens guests up to talk about their stories, and I’ve never listened to an episode without coming away energised and motivated to complete my own story.