What a 30 Minute Design Match Teaches About Launching
I just competed in a Relume Design League match which is basically esports… but for designers.
You get 30 minutes to design an entire website. Clock running. Opponent building. No time to spiral.
Halfway through, you hit the same realization most founders face during a launch:
“…okay, what actually matters right now?”
Because under a clock, perfection isn’t an option. You’re forced to prioritize:
• clarity over decoration
• hierarchy over polish
• decisions over doubt
And honestly, that pressure mirrors startup reality almost perfectly.
I once worked with a client who redesigned their website three separate times over five years… and never launched a single version.
Three builds. Zero momentum.
At some point refinement quietly turns into expensive procrastination.
And to be clear, I’m not knocking brands that take their time. I want my work to feel dialed in too. I’ve absolutely been stuck in the “not launching because it’s not perfect yet” phase myself.
But that RDL match is a great reminder:
Perfect doesn’t build momentum.
Shipping does.
In the match, if you spend 5 minutes perfecting a design element that nobody notices, you lose.
In business, same rule.
The brands that grow ship something strong, learn from real users, and iterate with purpose.
That’s the mindset I bring into ecommerce builds:
Confident decisions. Clean structure. Launch ready execution.
Because the goal isn’t the perfect website…
…it’s the one that actually goes live and starts selling.
And yes, this league is probably the closest I’m getting to being a pro athlete.