#appster

During my Melbourne visit in May, I was lucky enough to attend the “Disruptive Startup” Event hosted by Appster.

The guest speaker of the night was Justin Dry, who is one of the co-founders of Vinomofo. For those who don’t know Vinomofo (I can’t believe you haven’t heard of them!), they are the best deluxe wine deals site based in Australia. With 1000 per cent revenue growth over three years, Vinomofo is one of Australia’s fastest growing companies.  Not only have they won numerous business awards, their recent $25 million fund raising has also made them the largest Australian Tech Investment!

The seminar was done in a Q&A Interview format, where the host asked Justin questions and Justin then answered for the audience. Then they opened the floor for audience questions. I really like this format as it’s more engaging and casual.

Justin shared stories of how he and his brother in law Andre went from setting up a wine community site - Qwoffers, to running their Youtube show - Road to Vinos, to finally settling at the wine deals site model - Vinomofo.

He was honest, funny, down to earth, and straight to the point. I really admire his passion and determination.  So here are five things I learnt from Justin:

1.       Persistent trial and error - A great idea does not necessarily get turned into a successful business straight away. Justin and Andre tried and failed two business models before finally setting up Vinomofo. Each of their business models is based on an excellent idea. Despite the businesses not being financially viable, they didn’t walk away with nothing. They put their hearts and souls into each venture. They enjoyed doing what they did. They were able to build a loyal following of wine lovers who trust them with their wine recommendations. When they set up Vinomofo, they had more than a hundred pre-orders lined up from their loyal subscribers.

 2.       Real network and relationship is everything - Justin said that they made a lot of friends on the wine circuit when they were travelling and drinking wine around Australia for their Youtube show. Everyone knows them as the cool, young, digital wine guys. So when they were launching Vinomofo, it was very easy to get all the wine producers on board. And when they needed to buy back Vinomofo from Catch of the Day Group, they managed to utilise their network to find a group of private investors to help them.

 3.       Genuinely give before you take - Right now, what people see is how successful Vinomofo is and how much money they are making now. What they didn’t see is how much work the co-founders have put in before they started selling wines on Vinomofo. For example, they organised winery visits to taste wine, gave recommendations to members of their wine tribe, interviewed the wine producers, made the Youtube videos…just to name a few. They provided these services to their tribe for FREE. The trust they built with their members proved to be critical for their success. As they have been giving great wine advice and recommendations for years, their members trust them enough to buy wines through them. Without the genuine giving, there would have been no trust, and there would have been Vinomofo.   

                                                                                                                         4.       Focus on your product – When asked what they did to market their Vinomofo brand, Justin said “When your product is really really good, customers stay, and they spread the word out for you.” Vinomofo’s known to only sell wines that they really love. If the wines are not good enough for them, they don’t sell them. Every customer gets a personal Mofo broker to help them find the wines they like. And if the customers don’t like the wine they buy, they can return them within 365 days for a full refund or replacement. They insist on this high standard of service, from curation to after sale. And this is what differentiates them from their competitors. A lot of people start their businesses and try very hard on marketing and networking in order to make money. But if their product is not good enough, all the best marketing in the world can not help you.  

5.       Disrupt the market and be resilient. What Vinomofo brought to the wine market was fresh and different. They had a totally new, personable approach to sell wine. When Vinomofo was becoming popular and gaining tractions, the major retailers and distributors were not happy at all. They threatened the wine producers to not supply them to Vinomofo. So the boys had to think on their feet to grow their business fast, in order to have the buying power. They got into pitching to investors and eventually partnered up with Catch of the Day group to scale up their business. The risky move proved to work as Vinomofo managed to grow their customer base and buying power, while securing better deals from their producers.

It was an honour to be in the same room as people like Justin. The Vinomofo journey is an inspiration. Although I was too shy to ask any questions, I think I definitely can take something I learned and apply to my startup business. Thank you Justin! And Thanks to Appster who organised this event. 

I must admit. I first came across Vinomofo through Catch of the Day and I got a great wine deal at the time. Well, I’m happy to know that we were one of those who helped grow Vinomofo’s customer base! 

Two hugely successful founders. A young passively spoken tech entrepreneur interviews a highly experienced + inspirational removalist entrepreneur. This was the time I first learnt of the app viral loop, bootstrapping and offshoring opportunities.

I walked into the auditorium hall above a restaurant in the heart of the city. There was about 50 people within the hall, which could probably hold…