The wine pitch

The digital economy has disrupted and overturned nearly everything it’s touched, as it’s connected people faster and made whole industries more efficient. Felicity Carter meets people trying to disrupt wine.

On a cool June evening, in a room at Google’s Campus in Shoreditch, the ­‘Silicon Valley’ of London, energy ­levels are high. Seven teams of people have gathered­ in the funky, stripped-back-to-basics room and are introducing themselves to one another. Building social networks is part of what they do.

They’re here to pitch. One representative from each team will have three minutes to convince a panel of experts that their idea is so good, they should be flown to Bordeaux and given mentoring by 33entrepeneurs, a ‘start up accelerator’. Tonight’s prize is worth €10,000.00 ($16,825.00).

More than a good idea

“We’re looking for teams to go to the next level,” said Vincent Pretet, founder of ­33entrepreneurs, adding the judges were hoping to find an idea capable of being scaled up.

The various judges – who included a ­venture capitalist, a market researcher, and an expert in search analytics, among ­others – made some opening remarks about what it takes to be successful in the ­digital space. Ideas, they agreed, were great things to have, but execution was ­everything. ­Knowing that the team members had ­complementary strengths was also crucial. In their remarks, they emphasised that the wine trade has been slow to take advantage of digital technologies, in part because the wine world is locked into a top-down ­approach, where experts hand down points from on high, whereas digital tools are ­often most powerful when they get ­people to share and connect.

One by one, the team leaders introduced themselves, their visions and their teams. Each person had three minutes and no more; anybody who tried to squeeze in an extra few seconds was cut off with loud ­music.

The ideas were diverse, from an interactive wine bar to a winemaking game, and some of the businesses had already got off the ground. The ideas that were (to this writer) the least interesting, were those mimicking the way wine works in the real world. One idea, for example, was to ­combine an MW’s advice with an objective scientific wine analysis, to create objective wine scores. Some of the best ideas were simple, such as that from Simplee Host, which connects freelance chefs with people wanting a cheap, home cooked meal with no washing up.

The winner, a wine event company called Humble Grape, plan to open a series of digitally-enhanced wine bars. They aim to be the Starbucks of wine and have already raised £250,000.00 from a crowdsourcing site called Seedrs. It’s not surprising, because founder James Dawson is bursting with ­innovative ideas. For example, say you see a wine on the menu that you’d love to try, but can’t afford. Simple – you simply send a ‘beacon’ around the bar to see if there’s anybody else present who wants to split the cost of the bottle with you.

Digital is efficiency

It’s that kind of sharing idea – which is ­really about using resources more efficiently­ – that is at the heart of many successful digital ideas, like Airbnb, which connects travellers with people happy to rent spare rooms. But it’s often ­missing from wine, because developers aren’t ­thinking about what people really need. 

33entrepreneur’s founder Pretet said that his company analysed 1,500 wine apps and found that only 40 of them addressed an actual consumer need. “It’s interes­ting to provide services, but it’s useless if there’s no need for it,” he said.

Now Bordeaux-based, Pretet has created companies, been a Chief Financial Officer of a top ten French firm, worked within high tech, and run a strategy consultancy. “I’m passionate about growing start ups,” he said. 

Before founding 33entrepreneurs, Pretet spent a globe-trotting year studying start-up accelerators and extending his international network, before opening his doors this ­January. The mission of 33entrepreneurs is to evaluate, mentor and ultimately invest in promising digital or technology companies working with wine, gastronomy or tourism.­ So far, Pretet has organised EuropaTour – startup contests around Europe. “We have some €200,000.00 on the table and are raising our first million,” he says, adding that wine offers a lot of opportunities, because it’s an old industry that “resists disruption. It’s an insular industry with a fragmented market.”

The company isn’t only focused on consumer-oriented startups. Pretet says they’re interested in working with universities and inventors, to find high tech ways to solve issues such as when to spray vines with pesticides. Perhaps a sensor on the vine could show when the plant has had enough pesticide, or not enough water. 

Pretet is keen to get people connecting with one another. “In Europe, we have to share our ideas,” says Pretet, saying the Old World belief that information has to be jealously guarded, so as not to give a competitor an advantage, is holding back the development of the technology and digital sectors. By contrast, he said, the US tech sector freely shares ideas. “Success is due to someone else,” he said. “You don’t build success alone.”

If there’s one industry that knows about sharing, it should be the wine trade. ­Perhaps the only thing holding it back is getting the thinking right – learning to give up on the idea of expertise. It will be ­interesting to see who can take the challenge, now that the money is on the table.

 

 

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