We launched with product in market
in January of 2020.
We had imagined doing events and
concerts and
selling in restaurants.
All of that disappeared overnight.
We found ourselves with
about 40,000 cans of wine and
no way to get them out there.
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My background is actually not in
wine.
I was previously in healthcare and
consulting.
>> I worked in corporate strategy
and corporate development.
>> I worked in marketing in
San Francisco.
I did get burn out in technology,
and wanted to do something
different.
>> While at Stanford,
I met my now co-founder and
best friend, Sarah.
>> I had asked her to be my partner
for this class startup garage to
explore the canned wine idea
because she was the smartest person
that I knew.
[LAUGH] >> We spent six months
meeting with wineries,
ideating on our concept, and
our business model.
What this allowed us to do
was pressure test our ideas and
start to build up a network in wine
in the startup ecosystem.
It was roughly six months
later when we were first connected
to now our third co-founder, Zoe.
>> Through the GSB network,
I was introduced to Sarah and
Kendra.
>> As soon as we started working
together, we knew that Zoe needed
to be a part of our team.
>> Now the three of us really
are inseparable.
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>> Maker Wine is a new kind of wine
company.
We partner with small independent
wineries and
we can their flagship wines.
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We started Maker to create a new
kind of company that shined a light
on small independent wineries.
They are farmers and artists and
scientists, not marketers and
salespeople or distributors.
>> We're working very hard
to keep the little guys alive so
that we always get to experience
this amazing craft.
>> And then we started to think
about what type of experience was
missing as millennial wine lovers
and wine consumers ourselves, and
that's when we really had the aha
moment with cans.
>> Why has wine always been in
these super stuffy unapproachable
heavy glass bottles?
>> Super old school outdated.
>> The label tells you nothing,
not technology forward,
you never know if the price
is indicative of the quality
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>> I have a passion and background
in the craft beer industry,
and saw cans really take over that
industry because of
the sustainability benefits.
>> A lot of people don't know that
glass is actually very hard to
recycle.
It's recycled in just about 40% of
recycling facilities across
the United States.
>> The aluminum format also weighs
much less than a bottle of wine.
So if you think about the carbon
emissions, transporting wine
across the world, much better for
the environment there.
>> All of those reasons really got
us excited about cans.
We actually canned our first three
wines less than two months after
graduation.
It was a wild time to
launch a company.
We really had to get creative in
how we launched a new type of wine
product during the global pandemic.
And candidly, the GSB and greater
Stanford community was a huge part
of what helped us make that happen.
What we started doing was hosting
virtual wine tastings,
and we did more than 150 in our
launch year, and so it was really
leaning on the network that helped
ultimately get us off the ground
during a really tough time.
>> Danford GSB definitely changed
my life.
I would not be here today as a CEO
of Maker if I hadn't gone to
the GSB and met my co-founders and
met the people who backed our
business from the very beginning.
I don't know that I would have
started this business without the
confidence that the GSB gave me.
You walk out of there and
they feel like you can do anything.
>> I chose the GSB because I wanted
to be in a community of people with
not only business smarts but that
were really conscientious humans.
>> Everyone that I've met that went
to GSB was passionate excited doing
something really unique.
I wanted to be around those people
and be inspired to build something
great too.
>> The motto of the GSB is changing
lives, changing organizations,
change the world.
On the whole, why we are building
Maker, why we consider ourselves as
a mission driven wine company,
is so that we can make wine better.
>> I really want Maker to be this
incredible platform for
these independent producers
to get to highlight minority and
women owned wineries and
make those stories more visible,
I think has had an impact.
>> When we are successful wine as
an industry, really should
put the human at the center.
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