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This story doesn’t really need any fancy dressing up. You go out. You like to drink occasionally or perhaps more than occasionally. You try great drinks, but maybe you’re too tired (read drunk) to remember what drink it was you tried, or what was in it.
New York startup Drynk.me is here to help.
Whether you’re a beer connoisseur (or beer snob), or a purveyor of fine wines, or you just like a great new cocktail, you want to remember it right? Drynk.me allows you to do all that, share it with friends, crowdsource new drink ideas, take pictures of your favorite drinks all on your smartphone. You can even geo-tag your drink so you can remember where you were when you had that wonderful concoction. Yes, drinkers, this is your app!
Who has made such a great idea a reality? Well the co-founders behind Drynk.me are Fernando Garza, Chevon Christie and Preston Hall. They took a break from their extensive customer validation and market research to talk to nibletz.com, check out the interview below:
What is Drynk.me?
Drynk.me is the easiest way to catalog, share, and discover alcoholic beverages. From beer, cosmos to ‘on the rocks’, see what friends and people are experiencing and saying about their drynks. The platform will allow users to post pictures and/or videos with a geo-location tag of the drynk they are enjoying, add their thoughts about, and push it through to other popular social spheres. Users can create a following and/or follow others.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
Fernando Garza – A disciple of simplicity and usability through design. Fernando has an innate ability to solve problems with analytical to creative solutions. A relative newbie to the realm of programming. You can follow him on twitter @BinaryRed
Chevon Christie – A fervent developer who is always looking to learn more and display what he can do. Chevon is a coder at heart and enjoys almost nothing more than a night with “fuel food” + code. His personal gift to everyone? this->ShareAwesomeness(); You can follow him on twitter @ChevonChr
Preston Hall – Hard work, focus, & creating magic. Preston specializes in managing project dynamics and providing a chronic entrepreneurial enthusiasm for the team to thrive off of. vision + pivoting = success. You can follow him on twitter @prestonxhall
Where are you based?
We are based in New York City and currently using a co-working studio called New Work City. It’s awesome because we are surrounded by fellow startups living the dream.
What’s the startup scene/culture like in New York?
New York has been making major moves to make it the startup hub of the East Coast. The city has always had the reputation that that anyone can make it here so it attracts the most talented. NY Tech Meetup is one of the most popular tech meetups on the platform and there are tons of other cool ones around the city. A lot of major venture capital firms have opened an office like First Round Capital and Founder Collective.
What problem does Drynk.me solve?
When someone experiences a great drynk, they usually tell themselves ‘i’ll remember that later down the road’… yeah okay. Most of us forget it or are too lazy to go through our camera roll of hundreds of pics to find that specific drynk. We aim to simplify that in all aspects. We also aim to directly connect the user and bar.
People’s tastes change but still want a way to catalog their different experiences on one platform. We filter posts so users can see what their friends and followers are saying about the drynks being served.
What’s your secret sauce?
People can tell when you pour old wine into a new bottle or try to pass off top shelf drynk with a house bottle. We let you tell it straight: is it good or does it suck.
Consuming a bottle of wine or a 6pk of beer isn’t about getting wasted; it’s about sharing a connection. A bond. A special moment with friends or a loved one. That’s why we see the industry differently. It is a means for good. There are so many great things happening because of alcohol. Vineyards are offering wine where the proceeds go to a charity. Vineyards and breweries are going green. Breweries are being raised from just an idea and crowd-funding. They are finding ways to give back to the troops. Not to mention the hundreds of events a year around the country where alcohol brings people together for a good cause. These small seeds of good need to be nourished so they can grow and drynk.me will be that platform
What’s one dilemma you’ve encountered in the startup process?
Time, we are focused on getting our beta right and ensuring that it is successful.
What’s one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
We are able to communicate efficiently by doing most of our work in the cloud. We use Dropbox & Asana regularly which make sharing tasks and ideas easier. We all know each other’s strengths so we trust that they will excel in contributing to the platforms success. A lot of cool companies fail because of poor communication skills.
What’s next for Drynk.me?
We are prepping the platform to let everyone use. Fernando has been working closely with our IOS programmer and Chevon’s getting our windows phone app ready. Invitations will be sent to users who signed up on our webpage wishing to be the first to use the app. Look for what Preston is posting on drynk.me’s social media accounts to view what your favorite brewery, vineyard, or distillery is sharing and how we make moves. We are really psyched for the future.
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