Role: Co-founder, Director
When: Fall ‘21 - Summer ‘23
What: Wine tasting - online. Quarterly shipments of 7 glasses of wine from small producers throughout the country.
Why: In ‘21, my friend an old friend who had started Region two years earlier reached out to me asking if I wanted to join the team as a third co-founder, and start an ecomm arm of the business. Region was growing quickly as a brick and mortar location, and we saw a gap in the market to deliver our take on wine tasting to customers anywhere in the US.
Problems to solve: 1. Source and rebottle small format wine. 2. Ship glass in compact and eco-friendly packaging. 3. Deliver an authentic digital wine tasting experience.
What I did: I joined as the Director of Sampl at the project’s inception, taking it from concept to reality over the span of two years. In the initial six months, while operating on a limited budget, I efficiently managed our small team to execute two MVP launches, which tested product, logistics, shipping, and compliance. Coming out of the tests armed with actionable insights, I oversaw the refinement of the brand and product for a national launch in the summer of ‘23.
Over the subsequent year and a half, I assumed a central role in project management, overseeing virtually all aspects of executing our go to market strategy. I put together a stellar team of full time hires and consultants, many of whom I had worked with before. I then managed our team, deadlines and budgets to get to market quickly.
Skills I brought to the table:
Content & Design: Brand identity, copy, all packaging design and sourcing, oversaw all website design and development. Managed freelancers and did a lot of our media creation in house including photo and video and post production. Also I directed a 15 minute documentary that accompanied our first shipment.
Marketing: Oversaw building out the team to manage email, sms, paid social and search, organic social and search.
Operations: I sourced our packaging manufacturers, and managed our logistics and then managed our Director of Operations who oversaw the day to day.
Directed by me.
An intro into an incredible brand.
We wanted to launch Sampl with a bang and put together this video that paired with our digital tasting experience. In this documentary we follow our host Kean McCabe throughout Paso Robles. We sourced 7 local ingredients, created 7 dishes, and then paired them with our 7 wines included in the shipment.
Directed and edited by me.
So, what’s Sampl?
Good question. I created this video to explain what “wine tasting online” even looks like. We tried to be informational but not to nerd out on wine. Just like the brand, we wanted this video to be approachable, but refined.