Saturday Morning Coffee
I am so excited to share “Saturday Morning Coffee." In this weekly post, I will share, learn, explain, dream, and have fun. I will probably stop next week ;-)
Today I would like to share with you the story behind Cheers.
January 2019, I learned that Glassify (the company I managed for more than two years) would not do the biggest loyalty project in Columbia after all. I understood that the biggest brewery in the world (the owner of my company) decided that they are not investing in B2C but continue to invest in B2B. It meant the end of my company. But before I'm running to tell you about why and how we founded Cheers. Let me share how I met my partner.
During my work at Glassify, I met different people from around the world within the beverage industry. One of them always caught my eyes. He always wears the most beautiful clothes, smiling, smells excellent (I'm straight), and friendly. People at his office told me that he is a worldwide wine expert. We met many times and sometimes even shared our work and got feedback from one to another. We were the complete opposite, and it was great to get feedback from a different person.
During this time, Yair built a new glass brand (Nude) for the world's biggest glass manufacturers. I built a marketing platform for AB INBEV (the biggest brewery in the world) using "smart glass." We both did things with glass. One used technology to personalize the way consumers ordered their beer in their local bar/restaurants to increase sales, and the other made them look so beautiful and desirable.
In 2018 Yair told me about his dream to open a wine bar in Israel. Immediately I know I will invest in his bar. The way he talked about wine is so addictive (and I am a Coca-Cola zero person) and inspiring, full of passion. We talked about his financial plan and even went to see the perfect place for the bar. Months came and go, and in one of our meetings, we brainstormed and decided that a wine bar is great, but it will not make a difference. It will not change the way people buy wine. It will not change the feeling of people while standing inside a wine shop. You never know what you are buying. Why is this bottle more expensive? Is it because it is better? Will the flavor suits me? Can I trust the wine salesperson? What is the story behind this wine? Etc.
We wanted to make a difference.
We wanted to influence and broaden the wine culture in Israel.
We asked ourselves, What if we can use technology to solve lots of the problems?
A few months after I got the message about losing the Glassify loyalty project, I left Glassify. At this time, It was a No brainer that I will help Yair to change the wine industry. It took us a few days to design the first mockup of our future product.
In March 2020, we founded and launched Cheers!, a combination of wine and technology, exactly like Yair and me.
Next week I will explain how we started: During Covid-19, the first product we launched and the tools we used to build our MVP.
Feel free to show me some love, like, and share ??