Nectar of the Vines

Take a sip of Vinomofo with Josh Zail

Mission (The Why):             

Vinomofo’s mission is for everyone to experience good wine . It’s not just about getting everyone to drink good wine though, the emphasis is on the experience. And that’s what they’re really selling. Confused? Watch this video.

Philosophy (The How):

Cofounders Justin Dry and Andre Eikmeier have built their emerging empire on three principles: Curation, Value, and Culture. They only sell wines they love and drink, they give their members “epic deals” on those wines, and they advocate fun over “bowties and BS”.  Their actions are guided by their multi-pronged mantra: “Step up, care more, keep it real, do some good and have fun”.

  

Legal Structure (The What):

A quick ABN lookup of ‘vinomofo’ turned tricky when I came up with four results, and found myself wishing that the real Vinomofo would please stand up. A bit of background reading helped me figure it out (more or less), so please bear with me and my limited understanding of Australian corporate law while I try to explain.

Vinomofo started out in 2011 as a Proprietary Limited Australian Private Company. If you were asleep for both of my posts last month, that means it’s a business owned by a small number of ‘shareholders’, and doesn’t sell its shares to the public. And it’s Australian. Stay with me here.

In mid-2012 Dry and Eikmeier sold Vinomofo to the Catch Group (the company that owns Catch of the Day and Scoopon) and gave up control of their company. But sales didn’t explode like everyone had hoped, and the two boys found that without the pressure of running their own company they didn’t work with nearly as much drive and passion. So in July 2013 they bought the company back (again a Proprietary Limited), started up their startup again, and after a few months of tough slog they found the massive growth that every entrepreneur dreams of.

Fast forward to last week, and Vinomofo is announcing a $25 million round of funding from Blue Sky Venture Capital. That’s a lot of money. And it requires a fixed trust to look after it, or something like that. I’m not sure I’ve taught you anything about corporate law, but it’s a good story!  

Stuff it does (The More Interesting What):

Vinomofo’s Unique Value Proposition is great deals on wine. Their customer base is so big they can “blow the next best market price out of the water”, so with free shipping on big orders, free returns and each customer getting their own “personal Mofo Broker” to find them wines they’ll love, it’s definitely a solid pile of value. New wines are released every day, and members can even join ‘wine clubs’ to access top secret deals.

If these wines taste as beautiful as they look, I want some

What they do well:

Until you’ve signed up, everything about the Vinomofo website makes you want to sign up. You can click to join straight away, or watch a sleek and vibrant video that’ll most likely convince you to join. If you’re a real rebel, you can scroll through the highlights reel of the value they offer, punctuated with social media snippets from their happiest customers. Vinomofo reminds you that wasting time sitting there staring at the screen, as their members are snapping up deals every second. Anyone with an internet connection can join, yet they’ve maintained the image of an exclusive club.

Once you’ve signed up, everything on the page is designed to sell you wine. Now that you’re finally in the club, the deals are all yours, and that excitement can be turned into orders with just a handful of well-placed clicks.

Opportunities (Exciting stuff on the horizon):

Having conquered the Australian market, international expansion is looming for Vinomofo, and they’ve come up with a pretty unique method for testing potential new markets. Their 'lite version' involves selling just one container of wine in each potential market, and seeing which ones gain the most traction. It saves massive amounts of time and money, and I have no doubt Vinomofo will be taking over the world very soon.  

Unfair Advantage (why it deserves an entire blog post):

Vinomofo’s brand finds unique expression within the language and design of its website, to the point where it feels like the company has a tangible personality. From the funky buttons you click to buy wine (Pic) to the irreverent tone of absolutely everything written there, exploring this enterprise feels a lot like meeting a very friendly and self-assured person. Vinomofo is the cool kids from high school, the ones you always wished would be your friends, only now they want to be friends with you too. Joining the club means you get to sit with them at lunch, laugh with them, and be cool like them. Who wouldn’t want in?

Vinomofo is one cool dude

Final Thoughts:

I think the Cat Empire articulate Vinomofo’s Unfair Advantage perfectly in their ‘Wine Song’, with the line: “I'm going to die with a twinkle in my eye, 'Cause I sung songs, spun stories, loved, laughed, and drank wine.” That's the experience Vinomofo is selling, and that's why over 400,000 Australians (including me) are now members. If you haven’t heard this song, please listen immediately, and thank me after. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go order some wine.