Mark Smith
Vinofy is a platform and community where everyone can express themselves, share authentic moments and make real connections.
Our vision is to unite people from different cultures and backgrounds over this universal human experience, the love of wine, food and anything tasty.
Tell us about yourself?
Before I took the jump as a founder, I started my career in tech when I joined a fast-growing eCommerce startup (Lazada Group) where I learned entrepreneurship and the rapid scaling of a unicorn tech company. It was acquired by Alibaba with a multi-billion dollar valuation within 5 years after launch. Afterward, I joined a global travel tech startup as the head of e-commerce and product, leading a team of 9 to build and grow an experience booking platform live in over 30 countries and serving 18 million travelers globally.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Start as early as possible to generate leads at launch.
What problem does your business solve?
With thousands of wine brands and grapes out there in the market, choosing wine and learning about wine is always a challenging task.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
Because a big reason we love wine is that it brings us together. Wine is much more than tasting notes and ratings. For me, when I think about the most intimate moments and meaningful conversations I have had over the years, it always happens around a bottle of wine at a dinner party or in a bar with friends. Wine is so key in our social interactions, it’s like a lubricant to help people have great conversations and create new connections. So Vinofy is not only about wine, but also about the people and those moments we share.
What is your magic sauce?
Video is the future! Every social platform is favoring video-based content for a few reasons. Let’s walk through them.
It’s a way to create deeper connections
Video content humanizes the person behind the screen. Whether it’s a brand or a small business, videos help to establish a relationship with the audience. Viewers will be more emotionally triggered through video content, than written content, which is why you see it used by a lot of brands.
Video makes content digestible
Long, detailed articles can be discouraging for some readers. While they may provide key facts and relevant information, too much written content is not always easy to interpret for some as it is for others.
Video is fun!
Not only is it fun to make, but it’s fun to view. Educational and entertaining information in a video is a way to build brand awareness since it can be easily shared with others outside of your audience.
Short-term video is the future, and it’s the reason why Vinofy is really going to stand out in the wine industry. They’re allowing people to discuss the topic of wine, which can be a very intimidating topic, in an open, free, and fun way!
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We have many exciting features planned on the product roadmap, such as live streaming, virtual tastings, group etc. We are also planning a global launch in all major wine countries and the launch of Vinofy Marketplace to help wine influencers, wine professionals, and winemakers to engage better with their audience and monetize better on their content.
And it’s not only limited to wine because Vinofy, at its core, is about tastefulness. We will expand to other categories, such as spirits, coffee beer, and cannabis. Our vision is to unite people from different cultures and backgrounds over this universal human experience, the love of wine, food, and anything tasty.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The biggest challenge would be how to acquire users and content with low costs to reach a large market share
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We go to wine festivals, wine tasting events as well as reach out on Instagram and email directly. We also host our own tasting events to build the community. We also partner with wine businesses to build the connection with wine industry.
