The launch of LibDib was exactly one year ago today. What a year it has been! I am SO proud of what we have accomplished in such a short period of time. We have Makers and Resellers doing business together legally and efficiently. Our platform has sophisticated tools to help Makers sell. And most importantly, we are providing ever important distribution to small suppliers that otherwise would not have it.
When we launched a year ago, we had what I like to call an MVP--Minimally Viable Product. Makers could sign up and we would approve licensing. Buyers could see our products and buy. That was about it. We needed more features. How would importers sign up? (We built that into the platform) How would out-of-state distilleries get the forms for the Type 28 Certificate in CA? (We added auto send upon sign up). How can someone enter multiple tiers of pricing based on quantities? (It’s there now!)
We then spent the next 6 months perfecting the experience with the goal that a Maker could self-serve and get themselves on the platform without as much as a phone call to us. (The platform works and it works well now.)
All of this was done by design. Our Makers are amazing with their suggestions. We morphed, changed, upgraded and built things just for them. We launched a few tools (invites, order suggestions) and we continue to beta features that will be help Makers present themselves to the right prospects.
The next 6 months were spent on two things: the buyer experience and how to be a good distributor. The search functionality got an overhaul as did the layout of products on the platform. Invoicing. Logistics assistance. Reporting and paying our taxes (on time!). Auto-price posting. Providing live depletion reports and a dashboard with functional information. Maker resources. And much much more.
It all seems like such a blur. We’ve been working really, really hard. But literally, this year FLEW by. We are still here. And we are growing daily.
A few fun LibDib growth stats:
- 3 Major chains purchasing within the first 9 months
- 267 Makers in CA, 139 in NY representing nearly 3,000 offerings
- 2 states (more coming soon)
Thanks to everyone who supported us and helped us evolve the distribution business. We could not have done it without everyone’s support
Here’s to a year of distribution, done differently!