Jeff Markham
One of the main reasons I left my job at a big company to join LibDib was Cheryl Durzy’s (our CEO) vision. It was perfect to me. From a business model perspective, it was really well thought out. As a technologist, this business model made sense.
Behind the scenes with engineer Jeff Markham's super-secret techy code.
What energizes and excites a techie like me is how my knowledge and my craft can transform people's lives in a positive way. LibDib has that potential. Our team is a world-class, amazing group and I'm so happy to be able to work with the LibDib team every day.
I'm also someone who knows how hard we must work to "break through" the barriers that big companies erect. It happens every day, in every industry. In the highly-regulated beverage industry, you can make the greatest wine, beer or spirits in the world and you're not going to get market exposure because some accountant runs a calculation that says your product isn't worth it. As a restaurateur, bar owner, or shop owner, you want to bring new products to your customers and differentiate yourself, but your distributor only lets you pick the products they have chosen.
I hate that.
I liken LibDib to Airbnb. Sure, there's always going to be Hilton, Hyatt and Westin hotels, but, Airbnb created a marketplace that works alongside those hotel chains. Airbnb offers people another lodging option besides a large conglomerate hotel because not everyone wants a Hilton. Some people want boutique. LibDib aims to be the Airbnb of beverage distribution that’s why we connect restaurants, bars, and retailers with unique Makers. Our goal is to help Makers stand out in a very competitive marketplace using our technological “savoir-faire.”
The LibDib engineering team has created a platform that's well on its way to realizing Cheryl’s initial vision. I won't bore you with all the cool stuff that we've written into our platform (there’s a lot of cool stuff) but we figure the "proof is in the pudding.” That being said, we also know that our platform is young. And we know that there are undoubtedly going to be things that don't work right or things won’t work like you expected. Not to mention there will be things that you want the platform to do that we just didn't think of.
Which brings me to the point of this blog:
THIS IS YOUR PLATFORM AS MUCH AS IT IS OURS
We built it for you. We built it to provide you with distribution. Distribution that you can control. We built it so that you can communicate directly with the restaurant, bars and retailers who are selling your products. And we want it to work for YOU.
So, if you have any problems, suggestions, ideas, frustrations with the LibDib platform, please let us know. We're dedicated to constantly improving the platform (even on launch day we were adding new additions and fixing problems and frustrations). As developers it’s in our DNA to do so. We constantly build and improve.
So, don't be shy. Please . I can't promise we can do everything, but we'll sure try our best to make almost anything happen for you.
We hope you enjoy our platform. It’s been a year in the making and we are so happy that it’s finally available for YOU.
Thank-you in advance and thanks for being a Libdibber!
Jeff
LibDib Developer