PairAnything is on a mission to transform the $70B U.S. wine industry. The Davis, Calif.–based startup took home the UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship $10,000 Food + Agriculture Sector Award, sponsored by AGR Partners and Gowan Co. for a digital platform for wineries to engage customers and extend the personalized experience of the tasting room.

“Consumers gain infinite enjoyment from wine through food pairing education, and spend wisely by buying only the wines they enjoy,” says founder and CEO Christy Serrato UC Davis B.A. 88, who daylights as program director at the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy.

With PairAnything’s personalization and decisioning logic technology, small, family-owned wineries—which make up 97% of wineries—can thrive in the new economy, in which consumers demand individual experiences.

Serrato praised Big Bang! mentors for giving her honest feedback that “allows me to avoid potential pitfalls.” The advice to go an inch wide and a mile deep, in particular, resonated. ”I’ve learned the importance of focusing on a very specific target market and providing a specialized niche.”

“A year from now, we will have our core platform developed, which will enable the wineries to offload administration of their wine club duties, and benefit from customer analytics to make better business decisions,” Serrato says.

Source: https://gsm.ucdavis.edu/news/innovation-healthcare-tops-2019-big-bang