Image from instructables.com
Nearly six years ago Taplister was just a concept – a service developed by beer geeks for beer geeks. Our concept was to make it easier to find where our favorite beers were on tap in Portland, Oregon. Low and behold, we quickly found we were not the only ones that wanted to access to the information. Taplister was officially launched at the 2009 Oregon Brewers Festival. Word quickly spread beyond our hometown, and we found many people who became our ambassadors to spread the word and the app throughout the US and the world.
Earlier this year, after years of bootstrapping Taplister, I came to the conclusion it was time for me to move on to new things. This was not a quick or easy decision. I have always been proud to be involved in the craft beer industry where I enjoy seeing the industry’s current rapid growth and found my involvement as an early player in the digital space for craft beer very rewarding.
Now the time has come for me to officially pass the torch on to Mark Meyer, the new majority owner of Taplister. It took a while to find the right person, but I assure you that you are in good hands. Over the past 30 days leading up to the sale, Mark and I have been working closely together to bring Taplister to the next level. During this time he hired a development team and they have started updating the software to not only make the platform stable, but to add some enhancements that will be valuable additions to our customers.
Although I am no longer the CEO of Taplister, I am still a minority owner and will continue on with my role of outreach, marketing and sales.
On a side note, some of you know that I am actively involved in the Portland Beer Scene. I am on the board of Portland Beer Week, throw the annual Rye Beer Fest and am a regular on a radio show called Beer O’Clock where I’m called BeerGyver and discuss beer and technology. I am extremely passionate about craft beer and the craft beer community as it supports so many local entrepreneurs, myself included.