Sunday, September 22, 2013

Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation

On Friday we met with Brian Gates, of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation.  Besides his current position, Brian was at Bacardi for 20+ years.  He gave us lots of valuable advice, including

- Get NY right -- be great locally; start with concentric circles
- put the product in mouths as quickly as possible
- do no advertising, it is too expensive.  Put the money into promotions.
- he gave great advice on distribution, and was impressed with our distributor connection
- branch out to other states in 2 - 3 years
- we must have a gift box for the holidays
- talk to other distillers to get their advice
- there are NY State grants for business, but it all hinges on the number of jobs created
- and he invited us to the "Beer, Wine and Spirits Summit" he's organizing in a month's time

It turns out he knows our distributor contact and was effusive in his praise.  (Before he learned we'd already talked to this distributor, he told us "if you can get him interested in your brand, you are set!")

He also told us we'd already avoided a lot of traps and were well on our way.  

Another meeting where we left feeling pretty great about where things were.

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