And more wildflowers

Hudson River Ventures

from their website

Hudson River Ventures is a new venture capital fund concentrating on Food, Beverage and Agriculture investments in the Hudson Valley.  Right up our alley!

We contacted them over the summer, and met with their CEO in August.  He gave us some economic development leads that we are following up.  And while sadly they are not funding us now, they did encourage us to recontact them when we are further along.  In hiindsight we were probably a bit premature in speaking with them, as their announced investments have all been to ongoing businesses, some many years in operation.

Farm Flowers

Advice from a Scottish Distillery

In a word:  don't spend money on advertising.  Instead, capitalize on marketing and PR opportunities. This confirms our approach, which is to do little to no advertising in the beginning stages (but to do word of mouth marketing instead).

Here's their story of how Yellow Submarine Whiskey came to be:

Their approach seems to have worked:  Remy Martin bought them a year ago for $90 million.

More wildflowers

All these flower pictures come from the farm.  I take them as I walk to feed the retired horses that live here.  This particular flower is blooming next to their watering trough.

Yes, we've talked to him!

And his number one piece of advice was to do a Brand Brief.  Tom and I are hard at work on it as I write, and are lucky enough to work with my husband's ex-girlfriend who owns her own boutique branding firm.

Wildflowers on the farm

Investor Funding: HalfwayThere!

When I started the funding phase of Three Meadows' development I had many thoughts, along the lines of "I can't do this!" or, "I've never raised money before!" or, "This will be so hard!"   I have a very wise friend, who said "Instead of saying 'this will be so hard' why not say, 'this will be easy'?"  So I tried replacing all my doubts with "this will be easy."

And, so far, that's pretty much how it has been.  After only two months we have commitments for over half the amount we need to get started!

One of the literal Three Meadows

Photo courtesy of Meredith Tiedemann

Isn't it magical?

In which we visit the largest local retailer

Whose owner very generously gave us an hour of his time.  We learned they would carry us, they'd let us do tastings, they could fulfill online sales for us, confirmed our price point was right, and would do promotions, and told us to only start with the 750 ml sized bottles.

The best part, though, was when he tasted our vodka.  He sipped it thoughtfully, noted its slight sweetness, and then said it was "surprisingly smooth" with a "smooth finish".  It was so smooth he asked in mild disbelief how we did it.  And he said he, someone who drinks straight vodka, would drink it.

So, we are feeling pretty good right now.

Back From Hiatus!

The summer is always a hectic time, so the blog took a little break.  We've been busy on Three Meadows work, though!

One of the things we did was visit some small distilleries.  One was Bainbridge Island Distillery, in Seattle Washington.  Among other things they make a Douglas Fir infused gin that is extraordinary. Their bottle, and label made from reclaimed French tin, are one of a kind.

Closer to home, we visited Berkshire Mountain Distillers, where the owner, Chris Weld, very generously gave us an hour of his time.

 In both cases we learned what to do and what not to do, and really appreciate the generosity of spirit of both distilleries.

NY State No Action Letter

We've just had a no action letter from NY State, confirming that we do not have to register our securities.  This is good news, and now we can go forward preparing the investor documents.

Usually if you are raising money you need to register the shares.  However, there is a "Seed Capital Exemption" whereby, if you are raising less than $1 million, are not advertising the shares, and are raising money from friends and family, you don't need to.  Thankfully, that's us!