November 4, 2024

Thrive Insider

Exclusive stories of successful entrepreneurs

Holly Berrigan, founder at MYSA Natural Wine

Who are you and what business did you start?

Holly Berrigan, I founded a natural wine club and ecommerce platform that runs MYSA Natural Wine as well as Eater’s wine club.

What’s your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

My partner and I met at a sales and marketing consulting firm and I pursued wine as a hobby. We sorted out how to market it and sell wine online and decided to focus on natural wine as a growing category we’re passionate about.

Describe the process of launching the business.

We launched the club and ran it with our regular jobs for 6 months before we left our jobs to pursue it full time. We had no outside investment, so we had to get very scrappy on putting the funds together for it.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

My partner is a digital marketing wiz and most of our initial customers came from that.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

We scaled from $10k MRR to $100k MRR is 6 months last year and have had massive month-over-month growth since then. We will likely hit 2.5-3m this year.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

Working in alcohol is very difficult! The red tape is much tougher than I had initially realized and I’m glad I didn’t know that previously, because I might not be where I am today if I had!

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

Shopify, Instagram, Asana, Slack, Gorgias, Zoom

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

E-Myth, the Shopify podcast,

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

Do the research but jump in before you’re ready because there will never be a “right moment”

Where can we go to learn more?

www.mysa.wine www.hollyberrigan.com