Vital Stats
Name:  Ryan Bettencourt
Occupation: Entrepreneur, Tech Geek, Wine Geek
First Job: I grew up in Oregon and picked strawberries as a young kid to make sure that I could afford some fresh threads for back-to-school.  Most of my friends worked with me and would goof around eating all of the berries and getting in massive strawberry fights.  I figured if I was going to spend my days working, I might as well make some money.  I came up with a whole plan that each day I should figure out how to pick more than the last day – by doing that, I was always proud the first day of school.  Along the way, I have done too many things to count – running a private soccer coaching school, working in a restaurant in London, owning a clothing company and much more.
Best Job:  Besides what I’m doing now – coaching high school soccer.  I love teaching, I love kids, and I love soccer.  So, those loves combined made for a great experience even though it was only part time and paid little more than enough to cover a vacation or two.
Greatest Professional Challenge: By far my greatest challenge has been remaining balanced with my hobbies, my passion for being a great papa to my two adorable girls, and my commitment to making my business/es a success. The thing you don’t know until you do it, is that entrepreneurship doesn’t mean the rest of your life stops moving – it keeps going and it takes incredible discipline to be sure that you are giving all that you can to all the things in your life that are important.
Starting Salary:  I have had starting salaries everywhere from nothing as a bootstrapping entrepreneur to big bucks as a business executive.
Website:  CellarThief

1. How did you get that f*&%ing awesome job?
I largely created it out of thin air with some bold and brilliant partners and a kick a** team. I was in the wine industry for a number of years and had a number of great jobs from marketing to winemaking to sales. I traded in a fast moving career track for business school (Babson College) and the adventure of entrepreneurship. I have worked for and consulted with many high growth companies, mostly in web technologies. So, when my partner (a long time wine industry exec) and I started talking, it seemed the perfect combination of wine and technology would be a great business and a lot of fun to start.

2. Tell us a little bit about your company. What’s going on there at this very minute?
We work closely with wineries, importers, and distributors to give our community of wine geeks a chance to buy delicious wines at even more delicious prices. For every bottle of wine we sell, we donate 100 days of clean drinking water to those who need it. Right now we are working on growing our commitment to bringing clean water to folks who lack access – we are currently working on something called “Project Grape Juice” – a project that will involve wine industry folks in making a bigger difference. Entrepreneurship is hard so you better be passionate about the moving parts of the company.

3. What inspired you to give back to the community through commerce?
A lot of things.  I was raised by two passionate educators who always inspired my brother and I to fight for more than just a paycheck. Years ago, I wanted to be a human rights attorney, but I got struck by the entrepreneurship bug and the model of some great entrepreneurs who have made a big difference in the world. When I was in business school, my fellowship work focused on social entrepreneurs. I was so inspired by that research and witnessed entrepreneurs with a whole different level of passion. My greatest moment was having time with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus—to me, he is the ultimate entrepreneur.  Because of these (and other) experiences, entrepreneurship doesn’t just mean economic opportunity but an opportunity to do well by doing good.  

4. What does a typical day look like for you?
I wake up early – usually 5 am and my day is constant activity from then until when I go to sleep. My wife is a partner in CellarThief as well so we have certainly blurred the line between being parents and business owners and balanced people. I am regularly searching for new and fun wines to feature to our community, brainstorming new ways to grow the company and our commitment to making a difference, and evolving our overall business efforts. In between that, I work with other start-ups and try to find the time to surf or play soccer. 

5. What is the best part about what you do? The non-best part?
The best part is connecting with our customers. We have an incredible community of wine lovers – they are genuine, passionate, and creative.  All of our customers have wonderfully interesting lives of their own and it’s great to learn about those lives and create deeper relationships. The non-best part has to be the long hours. I love what I do, but sometimes you want to just sit on the couch and watch a movie – that doesn’t happen much these days.

6. If you had to name one thing (or two or three...) that’s contributed to your company’s success, what would it be?
We have a long way to go as a company – we are still quite new and have a lot of work to do to make this a big business. We have big ideas, but we also have chosen to bootstrap so growth is day-by-day. Without a doubt, our initial success can be attributed to our real and authentic desire to be good to our customers. We love meeting and interacting with them – it’s the biggest part of what makes this company fun and the biggest reason why we continue to grow.

7. Do you have any words of wisdom for those of us that want to strike out on our own?
Just go for it. The timing never seems “right,” the idea never seems “right,” and there are always a million reasons why you “shouldn’t." But, you only need one reason to go for it – that reason is that your heart can’t turn off your dream. If you are an entrepreneur, you have to go for it – otherwise, life won’t have the right rhythm. So, give it a shot. It’s hard work and a lot of execution, but it leads to things you can’t even dream of. 

8. And just for fun, what do you want this holiday season?
Besides another surfboard to add to by collection, I don’t want anything but a great experience. My wife and I got married in Salzburg, Austria, and we are heading back there to celebrate our anniversary and show our daughters Germany and Austria. I just want those days to go slowly so we can soak up all of the fun, good food and…of course…good wine (I’m a huge fan of Austrian Riesling and Gruner Veltliner).

Thanks Ryan!

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