What are the 2 words you would use to describe booquet technology?
Distill. Illuminate.
What is the biggest challenge facing your team?
I would say that the single biggest challenge we have faced has been enabling Booquet to understand the world of wine. When we first started discussing this problem we had imagined a wine industry with maybe fifty thousand to one hundred thousand different products. As it turns out, there are over a million different products with new products being continuously produced. There are over a thousand different varietals. Even a single varietal can take on many ontological forms. Naming conventions range from the pragmatic to the bizarre. In order for Booquet to make sense of all of this information it has to understand the current world of wine while assimilating new products as they emerge. There are so many pieces of technology that have gone into the building Booquet and every piece solves an incredibly difficult problem in its own right.
How did you get started in the tech space?
Computers and technology have long been a source of inspiration to me. I remember my first 286 PC – it had this huge “turbo” button on the front, a 2400 baud modem and a monochrome screen. It was so heavy I could hardly lift it. It could do all of this really cool stuff like call people and make a high pitch crackling noise in their ear. It also offered me a small glimpse into the future. As I explored the world of social computing I started to notice that there were dozens or even hundreds of these tiny servers called BBSs in most zip codes throughout the country. Anyone could dial into these systems, establish a connection and apply for membership. The whole system was very informal, but there was a wealth of information and technology being shared amongst strangers. Every night these BBS systems would call each other and exchange localized information creating an ad hoc nation-wide network. It didn’t take long to realize that computers were much more than over grown video game systems that could be used to hack into one another. They could be used to share knowledge and connect people in unique ways. There was so much information being produced during this time and the technology was so primitive that you were lucky to find a single thing you were looking for. A little over a decade later we are starting to see the emergence of personal agents that act on our behalf and continuously summarize information in unique, personalized ways. I guess my role in all of this started in my early teens when I published BBS software that had a slightly more intuitive (or so I thought) interface than what was available. Amusingly, many of the algorithms we use today for making sense of data pre-date the existence of the personal computer.
What are the brands you admire most?
I guess it depends on the selection criteria. The brands that I find admirable have a feeling of authenticity to them. Brands that inspire me have a certain social quality. Companies that stand out in my mind come from humble beginnings, have principled founders, focus on an unserved niche, or have made a large contribution to the community. A few brands that I find interesting at the moment are Wolfram, Google, Amazon, Hulu, iRobot, Tesla Motors, X-Prize Foundation, Wikipedia and Dwell.
Tell us something we’d never know about you.
This is such a difficult question! Throughout the course of my career I have met so many incredible people who do amazing things outside the realm of technology. Personally, I have a long standing relationship with calculated risk. I grew up during the rise of extreme sports and was fortunate enough to have motocross, skateboarding, surfing, mountain biking and snowboarding in my back yard at various times. Here in Colorado we have access to some of the best skiing and mountain biking in the country and we take full advantage of it. Carrying this theme into my professional life I find the process of starting new companies provides similar excitement and that is where I’ve spent the majority of my career. This may sound a bit odd, but I find tranquility in my spare time by studying philosophy and mathematics.
Tags: booquet CTO, Booquet team, C.J. Grimes, uncorked