Those two things helped us decide that it was time to enter the cannabis market. And even as COVID-19 restrictions have eased, many observers of retail trends believe Americans embrace of the lets-just-get-it-delivered lifestyle is here to staywhich explains Ubers decision to pay $1.1 billion to acquire Drizly in early 2021, making it the highest-valued company to ever launch from the Boston College campus. Rellas wasnt much of a drinker, but as he thought about his daily life which had come to include frequent rides via the Uber apphe began to wonder why getting a six-pack of beer still required an old-fashioned trip to Chanskys Market. He eventually envisioned a business model in which an app became a high-tech middleman between liquor stores and consumers. In May 2020, we launched Lantern as the first on-demand cannabis e-commerce company in the state of Massachusetts, and we now operate in additional states such as Michigan and Colorado. 2021: Played in eight of 15 games to date as a reserve WR.first career catch was a 12-yarder in win over UAB.also had a catch for six yards in win at Vanderbilt.missed four games because of injury. Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Drizly's Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder is Cory Rellas. In the last year, Drizly. In 2018 and 2019, we really started looking at data for consumer crossover and regulatory crossover. . And Drizly wasnt the only beneficiary. Traditionally BC students have taken the safer road: bigger companies in consulting and investment banking, he said. As of 2023, Justin Robertson's net worth is $100,000 - $1M. Rellas, who stepped away from his role as Drizly CEO last August, has recently launched an L.A.-based fashion company called East of Eden. We give a voice to experts through insightful interviews. Rellass take: Life is long. Startup founders are building fully remote companies, survey finds. When it did so, the company received not just access to a massive new market, but also a boost to its credibility in the venture capital community. Cory Rellas was a Notre Dame alum whod been working at the Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital and had provided some early funding to Drizly. The remaining 10% will be paid in cash. It was extremely difficult to not have one side of the marketplace say yes.. With cash on hand, Robinson hired Drizly's first real employees. The ones that were repeat customers, who would put up with our suboptimal app and sometimes suboptimal delivery experience, kept us going. If youre working for more than just profit, to truly help people build their own businesses, there is nothing more rewarding. In 2013, Robinson co-founded Drizly, a digital marketplace to connect consumers to alcohol retailers for beer, wine and spirits delivery. Rellas began asking friends to make small purchases. The early days were tough for sure. So I would say that my story thus far has been punctuated by feelings of inevitability.. Justin Robinson is based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and works at Drizly as Co-Founder. Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. VP of Legal, Regulatory and Industry Affairs, Beer, Wine, and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers, Intelligent Assistance and Bots Ecosystem. The company announced in August that founder CEO Nick Rellas would be replaced by his cousin Cory Rellas as CEO. There werent a lot of examples to go off of. Frazier worked quickly: By early November, Drizly had registered with Apples App Store. Drizlys leadership in alcohol e-commerce delivery and 350% YoY growth in 2020, paired with Lanterns launch in two markets and anticipated expansion to serve adult-use consumers in MA, MI and CO, positions us among the leading cannabis delivery services in the U.S. Jerome Knyszewski: Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? As well, to change these perceptions, and to empower our customers with the knowledge they need to understand what type of cannabis products are best suited for their needs. A lot of people didnt know you could buy alcohol online, they learned that during the pandemic, said Kyle Swartz, editor ofBeverage Dynamics, who has followed Drizly for five years. Drizly took shape when Rellas reached out to John Gallaugher, an information systems professor and then co-advisor to the Boston College Venture Competitionwhich was later revamped and brought under the auspices of the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship. Eight years ago, Drizly started as a simple text from one friend to another: Why cant you get alcohol delivered?. Uber The rest of my classmates were going to Wall Street, Rellas said. At the show, the founders met a small family-owned chain in the Boston area called Gordons Fine Wines and Liquors. Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Our mission is to teach students what its like to be an entrepreneur, to take risks, to get outside their comfort zone, to try something. Nonetheless, each year more students are flocking to the Universitys Startup & Entrepreneurship Career Fair to explore jobs with smaller firms. . It was a turning point. Ultimately, Drizly created the cannabis-focused subsidiary Lantern, which is, more or less, a copy-and-paste of the Drizly business model, Robinson says. Soon afterward, the first article about Drizly appeared online. The next day they started getting orders from people who werent their friendsthe first sign that customers might truly want what the company was selling. With Ubers acquisition of Drizly, Lantern will spin off into its own independent entity. We look forward to providing you with even more cutting-edge market research, as Topio Networks. We partner with thousands of retailers in more than 1,400 cities to empower them to grow their businesses and make our customers good times better. With the money raised from friends and family dwindling, Rellas began pitching venture capitalists for investment. When we started Drizly, we didnt have a retailer onboard for the first nine months. We will be launching updates to VentureFizz soon which will include a new profile page and a custom homepage. In 2012, together with Cory Rellas (Nicks cousin), they co-foundedDrizly, a Boston-based alcohol delivery service operating in180 markets across 30 states and select Canadian locations. Our purpose is to be there when it matters committed to lifes moments and the people who create them. The company went on to raise an estimated total of $119.6 million in venture funding, according to Crunchbase, which included big-check growth rounds from firms like Tiger Global Management and Avenir Growth Capital. Why would you stop having it delivered to your door when its so much more convenient?. The founders called their families to explain the idea, and raise a small amount of money to get the company off the ground. I love BC, but we know how conservative it can be, Robinson said. best rock wedding entrance songs. Justin Robinson's Net Worth: $1-5 Million. Delivery services and tech platforms are one of the fastest growing sectors of the legal cannabis industry, and few entrepreneurs in the space have a resume that combines technology with delivery quite like that of Lantern co-founder Justin Robinson. We used the walls of our first $150/month office as a whiteboard sharpy everywhere. All rights reserved. Emerging industries, like cannabis, are at a precipice as legalization opens up the avenues for innovation, and as technology and access accelerate market maturity. The lesson of our story is that if youre in the position to take a risk, take it early in your career. For Lantern, we were teed up to launch around the second week of March 2020. As Americans became accustomed to buying more products onlineand to the wide selections available at sites such as Amazon, where third-party sellers compete with each otherDrizlys limitations were evident. Rellas' cousin, Cory Rellas, came aboard in 2013. The company was so new it didnt have offices. The first-place winners of the competition received a first-round interview with Drizly and a $500 prize. He encouraged attendees to have unyielding faith in their ideas; to build a story around themselves and their product; and to learn from their mistakes. Can you tell us what lessons or takeaways you learned from that? SoundCloud Justin Robinson . In your experience what are the best strategies an eCommerce business should use to increase conversion rates? It expanded into Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver, becoming adept at "onboarding" new stores to its system. DETAILS BELOW Justin Robertson (born June 11, 1968) is famous for being dj. On Tuesday, the Drizly founders' rocky journey reached a major milestone with Uber's acquisition. On February 23, 2013, the Drizly app went live and nothing happened. The hope came from our early customers they were small but mighty. Frazier began working on the technology in the summer of 2012. Jerome Knyszewski: What was the Aha Moment that led to the idea for your current company? Its called Drizly. To start, everyone (friends and family included) were doubtful that we could pull it off. Cory agreed to join as chief operating officer. Continue to invest in our consumer-facing experience and our delivery technology, which is our first priority. No comment, Rellas said. Founders are often pushed aside as startups grow; hard feelings and disputes over who deserves credit are common. Robinson co-founded Lantern (described as Drizlys sister company) in 2019. Justin Robinson: Eight years ago, Drizly started as a simple text from one friend to another: Why cant you get alcohol delivered? When we realized that alcohol delivery was, in fact, legal, we set out with a little bit of luck and a lotta bit of determination to build a three-tier compliant technology company that would change the way we shop for beer, wine, and spirits. Drizly, as it happens, was founded in a Boston College dorm room. By late 2019, hed settled in California, where he spent the pandemic restoring old cars, taking photographs, and working on what he calls the next big thing in beverages. His LinkedIn profile currently lists him as the cofounder of a company called East of Eden. In texas state board of pharmacy inspection checklist. There are plenty of regulations on the cannabis side, especially with delivery, that are the same as alcohol regulations. Drizly has spent the last 8 years building the infrastructure, technology, and partnerships to bring the consumer a shopping experience they deserve, said Cory Rellas, who has served as Drizlys CEO since 2018. After leaving Drizly, Rellas traveled the world with his camera. Derby Entrepreneurship Center at TuftsJoyce Cummings Center177 College Avenue, Room 390Medford, MA 02155, Foundations for Future Leadership Minor (TGI), MS in Innovation & Management Dual Degree (TGI), Fireside chat with Justin Robinson, Co-Founder of Drizly (acquired by Uber) and Lantern. We believe in the value of ratings and reviews to increase conversion rates, which allow consumers to have a sense of how someone likes a product with similar preferences and needs. Its a consumable, its a new category folks are unfamiliar with, and the regulation is appropriately exhausting. Nintendo Switch()SwitchSwitch22! . Its a proud day for the Drizly team as we recognize what weve accomplished to date but also with the humility that much remains to be done to fulfill our vision, he added. I came up with an idea in a dorm room, so I was young and ignorant. How threeBC students founded the liquor-delivery app Drizlyand sold it for $1.1 billion. Jerome Knyszewski: Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Robinson, meanwhile, was charged with business development. Today, Drizly is the largest online marketplace for alcohol in North America. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Consumers love it! "It was actually about e-commerce and doing in alcohol what has happened in books and CDs. What would you advise retail companies and eCommerce companies, for them to be successful in the face of such strong competition? As COVID-19 forced Americans to stay at home, orders began pouring in. Today, Drizly is available across 101 markets and the company has raised $35M in venture funding. Register. Hed noticed his longtime delivery customers defecting to the app. That didnt happen, but wow did we learn a lot about cannabis delivery through the pandemic. Justin Robinson is the Senior Vice President of New Business and co-founder of Drizly. As you know, conversion means to convert a visit into a sale. As part of my series about the 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful E-Commerce Business, I had the pleasure of interviewing Justin Robinson, Co-Founder of Drizly, North Americas largest e-commerce alcohol marketplace, as well as the Co-Founder of Lantern, the leading on-demand cannabis e-commerce marketplace and home delivery platform in the U.S. Nick Rellas, Justin Robinson and Spencer Frazier launched Drizly in the Boston area, making money by licensing software to liquor stores to let them accept orders from the Drizly app. To start, by being a trusted brand and earning that consumer confidence. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you got started? Nick Rellas credited their success to capitalizing on burgeoning e-commerce trends. Justin Robinson of Drizly and Lantern: 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful E-Commerce Business | by Jerome Knyszewski | Authority Magazine | Medium Write Sign up Sign In. This helped them understand all parts of your supply chain suppliers, distributors, managers, and customers., During this period before Drizly, Justin Robinson also tried his hand at all aspects of the business, which gave him unrivaled customer insight when pitching and promoting to potential vendors. To prove his knowledge, he says he could enter any liquor store and prove he knew exactly what he was talking about., This method also proved useful when Justin Robinson founded Lantern, the sister company of Drizly.