Toe Sweat and Tomato Juice

My friend, Blake Poutra, told me about the Cork’d acquisition this morning. This story is right up my alley because it’s about growing a site (which is what we’re doing with siteMighty), and because it involves some amazing design. But first, here’s a little primer on Cork’d:

Cork’d was a niche site, a place for wine lovers who aren’t wine masters to meet and share their wine experiences. Cork’d is a site that an average person can visit to learn a bit about wine, get a recommendation or two, and type up some tasting notes without feeling overwhelmed, out of their depth, or talked-down to.

We’d built the site over a few months, working in our spare time during evenings and weekends. We were trying out new techniques, pulling out the stops, seeing what it would be like to create a site that wasn’t driven by client deadlines, statements of work, or contractual obligations. We were building it for fun.

Of course we had no idea if Cork’d would ever become something people would actually use. I remember right after launch we agreed that if we had a total of 500 user sign-ups in the next 30 days, the site would be a huge success. As it turned out, we had that many members within the next few hours. Within the week, we had over 5,000 new members. We were amazed as the user base climbed to over 20,000.

Ok. Cork’d exploded not because of the idea, its innovative strategies, or amazing design principles. It flew because it gave the users exactly what they wanted, and by doing that, it fulfilled a need. This is a hardcore community of wine enthusiasts which leads me to the reason I wrote this post in the first place. Take a look at the screengrab below. Note the language this user uses:

“The funk is there for sure”

“Nose: asparagus, toe sweat, and V8”

“Like chewing on the strings of a baseball glove…”

That last statement is what got me. When I first read the review, I was like, oops, some spam got through. Then I realized that he rated it 90.0/100.0. They must have liked it. Then I remembered chewing on my own glove in the outfield as a kid. It was a happy memory. This review must be good.

So then I recall my days waiting tables when I used to have to know a little bit about wine. I would get people every now and then who would come in and make strange requests about very expensive bottles of wine (i.e. placing a bottle of Chardonnay in an ice bath half ice, half water and a tumbler of club soda).

This guy is speaking to Cork’d members who are looking for a toe sweaty, tomatoey Red to go with their lamb. And Cork’d members are seeking reviews like this on Cork’d to make a purchase decision about a particular bottle of wine.

Kudos to Cork’d for getting out of the way and letting this type of conversation take place.It’s a fascinating example of how your users can really take you places. It’s the new way of saying the customer is always right.