Matt Dukes | From Lawyer to Entrepreneur & Wine Aficionado
By Ryan Chatterton
May 26, 2020
Matt Dukes left his position as a corporate lawyer to take a break, reflect, and work on a vineyard in France for a few months. The plan was always to return back to his 80-hour per week grind and move back to New York, but something about the wine industry caught Matt’s imagination. He decided to start a wine subscription box called VINEBOX (which eventually led to his second company, Usual), and took off to California instead. Here’s how Matt reinvented himself as an entrepreneur in an industry that he knew nothing about.
Leaving Corporate Life & Reinventing His Future
Matt grew up in a small town in Florida, but moved to New York after finishing college where he practiced corporate law. Matt lasted three years before realizing he wanted to do something different. He was burnt out, wanted to change the direction of his career, and needed some time to think things over.
Matt found a volunteer position working in a vineyard with a family in Bordeaux, France. “I literally did everything, from tending vines at 5am to hand-bottling over 3,000 bottles of wine,” Matt said. “This was my first exposure to both the wine business and entrepreneurship.”
During this time, Matt really studied the production process. “I took the opportunity to learn more about the state of the wine industry itself and the gaps in the market,” Matt said. “The company I worked at was very small, so they would send wine samples to industry and trade partners instead of entire bottles. I was intrigued. How could I bring that same experience to consumers in the USA?”
Matt was so enamored with this question that his break from corporate life became permanent. Instead of going back to New York and looking for a new job like he’d planned, Matt decided to start a business.
The Beginnings of Entrepreneurship
Matt began by talking with his peers. Was the idea of selling smaller portions of wine at retail, something typically reserved for restaurants and bars, something people would actually be interested in? Turns out, it was. “I was blown away by the response!” Matt said. “Everyone was interested and actively asking to purchase if I could make it available.” Since subscription boxes were quite popular at the time, Matt decided he’d test them out, but with wine.
Instead of returning to New York, Matt moved to San Francisco to be closer to the wine industry in Napa Valley and the startup hub in Silicon Valley. Once there, he kicked off the preorder campaign for VINEBOX, the name he’d chosen for his new company. Within the first 30 days, VINEBOX sold over 1000 boxes, all without an advertising budget. Sales were made solely through word of mouth. He shipped the first boxes in January 2016, and at the same time, was accepted by the YCombinator, a prominent American seed accelerator.
What are Vinebox & Usual?
VINEBOX focuses on discovery and education. Subscribers are sent sample sizes of various wines each quarter so they can ‘try before they buy.’ “VINEBOX gave members the ability to explore the world of wine and discover taste preferences without committing to a full-sized bottle,” Matt said. “It teaches newcomers about wine through drinking it.
