Six88 Solutions of Boulder markets business automation and compliance software for wineries. I had lunch yesterday with the founder Jason Eckenroth to discuss the company and vision. We were joined by Jeff Carroll, the product manager for one the company’s premier products, ShipCompliant.
Jason started the company while still earning his Masters in Structural Engineering at CU to build customized business automation applications. Over the years, the company developed it’s core “Business Engine” while working on various applications for customers in diverse markets such as photo imaging, aviation marketplace, wineries, and art galleries. After several successes in the winery market and encouragement from early adopters, Jason has focused the company in order to attack what he sees as a unique opportunity.
Most wine is sold through distributors, which eats away at the precious margin of a winery. Recent changes in the law have increased the opportunity for wineries to ship directly to customers, and the demand from consumers is growing. However, many wineries (especially the smaller ones) find the prospect of directly shipping to customers too impractical and inefficient to be worthwhile.
Six88 aims to solve this problem by greatly simplifying the complex compliance and reporting issues that wineries face. The company’s new ShipCompliant portal integrates fully with the already established WineBusinessEngine product to form a complete solution that provides commerce, fulfillment, CRM, wholesale and compliance modules. Basically, these are all the software tools you need to run a winery efficiently and profitably.
“Our winery clients see direct-to-consumer shipping as an increasingly critical element of success,” Jason said. “Our compliance solution provides wineries a mechanism to limit their legal liability while reducing costs associated with maintaining and reporting compliance information.”
Jason went on to explain that “A key aspect of ShipCompliant is that it is a stand alone application able to fully integrate with any order entry system… via its SOAP web services.”
Six88 is working closely with the Boulder Innovation Center and is “hustling to maintain a first mover advantage and may decide to find angel or partner funding in the next 90 days.” Currently Six88 employs nine people on Boulder’s Pearl Street mall.
The company is also seeking software engineers knowledgeable with .NET and an experienced software development manager. Not sure if the company gets free samples or not. 😉
