Something Special is “Brewing” in Portland, And You’re Invited…

Friends and Riskologists,

I’m launching a new business project in March, and if you’re a coffee drinker, I want to invite you along. Allow me to explain…

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Almost every day, I get to hear from amazing people. Last week, Sonja wrote to me about her first skydive. Les wrote in recently to tell me about his motorcycle trip to Patagonia. And a fellow named Charlie just sent me message on Facebook to tell me about his new board game business.

These are just a few examples of the many notes I get that remind me just how incredible the community that gathers here at Advanced Riskology is.

And sometimes I even get to meet you!

A few times a month, one of you will be coming through Portland and we’ll meet up for coffee.

Of course, these meet ups always include a discussion about Portland coffee. “Portland is such a great coffee city,” you’ll mention, and then the next 20 minutes are spent talking about all the virtues of the burgeoning Portland coffee scene.

And it’s true; something special is going on here.

A few years ago, if you wanted a truly great cup of coffee, Stumptown was one of the few choices. But over the last few years, coffee roasting talent seems to be crawling out of the woodwork, and now the city is filled from end to end with some of the world’s finest roasters.

There are at least thirty renowned roasters in Portland now, and that’s to say nothing of the micro-roasters—folks honing their craft by hand in a basement or garage laboratory, producing flavors you wouldn’t know existed in a cup of coffee until you tasted some of their work.

And yet, the fruit of their labor is enjoyed by a very small audience—the weekly patrons of the café down the street they sell to, or friends of friends who happen to get lucky and snag an extra bag.

Some micro-roasters don’t sell at all. They produce only for the love the craft. Their work is completely unknown to the world at large.

That is, until now (this is your cue to get excited).

In early March (date to be announced soon), alongside my partner in crime Jonathan, I’ll be launching BrewPony, a whole-bean coffee delivery service to bring Portland’s most awe-inspiring roasts, from the pros and amateurs alike, directly to your high-definition taste portal (read: your mouth).

We’ll actually be delivering to your mailbox; I just wanted an excuse to say “high-definition taste portal.”

If your heart fluttered bit reading that, you’re probably having an anxiety attack caused by too much caffeine. Lay off for the rest of the day, okay?

Also, you should get on our pre-launch list over here:

–>Click to join the BrewPony mailing list

BrewPony is the Perfect Fit for the Advanced Riskologist

If we do this thing right, BrewPony will be a “standalone” business so-to-speak; it won’t need me to promote it much here on Advanced Riskology to succeed.

But I also think the story and the launch of BrewPony is a perfect fit here because:

1. The service is specifically tailored to the adventurous coffee drinker who likes to discover new tastes.
2. It’s the perfect service for what I like to call “web makers—people who spend their days working to make the Internet a better place, and need a constant caffeine drip to keep up the good fight.
3. There’s a business story and many lessons behind how this project came together that I think the enterprising Riskologist can learn from.

So, unless you tell me otherwise, I plan to share more with you about BrewPony as it comes to fruition, from why I think you’ll enjoy it to the—sometimes very unexpected—business lessons we’ve learned and will continue to learn along the way.

What do you think? Are you interested in BrewPony? Do you have questions about the service? Do you want to hear some of our fun(ny) trials and tribulations bringing this thing to life? Let me know in the comments.