Wisconsin Beertech: Savvo adding options to BeerMapper App

BeerMapper heat map

now not all cool concepts make just right companies. And sometimes an intriguing technology might have business attainable, but the creators aren’t considering commercializing it.

The latter state of affairs is the case with BeerMapper, the topic of the fourth installment in our ongoing Wisconsin beertech collection.

The app used to be created as a side project by way of former university of Wisconsin-Madison electrical and laptop engineering PhD scholar Kevin Jamieson and his guide, UW-Madison engineering professor Rob Nowak. After a person answers just a few questions on his or her beer preferences, the app varieties a warmth map depicting his or her non-public beer palate. (See above for an example.) no longer best can it steer the person toward most well-liked forms of beer, comparable to an IPA or stout, however it additionally recommends specific beer manufacturers that fall under these categories, due to integration with the RateBeer database.

“Kevin and that i weren’t thinking that severely about trying to commercially increase it,” Nowak says. “We notion possibly if works, we’d throw it up in the app store for fun.”

“i would imagine myself to be extra within the mathematics and the idea, rather than the applying,” says Jamieson, who’s now a postdoctoral student at the university of California, Berkeley, gaining knowledge of desktop finding out. “Apps passion me, however the day-to-day of writing tool isn’t that enjoyable to me.”

but the app started producing some buzz, and the pair decided to license the expertise to an organization that will enhance and promote it. They ended up inking a handle Chicago-primarily based Savvo Digital Sommelier solutions ultimate 12 months. The five-particular person firm’s primary trade entails a community of tool-powered kiosks installed in grocery and liquor shops that make suggestions for wine shoppers.

Licensing the BeerMapper app accelerated Savvo’s plans for branching out into beer and cellular apps, Savvo co-founder and CEO Joe Sheahan says. “we know that the underlying technology is amazing and an enormous differentiator,” he says of BeerMapper. “Now, how do we bring together quite a few completely different options that make the experience quick, fun, and strong?”

Savvo released an iPad version of the app late closing year and an iPhone app this past spring. one of the crucial extra options being considered embody giving customers the power to add beers to the BeerMapper database, directing them to outlets that raise the specified beers, and putting supply orders, Sheahan says. Savvo also needs so as to add beer-looking out capabilities to its in-retailer kiosks, he says.

BeerMapper has been downloaded greater than 3,000 instances, however Savvo is protecting off on a advertising and marketing push unless it further develops the app, Sheahan says. “via adding a few of these additional options, we predict it’ll be stickier for the plenty,” he says. For now, he provides in an email, “we’re in point of fact on the lookout for the early adopters (beer fans) who will likely be desirous to get the core performance and ideally to offer feedback on what options are most vital to them. we will analyze quite a bit by means of monitoring how the app is being used, but nothing is more helpful than direct user feedback.”

Xconomy

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