Vinovest Wants to Make Investing in Fine Wine Easy

Episode 190: Vinovest Co-Founder & CEO talks about quitting college to launch venture-backed companies, his spinal cord injury, and building a platform to invest in wine.

Guest Biography

Anthony Zhang is only 25 but has already successfully built and sold two companies, secured funding from Mark Cuban and Mark Burnett, and received a Thiel fellowship grant. Not only that, but he has worked hard to come back from a devastating accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. The Los Angeles Business Journal recently described him as "the epitome of a dogged entrepreneur."

Anthony is now the founder and CEO of his third company: Vinovest, a platform that has been described as "the Robinhood of wine investing" and is making it easier for more people to access this wealth-building asset class. Fine wine enjoys low correlation with global equities markets, and has largely outperformed the S&P 500 over the past four decades, which makes it an ideal shelter in times of volatility. However, a number of factors have made this lucrative asset class largely inaccessible to the average retail investor— high account minimums, a lack of wine expertise, concerns about fraud, and the excessive costs associated with storing and insuring wine. Vinovest is helping investors to overcome these barriers to entry, and is democratizing access to fine wine investing.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What it was like pitching Mark Cuban and Mark Burnett as a college student.
• Different motivations for starting companies from food delivery to rating VCs.
• Why Anthony wants to bring wine investing to everyone and believes it's an alternative asset class worth considering.

Show notes: http://www.inspiredmoney.fm/190

Find more from our guest:

• vinovest.co
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Mentioned in the episode:

• Vinovest Twitter
• Vinovest Facebook
• Vinovest Instagram
• Vinovest LinkedIn
• Thiel Fellowship
• Peter Thiel
• Mark Cuban at USC | Full Interview (Envoy Now pitch at 1:10:50)
• JoyRun
• ratemyinvestor.com (was KnowYourVC)
• Mark Cuban
• Mark Burnett

Money Tip of the Week

• Buying a daily coffee vs buying a coffee stock.

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Special thanks to Jim Kimo West for the music.