Amidst all this coverage of snazzy new products from big established companies, it’s always a huge breath of fresh air to talk to the little guys — budding independent entrepreneurs passionately making clever new apps and services. In many ways, these are the people that actually keep the tech industry interesting.
That’s why it was great to meet Brittany Hawkins of Swirl It, a new app for the iPhone for helping you keep track of the wines you try and discover potential new favorites.
Swirl It is a bit of a passion project, as both Hawkins and her co-founder Nic Werner have very busy full-time jobs at other tech companies (Sharethrough and Slashdot, respectively.) After meeting on a “co-founder date” two years back and bonding over their wish to bring an accessible wine-focused app to market, the pair have worked nights and weekends to make Swirl It a reality. At the moment, the company is totally bootstrapped.
One of the big differentiators for Swirl It is how it has a huge focus on location — the idea is that while a label might help us pick out a wine to begin with, often what we end up really associate a wine with is the where and when — that great Chardonnay you tried out at that one restaurant, or that affordable Rose your friend brought to a picnic. Swirl It’s database has 15,000 wines and 5,000 locations, with more being added daily.
We brought Hawkins by TechCrunch TV to give us a hands-on look at Swirl It and talk about what sets it apart from other apps for the oenophile set. My first impression is that Swirl is a well-designed app that fulfills a definite need simply and effectively — it’ll be fun to see how it takes off in the days ahead now that it’s out in the wild.
Check it all out in the video embedded above.
Here are some screenshots of Swirl It:
