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UCLA students display business acumen with startup

Federico Saiz (left) and Vicente Estevez are students at UCLA Anderson School of Management who recently started a wine-of-the-month company.

Courtesy of Federico Saiz.

By Nico Correia

April 15, 2014 12:50 a.m.

Two UCLA Anderson School of Management students learned how to run a business and pick out the perfect bottle of wine when launching their startup company.

Last year, Vicente Estevez and Federico Saiz created a company called Aquívino, a wine-of-the-month club that delivers expert-chosen wines to customers in Mexico. The students offer monthly wine plans ranging from $479 to $829.

The two said they chose to start a wine company in Mexico because Mexican wine market conditions are favorable. Both are originally from Mexico and plan to return there to manage their company after graduation.

Saiz said Aquívino’s target demographic young Mexican people from 25 to45 years old is increasingly switching over from beer to wine as its drink of choice.

Their target demographic uses the Internet frequently and is the most likely to buy online, which is beneficial to Aquívino given its status as an internet-only company.

In addition to the market prospects, Estevez said the venture was exciting to him because it gave him the chance to be his own boss.

For Saiz, creating a new business is exciting because his family instilled in him the value of entrepreneurship. His grandfather, father and brother have all started their own businesses.

Estevez said he didn’t have much knowledge about wine before starting the company, so he took a seven-month course on different aspects of the wine industry.

Now, he is looking to become a certified wine expert by the North American Sommelier Association.

Saiz too found himself using more than just his business skills, brushing up on his coding to create the Aquívino website.

But starting the business hasn’t been without its struggles, especially the distance between business operations in Mexico and the two students in Southern California.

“We are here in L.A., when we want to be in Mexico,” Saiz said. “Everything takes twice as long, and is twice as hard when you’re doing it in another country.”

To cope with the distance, Saiz said they receive help packing and shipping wine from people they know in Mexico.

Matt Ridenour, a professor at Anderson and adviser for the startup, said the two have a smart and analytical management style that will allow the company to grow.

“They have already had some business success, when many students are only talking conceptually about a product,” Ridenour said.

He said the biggest challenge facing the venture will be finding customers in a cost-effective way.

Estevez said a possible strategy to grow the company’s customer base is to partner with a larger liquor chain in the future. He said he is excited to graduate and return to Mexico so he can focus entirely on developing and expanding the business.

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