S4. Ep. 287 Thinking Outside of the (Sustainable) Box When it Comes to Wine, with Lauren De Niro Pipher, Founder of Juliet Wine

May 13

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Boxed wine had a reputation problem until Lauren De Niro Pipher turned it into a sustainable, design-forward product that now moves across both direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels.

Juliet Wine was born from a simple question: why doesn’t high-quality boxed wine exist? Lauren and her co-founder, Allison Luvera, saw an opportunity and built a premium product that’s as practical as it is planet-friendly, without any prior experience in the wine industry. In this episode, Lauren shares how they took the idea from concept to shelf, starting with a custom crush model, distinctive cylindrical packaging, and a brand that challenges the stigma around boxed wine.

They also talk about the power of community, how their networks shaped their businesses, served as focus groups, and helped them make crucial early hires. Lauren opens up about the risks they took, from firing an expensive agency to bootstrapping the initial phase of the company before raising over $6 million in funding.

With a go-to-market strategy that launched both direct-to-consumer and wholesale at the same time, Juliet Wine was built to scale. Instead of traditional influencer marketing, they focused on gifting and letting the product speak for itself, building authentic relationships that continue to drive word-of-mouth growth.

This episode of Dear FoundHer… shows us what it takes to build something new in a crowded category, and how a smart, scrappy approach can cut through the noise.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Why Community Matters for Founders

06:00 Lauren’s Career Journey Before Juliet Wine

07:06 The Spark Behind a Sustainable Wine Brand

08:47 From Idea to Product: Early Decisions and Setbacks

13:04 Redesigning Boxed Wine with Packaging Innovation

15:02 Bootstrapping and Raising Over $6 Million

20:10 Hiring Independent Talent Over Big Agencies

25:32 Customer Feedback as a Growth Engine

31:02 Go-to-Market Strategy: Direct to Consumer and Wholesale

38:48 Influencer Marketing Without Paying for Posts

43:46 What’s Next for Juliet Wine