Christy Serrato is the CEO & Founder of Pair Anything, Inc., the global B2B wine tech software company that is pioneering digital direct-to-consumer innovation. With the PairAnything web app and widget solutions, wineries, restaurants and retailers gain pairing and personalization technology to attract and engage diverse consumers in the digital landscape. PairAnything’s mission is to bring diversity and inclusivity to the world of wine. Along the way, it is helping businesses grow sustainably with digital commerce.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I am a WOC entrepreneur who is intersecting technology, wine and customer experiences. I was born in the Philippines and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I didn’t get exposed to wine until I went to UC Davis — world-renowned for wine. I learned from my classmates how wine is a social lubricant that can elevate food enjoyment.

After a successful career in banking and technology, in 2018, I found myself back in Davis. That’s when I came up with my startup idea, combining my tech background with my passion for wine to create digital customer experiences.

What inspired you to start your business?

I came up with the PairAnything idea while conversing with my Mom, my source of inspiration. She liked that I could help enhance people's enjoyment of food. She challenged me to create a digital tool that can pair wine with Filipino cuisine — really any cuisine. Hence my naming the company, “Pair Anything”.  

When I launched the MVP app in March 2020, I first showed it to my Mom. She entered “Chicken Adobo” and was delighted to get a wine recommendation. Two months later, my mom unexpectedly passed. I am grateful that she got to see me start PairAnything – an unexpected tribute to her.

Where is your business based?

PairAnything is co-headquartered in Davis and San Francisco, CA, with a distributed workforce across 7 cities.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I got my start in 2019, when I won the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Competition for Food & Agriculture Innovation. With the $10,000 prize money, I built a high-fidelity prototype that allowed me to engage prospective customers to validate my idea. I began developing the software only after I signed paying customers. 

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Telling stories — it has been the most effective way to bring awareness to PairAnything. I have been fortunate to get media coverage on my journey as a UC Davis Aggie Innovator, my inspiration from my mom, and my beachhead entry into Amador and Lodi wine regions with pioneering wineries. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

A year after my mom’s passing, I put down into words an important life lesson on Thriving with Empathy.  I am resilient as a person and as an entrepreneur because of self-compassion — a life practice I learned from my mom. I understand that each act of kindness changes the way we see ourselves and others... and as how others see us. I have confidence in navigating today's challenging times, because of the example she set: a life filled with kindness is a life worth living. It starts, and ends, with being kind to myself. From there, kindness flows exponentially. 

How do you stay focused?

I commit to live each day with passion. I start by reading out loud my Intention Statement that ends with “I am this, or something better in my highest good. And so it is!”  I learned to do this ritual from my Authentic CEO leadership coaching. It lifts me up and enables me to be laser-focused for the day. 

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

PairAnything is unlike other alternatives in the market. We provide a hyper-personalization approach to wine discovery, and we sell our solution to enterprises. PairAnything is not like other apps that focus only on consumers… nor is it an online wine marketplace – instead, we drive commerce directly to wineries. Our unique advantage is our proprietary pairing technology and our agility to co-innovate with our customers and partners. 

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Giving is an effective —and empathetic — marketing tool. When we launched our web app at the start of the pandemic, we quickly learned to adapt our strategy to best serve our beachhead market, the wine industry. We introduced the First Mover Advantage program to give our product free to wineries. While wineries navigated the challenges from the pandemic, they got to discover a digital direct-to-consumer innovation from PairAnything.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Associate with people who share your vision, mission and values. Be around those who inspire you and motivate you to reach your dreams.

Play to your strengths, be creative and take bold risks — even if they lead to mistakes. It is an opportunity to learn, grow and improve, which is foundational for the journey to success.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My favorite app, of course, is PairAnything, which you can try for free on our website.

A favorite blog is TechCrunch to stay up to date on technology news. Also, I enjoy several food and wine blogs, as they serve as inspiration for content and community for PairAnything.

A favorite book is The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success that I received from the FourthWave Accelerator for women tech founders. The principles in this book align with my core beliefs, and provide me with a roadmap for innovative, value-based leadership. It is on my bedside table, and I flip through it regularly.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

We use several online workspaces at PairAnything to boost remote team productivity. My favorite one is AirTable. It is an easy-to-use collaboration tool that works like a “supersized” spreadsheet, yet powerful enough to be a relational database. We use it for customer relationship management (CRM), integrated online forms and workflow management.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I aspire to be like Sara Blakey, founder and inventor of Spanx. Her journey from being a door-to-door fax salesperson to a self-made billionaire is inspirational. When she was young, her father would ask “what did you fail at today?”  She learned early on that through failure is how one learns to succeed. Also, her tenacity and perseverance to hold true to her vision is incredible.

What did Sara do after she sold a majority stake in Spanx at a $1.2B valuation? She gifted each of her 500 employees with first-class plane tickets and $10,000 spending money. I join Sara as an entrepreneur who believes in “the more you give, the more you get.” 

How do you balance work and life?

Well-being is one of our six guiding values. At PairAnything, we look out for each other and we practice self-care. We balance work-school-life priorities, and position each team member to achieve healthy success. We have a wellness guru in our team who guides us on a Meditative Moment at the start of our meetings.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

I go on leisure walks with my dog, RockyBoy. He reminds me to go out when I need to disconnect and decompress. Being around his sunny disposition, zest for life and boundless curiosity amplify my drive to succeed in my business. 

What do you have planned for the next six months?

I’ve been heel-strapping PairAnything since our operational start in 2019. Thriving during the pandemic and achieving several milestones, we are now poised to fundraise. In the next six months, we close our pre-seed investment round and use the funds to execute our growth strategy to embed our proprietary pairing technology inside more online and mobile platforms.

How can our readers connect with you?

Please discover PairAnything and connect with me here:

•   Website: www.PairAnything.com

•   Instagram: @PairAnything

•   Twitter: @PairAnything

•   Website: www.PairAnything.com

•   LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/pair-anything