Brewing up Business
The craft beer business is booming, so this SDSU alumna decided to make her mark on the industry.
“Being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster so surround yourself with people who support your decision to embark on this journey.”
“I’m a risk-taker and an adrenaline junkie,” said Melani Gordon (’02, marketing). “Those are the two traits that I’ve noticed that most entrepreneurs have in common.”
Gordon, who began motocross racing at the age of seven, has proven her risk-taker personality even when she decided to come to SDSU. “I originally planned to attend college in Arizona on a grant I was awarded,” recalled the Reno, Nevada native. “But my heart wasn’t in it. But after I visited San Diego over the Fourth of July in 1999, I moved there four weeks later with no college or job lined up. Luckily, I had outstanding grades and I was easily able to enroll at SDSU.”
After Gordon earned her degree 2002, she entered the corporate world, but that didn’t last long. “In 2006, I experienced the bureaucracy of being held back at a job,” she said. “On that day I decided I’d start and run a company where stifling the abilities of the employees (including my own) wouldn’t exist.”
Gordon had already co-founded a consulting company and while entrepreneurship wasn’t completely new to her, she took her biggest risk yet in 2011 by establishing TapHunter with her husband, fellow Aztec Jeff Gordon (’02, computer science). “I’m a beer and whiskey geek,” she explained. “Marry that with my passion for tech startups and you have TapHunter.”
Here’s how it works: Bars and restaurants subscribe to TapHunter, giving them the ability to upload their bar menu into social media, digital boards, print menus and online formats simultaneously. It also allows patrons the ability to find where their favorite beverage is being served either at the updated website of their favorite watering hole or by accessing the TapHunter website or mobile app at no cost.
TapHunter is growing both their client list and personnel count. “We have thousands of bar customers across the world, 30 employees and we are in the process of expanding our inside sales team,” reports Gordon.
Gordon offers this advice to budding SDSU entrepreneurs: “Being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster so surround yourself with people who support your decision to embark on this journey. Secondly, don’t forget to enjoy the ride – if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, life will pass you by.”
