Yes a lot fail but there’s been a number if ‘crazy ideas’ that have taken off and cemented themselves as major players (not going to bore you with the list).
I must be missing something, but what's 'crazy' about winevalet?
The concept of algorithmic palate predictors is already employed by many players.
Good Pair Days | Discover Wines Paired To Your Tastes is one, is this not the same thing? except goodpairdays seems to be run by a Somm and actually holds inventory, this allows them to supposedly mix and match wines to your taste. Winevalet on the otherhand does not intend to hold inventory to save on costs, fair enough, but how do you provide unique customizations to customers if you dont hold the product? It's a logistics nightmare, sending out individual bottles from different suppliers/wineries.
I think its very important to look at all those other "ideas" and how they faired.
Vivino obviously comes to mind, started in 2010 as a wine identification service and evolved into a marketplace currently going through a $155m series D funding. Still has not achieved break-even, but you can see the value it provides consumers with its huge database. What value does winevalet provide customers? --> "A mix of wines each month that is uniquely curated to reflect your lifestyle". This is simply a wine club, not a market disruptor.
Something closer to home,
Vinomofo, whose failure to IPO can roughly be summed up by Joe Aston:
Blue Sky’s targeted investment performance for Vinomofo was laughable from the outset.
www.afr.com
Noting a brash excerpt:
"Vinomofo’s unscalability, its lack of pricing power and the competition’s low barriers to entry rendered Blue Sky’s targeted performance for this investment laughable from the outset", highlights the issues that will face winevalet if it gets off the ground. Assuming it succeeds, it will realistically also be another 10+ years before IPO will be considered and that your investment can yield any returns.
It may be exciting to be a founding member of a startup, but it is important to remember that 90% of them will fail. If people have excess equity, I'm all for supporting startups if due dilligence is done, but don't expect to see that money back anytime soon, if ever.