A Seattle tech worker blended his love of web development and craft beer into a digital venture now serving thousands of breweries worldwide.
Challenge
For nearly a decade, Greg R. worked as an IT specialist at Starbucks’ headquarters in Seattle. It was stable, comfortable, and predictable—but not exciting. Most of his time was spent in meetings or fixing internal systems. The creativity he once loved in tech had been replaced by corporate routine.
To keep his mind sharp, Greg started building small websites on the side—just basic projects for friends, artists, and local businesses. He wasn’t making much money, but he was honing his skills. Around the same time, his other passion—craft beer—was exploding across the Pacific Northwest. Weekend brewery visits became a ritual, and soon, those two worlds started to overlap.
Action
Greg decided to combine his skills in tech with his passion for beer. On his personal website, he mentioned his love for craft brewing alongside his web design services. That small detail changed everything.
One day, a local brewery owner searching online for a “Seattle web developer who loves beer” stumbled across Greg’s site. That client became the first of many—and opened the door to a niche Greg hadn’t known existed: digital tools for the alcohol industry.
As he worked with more breweries, Greg realized one technical problem almost all of them faced: age verification. Every alcohol-related website needed a legal age gate—those “Are you 21 or older?” pop-ups—but most breweries didn’t know how to install them correctly.
So Greg built his own solution: AgeVerify, a simple tool that let businesses add an age gate to their website with a single line of code.
Result
That one small tool turned into a booming subscription business. Within a few years, over 3,000 wineries, distilleries, and breweries around the world were using AgeVerify—including major brands like Guinness and Bacardi.
Greg eventually left his corporate job to run his company full-time. The business now brings in over $120,000 a year, and he’s expanded his offerings to include another product, LocalSip, which helps bars and wineries manage and update their tap lists online.
What started as a personal experiment became a thriving digital business serving the very industry he loves most.
Lesson
Greg’s story proves that the best business ideas often come from the intersection of skill and passion. You don’t need to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel—just look for a small problem in a community you already understand and solve it better than anyone else.
When your work aligns with what you love, the line between “job” and “joy” starts to disappear.
Inspired by a true story originally featured on Side Hustle School by Chris Guillebeau. This rewritten version is independently produced and fully original.