We were lucky to catch up with Charley Pavlosky recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Charley, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Well, there are two companies, ShopSee and Agua Dios, that I’ve Founded, so there are two stories. I’ll keep it brief: When I was running a music label for one of the larger companies in the music business in the 90’s, I realized there was a real disconnect between Silicon Valley, Madison Avenue and Hollywood. They just weren’t speaking the same language. When file sharing services came about, I knew there was going to be a seismic shift in not only how music was delivered, but how it would come to be created in the digital space. And of course we saw what happened as the major record companies ignored emerging tech. By the end of the 90’s, they had lost a large part of their market share, through a combination of avarice and hubris. As one of the inventors of an early-stage file sharing music protocol, I knew the same thing would happen with video as it came to be delivered in the form of streaming services. So I created ShopSee in order to meet the need of people who want to deeply interact with any video they watch on any platform, anywhere and at any time. This is an extremely powerful tool, that can be a massive value-add in multiple businesses, from streaming, sports, music, medical & healthcare, to construction and pretty much everything in between that relies on video to deliver its message and products. Right now, and this figure is climbing, 80% of people online do not read- they would prefer to watch. So video is the gold standard for consumer consumption. And we’re at the forefront of that shift. It’s really nice to be right at the crest of the wave on this one, because anyone can easily see where it’s going. On the tequila company, Agua Dios, out of deep admiration and respect for the great family traditions of creating rare and elite offerings, I wanted to bring multiple cultures together to create what is simply the rarest tequila on Earth. And with the magnificent relationships I’ve been honored and privileged to be a part of, we’ve done just that. There simply is nothing else even close to what we’ve created and I can’t wait to share it with each of the 1500 customers who will be lucky enough to each own a bottle, because that’s all we made! It will be released in the next six weeks, so that is really exciting. It’s also exciting to see what unique and equally rare offering we’ll come up with next in this space. I just love the rich stories and traditions behind each region, family and cultural nuances in Mexico, which are the bedrock for great tequila expressions. It’s great to hear, then share the stories over great food and intelligent company as we all grow together and through our mutual connections, enrich one another’s lives across multiple cultures. That’s the stuff!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Although I covered this earlier, it is worth offering a bit more expression. For ShopSee, it was really a matter of creating something from an obvious need, a void in the market. I’m first and foremost a visualist, I tend to see things way ahead of their emergence. I sort of just ‘dream them up’ in my head, then if they have merit, I’ll follow the vision to its likely conclusion. I first see how things are, where they’re at, then imagine, ‘what if?’ Then a picture emerges of how it can/will/might be in five, ten or twenty years from now. Then I reach out to my connections to test the theory. And if I get enough good feedback, I know I’m on the right track. That’s kind of my process, and what I follow in order to bring things to fruition. For me it’s not something I ever had to learn. It was always just there, in me, this ability to do this. I don’t think one can go to school to learn this. It’ either in you or its not. At least that my experience with dreaming things up, so to speak. Then it’s all about making connections, renewing relationships and doing the work to engage everyone to take part. It’s like being a band leader. You find the right players and anything is possible. That’s really what I do. I’m a connector, a conveyor of people and ideas- hopefully, always good ones.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
So I helped a friend source his first organic grains to start up his own organic distillery. We just drove our cars out into Western Washington, looking for organic farmers, in the cold, muddy winter of 2003. We walked into bins, stepped over and sometimes into manure laying about, tasting fresh wheat berries right from the field, getting cold and exhausted out of our minds. And we smiled. It was fun. That was twenty years ago. Since then, his has become the most awarded craft organic distillery in the world. Now, in six weeks time, he and I will release Agua Dios tequila, the rarest tequila on Earth. Who knew?
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
At least a half dozen times after creating ShopSee, I called up my partner and said, “This is waaaay too hard. I quit.” That went on for about six months until one fine October morning in 2017, when I woke up and said to myself, “Well you’re either in or out, but you can’t be a little bit in, bud, it’s all or nothing.” And on that day, I fully committed to this journey, realizing that it’s not the outcome, its the path along the way that makes it all rich, the lessons learned, the happiness found. And I’ve never looked back, only forward. For as difficult as it seems, that’s how close you are to success. It is literally just around the corner, when you can see it the least. I trust that now and always will. That voice that speaks to me. It never lies nor leads me astray. I just block out all the noise, and get on with it. And, it’s more fun that way! 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://myshopsee.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charley-pavlosky-188b48148/
- Other: https://www.aguadios.com/
Image Credits
Images courtesy of Claire Overholt, ShopSee, Inc. Agua Dios/Trending Spirits, Inc., David Blank, and Charley Pavlosky archives.