How the company was started

Co-founders Eric and Andrew first met in 2007 while wine tasting in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Their shared appreciation for flavor and curiosity about what makes something taste “good” sparked a friendship that would eventually evolve into a company.

Later, while pursuing a Master’s in Biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University, Eric found himself diving deeper into the science of taste, including the cellular signaling cascades that activate when we eat or drink. As a senior biotech leader and certified wine enthusiast, he became fascinated by the idea of “supertasters”: people who experience bitter flavors far more intensely than others.

Eric brought some basic taste test strips to a party and handed them out. The result? Those single tests explained years of mealtime mismatches. Eric’s wife hated bitter and spicy foods, and certain textures. He loved them. And the more they learned, the more sense it made - biology was playing a bigger role than they’d realized.

As a father of three, Eric soon noticed the same struggles with his kids: wildly different preferences, no clear pattern, and lots of guesswork. Despite a growing body of research on taste genetics and sensory perception, there were no tools to help everyday families put that science to use at home.

That’s when he reconnected with Andrew - now a seasoned tech entrepreneur -and the idea for Taste Compass took shape.

We’re building the first personalized taste testing kit designed for families, food lovers, and curious eaters of all ages. By combining validated science with user-friendly tools, we help people finally understand why they like what they like - and how to prepare food that actually works for them.

Because life’s too short to keep guessing what’s for dinner.