Wes Wakefield

Wes fell in love with specialty coffee during his time in London as an analyst at Deutsche Bank. Whether it was an espresso at 'Look mum no hands' on Old Street or sitting in a classic Dutch cafe in Maastricht admiring a KVDW machine, he was hooked. Later in his career, he was Director of Finance at Fact0ry, a boutique innovation consultancy with offices across along historic Alamo Square in San Francisco. There he had the rather strange office perk of being able to make coffee on a La Marzocco GB5 and Strada. Thereafter, he left the finance track to co-found Prototype Thinking Labs, alongside a few other side adventures. Primarily working from home at that point (or out of a suitcase), he decided to purchase and fix up an old 1 group La Marzocco Linea and install it in his apartment. Let me tell you, his now fiancée was initially none too pleased, as it took up half the kitchen! These days Wes is embracing his passion for the craft full-time, reimagining the coffee equipment purchase experience at his company Pro Coffee Gear in Austin Texas.