Giving those in the craft beverage industry the same tech tools others use for managing and growing their business is what motivated Natalie Waggett to start Ohanafy, a business management software built in Salesforce.
Waggett and a handful of Wilmington locals started the company last year with the software launching in September. Having worked for nCino, Waggett has a background in technology and banking. After seeing that many small breweries lacked the tools they need to track data, inventory and employees, she decided to blend her expertise with her passion for supporting local breweries to form her new startup.
Within a few months, Ohanafy has already seen growth and some changes, including growing to 16 employees and Waggett’s transfer of her CEO role to co-founder Ian Padrick.
While Waggett is still a big shareholder, she is focusing on other endeavors while Padrick is officially taking on the day-to-day operations.
Padrick, who has been in the Salesforce and general software as a service industry for over 12 years, used his computer science and tech knowledge to help build the Ohanafy Brewery Management System.
He recalls talking with Waggett and scoping out the need for this product.
“We went through a lot of research and validation and talked with our network trying to make sure that there was a fit and a need which I think we found out pretty quickly there was,” Padrick said.
The software has a lot of functions for users including sales, production, inventory, marketing, employee management, accounting and more. One of the big goals for Ohanafy was to develop a product that helps those in the craft beverage industry drive greater levels of profitability, Padrick said.
“It is helping them better understand fast with real-time data, what their costs are, what their margins look like, what their seasonality looks like for sales. How are their reps performing against quotas? What are their distributor relationships look like? Where are they leaving money on the table with accounts that they maybe haven’t sold to or, or spoken with in a while?” Padrick said. “I think all of those things really center around the biggest piece that we focus on, which is trying to help them be more profitable.”
The company’s software launch last year was successful, and the company is now focusing on attracting new customers and retaining its current customers by continuing to innovate. So far, the reception has been good.
“Our feedback has been across the board very overwhelmingly positive,” Padrick said. “The validation that we’ve gotten is just how much of a need there is for this, especially in 2023 when inflation is high, costs are high and the competition in this industry is high. They need better access to technology that they can leverage to help automate parts of their job, drive a little bit better efficiency, have better access to analytics and data and reporting and do all that on their mobile device.”
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