Bank Teller to CEO, with Natalie Waggett

This week we bring on, Natalie Waggett, CEO of Ohanafy. The story of how she went from being a teller at a bank to the CEO of a start-up is inspiring at the least. There is so much to learn from this episode, I know we sure did! 

Check-out Natalie's company:
IG - @ohanafyinc
www.ohanafy.com

Transcript

Natalie: 0:31

I do believe sometimes the universe will just put something in my face so many times I can't ignore it. Two weeks ago, one of my friends from Raleigh reached out and said, Natalie, you told me that you wanna be your best version of yourself and CrossFit at Portish Neck On Market Street's having a great sell, and I would love to give that to you as a gift. and I'm laughing because like I had a really good reason not to do it the first time. Mm-hmm. because I live in Carolina Beach and it's so far. Yeah. But tag on the universe just keeps putting in my face. Yeah. I think there's a better version of me coming, y'all that's more fit and more attuned with not eating so many fried foods.

Tyler: 1:10

I'm sure it's a central CrossFit then, right? Does that sound right? Yes. Yes. That's, it's, I love it there because when people think CrossFit, they think like a bunch of meathead just throwing like a tires. Yes. And it's, it's not that like, so they, they do focus on a lot of the strength training process cuz that's what CrossFit is. But everyone there just. Normal human beings. Yes. Like anyone else. There was a woman there that was how old was she? 58. Something like that.

Natalie: 1:34

That is amazing. I, he was over there doing

Tyler: 1:36

like muscle ups, like incredible things. I'm like, dang, if I'm like that when I'm that age, like I wouldn't call that success.

Natalie: 1:44

That is super inspirational. Wow. I was just thinking of how much I've abused my body. Mm-hmm. like I went skiing for the first time and all my friends were like, let's go down the black diamond. And I was like, why not And then I tore my acl, you know, Oh yeah. And, and then like one time I went out and I was like, I can go play tennis after not playing for 20 years, cuz I'm good at it, right? Mm-hmm. like I was good at it 20 years ago and I like tore my shoulder up and so I'm just, you know, I'm gonna have to have some adaptation and a very patient trainer. Let's do it, man. Yeah. Let's do something right.

Tyler: 2:18

That's, well, now that we're going there too, we'll, we'll see you over at

Natalie: 2:20

Essential Sign. We'll see. We'll see That's a heck of a drive. We're gonna have to work on that, but I mean, there

Tyler: 2:26

are, I live in Leland, so I understand

2:29

you.

Natalie: 2:29

Really? Oh yeah. Wow. That is a commitment. That's telling actually, that you're willing to go that far. You're talking about elements in a gym that I'm bringing to my company. Yeah. And it's that en encouragement, right? Like if you ask someone to do something, you have to encourage them and give them guidance and, and you just said, you know, help'em make sure the mus, the muscles are working in the right way. Yeah. And I think that's what good leaders do in any type of business. Yeah. And, and we are doing it with ohi, which I think is magical cuz we're sitting here talking about a gym, so. Mm-hmm. That's awesome. I used to run, I've run a 15 K. Please don't Google my time. It's so terrible, y'all. I didn't think I was gonna make it and I had my phone ready to dial up an Uber. Yeah. like it was so, Dreadfully terrible there. There were just an immeasurable amount and the only thing I could do is say, you know, my daddy told me one time I can do anything. Actually, he told me that all my life. And the only thing that I could really do is just muster, like you can do anything. And I promise you, if you ever get across that finish line, you will never sign up for this again, And that's exactly what's happened. So I probably need to give myself a little grace and at least try to move. you know, that's the goal, right? Just to Exactly. It's good moving hope for a little more health because as we age, that stuff becomes important. Yeah. And you want mobility and you wanna be able to do, go do the crazy things. Mm-hmm.

Tyler: 3:53

Hmm. Well, before we get too much in the meat and potatoes here, Chris, what are we drinking? And open the, open the show.

Chris: 4:00

That's a great question. This week we're,

Tyler: 4:03

well, I could probably tell you mostly about this. This is one of my

Chris: 4:05

favorite. All right. So funny enough, this week I just grabbed the bottle from the liquor store and I saw this and I'm like, I've seen this before, and it just looks. and I saw it in like one of those tos where it's like, oh dude, this is like a freezer old fashioned. Oh yeah. But we grabbed it, it's rabbit hole boxer grill. Mm-hmm. So it's their rye iteration. What's the fancy word that they call it? Offering. There you go. Oh, okay. It's the rye. No clue. So it's 95% rye, 5% mal barley uhhuh. It's supposed to have like your traditional spice brown sugar, butterscotch. Mm-hmm. but I think what's going to be my just spot is a pallet, supposed to be citrus, floral notes isn't supposed to be herbaceous. How to bring that word back. Just love that. And it's supposed to have like black tea and sweet spice. And I am a lover of tea and citrus, so I'm interested to see what this kind of tastes like.

Tyler: 4:59

That's what I love about this

Natalie: 5:00

one. So it's, it just sounds like love in a bottle. Oh, there's,

Tyler: 5:04

that's what

Chris: 5:04

I, many different. Would you like some?

Natalie: 5:06

Yes, I would. I would love to try it. Thank you. Citrus is comforting. There's something about citrus that just feels like home and that's perfect. Thank you. Okay,

Tyler: 5:17

so ride's one of my favorite cause it has a spiciness to it, but this one is a little bit sweeter because of like the citrus that's in it and some of the floral nodes and the when you said butterscotch, that's typically what I taste when I drink this. Not as much as citrus, but the butterscotch and tea flavor. I definitely get

Natalie: 5:32

out of it. All right. Well, I'm gonna teach y'all something here for a second and that's because my good friend Franklin at Tarper Brewing Company says You gotta get your nose in it. Yeah,

Tyler: 5:41

that smells so good. It really does.

Natalie: 5:43

Hmm. I think I taste the herbaceousness.

Chris: 5:45

Yeah. It's, it has a lot of flavors coming through. Mm-hmm. which is weird. Tasting these flavors over top of the Smash Burger. I just had Yeah. Like, and having something that like can actually go over top of just like a combination of like, Greasy burger. Mm-hmm. but still have enough palate to just like, Hmm, can you taste all of these

Natalie: 6:07

things? I can't believe you ate a smash burger before a liquor tasting and Oh,

Chris: 6:12

I needed something.

Natalie: 6:14

I understand. Absorption.

Tyler: 6:15

Yes. Yeah, we have four of these today. So, yes.

Chris: 6:18

Wow. It's always fun. It was amazing. But as you guys know, we, we like to mix things up. Every once in a while you get your boy, Chris, Tyler. and introducing someone I've quite literally just met like 15 minutes ago. Yeah. please introduce yourself, ma'am.

Natalie: 6:36

Hey, my name is Natalie Watt. I've been in Wilmington for a good period of time, since 90. three when I came down here and worked as a bank teller during the summer before my freshman year at U N C W. Nice. Oh wow. And I am currently the chief executive officer of a software company here in town called Ohai, and we are seeking to transform the craft beverage industry by giving them technology and love and support to help them make their businesses do more of what their businesses do, which is magic. And they change communities and they provide jobs, and they give people a safe place to go, and they bring all these people with these common interests together. and they give you an opportunity to be around your friends and listen to good music and just let your creative energies flow. And I think coming out of Covid, everybody is craving more of that, more of the opportunity to sit with friends at bars and have conversations that are meaningful where you can grow and learn. And it's, it's the industry that we as co-founders came across first that inspired us and. We don't know where we end because we are so ambitious and we are so full of love. any, any business opportunities that can help us to continue to support community and people helping each other? We believe sky's the limit. We're seven months in. We've got 14 customers. We've already crossed over several sub-verticals that we didn't plan on being in for a really long time. We're getting interest from national brands. We chose the right platform with sales. I learned that during my last 15 years that I spent in consulting and looking at business, technology and business problems. And I worked for a company here in town called Encino, number of employee, number 13 there and Oh wow. Got to watch that place grow and expand and do the right things and help take care of customers and grow employees, and it inspired me to wanna do my part. in helping to make the world a better place. And we settled first in craft beverage and we are having the time of our lives doing it. I'm

Tyler: 9:12

glad you bring that up too, because I think the, just kind of the alcohol industry in general gets a really bad rap because you think about going downtown when you're a sophomore in college and people were just getting drunk and stuff, but when you get to. I guess when you get out of college right, is when you really start to appreciate going out and the community that's built around a, a good craft beverage. Yes. Especially a lot of these craft breweries that we have around here as well too. Mm-hmm. you get together, like you said, listen to some music that you like. You might get someone from one walk of. Meeting another person from a completely different area they never would've come into contact with before. And you have a conversation. And that's really how this podcast was brought together too, is from bar conversations of people you never meet before. It's

Natalie: 10:03

so beautiful. I love that we can grow together as humans and I have just found so much magic in this industry and I've found. a lack of attention because honestly, their margins are slim. Yeah. It's hard to, it's hard to make money in, in supporting small business sometimes for those of us with big dreams and billion dollar dreams and goals in our head. But, but what we have fundamentally come to realize is we're better together. And so if we can support small business, we know that small business can support us and as we continue to move up market, we're learning. even the larger players that the functionality we've built resonates with them. So what that tells me is I'm setting any small business owner up to, to grow. Right? Yep. And when we started the company, we said, let's have one qualifying question cuz we have to think about process. Mm-hmm. and how to, how to, you know, help people understand what we do. And the, and the question was, do you wanna. Yeah. Because if you do, you're gonna reach a critical mass. And, and I think if there's one thing about my co-founders and I that, and even every employee we have at the company looks at it as, is this scalable? Is it sustainable? We don't wanna just make someone happy today. We wanna make them happy for our, the duration of our relationship. Right. and I, I love that I'm surrounded with people who believe that way and who see the power of combining together and linking arms with our customers and not perceiving'em as a contract, but as a relationship. They're another link in the chain and that. Gives us so much power to be able to go out together and do these amazing, extraordinary things. So we're excited about what we're doing. I don't know if you can tell I'm a little passionate. Yes.

Tyler: 11:46

Right. uh, What got you interested in starting in this? So you were over at Encino for 15 years. What was the catalyst that said, you know what, this is, this is the move that I need

Natalie: 11:56

to make. It is the amalgamation of a thousand of those things that have all added up. Just being exactly where, when you know you're exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. It's the greatest gift. And it starts with a layoff, and everyone right now is talking about layoffs and how sad they are, and I worked for Bank of America for 18 years. I was a commercial banker, a business banker, a wealth advisor. I was a branch manager. I was a teller and I was a personal banker. I did a lot of in that, and I think that's what big companies do for people like me. They give us the opportunity to go and dabble in other areas and figure out what we really are called to do. In my last role in 2008, we all know what happened. I was a, a wealth advisor dealing with high net worth clients, and, and, and entire divisions of our organization got shut down and it was just based on what was going on in the market and it was scary, right? There was a lot of stuff happening in 2008 and after that layoff, I spent some time working with my husband who he and I were blissfully married for 19 and a half years. And, and together we ran many businesses. We ran. Snow Cone Concession Trailer. A commercial and residential construction company. A residential rehab company. He was a realtor for a while. So we had a realty a wholesale and retail seafood market. An auto detail shop, and one of my personal favorites, a retail casket store. He was the dreamer. He was the dreamer. And I was the one who made stuff operationally sound, right? Mm-hmm. So like we know early, that, that's one of my gifts. And so, and gosh. about six years ago, almost to the day that just caught my attention, but he passed away. Oh. And that's a hard thing to go through. I had, after leaving banking, one of my clients recruited me. I went into Encino. I was a business development rep. I helped support marketing, I helped support sales. I ended up running all of global pre-sales. I think when I left I had 65 employees. It was, it was an amazing, amazing ride. and after I lost my husband, I was tired and I needed to, I needed to change everything because you just don't know what you are gonna need until you go through that situation. And in my case, I had to shift everything in my reality. And I tried with silly stuff like parking in the back instead of parking in the front, or not wearing a shirt and a pair of pants together because it helped me kind of, You know, re-shift my habits. Mm-hmm. and, and all of that stuff about me. But we ended up moving, my son and I moved for a little bit of time down to little River, South Carolina, and we were welcome there with open arms and it was just an amazing experience. As part of that, I changed my career as well. Went into consulting because I thought, mm, Let me just go help people solve some problems and figure out what problems really need solved. Yeah, and then we'll figure it out. I was kind of tired of speaking banking, but banking was the vocation. It was the knowledge and the tools in my toolbox that got me into Encino, and I will always of course be grateful for that when we When I went into consulting, I knew it was gonna be short term and I knew I wanted to go into a really big company cuz I wanted to see the processes. Like I wanted to see how a big company would orchestrate stuff. And I learned so much about business process development and I got to sit and talk with live customers all the time about their problems. But at some point becomes a little bit of a conflicting business. where you're trying more to get billable hours than you are to actually solve problems. And that is frustrating for, for people who just wanna fix problems. Mm-hmm. so I, mm-hmm. had an idea that a product company was in my future. I just didn't yet know what industry I really wanted to focus on and help. and there were people that got, you know, just peppered into my career, these amazing, extraordinary people. And I would always make mental note, like one day, one day that that person's gonna be with me and we're gonna do something amazing. And I think as leaders, it's really important for us to always be looking out for those kinds of people and people that have a heart for community like y'all, which I'm already thinking in my head. How do we, how do we get to do more fun stuff with you guys? When you find those special people and you realize that they all have these extraordinary skill sets that put them into buckets sometimes, like, oh, we're looking for developers, or, oh, we're looking for people. that can configure this or build on this. And so we have said from the beginning, we hire the heart and we train the skill. Mm-hmm. because we know that we can train the skill. And we've ended up with some of the most extraordinary people in the company that are, I, I just sit in awe every day that everybody in on our team is someone that I'm so proud and thrilled to work with. And. Ohai, you know, is, is love when you think about it in terms of what we are, I mean, we're delivering love through software and technology cuz that's what we know. And we're delivering it through better business process. But from the beginning, we set out to create this company that would help make our customers money because we think software should be able to do that. And save'em money because we think that it ought to be able to do that too and save'em time and, and that those were the benefits that I learned as a banker back in 1994 as I was going through sales training classes with Bank of America, that if you build something that people will value and treat'em right. Mm-hmm. And, and that's big to us because our, our customers in particular, this industry has had such a huge boom. I mean, there were not 10,000 breweries five years ago. Wow. And to think about the growth in a nation. And it's because everybody sees all this magic that happens when they go in and this sense of community. And I promise y'all, most of them are not in it for the money. They're in it for how great it feels to be able to help and support a community. And so I got reacquainted with that, or actually I got introduced to it because a good friend of mine, Anez Rello out of Tarboro, North Carolina, had written a book about her experience as first the beverage manager of Windows of the World and how September 11th, 2001, that world of hers came crumbling down. And I, I read her book on the way home from dropping my son off for what would be his first combat deployment in the US Army. talk about making you put your big girls' panties on fast. Mm-hmm. that, that will make you trust in everything because you don't have any other choice. Sorry. That's okay. I read IN'S book and I was so inspired by it, actually listened to it on the way home, on that trip, and I was so inspired by it. I reached out to her and I said, look, wow. Like, I wanna help. How can I help you? You're so extraordinary to be that vulnerable and that authentic. in a book. I mean, there's hilarious stores and stories in this book. And at the end of our dinner where we were just brainstorming on ways that we could help each other, ways that we could help each other and lift each other up and be supportive of each other in this really authentic way. And of course the brewery comes up and she owns a brewery there in Tarboro, and, and I can remember her getting a little teary-eyed, and I could tell that she had lost. Not completely lost it. She was clinging onto it by a thread, but I thought, this is how I can help her. Like, because what she's done is so amazing and so extraordinary. All we have to do is let people know that, you know, So we partnered up and I went and I rodee along with her and I watched her use her technology and I helped her tote kegs into restaurants. And I got to meet restaurant owners who, you know, I asked crazy questions like, why do you choose your beers and how do you buy? Yeah. And tell, you know, I talked to grocery store managers. Like, what does it take for, for these folks to, to get in with you and. It was all about service. Every response I got from anyone that I asked who ultimately becomes a craft beverage manufacturer's customer, it was all about service. Taking care of the customer, turning out the best product, giving'em the best margin, and helping them know how to, how to use that beer to increase their profitability. It was just about service and, and touching people, but not just obligation, like stopping by and cleaning the lines. They don't like it when you clean the lines cuz you pour out beer Right? Like, don't clean the wine so much. You know, just little stuff like that. And I start, you know, I partnered up with my friend Ian Patrick. and Chris Alling and Davis Bryson and Matt Keter, and these are all just extraordinary guys that have so much knowledge about Salesforce as a platform. And we knew Salesforce because of Encino and because of other pursuits and because when I consulted we, we all have consulted on Salesforce. And so it was just this magical platform and that that's another company that has aspired to inspire mm-hmm. And they've done that by creating a platform where, so. Can learn, it can create new job applications for, it can create new careers for themselves. I mean, I'm a banker turn technologist, not because I learned how to write code, but because I learned Salesforce. Hmm. And it's a beautiful platform. So I feel like I'm rambling. I want y'all to talk some

Tyler: 21:10

So actually I had a question, and I think you kind of touched on why, but I just want to hear it from you in your words. Is that why you named your company Ohai?

Natalie: 21:18

My company was already named Hanai when I showed up at the door with this idea. Mm-hmm. because the universe loves to give tangible proof. Ian Patrick had started up a Salesforce consultancy and he knew that one day they wanted a product. They just didn't have a product. They had been open for two weeks Oh, wow. At a common desk area in downtown Wilmington. Yeah. And I rolled. And with an hour I could see his wills turning and I gave him my most impassioned pitch because at this point I had decided, okay, I've ridden along with her. I've seen people's reactions to the beer. I know that the wholesale expectations are just good service, and I know that she more than anybody in the world, is capable of delivering that at scale. And so, When I went in my pitch was, we can help this industry. We can make a difference in the world, and this is how we can do it. And it's gonna be, it, it's, it's not gonna be glamorous in the sense of like high dollar value contracts, but we can build the scale and the materials and the process that we need to be able to support this and to be able to add so much value to these business owners. it is a partnership. We can be really vulnerable and we can tell'em it's not gonna be perfect. We've only been working on it seven months. Mm-hmm. But what we've given is so extraordinary and, and we go to, we talk to our customers and we say things like, you have to give us feedback because if it's hard for you, it's hard for everyone. Yep. Right. And we're really vulnerable enough to receive that feedback and we measure it, which I think is magical because we know that we've gotten, since we've started taking customers live. And by the way, having 14 contracts is astounding and extraordinary in seven months. Yeah. But when I tell you we have eight live customers using it, That is extraordinary. Yeah. Yeah. Because this is effectively a tier one solution. Mm-hmm. this is what they use to operate their business like it, it cannot not work. Yeah. There is a whole nother level of responsibility when you're de delivering something like this. And from those eight customers, we've gotten 60 or 65, I think, at last count, pieces of feedback that are. this is making my job really hard. Fix it. And I think at last measurement of that, 95% of that we're including in our next release because it's Oh, wows that easy for us to listen. Yeah. Sometimes we just forget to ask, you know? Right.

Chris: 23:39

Interesting. sorry, my head's I go back, I was listening to it thing the other day, so, When talking about asking people for evaluation to like figure out what to adjust and fix to help things Chris's random wave path, how do you. like, do you ask people to rate you like one through five or are you like a one through 10 kind of person, or are you just like short answer?

Natalie: 24:02

We look for well, we want'em to be able to do it publicly. Okay. And so we have to give'em scales that are normalized, which is generally Google and Capra and G2 reviews. Okay. And places like that. Now, on the inside we also ask'em from a product feedback perspective we're, we ask'em to do things like rate it like. And we're drinking a little liquor, so I can be more crass than normal, I hope. Absolutely. But one is absolutely, like this is a minor nuisance and five is like, I might burn down the building if y'all don't get this fixed. Right. Yeah, because we have to have a way to hear this stuff. And put it into terms that everybody understands and, and our customers understand that, right? And, and, and at some point when we get more and more customers, we'll prioritize based on the way that we're asking them now to kind of talk to us about how and how, how influential this decision is. Cuz we don't want anybody burning down any buildings, right? No. And, and that type of feedback, that type of model will scale. Yeah. And we'll have the ability to help more and more people and learn from others because if we're not learning, we're dying and to have an entire industry committed to making something better. That's where I go back to linking arms with our customers. It's not a contract, it's not a, oh, 36 months or 12. What this is linking arms with people that believe in what you're doing. And we've, I mean, I can, I can name names of people who didn't get to see anything and they said, yes, we believe in y'all. I was watching Jerry McGuire the other day. Have y'all seen that lately? Yeah, lately.

Chris: 25:33

No, it's been a

Natalie: 25:34

few years. You should rewatch it. It's amazing. I'm so inspired by the theme of it, which is Wow. Just to. people get to grow together and learn together and create exactly what they want together. I want to be a software company that can deliver the kind of service that I'm talking about. Now we gotta figure out how to scale it, and we gotta figure out how to make all the, the metrics work, right? Because that's how we are judged as a software company. Yeah. And so to be able to balance all of that and do it with such extraordinary people, I, I, I just can't wait to see what we do.

Chris: 26:11

I love that. So the reason why I asked that, I was listening to I listened to the Randomist podcast. I was listening to Waveform and they went on a rant about like the rating systems that everyone has. And we're at the point now where everyone is either one or five, and I'm like, I'm one of those people. I'd rather give you a four or a three. That's an actual measurement Yes. Of what's going on. And so I didn't know like if you perceived one and five as like super drastic or if you actually are one of those people who are like, I would prefer. An actual rating, cuz yours is kind of reverse of what I normally think. So like if it's a two or a three, we know, hey, there's an issue, but we need, this needs to be fixed in this timeframe. Whereas if it's a five, it needs to get done now.

Natalie: 26:58

That's so funny. I've never thought about that before. When I think about prioritization, because that's different than delight, right? Mm-hmm. and delight. We want the higher. Yeah. But in prioritization, the higher number is always, the house is on fire. Yeah. Mm-hmm. like, you know, red or blue or green or whatever the colors you might want. Red, yellow, green. But we, we want to define two, three, and four. We're actually asking customers right now to help us with that. Okay. Because we don't want just ones and fives. Yeah. And, and we need to know that if something really is a five, that's something we need to know about immediately. So we don't anticipate getting many of those. Yeah. Because that's pretty drastic. But those are the ones that would obviously get the highest amount of attention. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chris: 27:38

but you would need, cuz you're always updating software and doing updates and whatnot. It makes sense that if they're only giving you ones, you're like, okay, well this is fine. I don't need to do very many updates. But if it's a four, well that's pretty bad. We, yeah.

Tyler: 27:54

That's why Google reviews are such horrible, because you only have, they're, I learned this one at c w is you have your apostles that are giving you and. Or like that five on Google reviews or you have your terrorists that are giving you a one. Yes, yes. And there's, and really where the value lies is the two threes and fours.

Natalie: 28:13

Yep. Agreed. Because you want the feedback from the twos, threes, and fours. And so we're just more actively soliciting that feedback even without the public reviews. Right. And that's what I think is so to, to be able to already seven months in, have a mechanism to take product feed. and implement it in at rapid scale is magical. And I think when software companies lose sight of our ability to do that really quickly, it can, it can hurt'em.

Tyler: 28:44

I think that is something that you, that's important that you're touching on too, because. I know about quite a few different technology and software companies that I have friends that work for, and one of their largest complaints is the disconnect between customer and product. Yes. And what you're talking about is that complete connection of it. Yeah. So actually hearing about that, and especially in a Salesforce world one of my best friends actually left a very well paying consulting. Because of that disconnect and what you were saying too, they were all concerned about those billable hours and not about the solution that they were supposed to be providing for that client. So what you said, it completely connects.

Natalie: 29:23

Yeah. Yeah, it's true. And I, I think that as technologists, we've been given the keys to immeasurable amounts of tools and data and knowledge and insight and guidance that we can provide to business owners. I know a lot of people say they left corporate America to go to brewing, to go to brewing. Mm-hmm. we've heard that, right? I don't, I don't need all this structure. I, I just came from corporate America, and it's traumatic because in corporate America, look, I went through four different crm customer relationship management platforms during my tenure at Bank of America, and I hated every single one of them because none of them added value to me. Like Right. Show me what my customers have. And, and we've taken that same pH. with brewing, and that is that we want them to be able to see where their customers have purchased and what those patterns are. We want'em to be able to visualize that data. and, and in banking we got to a point where data was so siloed because, oh, it's too much risk to put it all together, but the whole together is the person, right? Mm-hmm. that's the relationship that you need to ultimately manage. So as a relationship manager, you know this, if you don't know where their mortgages are and you don't know where their other assets are, and you don't know how they're diversified in that portfolio that you've never laid eyes on, how in the world can you give them? Mm-hmm. in guidance and, and. Now I look at that and I look back on that experience and I'm really grateful for it because it's given me the opportunity to see that data is really and truly, especially for a small business owner or a business owner of, you know, mid and even large cap companies, it's the most important component that they can put in front of their employees. Because in order for any employee to be able to properly service the customer, they need to know who they. and we built that as a component of, you know, inventory and production. We know they gotta produce stuff and that's actually the easy part for us cuz it's math. Like you buy something, you check it in at whatever you paid for it and now that's your purchase price and, and you take all that stuff you bought and you mix it together and equipment and that equipment's really expensive. So you gotta be able to take care of it and you gotta be able to maintain it and service it and keep track of warranties and serial numbers. And then once it comes outta that equipment, it's a finished good, right? It's something that you've produced that you now wanna market and sell. And most product, most products in e R P solutions stop. Once the finished good is packaged well, now I just have a cooler of finished goods. What am I supposed to do with it? And so we take it like four steps further with like sales and marketing. And what about the people that work for you? I'm doing a, an article right now with Beth Claire, and, and it's. Human resources and human capital and what it means to have human beings that wake up and go to sleep every night. Thinking about what you're doing and what you're delivering, and just having the ability to get to influence people in such a positive way, especially in rural areas where there aren't many jobs and those jobs are so special. And so to be able to influence people and give them feedback and give them performance reviews and coach'em up and tell them. Where they're not meeting your expectations, because that's the best gift, right? That lets everybody off the hook. Mm-hmm. If, and if that's not something they wanna do, then there are a lot of other opportunities out there, but get and attract and retain the people. Are going to make the greatest impact to your ultimate mission. And that is, you know, driving revenue and being more of whatever it is that you're seeking to be a community hub, a place where people can go on Sundays and sing beer and hymns mm-hmm. like how beautiful is that? Right? Yeah. So I love, I love what we're doing and I think it's, it's magical to get, to take the skills that we acquire in these big companies. Mm-hmm. and apply'em in. Tactical ways to help people change the way they're going to market and doing business. So for

Tyler: 33:15

everyone who's listening that doesn't completely know what Ohai is, it's kind of a start to finish system for, it's mostly craft breweries right now. Right?

Natalie: 33:25

We started out in craft brewery. Yeah. And I'm sorry if I'm leaving an ambivalent. Yeah. We have created on Salesforce the world's greatest. craft beverage management solution. We started out in breweries, quickly moved to distilleries with our friend Shane down the street here at end of Days. Mm-hmm. And I like your earrings by the way. Thank you. I, I try to represent, and, and we just, we believe that small business owners deserve the same type of technology that we've all had our hands in, in big corporate or global organizations. So we built sales, marketing, production, inventory human capital people, forms, gen, all kinds of different features to, to help our customers in that market make money, save money and save time. And the customers who are using it are loving it. Nice.

Tyler: 34:11

Something that I'm gonna start asking a lot of people that come onto the podcast. I did it in the last episode. So when I ask you as well, a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners like to. Let everyone know what value that they have for them. So to take that and flip it, I got this from Catherine Bruner who's been on the podcast a few times. What's something that the community can do to help you?

Natalie: 34:33

Oh, that's so nice. Thank you for asking. I think it's continuing to help us get our brand out. The community has been so gracious. Folks like Jim Roberts at the Network for Entrepreneurs. Wilmington has pointed us in so many amazing directions. I mean, he's been such an advocate. The community should support folks like that, that have the power and the knowledge and the bandwidth and the people network to be able to help us get the word out. You know, I think you can support craft beverage manufacturers because as they drive revenue, as they grow, we grow, right? And, and that's our premise. So, You know, I, I get excited about what we can do as a community for each other, especially in times when, when we're going through difficulties and even as companies get bigger, let's not forget what they did for our community. Mm-hmm. I mean, you know, it's so easy right now to, to kick Encino based on these recent layoffs. But in reality, guys, like they've, they've helped craft. An entire community around software development and Salesforce, and they have attracted some of the most extraordinary people that I've ever met to this community who want to stay here and continue to invest in the community. So I think it's about us giving each other grace and support and, and joining up with and linking arms with others who feel and are passionate about doing the same like you guys, right? And getting those stories out. I love that too.

Tyler: 35:57

It actually reminds me when I was visiting St. Louis a couple years ago, and of course, St. Louis is the place where Budweiser was created. Most of us sitting here in Wilmington, North Carolina today, think about Budweiser's massive brand that was bought by an international company and they're like, ah, whatever this company. Yeah. But in St. Louis, they drink Budweiser, like water and they support Budweiser as if it was that small local company. It was a hundred years ago. And that, that actually kind of spoke to me too, because when I first went there, The only thing on tap was Bud Budweiser products. I'm like, come on now, guys. Yeah. But then when you actually sit down and think about it, it's like, you know what if Wilmington Brewing Company or Wrightsville or New Anthem blew up like that? I would still be sitting at their bar drinking all their products now too. So that, that, that means a lot.

Natalie: 36:48

So I think I love that. Picking that up. No, I love that. I mean, imagine going to Chapel Hill and everything being painted NC State Red, right. Right. Like, that's why I wear earrings for end of days. Like, I want, I wanna support our local folks. Yeah. They're special and they're, they're doing it all day every day. They're investing in this community and they're giving back and how can we not wanna support that?

Chris: 37:08

Absolutely. You know, it throws me off cuz like so many people are like, oh you know, let's support local. And then they go down the street to like some big box store to Walmart and they're like, oh let me just, I'm like, can't there? I wish there was another way to like support like local businesses on like the larger

Natalie: 37:28

front. I would look at that a little not completely differently cuz I hear what you're saying, but let's remember how many people an one Walmart employee. Yeah, I mean, it is a sense of community and I think you can spread it, right? Like if I want the the least expensive possible good or service, like I'm going to use merchants like that. But if it's something that I'm placing a lot of value on, like a gift for my mom for her birthday, like I wanna go to a small family owned store because, I get to tell a story to my mom about how I bought something random from some small business owner, and I think it's us as humans just trying to create that connection with people and realizing that the big box stores play a role, right? They save us money as. as a society, there are opportunities for us to buy consumable goods that we just don't wanna haggle about price on. But there are things, there are other points of value I think, that we can attach to shopping local that today. I don't know that everybody is thinking about the way that you guys are. Yeah.

Tyler: 38:28

And Cassie, if you brought that up too, another woman that good friends with she said that as well too. Like, you go into Target, you're supporting those employees that live in our community and. And then back in the day when I worked at Helzberg Diamonds for during college and everything I'd have, I'd go out in the community and let people know where I work and like, oh, well I go to Perry's because it's a local company. And I'm thinking in the back of my head, I live in your community and your purchase would be going towards my commission, but like, and so yeah, I, I get what you're saying.

Natalie: 38:58

Yeah. I think there's a couple of different ways to look at it. I just love to see the love and I see those people that get to have jobs that might otherwise.

Chris: 39:06

See, first off, I'm, I'm not against Target or won Right. We didn't

Tyler: 39:12

I say you were for I I am. We weren't

Chris: 39:14

picking on you. I, I am the stick that is used to poke bears. Yeah. So

Natalie: 39:19

I will say I love that. That's a great role. We have a co-founder like that. He, like, he likes to get the stick and poke us. It's perfect though, cuz in the tension comes the good learnings, right? Yes. All right. That's

Tyler: 39:30

why I love Chris on the podcast too. He comes on. Many different reasons, but the three main reasons why I love Chris is one, anytime someone says, I love listening to your podcast, it's hilarious. It's because Chris two he's willing to think beyond the conversation. Cuz usually I'm the one who brings the, the person on and then I already know what you do. I already kind of done the background research. Chris doesn't because I tell him not to part of the time and then, He also comes in, it's like, okay, well I don't know anything. Let's start from the ground up. Cause that's where our listeners are coming from. Yes. And two as the the stick that pokes the bear.

Natalie: 40:04

That's so smart to structure it in that way. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. We're,

Chris: 40:08

Going back to like the preface of the conversation that we started I just think it was very intriguing where you were like, you know, things just get brought into your. at certain points and I, I feel like a lot of people should, you know, open their, their mind's eye a little bit more to just realize like, certain things get brought into your life. Mm-hmm. for a reason. Cuz like we brought on people a while ago who were talking about opening breweries and starting us with whiskey and I was like, you know, I love this concept. Let's keep going with it. And you're on here talking about like, connect. Like end to end using Salesforce. And it's always funny because I joke with my wife all the time. I'm like, you know, one of these days I'll leave and start my own brewer. And it's, Hey, we'll be able to

Tyler: 40:53

help you. I was, I know. I was like,

Chris: 40:54

I lost I was like, one of these days when I find the capital, I will open up up a brewery.

Natalie: 40:59

But Well, and that's it. Capital was hard to get. Yes. And, and this industry especially, and especially right now, and I'm not saying any of that to scare, I'm saying that to say you gotta have your ducks in a row. Like you have to have your numbers and you have to. You know, down to the, down to the ounce, you need to know how much of it you need to sell. And until now, you didn't have a tool to start to put that stuff together, to be able to keep track of all your prospects and, oh, Laura called me last week and I need to introduce her to my beer next week when we, this new beer drops. Yeah. And that is that relationship management stuff, right? It's just having a place to put everything and then making it actionable. And we, we talk a lot to providers of capital. I'm a banker, so it's important to me to help people get access to money. There's a button in QuickBooks, and I love QuickBooks for making this button available, but when you really read the fine print of the button, it's 27% interest. Guys, that's not sustainable. That's not a sustainable business model. You can't pay that kind of interest. That's like a loan shark. Mm-hmm. And I'm not knocking'em because again, there are some people that don't have other options, but if you have other options, don't be lazy and hit the button. like use your other options cuz it matters, right? Like access to capital matters. And with that

Tyler: 42:14

being said too, in the industry that I'm in There's a lot of other options out there. Some of'em might need a little bit more legwork, but let me tell you that legwork certainly pays off as opposed to hitting that button for 27%.

Natalie: 42:25

Absolutely. Yeah. And it's painful. Nobody likes to go air your dirty laundry. Mm-hmm. and, and, and don't wait to get capital until you need it. Like start thinking about how you're going to get capital and plan to have your story match. That's what we're doing. Like I want our kpi. To be amazing. I didn't even set an upper floor on it. I just said, just amaze me, So we did things like average, like good, better, best model, be best model. furnishings commercial square footage kpi, 25 to 35 a square foot. Okay. 50 to$70,000 on a 2000 square foot office building. We did it for$7 and 61 cents. Wow. And guys, it's perfect. Yeah. It's exactly what we need. We needed chairs, we need desks. Every once in a while we wanna stand up. Mm-hmm. we want conference tables where we can commune together. And we wanted couches cuz I don't love sitting at a desk all the.$7 and 61 cents a square foot. Wow, that's incredible. ha. It's amazing.

Tyler: 43:26

Talking about going back to capital real quick, cuz kind what you said too about like airing dirt laundry and stuff is. That's one of the best opportunities that you can take is taking a weakness that you have when you're going out raising capital is to bring up those things, especially when you find the right investor. Yes, because an investor wants an roi, return on investment. So when that investor sits down and says, oh, you have this issue and I can give you this and I know I can fix that issue, and now you're gonna be making that, I can make this off of it. So when that investor can. Monetize that ROI in his head while he's sitting down at that desk with you. That's incredible. So anyone listening that needs help and is afraid to talk about weaknesses don't, because that could be one of the biggest sales points to getting more capital in your business.

Natalie: 44:15

Amen. Amen. I, I think about, all the time, all of the little checkpoints. I said this recently on a podcast, like I feel like we have 2000 check boxes in our head of things that we need to accomplish before I'm ready to go ask for capital. Guys. I was a banker, I'm conservative. Mm-hmm. These are my friends and family. And I want people that believe in us to be able to invest in us because they believe in us. And that's magic, right? When people believe in. So we've, we've been through, I don't know, we're, we're, we're near in 1900 I think, at this point in my head. And I'm so excited about the opportunity to be able to bring this to our friends and family and people that believe in us, in the local community that can add value, because that adding value part is sometimes something that. Especially software companies miss, right? Like money's hard to get. If you can get it, you take it. But why? I mean, sitting on cash on a balance sheet just feels like a terrible idea to me. Mm-hmm. And that brings us so much pressure as founders and co-founders to use the cash. And that sometimes gets irrational. Like you don't furnish your square footage for$7 and 61 cent a square foot, even though you can, you don't do it because you gotta get the cash off your balance sheet. Otherwise you look kind of dumb, right? The bank doesn't pay very much on that. Yeah, I think having relationships with your investors is so important and, and that's why we're choosing first to go to people who know us or people who know those who know us, because we want people that can help us and that will link arms with us and are in this. For the long term and don't want us to do anything unnatural to satisfy that roi. Right. Or, you know, if it's not natural, let's, let's keep ourselves in a point where we don't have to do that. I've been, I've seen companies do that, and it generally makes it very difficult to rebound from.

Tyler: 45:59

Yeah. One of the things that I've noticed too, and I've done it in different aspects, is just chasing the dollar and not chasing the prospect. Yes. You'll just take anyone and everyone, especially the beginning days. You just want to be able to have that, that inflow of money. And sometimes you need to do it. So like I'm not knocking it by any means, but when you get to the point where you can actually choose the perfect client for you and create the actual relationship, how much quicker that is to scale. Because when you're going back to before, what one of my professors said is creating those apostles for you, and you're only gonna get an apostle if you have a

Natalie: 46:32

relationship. Yes. Absolutely. That's why feedback is so important to us. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's why we openly solicited and we, you know, we'll, we'll call customers and check in with them. Customer success, it was our number one employee, the first person we hired. Mackenzie Finn, yeah. Customer success manager is employee number one because it will always be that important to us. We hired that before we had a customer because we knew that without that program, to be able to support these folks and give them the service that they deserve, they deserve it because they're doing so much amazing stuff and it is hard. Mm-hmm. without technology to support it. So yeah. Customers, your customers are your lifeblood. I hope some of our customers will be able to invest in us. I think. Who better to, to get to profit from our tremendous growth, which is already happening. Yeah. Than our customers. So yeah, we're optimistic. So

Chris: 47:25

we've added a new question to the podcast, and it's kind of going through the theme because we're, we've been building up to it this whole time. What does success look like to you?

Natalie: 47:37

I giggle because I don't know, you know, when I first started this, I thought, Maybe I'm supposed to ring a bell But it's hard, it's hard to ring a bell and scale love, and, and that's really what I'm, everything I've been talking about today has been about how do we help our customers see that we have their best intentions at heart, that we are passionate about what they do, and we've built so much process and we've built so much technology to support our process, which then ultimately we hand over to our customers because they have people too, right? Mm-hmm. So when I think about that, I think our success is that we build this amazing, sustainable company that is full of love. And, and what, what does love look like in a company? It looks like a teammates who inspire each other and who clap for each other even when you're dog tired and who. Stand along in a line. It's so funny. You can walk into Ohana v a Monday morning and it's like, it's like the soul train line. People are just walking to their desk and it's so exciting to be there and to be passionate about what we're doing and to have this positive outlook and to. Have customers telling us every day that we're changing the way they do business for the better. I mean, it's just magical. So my ultimate goal is to scale that as much as we can scale it without breaking it, and I think we can scale it to the moon. So we'll see what happens. That's

Tyler: 49:00

great. And our last question, since we're running up on an hour now already is if you could tell your younger self one thing, what would

Natalie: 49:09

it be? Believe in yourself. I didn't even hesitate before I said that because I have not done so many things for fear of failure. Believe in yourself, and when you have weaknesses, fix'em. Go. Go read a book or listen to a podcast or do something to inspire yourself when there is inspiration coming from no other source, because you're your greatest source of inspiration. So believe in yourself and trust your gut and, and just follow your dreams and dream big because it's possible anything can happen.

Tyler: 49:43

That's awesome. I love that. That was just real quick before we wrap it up with Chris is when I first got in sales, that was one of my big biggest weaknesses is being able to get in front of someone and to sell them something. And so when I was in college, I was like, I have nothing else to lose. Like let me go find somewhere that's commission based where I only make money if I sell something. Love. So I, that's how I started in jewelry and then made a 10 year career out of it. The

Natalie: 50:07

Easter famine. But there's something out of that that just forces you to lay down your fears. Mm-hmm. I love that. It's beautiful. Yeah, it's a great idea. I never was brave enough to do that. I never took a straight commission job because I thought, What if I don't have a w2?

Tyler: 50:20

Yeah, right. There was a book I read in high school, it was called Four Hour Work Week with Tim Ferris and it was all about other than just automation, but the other part that I took a lot out of was just facing your fears head on and walk straight into it.

Natalie: 50:32

Yeah, it's amazing.

Chris: 50:34

So real question this evening, I never know anymore. It's so dark Sometimes I'm like, I don't know what type of day it is. are you guys on social media? How can people like reach out or find you guys to kind of help grow you?

Natalie: 50:49

Ohana? I, that is amazing. Thank you for asking that. Yeah, I should do more of that promotion stuff. It's we have a website, www.ohanai.com. Ohana, loosely translated to Maker Create family. Mm-hmm. O H A N A F Y. We also are on LinkedIn and Instagram. and I think we have a tech talk coming and we're considering the security ramifications and all the fear, but honestly it's just fun. Yeah. Like can we just go on there and be silly sometimes cuz people need to see our hearts, you know? Yeah. So I think we might buck the system on that one and do it even though. A lot of people are afraid of it right now cuz it's just fun to get to see who we are. Y'all need to see me break dancing exactly on a Friday afternoon at 3:00 PM or something crazy. You know?

Tyler: 51:34

I definitely think there should be a Lilo and Stitch thing in there with Ohana. Yes, of course. Ohana, it's family. Of course

Natalie: 51:40

it does. of course. But that company name existed before I showed up, so that makes it even more special. Yeah. I.

Chris: 51:48

Well, I just wanna say thank you for coming on. Thank you. Like we were saying earlier, like certain things are dropped into your path or kind of put on your map throughout your life, and I feel like this is kind of one of those things which is very helpful. But I just wanna say thank you everybody for listening to this episode. I feel like I learned a lot. If you didn't, well you should probably listen to this again. And rate us on Spotify. Five stars is amazing, But thank you everyone and cheers. Cheers.

Natalie: 52:15

Cheers.