Candle dealer builds $5k MRR software to solve own problem - Dianna Allen & Jeremy Blalock, Inventora
I chat to dynamic duo Dianna Allen and Jeremy Blalock, co-founders of Inventora (an inventory management system for handmade businesses) about what it took to scale their project to $5k MRR.
In this episode I’ve got my first ever returning guest with Dianna Allen and first ever double act as we’re joined by her fiance Jeremy Blalock. I spoke to Dianna about a year ago after growing her handmade candle business from $100 to $50k in that year. Since then Dianna is still running TERRA and doubled the revenue in 2021, but has also co-founded Inventora which has just hit $5k MRR. Inventora is inventory tracking system for handmade businesses, solving Dianna’s own problem with TERRA.
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What we covered in this episode:
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What we covered in this episode:
- How TERRA is going
- Handmade business vs SaaS business. Which is better?
- Solving her own problem with TERRA to build Inventora
- Spreadsheet to SaaS
- Asking Jeremy (Dianna’s partner) to build the product
- Growing without paying for ads
- Leveraging existing relationships
- Choosing to raise a small funding round
- Why raise money if you’re an indie hacker?
- Spending $25,000 on a domain
- Tactics for growing to $5k MRR
- Hiring a videographer to make a documentary
Recommendations
- Books: The Innovation Stack, The Gardeners Almanack
- Podcasts: Acquired, The Product Boss
- Indie Hackers: Elon Musk, Jon Yongfook
Follow Dianna & Jeremy
Sponsor - Ahrefs
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Thank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring Indie Bites. Ahrefs is the most complete and valuable SEO tool on the market. Bootstrapped companies such as VEED and Transistor have used Ahrefs extensively to understand how to craft their SEO strategies, which have been such a pivotal part of their growth.
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