FIRED BY FIERO: Two Duke University graduates craft a success story by inspiring people to learn crochet.

• Date: 01 January 2023
• Author: Gentry, Connie

The rush of learning something new, something that seemed impossible, has taken Justine Tiu and Adrian Zhang from a modest $200 investment to a $5 million business in just two years.

They describe Cary-based Woobles as an ed-tech company that teaches the art of crocheting miniature plushies, while combining physical crafting kits with online education. Using the Japanese art of amigurumi simplified into an easy step-by-step process, customers create colorful penguins, dinosaurs and assorted cute critters. The crafting inspires renewed confidence in ones ability to tackle unknowns.

The couple, who got married in 2021, use a term popular among some gaming enthusiasts, "fiero," to describe the adrenaline rush of conquering the challenges of starting and now scaling their entrepreneurial venture.

They mainly sell direct to consumers through the company website and Amazon and by wholesale channels to boutique stores and chain retailers. It's a big shift from their former New York jobs on Wall Street (Zhang at Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan) and in technology (Tiu at Google) before the Duke University graduates returned to North Carolina in 2020.

Amid filling orders for the 2022 holiday rush, Zhang says, "We're 10 times busier this year. Last year we were packing orders from a single bedroom in my parents' basement. Now we're in four warehouses [in Apex.]"

Their fulfillment...