Talk About Your Store
A rusted pickup truck with the Dirt Road Software logo on its door, sitting in a field of wildflowers at sunset.

Serious technology.
Dirt road roots.

The short version: a Northwest Florida horse farm, a few years at a feed and seed in Crestview, a family store in Baker, and a team that had already built a business together once.

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Northwest Florida

Where it started

Erran Yearty grew up on a horse farm in rural Northwest Florida. Horses, chickens, pigs, exotic fowl, a few miniature donkeys... the whole crew. As a teenager, he spent several years working at Odegaard's Feed and Seed in Crestview, Florida.

Technology ended up being his career, but the feed-store business never really left him. In 2016, his brother-in-law Tony Happel opened Baker Feed & Country Store in Baker, Florida. Erran stayed connected through his family. When Tony passed away in 2025, Erran's sister Heather took over running the place.

He wanted to help. Years of building websites, writing software, and marketing businesses had taught him what good technology can do. He saw a chance to put those skills to work for Heather and for other folks who run independent feed and farm stores.

That question turned into Dirt Road Software.

2019 to 2024

We'd built a business together before

Back in January 2019, Erran, Todd Marquis, and Joshua Maddox helped get Fair Lifts Helicopter Services off the ground with no sales revenue to speak of. By 2024, Fair Lifts' revenue had grown to $10 million a year.

Everybody brought something different to the table. Erran handled marketing and the web side of things. Todd built and kept up the systems the company ran on, including a heavily customized Salesforce setup. Joshua built a network of service providers and customer relationships, a lot of it on the strength of his word alone. Zachary Jester came on at Fair Lifts in 2021 and served as Chief Pilot of its drone division... flying, FAA permits, and plenty of work that wasn't in the job description.

Growing Fair Lifts meant adjusting the tools every time the business changed. It also meant leaning on people who knew the operation and would see a problem through to the end.

2026

A new direction in 2026

Erran left Fair Lifts in March 2026 to chase the idea that started with Baker Feed. Zach began pitching in during those early months. Todd and Joshua came on at the beginning of July. The original team had re-assembled.

We decided to focus on independent feed, seed, and farm stores because we understand why those businesses matter and how easily technology can get in their way. A store might need a better website, easier online ordering, a way to keep up with house accounts, or a register that works with the rest of the business. The answer ought to fit the store... not force the store to change everything to fit the answer.

Joshua spends his days talking with owners and learning what they need. Those conversations help guide what the rest of us build. The talking comes first. The technology follows.

The people behind Dirt Road Software

Erran Yearty

Marketing & Web Development

Erran brings the personal connection that started Dirt Road Software, along with years of experience in marketing and web-related software development. He grew up on a Northwest Florida horse farm and worked at Odegaard's Feed and Seed before heading into technology. At Fair Lifts, he helped take a company from a standing start to $10 million a year in revenue, leading the marketing and web work along the way. His family's connection to Baker Feed & Country Store is why this new business means more to him than just another software project.

Joshua Maddox

Sales & Store Partnerships

Georgia born and raised, Joshua grew up hunting and fishing south of Atlanta. Independent feed stores were the places he counted on for food for hunting dogs and for family pets with special dietary needs. At Fair Lifts, he built the service-provider network from the ground up, often starting relationships without a contract and earning trust by keeping his word. These days he's the one visiting stores and talking with owners on the phone, finding out what their current software does well, where it comes up short, and what Dirt Road Software can do about it. He joined because he knows this team and believes they'll stand behind their work.

Todd Marquis

Software Development & Systems

Todd taught himself web design and coding at 14 and has spent his career making business software do useful work. He led a five-developer team building Cloud 1 Point, a combined customer-management, point-of-sale, and business-management platform for a call center with more than 30 staff members. At Fair Lifts, he was Director of Information Technology, responsible for its customized Salesforce system and frequently called on to solve operational problems well outside the IT department. Dirt Road Software gives him the chance to build systems around the needs of a particular industry, alongside people he's known and trusted for years.

Zachary Jester

Operations & Growth

Raised in Florida and Georgia, Zach spent time around farmers and horse breeders in Jasper. As a commercial drone pilot, he later worked directly with growers out in the field. Zach joined Fair Lifts in 2021 as Chief Pilot of the drone division... flying jobs, spraying crops, securing FAA permits, helping with sales, and pitching in on website and marketing work. Today he works across operations, growth, and software development at Dirt Road Software. He joined because he believes the people who do this work deserve practical, fairly priced tools... and because the team feels like family to him.

Come tell us about your store

We know every independent feed and farm store does things a little differently. That's why we'd rather hear how yours works than start in on a sales pitch. Tell us what you're using today and which parts of the job it makes harder than they ought to be. We'll give you a straight answer about where we can help. We built this software for family... And we want to invite you to become part of our family too.

Talk about your store