KOYA Innovations Profile

“By combining media, event triggers, and customizable gifts, KOYA delivers a unique experience for employees and customers to feel valued.”

“We created KOYA to bridge the distance. Our mission is to make it easier for people to "show up" in a meaningful way.”

“We raised a ‘friends and family’ round”

“We are a team of four, and we are all related. I’ll be honest, I had a lot of concerns about working with my family. We have always been close, but I was away for nearly seven years and wasn’t sure how we would jive. I have been pleasantly surprised by our dynamics and feel thankful for this experience. It’s rare. I’m 100% biased, but this is the dream team!”

“At a family birthday dinner, we started brainstorming ways we could use tech to make the world a better place. This is where we dreamed up KOYA. While the inception of KOYA was easy, validating our idea has taken time. We recently made the switch from B2C to B2B, and last month we started making revenue!”

“The first name that we came up with was ‘serendipster.’ Some of the team liked this name because it referenced serendipity. Thankfully, that name didn't last long, but it still makes me chuckle when I think about it. We came up with ‘KOYA’ a few weeks later, which stands for ‘Kindness On YA.’”

“I grew up in an innovative household. My dad has several patents to his name and started his first company at our kitchen table. This impacted my older sister and me so much that we both started small companies at a young age. Our parents also instilled in us an understanding that problems are opportunities in disguise, so we tackled our early twenties with this outlook and weren't afraid to try new things.”

“We are a team of dreamers. As such, we created something grandiose when really, we should have started more simply. This is a common entrepreneur’s challenge. When we first introduced KOYA as an app, we had trouble finding market fit. We did things backward. By the time we found market fit, we realized that our business model was flawed and have spent the past year refining it. Last month, we made revenue for the first time!”

“As previously mentioned, we recently switched from B2C to B2B. As such, our target market on the B2B side is still being refined. Our current target market is managers of remote teams and real estate agents. I am happy to share that our initial customer discovery interviews and current beta testers are all responding favorably to our new B2B offering.”

“We are still [in the] early days with our new product, but I favor quality campaigns and steady growth over a big splash. I believe in selling a solution instead of a product and plan to structure our strategy around this.”

“At the time of this interview, we have a waitlist and currently have some people beta testing our new product, but we haven't made our SaSS offerings available to the public. For our initial B2C product, however, we acquired our early 100 customers through networking. We were active on social media before we launched our app, and as soon as we launched, it wasn't very hard to acquire our first 100 customers.”

“At the moment, we are focused on customer feedback to help us refine the product. Once it is available to the public and people are able to pay for our product, rather than simply test it, Revenue and retention will become our primary focus.”

“I highly recommend reading ‘Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets’ by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, and Kevin Maney. You won't regret giving this book your time. 

I loved ‘How I Built This’ by Guy Raz. This podcast inspires me and gives me hope.”

“I highly recommend reading ‘The Mom Test’ by Rob Fitzpatrick. This would have saved us time and money. It teaches people how to conduct user interviews, throw up a landing page, and scope out potential demand before building a product. This has been a game-changer for our team.”

“I am fortunate to have grown up around an entrepreneur. I think this has been a tremendous advantage in my life and prepared me for the current journey that I am on.”

“Integrating a morning routine has helped me stay grounded and thrive amidst my long hours. I spend time painting each morning in my studio after a cup of Matcha or decaf coffee. From there, I either read or write before jumping into work emails. My morning routine has become a sacred place, and prioritizing this time first thing has actually helped me come up with innovative ideas.”

“I use the Pomodoro Technique to help me stay focused. I also try to start with my hardest tasks first.”

“I think this depends on how people define success. For me, the privilege of pursuing KOYA is a success. It's been a long journey, but the fact that we are still here and just made revenue is a huge success. I attribute this to our team's collective resilience and belief in the mission and vision behind KOYA.”

“Strapped for cash, I took on many jobs after college. I was a ghost-writer for an interior designer, search engine optimization specialist for an orthodontist, social media manager for various clients, website designer for several fledgling businesses, and eventually created and ran ads for a parade. Copywriting, campaigns, and content marketing introduced me to a new world. It taught me how to learn new things and iterate quickly, it helped grow my resilience, and it made me ready for the challenges of running a startup.”

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