The Journey
The Mountain Pact
In January 2025, our team was snowboarding in the deep powder just like every year. We've been best friends, hiking and riding together for 9 years. On that mountain, we made a choice this time: Stop dreaming about "someday" and build the future of intelligent hardware today.
The "All-In" Moment
We didn't just start a side project; we changed our lives:
- Yan left his software company of 500 employees.
- CY & Elsa walked away from 10-year careers at WeBank.
- Monika shut down her design studio in Italy and flew back.
The $0 Lesson
Our first product, Koko Talk Buddy, was a reality check. The market was suddenly flooded with competitors, and worse, half of our first batch had broken part. We failed. Fast.
But as hikers, we know that when you hit a dead end on the trail, you don't go home — you find a better path.
The Pivot: KoKonna
We asked ourselves: what if we applied what we learned to something people would actually want to keep on their walls — not for a month, but for years? We took the lessons from our failure and built something better: the KoKonna Living Canvas.
1000 pieces ready. We started slow, testing and breaking things until they were perfect.
We launched for real with confidence of our product.
Over 100,000 units have shipped globally.