Kona —Give every manager real-time coaching in Slack/Zoom. Kona is the AI-powered sidekick for remote managers.

At Kona, we envision a future where leadership is defined by empathy and emotional intelligence, especially in the ever-expanding realm of remote work. Our mission is to transform how managers connect with their teams by embedding real-time, AI-driven coaching directly into the tools they use daily.

We believe that fostering trust, managing difficult conversations, and nurturing employee well-being are essential to building resilient and productive remote organizations. Through personalized insights and tailored support, Kona empowers leaders to cultivate these skills as everyday habits, creating workplaces that prioritize human connection and mental wellness.

Our embrace of innovative AI technology is not just about automation but about amplifying the human elements of leadership. By making empathy a measurable and scalable practice, Kona is shaping the future of work where managers lead with insight, care, and unwavering support for their teams' success.

We were genuinely excited when we first discovered Kona — an AI coaching platform that actually gets what remote managers go through daily. After diving deep into their approach, we found ourselves impressed by how they tackled one of the biggest pain points in today's workplace: helping managers build genuine connections with their teams from behind a screen.

The Problem They Actually Solved

Here's what caught our attention: Kona didn't just guess at what remote managers needed. They interviewed over 800 managers and remote workers before building anything. That's the kind of research-first approach we love to see.

The result? A platform that lives right inside Slack and video calls, offering bite-sized coaching moments when managers need them most. No separate apps to remember, no lengthy training sessions — just smart, contextual advice that feels genuinely helpful.

What Made It Click

The daily emotional check-ins were brilliant. Instead of those generic "How are you feeling?" surveys, Kona's AI would pick up on team dynamics and suggest specific actions. We're talking about real-time coaching that helps managers navigate tricky conversations or spot burnout before it becomes a problem.

Their 65% daily active user rate among monthly users tells the whole story — people actually used this thing consistently. That's rare in the enterprise software world, where adoption often falls off a cliff after the first month.

The Impressive Client Roster

When we saw companies like Canva, MasterClass, and Greenhouse betting on Kona, it validated what we were seeing. These aren't small startups desperate for any solution — they're established companies with plenty of options. The 100% customer retention rate among beta clients? That's almost unheard of.

What really stood out was how Kona attracted diverse industries, from tech giants to creative agencies. That suggests they built something genuinely universal rather than a niche tool.

The Plot Twist

Here's where the story gets interesting: despite all this traction, Kona announced they were shutting down in August 2023 as part of a transition to 15Five. We'll be honest — this surprised us. Companies with those kind of metrics don't usually just disappear.

Whether it was an acquisition, merger, or strategic pivot, it shows how quickly the remote work landscape can shift. It also makes us wonder what 15Five has planned, because they clearly saw something valuable enough to bring Kona into their ecosystem.