Quickfire Interview

Project Launched: Oct 2021
Founder: Stas Kulesh
MRR: Made around $62k in August.(Updated 13th of September 2023)

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How did you come up with the idea of Karma Bot?

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“The idea for Karma originated from our own experiences in managing remote teams at our digital studio, Sliday. We recognized a gap in the market for a tool that could effectively facilitate peer recognition and feedback, especially in remote work environments.

Initially, Karma was an internal tool that we developed to enhance our own team's morale and performance. After a successful launch on Product Hunt, we realized that other companies had a similar need for such a tool, which led to the evolution of Karma into a standalone product”

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How did Karma Bot get its first profitable customers?

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“Karma's first profitable customers came organically. Initially, Karma bot was an internal tool we built for our own digital studio, Sliday. After we launched it on Product Hunt, we discovered other people were interested in using it as well. However, for about a year, Karma was making less than $200 per month, which didn't motivate us to invest substantial resources into it. But as more customers started asking for features and updates, we started paying more attention to it.

We also realized that our customer base was not just startups and small communities who were early adopters of Slack, but also larger enterprises. This led us to rework our pricing model and product, and start actively tracking important metrics. Our monthly revenue grew from $156 in January 2018 to $13,361 in January 2019.”

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What have you struggled with when building Karma Bot so far and how has this shaped your business?

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“One of the biggest struggles we faced while building Karma was identifying and understanding our user base. Initially, we thought our primary users would be regular team members who would enjoy the fun and game-like elements of Karma.

It took us a while to realize that the actual paying customers were not the regular team members, but team owners such as top management, CEOs, founders, and people culture specialists. They used Karma bot for better control and transparency, to sift through daily chat noise, track micro-feedback, record performance notes, and spread team appreciation.”

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What gives Karma Bot that unfair advantage over new entrants into the market?

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"Our unfair advantage with Karma lies in several areas:

1. First-Mover Advantage: Karma was one of the earliest entrants in the market for in-chat peer recognition and engagement systems. This early entry allowed us to understand the needs of our customers, fine-tune our product, and establish a strong presence in the market before many competitors even entered the field.

2. Strong User Base: Over time, we have built a loyal user base of over 6,000 weekly users and 90 paying companies. This not only provides us with a steady revenue stream but also a rich source of feedback and insights that help us continually improve and adapt our product to meet changing needs.

3. Partnerships: Our partnership with Microsoft has given us a significant boost in user acquisition. Microsoft paid us to develop Karma for their Microsoft Teams platform and continues to help us test and launch our product. This gives us access to a vast potential user base of mostly enterprise customers.

4. Comprehensive Feature Set: Unlike many new entrants who may offer basic features, Karma provides a comprehensive suite of features including micro-feedback, performance tracking, instant and long-term rewards, and actionable HR insights. This makes our product a one-stop solution for teams looking to improve their culture and performance.

5. Continuous Improvement: We have a culture of continuous learning and improvement. We constantly engage with our customers, learn from their feedback, and make improvements to our product. This ensures that our product stays relevant and valuable to our customers in the long run.

6. Team Expertise: Our team brings together a unique blend of skills and experiences in design, development, sales, and marketing. This enables us to tackle challenges from multiple angles and come up with innovative solutions.

What is your main growth strategy for Karma Bot going forward?

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Our main growth strategy going forward is to continue refining and improving our product based on customer feedback and needs. We believe in the power of organic growth driven by a strong product-market fit. We will continue to engage with our users, understand their needs, and adapt our product to provide the best possible solution for them. This involves regular updates, new features, and constant iterations on our existing services.

Additionally, we plan to leverage partnerships, like the one we have with Microsoft, to expand our reach and attract larger enterprise clients. We will also focus on optimizing our presence in various app marketplaces and enhancing our SEO efforts to reach a wider audience.

Lastly, we will continue to foster a community around our product. This includes maintaining active social media accounts, running a blog with valuable content, and potentially hosting webinars or online events. By doing this, we aim to position Karma as not just a tool, but a thought leader in the space of team engagement and recognition.

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