Sike Insights
AcquiredRaised Since FeaturedEQ for remote teams
AI-powered Slack bot that builds emotional intelligence and stronger team connections for remote managers.
About
Sike Insights (later rebranded to Kona) built an AI-powered platform that integrated into Slack to help managers develop emotional intelligence and build stronger team connections in remote and hybrid work environments. Founded in October 2019 by three UCLA students โ Siddharth Pandiya, Corine Tan, and Andrew Zhou โ from a college dorm room, the company created a Slack bot that facilitated daily mood check-ins, analyzed team communication patterns, and provided managers with actionable coaching insights. The team interviewed 500+ of the world's best remote teams to refine their product and published the "EQ and Remote Managers Report" which garnered over 100K social views. Backed by Techstars and investors including Kleiner Perkins and Jeff Wilke (former Amazon CEO of Consumer), the company raised a $1M pre-seed round in 2020 and a $4M seed round led by Unusual Ventures in 2022. In January 2025, Kona was acquired by 15Five, a human-centered performance management platform.
DailyDropout Take
Sike Insights caught our eye as three UCLA students who identified a massive gap in the remote work boom โ managers had no tools for the emotional side of leading distributed teams. By embedding directly into Slack and backing their product with 500+ remote team interviews, they built something that felt more like a trusted advisor than another HR dashboard. The acquisition by 15Five validates the thesis that emotional intelligence tooling belongs in the performance management stack.
Discovery signal: Young founding team with strong conviction in remote work EQ gap, Techstars backing, early traction with Slack integration, Kleiner Perkins pre-seed investment
What Makes Them Unique
Kona was the first AI tool to bring emotional intelligence coaching directly into Slack, meeting managers where they already work rather than requiring them to adopt yet another HR platform.
$1M
Pre-Seed Round
$4M
Seed Round
Acquired by 15Five (Jan 2025)
Status
Target Markets
Founders
Siddharth Pandiya
Co-Founder & CEO
Founded Sike Insights at age 20 while studying Computer Science at UCLA. Now at 15Five following Kona's acquisition.
Corine Tan
Co-Founder
Graduated UCLA in 2.5 years summa cum laude, winning every department award. Co-founded Sike Insights from a UCLA dorm in 2019.
Andrew Zhou
Co-Founder
UCLA dropout who self-funded college from revenue teaching high schoolers to code. Co-founded Sike Insights in 2019.
Funding History
Lead: Kleiner Perkins
Lead: Unusual Ventures
Investors
Firms
Individual Investors
Former CEO of Consumer, Amazon
Co-Founder, dot.LA
Angel Investor