Kami is an educational software start-up company based in Auckland. This company was named the leading or quickest-growing business in New Zealand recently by the Deloitte Fast 50. Kami celebrated this milestone by giving a $10,000 bonus to each of their staff members.
The founders of Kami were three Auckland university students that were seeking means to advertise their note taking efforts online. Kami’s app has now been utilized in over 180 countries by over 30 million teachers and students.
Hengjie Wang is the co-founder and chief executive of Kami. According to Wang, the $10,000 giveaway to each staff member was given as a token of appreciation for keeping online classrooms operating while the whole world grapples with the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Wang shares that Kami’s employees have been working long hours every day, and have sacrificed a lot of things within the past 18 months by supporting teachers and students around the world. The company wanted to find a way to give thanks to these employees by giving recognition to their achievements, Wang further explained.
While the Covid-19 pandemic raged on, Kami provides free software for teachers to use. This software has helped teachers to continue teaching online while the virus had spread. This strategy worked down the road. Many of Kami’s users have now become paid subscribers. However, the downside is that Kami’s staff members’ hard work invested to give support to educators has led to sales of the business going down to zero.
Kami, a cloud-based app, has taken teachers and students out of the trap of having to deal with multiple pages of printed documents. This initiative has saved students from having to spend a million dollars in printing expenses. In turn, it saves a lot of time for teachers, as well.
Kami enables teachers and students to get a hold of digital copies and pdf’s of multiple documents in Chromebook. Students study on the documents they see on screen, which, in turn, the teacher can visibly see.
This app is now being used in over 90 percent of schools all over America. Wang wishes to let other local digital start-up tech companies to see the goals that can be achieved without investing a lot of money for capital investment. Wang believes that running a cashflow-positive start up like Kami is possible.
Scouting a talented specialist to run Kami had not been an easy feat. Hiring people who think alike and running a flexible start-up business had been significant.
