Company: Tokii
Website: www.tokii.com
Founders: Karla Stephens-Tolstoy and Al Tolstoy
Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
Year Founded: 2008
Twitter: @tokiilife
Brief Company Description: Tokii is an online relationship management platform that helps couples explore different aspects of their partnership through interactive games of play and discovery.
By Karla Stephens-Tolstoy, co-founder and CEO
Product Overview
Tokii is the world’s first relationship management platform designed to help couples enrich and strengthen their relationships.
Tokii gives couples a private and secure venue to work on and explore their relationship. Based on user feedback, Tokii has developed four unique tools to help couples connect:
- TradingPost – An online venue for couples to negotiate for what they want from each other. Offers can range from household chores to intimate moments. Create your own Trade Ideas or choose from approximately 1,000 already on the site.
- DiscoveryGames – Fun series of quizzes that initiate conversations and help partners learn more about each other. There are over 100 unique games available for play from over 15 wide-ranging categories, from Love to Environment.
- MoodMeter – A status system that lets partners express and know each other’s state of mind. There are currently over 30 moods to choose from.
- Profiles – Quizzes that give a view into each partner’s personality and preferences. Our current LoveZones Profile gives partners an analysis and shares how each like to be loved.
Founders’ Story
Prior to Tokii, Al and I worked together in the European telecommunications sector, working for various companies such as Vodafone and Oskar in the Czech Republic. While we were business associates, we were also married and trying to maintain a healthy relationship. As the demands of running a thriving mobile company sapped time away from our relationship, I realized the need for an outlet to work on our partnership that fit into our hectic, and often diverging, schedules.
I did some research that led me to a stunning statistic: 42 million Americans are in sexless marriages! Further researched uncovered that couples were too busy to spend time talking to one another, averaging just 15 minutes of real conversation a day. But what was interesting to me was that the communication was being transferred from speaking in person to other more current means, such as texts and emails. The average couple sends 400 emails and 1,000 texts to each other every year! And from that, Tokii was conceived to bridge the gap, helping busy couples that did not have time to improve their relationships by making relationship-strengthening activities quick and easily accessible using stuff they use every day: the web and mobile devices.
Marketing/Promotion Strategy
- Currently allowing the sharing of various actions through Facebook and Twitter
- Creating niche content to market and attract couples with more specific concerns or ideals, such as DiscoveryGames for military couples and Christian couples
- We also hold contests to promote usage and to gain insight about how Tokii is helping relationships
How We Differentiate from the Competition
Currently Tokii’s direct competition comes from other relationships management sites and indirectly from self-help sites.
Tokii has an advantage over other relationship management sites and self-help sites because it is a fully interactive solution merging online actions with real-life results. Couples play games, share moods, negotiate and renegotiate trades; all of which encourage real life interactions (i.e. following through with trades, or following up an interesting DiscoveryGame with a conversation).
Our biggest barrier to entry is the relative newness of the online relationship management sector in general. As with any new space, observers are hesitant to see the full benefits of using technology to take the place of older ways. However, the appearance of competitors is validating our choice to create and enter this space.
Business Model
Tokii’s business model combines two main strategies. The first revenue stream is from customers who can purchase products from our site. DiscoveryGames will be featuring paid games in 2012.
The second major revenue stream comes from advertising. Companies are able to sponsor various aspects of Tokii, including DiscoveryGames and Trade Ideas. These games and Trade Ideas would be free for customers and customized for the sponsoring company or product. There is also on-site advertising to supplement sponsorships, as well as independent advertising.
Current Needs
We are looking for investors interested in a Series A round of funding.
Tokii – www.tokii.com
