Meet Yoky Matsuoka, Founder and CEO of Yohana, the first-ever tech-enabled concierge service for families
FemWealth Springboard
Meet Yoky Matsuoka, Founder and CEO of Yohana, the first-ever tech-enabled concierge service for families
One of Big Tech’s biggest “hidden figures,” Yoky Matsuoka is used to making her way through male-dominated industries. A former Google Nest CTO and Google X co-founder, Yoky also invented Apple’s heart monitoring tech and the first brain-powered robotic hand by combining AI, neuroscience and robotics, earning her a MacArthur Genius Award. She even inspired the first STEM Barbie!
Now, as a mom of four, Yoky is taking what she has learned to support parents like her. Bringing together the power of AI technology and real people, she has created Yohana, the first-ever tech-enabled family concierge service to tackle the family to-do list, rebuilding the village for families so they can find balance. The service is available US-wide.
“As a mom, my personal mission has always been to have a career and a big family. My career mission has been to create technology that empowers people to be their best selves. I never imagined how these would so seamlessly merge into Yohana’s mission: Help rebuild the lost village so parents can thrive and be able to prioritize wellbeing.” - Yoky Matsuoka
Learn more about her career and entrepreneurial journey and how she is uniquely positioned to lead the charge in the Fam-Tech industry considered the biggest untapped business opportunity in tech with a $7.5 Trillion market.
You are an accomplished AI expert and technologist. What led you to believe that the most urgent area of opportunity was not AI but FamTech?
YM: My ultimate goal has always been to create technology that allows people to be the best versions of themselves. I dedicated the beginning of my career to helping people overcome physical and learning challenges using AI. AI and tech is what I love and still focus on. Although when I became a mom of four balancing my career and family in the midst of a pandemic, I realized that tech wasn’t innovating as fast as it could for families – because moms weren’t creating it. I think supporting family in a scalable way is only possible by a technologist like myself. Much like it takes an elite athlete to design the perfect performance sneaker, it takes a parent to create solutions for the issues we face as families. Every working mom I’ve spoken to is stuck trying to achieve the impossible by balancing work, kids, partners, household responsibilities, aging parents, and more. The mental load and physical toll of parenting is not sustainable, and families are in dire need of help. In fact, 66% of parents are burned out.
The pandemic opened my eyes to the unfair demands families face. As I balanced Zoom meetings with managing household chores, raising my kids while they attended remote school, and taking care of my parents across the world, I had the startling realization I could not do it all – and I was not alone. That was when I recognized that Family Technology was the innovation parents like me needed. At Yohana, we are building a tech supported service that truly helps families.
ChatGPT and Generative AI are all the rage now. Does AI still need a human in the driver’s seat?
YM: While the combination of AI and humans will be used in many situations in the future, we still have a ways to go before humanlike robots are a part of our daily lives at home. AI is well on its way to transform every walk of life and we are at a pivotal moment in history where understanding where and how to implement AI is just as crucial as the technology we’re building. Bringing AI to the mainstream consumer market requires a “User First” solutions-oriented approach. It requires a deep understanding of the pain points people are facing in their daily lives and understanding how to apply AI to help people. That’s where Family Tech comes in. Family needs are individual and nuanced, and it takes humanity to understand their unique pain points and how to solve them. Yohana uses generative AI to help accelerate this process and learn what families need, so they can get things done faster and prioritize the time they get back for well-being.
How can tech rebuild the “modern village” and improve daily life for families?
YM: As the so-called “village” to help raise a family continues to disappear, technology can rebuild it by providing parents with the resources they need to raise their family. At Yohana, we hire professional problem solvers - backed by AI to help with research - and give families superhero support in tackling their to-do list. There is vast potential in this space because parents are desperate for help: I’m not the only one who thinks so – Family Tech is currently a $7.5 Trillion market as of 2022.
What is your personal mission and the mission of Yohana?
YM: As a mom, I’ve juggled two missions - the personal mission and career mission. As a mom, my personal mission has always been to have a career and a big family. My career mission has been to create technology that empowers people to be their best selves. I never imagined how these would so seamlessly merge into Yohana’s mission: Help rebuild the lost village so parents can thrive and be able to prioritize wellbeing.
What is your core offering, and how do you serve your customers?
YM: As the first-ever family concierge service, Yohana offers parents a team of specialists to handle their to-do list so they can prioritize their well-being. The Yohana membership has been proven to save families up to 10 hours a week on their task list. Some examples of tasks that Yohana can take on are coordinating doctor’s appointments, researching and booking travel, and planning birthday parties.
There are four components to the Yohana membership:
Yohana Guide. A go-to person who understands the family’s needs, sets goals and makes sure members are getting the outcomes they expect.
Your Yohana Team. Every family gets a team of specialists who can manage home, family and experience planning.
Their experience - professional assistants, executive assistants, project managers, event planners - means that this is done as well, or even better, than you could do yourself.
We then use AI on the back end to make these people superhuman.
The Yohana Pro & Partner Network. A hand-picked set of third-party providers for jobs around the house, or across your family. Plumbers, piano teachers, local flower shops or even party venues all vetted by Yohana.
You can also tap these teams for larger home projects, and it’s managed end to end with your team in the Yohana app or website.
The Yohana App + Website. Create tasks for your team, see what’s been completed and keep an ongoing dialog about any open questions.
What are your lessons learned as an executive and mom of 4 navigating Big Tech and entrepreneurship?
YM: Being Different is Good. Throughout college and my career, I was also one of the few women in the classroom or office. Although I had received judgment from coworkers for being different and having familial responsibilities, I learned that being different was actually an advantage. Because of my experience as a mother, I’m able to offer new perspectives and unique solutions. I was able to turn my perceived “outsider” status as a mom into a strength by applying my struggles and creating a thoughtful solution.
Delegating is Key. Delegating doesn’t mean you’ve failed to accomplish your tasks, it means that you’re prioritizing your time more efficiently. As a mom that used to try and do it all, I had a rude awakening during the pandemic. I, in fact, could not do it all. I had to give up some things in order to make time for the more important things in my life, which for me, is picking up my kids and cutting their hair.
There’s No Need to Strive for Perfection. When I feel like I am failing as a mom, I remember what I learned as an executive: “The top CEOs are only correct about 60-70% of the time. If you’re making mistakes 30-40% of the time, you’re performing just as well as a high-level executive.” Now, I’m not only honest with myself about my imperfection, but I’m honest with my kids as well. Perfection is impossible, but balance is not.
What advice do you have for underrepresented founders and young graduates starting their careers in tech?
YM: To go for it! Remember that women feel more comfortable pursuing STEM when they see other women in similar roles, so by pursuing STEM yourself, you are helping others pursue it as well. Then build something amazing for society and show off how your skills in STEM can truly help others and change the world for future generations.
Stay tuned for the next edition of FemWealth Springboard!
💌 If you’re a female or non-binary founder of a venture-backed, early-stage company and would like to be featured in a future edition, please email me at femwealth@substack.com.