15Five Acquires Kona, the AI-Powered Manager Effectiveness Coach for Remote Managers

Jim Morrisroe, CEO of 15Five

I’m thrilled to share that 15Five has acquired Kona, the AI-powered assistant and coach for remote managers. 

Virtual work continues to accelerate, with virtual meetings up 60% since 2020, according to Harvard Business Review, making it even harder for HR teams to diagnose and resolve the manager skill gaps in their organizations that matter most.

Founded in 2019, Kona joins virtual meetings in platforms like Zoom or Google Meet, providing tailored, privacy-conscious coaching and enablement to remote managers in the flow of work. 

Trusted by companies like Amplitude and Cribl, AI-powered Kona uses the context it builds over time to help people managers continuously level up across a wide range of critical skillsets – from leading more effective meetings to navigating difficult performance conversations.

This acquisition will soon allow our customers to deploy manager enablement at scale and drive high-impact behaviors effortlessly, within the existing flow of work. It expands our impact beyond our existing platform––helping solve costly performance, engagement, and retention issues in partnership with people managers.

People managers are the critical lynchpin for maximum employee performance, engagement and retention. The team at Kona has built a leading-edge product that allows organizations to tap into the power of their managers at scale, with surgical precision, in virtual communications channels where leaders are increasingly honing their craft. 

We’re thrilled to join forces with Kona and help HR teams further enhance manager effectiveness.

Learn more about our vision for how HR can enlist people managers as a critical catalyst for higher engagement, retention, and performance.