ABOUT KAYA

KAYA connects the people behind each climb. Made by climbers for climbers, we are changing the sport of climbing by connecting the people behind each attempt, on every climb.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

KAYA was founded on a climbing trip in 2019. A crew of boulderers (now KAYA founders) became frustrated with the resources available to find climbs and beta. The idea of creating an all-in-one climbing platform was planted, and has since blossomed into what KAYA is today—a product which serves the community and creates value for climbers.

We’re growing every day, with over 300 partner climbing gyms, including Movement, Momentum, and Touchstone. In September, 2022, we fully stepped into the outdoor climbing realm by launching our first complete digital guidebook in Joe’s Valley. Since, we have launched dozens more, including areas such as Red Rock, Leavenworth, and Stone Fort, to name a few.

THE NAME

KAYA comes from a Filipino phrase “kaya mo,” which means “you can.”

“Sige, kaya mo yan!” Go on, you can do it!

It is that spirit of positivity and support that we wanted to embrace in our name. KAYA represents the power of the climbing community to motivate ourselves to dig deep, try hard, and give our best efforts, whatever the circumstances. Kaya mo.

MEET THE TEAM

AUSTIN LEE
CEO & Co-Founder

MARC BOURGUIGNON
CTO & Co-Founder

DAVID GURMAN
CPO & Co-Founder

JOHN OUNGST
Director of Partnerships

ERIC JEROME
Marketing Manager

ANDREW REDLAWSK
Data Operations Manager

the Crew

MARC BOURGUIGNON | CTO + CO-FOUNDER

Years Climbing: 14, Proudest Send: The Reckoning V14

After earning his BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington, Marc started his career at Pattern Insight and Microsoft building web apps and tools. After a few years of working for a large corporation he realized he wasn’t living true to himself and vowed to only pursue work that he really believes in. He freelanced for five years and co-founded Vertical Generation, a Seattle non-profit that shares climbing experiences with youth from diverse backgrounds. He then leveraged his 10 years of climbing, experience as a route setter, and professional experience to build out the world’s best setting management software — Plastick — before joining forces with KAYA.

AUSTIN LEE | CEO + CO-FOUNDER

Years Climbing: 22, Proudest Send: Jeremiah Low V13

Austin is a Data Scientist turned Product Manager with 7 years of experience building teams and launching products at tech startups. He earned a Masters of Engineering at UC Berkeley and a Bachelors in Physics and Economics from University of Utah. At 16, he dropped out of high school to climb full time and coached for 6 years. His clients included 4 US National Champions (Junior and Open) and 8 US team members. He was formerly sponsored by BlackDiamond, MadRock, La Sportiva, and GoreTex.

DAVID GURMAN | CPO + CO-FOUNDER

Years Climbing: 27, Proudest Send: Synapses V11

David loves making fun useful tools for climbers. Still just as ‘overstoker’ as the first climb he did in 1994, he can be found climbing with his family in the forests of Fontainebleau, Yosemite, Squamish or Bishop. As a product leader he’s worked at the intersection of product, design, data science, analytics, visualization and art for the last 20+ years. His product work has served groups like the WEF Davos, RedBull, Intel, Kickstarter, Microsoft and TED. Most recently David co-founded Vibrant Data Inc., which was acquired by Rakuten in 2016. There he led product design and innovation until late 2019. A TED Fellow and TED Speaker his work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The FWA, and Communication Arts. David's work has been written about in Politico, New York Times Lens Blog, BookForum, The Daily Beast and TIME.

JOHN OUNGST | DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS

Years Climbing: 18, Proudest Send: Maze of Death V12

John has spent the last 15 years dedicating himself to a career in routesetting. As a USA Climbing Level 5 National Chief Routesetter, John has traveled the country setting and running some of the biggest national indoor climbing competitions. John also is a USA Climbing clinic instructor and sits on the Routesetting Committee. John currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and focuses on his roles at KAYA and USA Climbing. John enjoys all things outdoors and is always seeking the next adventure.

ANDREW REDLAWSK | Data Operations Manager

Years Climbing: 10, Proudest Send: Black Sea V8

Currently based in Boston, but often on the road, Andrew spent the first decade of his professional life as an actor and singer in venues around the world. When a vocal injury derailed that career, a random visit to a hole-in-the-wall climbing gym in Manhattan changed everything. Climbing became therapy became passion became an entirely new trajectory. First it was advocacy for public lands, working in both campaign politics and lobbying for National Parks, but one Spring, sitting in the Food Ranch in Joe’s Valley, a job listing popped up at KAYA, and the rest is history. Today, Andrew is working to build the future of guidebooks - a new paradigm for accurate, reliable climbing data, and putting it all in the palm of your hand. It’s pretty rad!

ERIC JEROME | MARKETINg MANAGER

Years Climbing: 12, Proudest Send: The Multiverse V15

Originally from Maryland, Eric cut his teeth on PA diabase. There he found a deep appreciation for high quality climbing. He moved to Salt Lake City to pursue an undergraduate degree in Strategic Communication, Design, and Art Technology, from the University of Utah. Really (to his parent's dismay), his major was bouldering. Since graduating in Spring 2020, Eric has found ways to merge his writing, communication, design, and marketing skills with his passion for climbing. In 2022, he landed his dream job at KAYA! When not climbing, Eric enjoys cooking, eating, Spikeball, game nights, and dancing.