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

BRYAN BOYKO
Mobile Lead Engineer & Founding Team Member

JOHN OUNGST
Director of Partnerships

JESS WEST
Community & Events Coordinator

JENN DEBELLIS
Full Stack Engineer

ANDREW REDLAWSK
Data Operations Manager

ERIC JEROME
Marketing Manager

RILEY OGIER
Marketing Intern

CHEYENNE STIRLING
Customer Support

LEADERSHIP TEAM

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.

ENGINEERING TEAM

BRYAN BOYKO | MOBILE LEAD ENGINEER

Years Climbing: 23, Proudest Send: Crown of Aragorn V13

Bryan brings 8 years of Android + iOS mobile engineering experience to P9a Labs. He has been climbing for 18 years, including 2 years spent traveling and climbing around the world. He was a US team member for bouldering and speed. Bryan earned his Bachelors in BioChemistry and Physics from the University of Washington.

JENN DEBELLIS | FULL STACK ENGINEER

Years Climbing: 6, Proudest Send: The Hatchling V11

Jenn started climbing 5 years ago while in school at a small midwestern gym and quickly became ‘too psyched’ and moved into a van to climb full-time outside. Her full stack experience comes from the field of environmental engineering where she developed web tools to help researchers simulate biorefineries at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation at the University of Illinois. Jenn earned her BS and MS in environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

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.

JESS WEST | COMMUNITY + EVENTS COORDINATOR

Years Climbing: 8, Proudest Send: Dream Sequence Low V8

Jess found climbing in 2015 at Aiguille, in Longwood, Florida. She knew right away that it would be more than just a hobby. With a BS in Radiology, she found herself on an entirely new career path, coaching the youth team, and learning how to set within her first year of climbing. She moved several times over the next few years, while her husband pursued his career in route setting. Now, with a Masters in Exercise Science, she is a coach with Power Company Climbing and calls St. Louis home.

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.

Riley Ogier | MARKETINg Intern

Years Climbing: 13, Proudest Send: Raining Choss V10

Riley started climbing in Atlanta, GA as a youth competitor in 2010. In high school, she discovered her love for outdoor rock climbing, so she moved to Salt Lake City in 2019 to pursue a B.S. in Strategic Communication from the University of Utah. She spends all of her free time pursuing goals on real rock, and climbing continues to be the driving passion in her life. When not climbing, Riley enjoys sewing, creating, and all things outdoors.

Cheyenne Stirling | Customer Support

Years Climbing: 9, Proudest Send: Fern Roof V9

Cheyenne’s journey into climbing began during her college years as she pursued degrees in Biological Sciences and Environmental Horticulture. A pivotal summer spent researching bats in Glacier National Park ignited her passion for the great outdoors and climbing. She realized that climbing had to remain a central part of her life. Cheyenne’s climbing journey led her to explore trad, ice, and multi-pitch climbing, and eventually, she embarked on a two-year adventure traveling the world, chasing her passion for sport climbing and bouldering. With nine years of dedication to both climbing and the environment, she now calls California her home. you can often find her at the crag, stoked about climbing anything and everything. Without a doubt you’ll find her with a film camera, always at her side to capture the moments and the stunning climbing areas we’re privileged to enjoy.