Meet Ally Fekaiki, founder of Juno
Ally Fekaiki is the founder of Juno: a platform personalising employee benefits. Ally started the business after ‘hustle culture’ in the startup world led him to feel burnt out and standard workplace benefits offered little relief. He quit his job and resolved to fix the system with Juno.
Juno enables staff to choose 'work perks' that actually work for them, using credits allocated by their employer in the form of Juno points. There are hundreds of options including childcare, mental health support and meal box deliveries. Juno's user base grew tenfold last year as employers looked for new ways to support hybrid teams, improve work-life balance and retain staff.
There’s always a lightbulb moment before the beginning of a new venture. What was that moment for you?
The idea for Juno really came from experiencing the problems that the platform exists to solve. I started my career working in the dynamic world of startups. I relished the challenges that come with this kind of work, like growing a community and scaling operations.
It was exciting but demanding, and it wasn’t long before I started to see the toll that the culture and pace was taking on my colleagues. And, almost without realising, it started to grind me down too. The companies I worked for all meant well. But work cultures which revolve around awkward team yoga sessions and alcohol-centric socials, for example, in place of genuine employee support is an all too common issue.
This period in my career opened my eyes to the relationship between work culture and personal wellbeing. Realising that this relationship needed fixing, and that people needed to be empowered to pick benefits that actually added value to their lives was the lightbulb moment for what became Juno. And at Juno we’ve been working towards redefining the way that work and wellbeing interact ever since.
What keeps you motivated as an entrepreneur when you hit bumps in the road?
From my own experiences, I’ve always known that there’s a place for Juno. Our platform is needed and genuinely has a positive impact on people’s lives. That challenges me to make sure we’re reaching as many people as we can. Surveys consistently show that while employers have dramatically increased their spending on employee benefits, the benefits they offer still don’t satisfy the individual needs of their staff. We’re making excellent progress, but there’s a lot of work to be done to transform the culture around workplace benefits - and that spurs me on.
What does your business offer its target audience?
Put simply, we offer companies the ability to give their teams choice. This enables individual staff members to access childcare, meal box deliveries, professional mental health support or whatever else will benefit them the most. By putting the power in employees’ hands, we’re also able to cater to their priorities and needs as they evolve in line with changing personal circumstances and even wider developments, like cost of living or climate crisis.
Employee wellbeing is also at the centre of the so-called war for talent. For businesses that adopt Juno, we offer a means of boosting recruitment and retention, as well as peace of mind in knowing that their employees are getting the most out of their benefits and the best support possible.
What plans do you have for ‘your business’ over the next two years?
We have just completed a successful funding round led by Hoxton Ventures, raising $4 million. With this boost, we plan to expand our offering and add additional services such as physical debit cards for purchasing benefits and a fully integrated marketplace. We also plan to use this injection of capital to drive our continued growth across global markets including the US and Europe. This is enabling us to give as many workers as possible access to better benefits.
How important is company culture and what is your top tip to get it right?
Juno is all about company culture and employee wellbeing. My top tip for getting this right is perhaps an obvious but still overlooked one: listen to employees and recognise that no two employees’ needs are the same.
Is word of mouth working to your advantage?
Word of mouth is really important for a people-focused company. It’s not uncommon for the Juno team to be out and about and overhear conversations between friends comparing Juno with the others’ woefully inadequate workplace benefits, or between colleagues discussing what they're going to spend their next batch of Juno points on.
It’s only natural that people want to share the things improving their own lives with those close to them. And it makes sense that we get regular inquiries from employees who want their employers to sign up, too - it’s exactly this kind of agency that we seek to facilitate by letting employees choose their own benefits.
Why do you think your business has had such a positive impact across your industry?
Improving the wellbeing of employees can only be a good thing. And as employers look for new ways to support burnt out, hybrid teams, our offering has proved all the more impactful.
We’re helping to make a difference even further afield too, as employees pay forward their Juno points for social causes. Nearly 10% of Juno points are spent on charitable donations, like support for Ukrainians refugees.
What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?
Don’t be afraid to get stuck in. When I first had the idea for Juno, I quit my job with no savings and started working at a pub while building Juno in my spare time. I was a one-man band: designing the first website myself (thanks to a lot of googling), spending countless hours cold calling companies to drum up interest, and booking everything from food box deliveries to appointments with financial coaches for their staff.
But do also pull in your friends and contacts. I had a colleague with coding experience for example, who thankfully then lent a hand to help me rebrand Juno. It’s also essential to have a clear sense of your purpose and the problems you’re solving from the outset, so you can effectively convey this to others.
Then, when you’re ready to expand, hire a team that believes in and understands your product or service.
What are your thoughts on ‘no sleep’ culture as an entrepreneur?
I’d be a hypocrite to ever encourage the ‘no sleep’ culture that characterises the startup world and so many other entrepreneurs. It’s exactly what I resolved to fix when I left my job all that time ago to build Juno. My experiences, and those of my peers, have shown me it’s just not worth it.
Plus, I can’t say I’ve ever seen hustle culture end well for those who buy into it. No one is immune to burnout. That’s why prioritising wellness is vital. I love my work and am hugely driven by what we’re doing at Juno, but I also know the importance of work-life balance.
Has the COVID-19 crisis placed more pressure on the mental health of business owners?
Undoubtedly. There’s the challenge of maintaining and growing a business in extremely uncertain economic times for one thing. But business owners also have a huge professional and moral responsibility to look after our employees’ mental health alongside our own.
The rise of remote work makes this all the more pressing – how do we ensure that team members are receiving the same kind of support, whether they’re in an office in London, or working from an Airbnb in Portugal? We believe that empowering employees to choose support in line with their individual lifestyles, needs and priorities is the answer - and others clearly agree. As employers look for new ways to support and engage hybrid teams, our user base has grown tenfold over the last year alone. This duty of care to staff means we’ve had to step up as business owners and look for solutions that work for everyone.
What are your thoughts on failure?
"A loss isn't a loss, it's a lesson." We shouldn't see failure as anything but the result of our effort. We're made to feel that failing is an ugly outcome, something that we should be afraid of, but through failure we experience growth. The only way you can be right is to be prepared to be wrong, and what comes out of getting it wrong is often the ability to get it right the next time.
