Wake Up Relaxed and Refreshed

‣ Company: Yoga Wake Up
‣ Cofounders: Joaquín Brown and Lizzie Brown
‣ Mission: To make mornings fun
‣ App launched: 2015
‣ Team size: 5
‣ Go-to emoji: 🙃

All it took was one yoga class for Joaquín Brown to realize the power of waking up with the right mindset.

“It was early morning, and the instructor told us to lie down and pretend we were in bed. She talked us through a few moments of mindfulness and relaxation, then had us get to our feet with our eyes closed,” Brown recalls. “I thought, ‘This could be how we wake up every day.’”

Gentler than an alarm clock, Yoga Wake Up rouses you with guided breathing, a few words to inspire gratitude and positivity, and gentle stretches—all done in bed. We talked to the app’s Los Angeles–based cofounders, Joaquín and Lizzie Brown, about the power of creating a community that spans cultures and continents.

What were the early days of Yoga Wake Up like?

Joaquín: There was a prototype I put together one weekend. It just had one meditation on there, by Jen Smith, the teacher whose yoga class had inspired the whole idea.

Lizzie: It received some press and ended up getting around 700 downloads over a weekend. We weren’t expecting that! After we raised our money through a crowdfunding campaign, we hit the ground running.

How do you find instructors to feature in the app?

Lizzie: There are more than 70, and they’re all over the world. A lot are near us, in California. We also have several in London, and there are teachers in Austin, Seattle, New Orleans, and Mexico. A lot were referred to us by teachers already in our network. It was on a scouting trip in London where we met Kate Lister, a singer and yoga instructor whose “Today Is Yours!” recording might be my all-time favorite session in the app.

You’ve also expanded to include instructors from Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, and Spain.

Lizzie: Voice is of utmost importance in Yoga Wake Up, which is audio by design. Therefore it’s important to us that the app represents all kinds of voices that resonate with all kinds of customers. We recorded our first Spanish-language content in the international hub of Barcelona, and selected teachers who represent a variety of cultures and heritage. As soon as we have the opportunity, we will expand our global footprint even more.

How did the decision to include audio in English and Spanish come about?

Lizzie: Offering Yoga Wake Up in Spanish makes it accessible to a broader audience, specifically the 490 million or more native Spanish speakers around the world. And translating to Spanish has special meaning to us because of our Latin heritage. Joaquin’s mom is Mexican, and mine is Cuban.

In the early days, was it difficult to get the word out?

Joaquín: We had another app before this and that was more difficult to get off the ground because it was more of a social network.

Lizzie: We would wait outside of yoga studios and hand out kombucha as an incentive to get people to download. We would stand there for an hour or two and come up with five downloads. It was not a great system. We’ve had an easier time with Yoga Wake Up.

Yoga Wake Up Morning Routine

Start your day Happy & Rested

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Yoga Wake Up is a part of the App Store Small Business Program. If you are a developer and would like to learn more about the program, follow the link below.