Our story

The idea for building KULG was born as one of the founders, Maris, started coaching runners and recognized the need for a better overview and faster feedback to provide personalized and effective guidance. As a runner herself, having tried various analytics tools for years without finding the right solution, she had resorted to maintaining her training data in a Google Sheet, which she had used for more than a decade to share the findings with her coach. The methodology she had developed provided profound insights into her training progress, leading to continual improvement and an Estonian masters marathon record.

Runner to runners

After tailoring her training analytics approach for the runners she was coaching, Maris discovered that it worked for others as well. She witnessed the remarkable progress her athletes were achieving but, even more significantly, she observed that it instilled a sense of accountability and motivation in runners of all levels. Their progress, often not apparent on a day-to-day basis, became unequivocally clear on the graphs. Following discussions with Jevgeni and Henri, they decided to transform this approach into a more enhanced and automated experience that other runners could also benefit from.

kulg ET noun /ku:lg/ - flow, progress, forward movement

Our mission

Runners receive a lot of data from wearables, but understanding which metrics are both useful and reliable can be challenging. Fitness scores calculated from training stress tend to encourage us to go faster and train more, not to balance load and recovery for sustained long-term training consistency. Runners struggle to see their training trajectory and coaches face delayed feedback on individual responses to training, affecting athlete health and performance outcomes. Our mission is to help runners and coaches understand training progress with ease and train smarter.

Who we are

Maris, a competitive long-distance runner and a running coach, joined forces with Jevgeni, a former professional figure-skater, and Henri, a recreational runner. We understand the commitment and perseverance required to progress day in and day out. We also know a thing or two about building great products, having worked together at Pipedrive and Monese for many years.

  • Maris Heinaru

    FOUNDER, CEO

    A seasoned distance runner and a running coach, Maris holds the Estonian women’s masters marathon record and is still chasing speed. A UX design and product development professional with over 10 years of experience crafting products and boosting acquisition for Pipedrive, Monese, et al. With over 15 years of leadership experience, she holds an MSc in Engineering (Human-Computer Interaction) and an MBA.

  • Jevgeni Striganov

    CO-FOUNDER, CDO

    A former professional figure skater with a remarkable 20-year career and an Estonian champion. With over 19 years of experience in digital design, he brings a wealth of knowledge and skills as a UX/UI professional. Jevgeni holds a proven track record in crafting beautiful designs, outstanding user experience and impactful branding for web applications at Pipedrive, Hrmny Human Technologies, Multilogin, et al.

  • Henri Taube

    CO-FOUNDER, CTO

    A recreational runner and choir singer, Henri is an accomplished full-stack developer with over a decade of experience in building robust and scalable solutions at Monese and SEB. Proficient in a diverse range of programming languages, frameworks, and databases, Henri brings expertise in creating the architecture for data-rich web applications, having set up the back office for a fintech company.

We believe in

  • Getting the basics of load and recovery right.

  • Finding links between relevant training and health data.

  • Highly individual and flexible approach to training.

  • Visualizing progress to boost intrinsic motivation to train.

  • Activity-based goals to stay consistent.

  • Finding the joy and unforcedness in training.

  • Long-term progress.

Let’s simplify training

Join our mission to make training progress simplified! Pre-register before end of May 2024 to get exclusive access to our beta version and get athlete’s premium features free until the fully developed product is launched.