Main Street Ventures Grant Recipient: Bosa

Have a never-ending to-do list? Feeling burnt out? It doesn't have to be this way thanks to Bosa a collaborative to-do list for millennial moms who are founders, freelancers and managers.

This unique new platform, launched by Anastasia Tarpeh-Ellis and EJ Oruche, aims to help prevent burn out and give you your life back. "EJ and I were burned out from trying to balance our work and personal lives early in our careers leading product and operations for startups and large companies," explains Tarpeh-Ellis. "We tried different tools and methods to keep us organized without sacrificing our wellbeing, but nothing worked. Our friends and co-workers felt the same way."

However, thanks to their background in research and through their own experiences, the duo found that it's not necessarily a personal productivity app that the people needed, it was something much more than that. "What they need is an affordable, asynchronous, and accessible personal assistant that can help take things off their plate," says Tarpeh-Ellis. "And that's where Bosa comes in."

In fact, what makes Bosa unique is that it helps you to collect the things you want to do from tools you already use. According to Tarpeh-Ellis, Bosa can connect you with the right people and resources to help you get things done.

"Instead of an individual and siloed product experience, we focus on creating a rich network you can collaborate with," she says. "By connecting you with the Bosa community, you feel supported and empowered to go after your ideas, dreams and aspirations. We truly believe the result of intentional connection and collaboration will change the world."

There are several meanings behind the name “Bosa,” but the duo chose it for the word “victory.” “It was chanted after a long journey by Sub Saharan Africans who were trying to migrate to Spain,” she explains. “We believe everything is a journey, but that there’s joy in the small, daily victories that add up to major successes.”

Speaking of victories, Bosa was recently awarded the $10,000 Launch Grant from Main Street Ventures Tarpeh-Ellis says this will help them to cover foundational pieces of marketing and design work so the team can connect with its audience and empower them to check every item off their to-do list.

Although the duo just went full-time with the brand in 2021, they're already raising their initial funding from Backstage Capital, 11 Tribes, Behind Genius Ventures, and several Ohio-based angel investors. They’ve also launched a high touch beta of the product, which helped them find that millennial moms are the ideal early customers. “Learnings and traction from the beta helped us stand out when applying for programs,” she says. “At the top of this year, we were selected to participate in Google for Startups Founders’ Academy, OCEAN Accelerator (cohort 8), and Rev1 Studio.”

With funding and a beta test already under their belt, Tarpeh-Ellis and Oruche say they hope to continue the growth of Bosa with a summer focused on product development and marketing. There are plans for a soft launch version of the product with the goal of creating day 0 value for millennial moms. Within that, Tarpeh-Ellis says, they will also establish a presence on social media and create content to help increase the awareness of Bosa.

“This is an exciting time for our team, because kicking off these two efforts will fuel a repeatable cycle from awareness of the product to folks joining the Bosa community,” she says.

You can learn more about Bosa at https://www.bosa.life. To learn more about Main Street Ventures, visit here.