Most of us lose hours each week to little tasks: rescheduling a haircut, paying an invoice, ordering a ride.
Entrepreneur Lana Newishy decided that was nonsense. So she built Okliko, an AI concierge that remembers, books, pays, and reminds before you even think to ask.
“Okliko knows you over time. It takes care of your life,” Newishy [pictured above] told Refresh Miami. “We waste about three hours a day doing simple tasks like scheduling, rescheduling, paying bills, and coordinating appointments. That’s time we should get back.”
The platform acts like a personal assistant that never sleeps. It books appointments, coordinates calendars, calls the Uber, pays the service provider, and handles any changes that come up.
“If you need to reschedule, it takes care of it. If your parent needs a prescription refilled, it handles that too,” she said.
But Okliko isn’t just for consumers. It also gives small and medium-sized businesses the tools to manage and attract clients more efficiently.
“For businesses, we’re basically giving away a free CRM, ERP, and booking system,” Newishy explained. “Instead of spending on ads or influencers that don’t convert, they get warm leads directly from our users.”
Previously, Newishy gained C-suite experience at Amex, Estée Lauder, and P&G, with deep expertise in consumer products, payments, AI, and digital transformation.
The startup’s early growth has been unconventional. Okliko operates within a venture studio that shares both equity and execution with the founding team, allowing Newishy to build quickly without relying on outside capital. “It’s not funded in the traditional sense,” she said. “Between us and the studio, we’ve bootstrapped everything.”
That independence has proven valuable in a crowded field. “One of our competitors raised $15 million and they’re still focused on research,” she said. “Meanwhile, we’re already in beta and about to launch before Christmas.”
Okliko’s first rollout targets small businesses in tier B cities, where tech adoption is slower but the need for automation is real. The company is partnering with chambers of commerce to onboard local service providers and strengthen neighborhood economies.
“We’re big believers in the hyperlocal approach,” Newishy said. “That’s where technology can make the most immediate difference.”
Having lived in both New York and Miami, Newishy sees the South Florida tech scene as a kind of antidote to the old-school startup grind. “Miami’s different,” she said. “It’s tight-knit. People genuinely want you to win. You don’t feel that in bigger ecosystems.”
As Okliko gears up for its public launch this holiday season, Newishy is focused on creating something that works and makes users’ lives easier.
“We want people to wake up and realize the small stuff is already handled,” she said. “If we can give people that kind of peace of mind, that’s a win.”
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