Akvile Ignotaite | How I Tested a TikTok Pimple
Akvile Ignotaite - PhD Data Scientist & Founder
In this episode, Akvile and I discuss how she tested a TikTok influencer pimple that promotes her AI-powered skin health technology, used by more than 800,000 people around the world.
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Summary
In this episode I’m joined by Dr. Akvile Ignotaite, a data scientist and founder building AI-powered skin health technology used by more than 800,000 people around the world.
We explore how her team combines data science, health tech, and creative marketing to rethink skincare for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. From building a vast skin care dataset to launching a TikTok influencer pimple called Pimsy that has almost 40k followers, Akvile shares how cultural insights and small tests drive their product strategy.
We also get into the challenges of building health technology for younger audiences, how to test ideas across different global markets, and why treating skin as a health problem, changes how you design products and measure success.
If you’re interested in experimentation and AI in health you’ll enjoy my chat with Akvile.
Takeaways
Start small and imperfect to learn faster. The team prioritizes quick MVPs, sometimes built in days, to test ideas before investing heavily in development, branding, or marketing.
Customer language and psychology matter. The original millennial-focused “compliance app” failed because it sounded too technical; shifting to Gen Z language, emojis, and storytelling dramatically improved adoption.
Meet users where they already are. Channels like TikTok became critical for reaching younger audiences, even though the team initially resisted the platform.
Creative experimentation can unlock growth. The “Pimsy” influencer pimple character started as a small test and quickly grew to tens of thousands of followers, proving unconventional ideas can resonate strongly with audiences.
Micro-learning can drive high engagement. A simple, quickly built “myths vs. facts” quiz feature created massive engagement and generated valuable behavioral data about user beliefs.
User feedback is a competitive advantage. Hiring a developer who criticized the Android experience highlighted the importance of listening closely to real user complaints and improving where customers actually are.
Cultural assumptions can mislead founders. Expanding into India revealed how preconceived ideas about markets, healthcare practices, and culture can be wrong, reinforcing the need for curiosity and humility.
Structured programs don’t always fit real user behavior. Highly designed 6- or 8-week skincare programs failed because users resisted rigid routines, showing how human behavior often breaks logical product design.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha are forming a global digital culture. The app’s success without localization suggests younger generations increasingly share common digital behaviors and language across regions.
Guest Links
System Akvile: https://systemakvile.com/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-akvile-ignotaite/
Pimsy TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@i.am.pimsy
Transcript
David J Bland (0:1.378)
Welcome to the podcast, like feel it.
Akvile (0:3.310)
Hi, thank you for having me.
David J Bland (0:6.382)
I'm so excited to have you on today because you sit at this interesting intersection between data and health. So I would love to better understand sort of a little bit of your history. ⁓ And we'll go from there with regards to how you think about testing and data. I really want to get into some of your thought process behind this. But if you give us a little bit about yourself to our listeners.
Akvile (0:33.998)
So hi, I am Akwila. I am the founder and CEO of System Akwila with Akwila EI Skin Health app for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I would say our app is one of the fastest growing now for the young generation on the market. We are quite popular in other part of the world in Asia. And as well, we launched now a Pimsy. Pimsy is a character, a pimple.
So I'm a fan of Pimsy as well. ⁓ Pimsy is growing very well on social media. And my background is in data science. I have a doctor title. So many people think when we talk about health that I am medical doctor because in Germany and in Europe we have this doctor title. Like I think in the US it's more like PhD or something. So all the time people come to me and like, ⁓ can you advise me on this?
I was like, no, no, no, I'm not ⁓ a doctor, doctor, you know, like ⁓ I work with numbers, like with data, like I have different kind of doctor, but like, ⁓ it really helps me in the business with very strong analytical ⁓ thinking, especially when we do testing and AI and different things to really understand different models. Like I wouldn't say like I'm very good now in AI because when I did my PhD, ⁓
It was like, oh my God, 10 years ago. It was like at the beginning of everything and the times move so fast. I'm feeling already old in all these things. So yeah, so that's about me.
David J Bland (2:20.014)
No, that's fascinating. I have to ask about the social influencer pimple. So what's the thought process behind that? It sounds like it's growing. So if you could explain a little bit about where that idea came about and what you're doing there.
Akvile (2:35.051)
I actually for some time we already wanted to have some kind of character in the app or in general ⁓ because like Dolingo has Dua and it's so cool and it's so like different. ⁓ And for ours, like my team was pitching different characters. I was like, no, ⁓ it doesn't feel good. At some point I was like, what if we can make, you know, something like pimple to look
really very cool because when you talk about pimples acne, it's not the thing what comes in your head, oh it's cute, it's cool, it's modern or something. So we started doing some ideas and my designer, was pitching different characters and at some point it just clicked, it was in November. I was like, okay, I think it's cool.
Pimsy basically became a live character and then I started going around and pitching to different teams. was like, look, you know, I have this idea. I want to launch ⁓ a pimple, but like not ugly pimple, not something you should be ⁓ ashamed because skin topics, you know, when you talk about, ⁓ you literally talk about imperfections. ⁓ So, ⁓
who started going around and pitching to different teams, ⁓ to my developers who sit in India. I was like, look, I have this idea. Tell me if I am crazy. ⁓ Can we launch something like this, ⁓ not just in the app, but as a separate figure, ⁓ maybe even make Pimsy influencer, because why not? Maybe pimples can be influencers. So, and it's how it's...
became live, we launched, I think before Christmas on social media. ⁓ And like now on TikTok, we will be hitting 40,000 followers very soon. ⁓ Testing a lot because we will talk about testing, testing a lot, ⁓ learning what works, what doesn't work, what the audience wants to see ⁓ and like how to make pimple ⁓ really cool. ⁓
David J Bland (4:59.470)
That's amazing, 40,000 followers. ⁓ It's always fascinating to me how things resonate with your segments, ⁓ with customers, especially younger generation, of course. I think you can't get to them traditionally, through traditional means. So this idea, ⁓ I think it's very creative. I love it. We'll get more into testing it in a bit. ⁓ So let's back up a little bit. You have this really interesting intersection between
like skin care, health and data and everything and trying to really help people improve their lives. ⁓ And I'm wondering what led to the creation of this or what was the thought process that led you up to where you are today?
Akvile (5:43.618)
I think the creation process was quite primitive because we track so many things in our lives. Like we track steps, we track menstruational cycle, we track calories, but it was like nothing on the market for skin condition. And skin is the largest organ in our body, literally an organ and not just a beauty issue.
And there are so many factors that affect your skin health from your nutrition, sleep, skincare, allergies, ⁓ hormones, ⁓ genetics, just name it. And it's really sometimes so difficult to understand like why something is working for some influencer ⁓ who is promoting products and telling, know, ⁓ this is what helped my skin. And for you, it just doesn't work. you know,
So that's why for me it was quite clear that I want to go into this ⁓ direction. The first idea was going more millennial because I'm a millennial. ⁓ So the first audience we thought we will do like an app, compliance app, adherence app for millennials and named and literally compliance and adherence app.
⁓ Very technical, ⁓ data scientists, all the scientists on board. ⁓ Nobody wanted the app ⁓ because ⁓ what is compliance? I do legal stuff, explain me. was like, no, no, it's for your skin. ⁓ To help you, to stick to the routines and just have a bit of skincare. ⁓ Then I hired Gen Zs and ⁓ they told me like...
Why are doing this? Nobody will understand you. ⁓ So we just flipped the script, added emojis and all the things. ⁓ It's how basically the app, what we have now, ⁓ was born. So from the millennia, app to completely Gen Z engine alpha driven.
David J Bland (7:53.667)
Interesting. have to say personally, more being Gen X, there weren't a lot of solutions when I was growing up for for acne. ⁓ And ⁓ I vividly remember I had this like really weird burnt orange clearisil. It was not a gray color. It was supposed to be skin color. And I thought, I'm being so clever. I'm going to just smear this on my face and go to high school. ⁓ And then I'd have my friends look at me and they said like.
there's something wrong with your face. I was like, no, no, there's nothing wrong with my face. And they're like, no, you have orange all over your face. ⁓ And here I thought I was being so clever and I was obviously embarrassed because I had severe acne as a teenager. ⁓ And I look at today ⁓ and the solutions ⁓ have evolved so much. And now with the advent of social media and data and everything that we have now, I'm wondering, it's not just a switch from millennials
to Gen Z and Gen Alpha. How did you ⁓ think through, ⁓ did you speak to them? Did you better understand their words and how they ⁓ use technology? Tell me a little bit about that thought process or how you tested your way through that.
Akvile (9:5.495)
Like for me, was literally flipping ⁓ my ⁓ mindset ⁓ because I'm quite technical person and they see many things from very technical perspective, ⁓ like very rational. ⁓ And when you talk and work with younger generations, ⁓ like younger generations, they are more, I would say,
emotional driven, storytelling driven. So ⁓ for us many things, even changing Yuke's UI in the app, ⁓ that helped a lot. ⁓ Just ⁓ making the skin journey feel more natural for them. ⁓ And of course, like being very open-minded and trusting the data and not saying, hey, I know.
⁓ because I know better, tried with compliance adherence thing, ⁓ it didn't work. So it was really good lesson and really being very open-minded, ⁓ more like actually I don't know what I don't know ⁓ until I have the data to confirm my hypothesis because I can make the hypothesis what I think could work because ⁓ someone is doing something like this.
⁓ it was tested, et cetera, we got the feedback, but at the end, we don't know what we don't know. ⁓ So always just making hypothesis, trying to move really very fast, ⁓ and ⁓ asking for feedback. ⁓ We are growing quite well in Asia, ⁓ and I got some applications on LinkedIn, and a guy from India, was like, hey, want to work for...
I was like, yeah, I get a lot of these things nowadays on LinkedIn. I don't know, I don't want to talk to you. And he was like, no, no, I'm testing your app. I'm from Bangalore, I'm testing your app and your app sucks on Android. Literally, I'm finding so many bugs. And I was like, wow, yeah, actually it's true because I'm using iPhone, half of European team is on iPhone. So somehow it's like, if it looks good on iPhone, it will work on Android.
Akvile (11:28.173)
but actually most of our audience is on Android and nobody is testing it properly. you know, and he like literally sent his application with very long list what he doesn't like in the app. I was like, wow, you're hired. Like, I love it. Come on board. And now he is completely on board and like doing things. I was like, okay, let's listen to you.
help us to be better for the audience what we have in Asia and really start developing things what makes for them. We still believe one global community, but like listening to everyone. So that's like a short story. Somehow I lost the question, but like. ⁓
David J Bland (12:16.346)
that's fine, I love it, I love it. So the idea of, ⁓ you're using an iPhone, your ⁓ majority of your customer segments on Android. So obviously, trying to meet them where they are or use, ⁓ deliver your value through what they are using, I like that.
I want to come back to you saying about you mentioned something about hypotheses and it's obviously that's what I'm trying to do with my clients. I'm always trying to say, ⁓ hey, let's apply this to business, not just the scientific method with regards to ⁓ the feasibility of something and can it work in the data? But also let's look at the business side. How have you ⁓ found that transition for you? Did it come naturally? Was it something you've struggled with? You you seem very humble and very open minded. And I think
⁓ It's not trivial to make that switch from, have a deep expertise and you have literally a doctor in data science and you're trying to apply that to ⁓ kind of squishy things like business and value propositions and pricing and a business, you know? ⁓ How does that transition work for you or what have you seen that could help that?
Akvile (13:23.853)
I think the biggest lesson I had was literally when we started growing in India. It was like end of 2023. And I started asking in Europe, like in Germany around, hey, you what do you know about India? Who can help me explain the market? I don't understand. And they got into German Accelerator. It was the first cohort for the Indian market.
And I went to India, was just two German startups, nobody wanted to go ⁓ to check it. And was like, you know what? And everyone in Europe was telling me, my God, why are you doing this? Why are you going? And I went alone because nobody from team wanted to fly with me to India, literally. ⁓ I was like, no, I will do this. And then I landed in Bangalore and it was like at the airport. was like, wow, the airport is better than in Hamburg. Literally like, like so good.
And then I started meeting people and the same it was with ⁓ all these Ayurvedic topics because Ayurveda is very big in India and it's huge part for skin health. And when I was in Delhi, my mentor, she was like, let's go to the Ayurvedic doctor. was like, no, I'm a scientist, like Ayurveda, no, what's that? Like, I don't want, I don't like. And she was like, open-minded. And I went to the doctor and it was like,
literally like sitting all the time because I was like, oh my God, don't touch me. Like, no, I don't want this. And then we found out she was like, wow, you behaved like really like not good. And she was like, just as a reminder, we have Ayurveda for 2000 years already. How old is your Western medicine and everything? And you come to us and you know, try to judge.
Akvile (15:45.710)
And for me was like literally like who I am, you know, to have my thesis, be like, you know, have my judgments and that's it. And from the end of the 23, like no matter with whom I'm talking, like in which country we are, I'm always try to be extremely open-minded because this lesson I will not forget. I was like literally embarrassed.
how I behaved because I had ⁓ such a strong judgment, like I'm scientist, we are not even taking blood tests, how we want to know with Doshas, like ⁓ what's that? ⁓ What, like I will prescribe you some ⁓ trinkets and like treat you, like ⁓ no? ⁓ So yeah, so that was really huge lesson for me to be. ⁓
more open-minded and listen to different opinions. Because sometimes like you literally don't know what you don't know.
David J Bland (16:54.892)
Yeah, there's things that we know that we don't know and then there things we don't know that we don't know. ⁓ And I know there's a little flow chart I've seen in the past where it's like, okay, there's known knowns and known unknowns and then there's unknown knowns and unknown unknowns and it can get very complicated. And I'm wondering, ⁓ know, ⁓ I think you're touching on something really important here in the sense of going to a different region and different culture. I find this also when I'm talking about failure.
Akvile (16:59.669)
In the is that what you mean?
David J Bland (17:23.010)
You know, ⁓ the way we talk about failure here and let's say Silicon Valley is very different when we talk about failure in other parts of the world. ⁓ And ⁓ the appetite for failure and even using the word failure ⁓ is very different. It's received differently. ⁓ And when you're going into a different region, I think it's easy to assume that, this worked here ⁓ and therefore it's going to work in this different region. ⁓ And I find a bunch of companies trying this.
⁓ and ⁓ not succeeding because they don't have people locally or maybe they haven't spent enough time in that region to really understand the cultural differences. ⁓ And ⁓ they scratch their head and wonder, well, why didn't that work? Because it should have worked. ⁓ They're not that different. And ⁓ even here ⁓ in the United States, even then going to Canada or to Mexico, it's very different cultures. Even within the states themselves, going to different states are different cultures. ⁓ So I think you're touching on a really interesting lesson of
going to a different region and understanding the culture better and understanding, ⁓ here's how I could provide value here, but I have to provide it in different way. I have to be more open-minded about how I provide that value. And I'm wondering, when you talk about your assumptions and your hypotheses and how you view things, like you almost said, you had your thesis here, ⁓ how do you apply that to your business? ⁓ A regional, yes, I understand, but with your business, I feel like...
There's so many different things you could pay attention to. ⁓ there some assumptions or hypotheses you have about your business or you had in the past that you felt like, we should test this in a small way or there's something we need to do to get more evidence before we spend a lot of money here.
Akvile (19:7.277)
⁓ I'm trying to apply this ICE method. It's like how important this is, ⁓ how big the confidence is, but it will work. And of course the effort, like if effort is very high ⁓ and like you're not very confident, but you know, it will work and the impact for the business, ⁓ you don't know. ⁓ So we move, ⁓ okay, maybe nice to have ⁓ when we have more time and all these things.
And ⁓ we always try, like I always say, with low hanging fruits to focus first on the low hanging fruits, okay, what we can do to really test the hypothesis, what would work, especially in tech, because it's so easy to start running around and really ⁓ fall in love with different models. ⁓
Like, know, when I start burning investors' money on implementing things and at when you will see, ⁓ it doesn't work. ⁓ So that's why I always say, okay, let's start very small, small MVPs. Can we develop in one or two weeks? Can we launch and see, does it have impact? Yes or no? Better, very imperfect things than very perfect things?
Because if you are not ashamed that you launched the product, I would say you launched already too late. And it's how I train my team as well, because everyone wants to do the best job they can do, and they sit and do the perfection and then pitch the ideas. And it's like, wow, it's like flipping the app 360. What is the minimum thing we need to release to check if it works?
And it was the same with Pimsy. ⁓ When I said, okay, I have this idea, we made the concept of the Pimsy. I pitched a couple of people to my lawyer. I was like, tell me if I'm crazy. ⁓ I was like, no, no, I think you're on something. ⁓ And we started doing like AI videos of Pimsy, like very quick, just to launch and see, okay, is it anyone liking it?
Akvile (21:21.835)
Like, is there anyone like watching, like what are we doing? ⁓ You know, before spending real money into brand concept, ⁓ going to a lawyer, ⁓ registering the name and all the things. And then things started growing when I went to the lawyer and said, okay, now we need to register the name of the design. I think it will work. ⁓ So, and then it's.
And this is like, think very important as well because as a startup, you have investors and we say, ⁓ we want this, we want that. And they always say, no, no, ⁓ People, let's ⁓ try to test the hypothesis, go small, go fast, get the data, get the data insights. And then we will see if it works. ⁓ And then we can start scaling.
David J Bland (22:12.447)
I like that a method. mean, that's it's definitely how I try to approach things as well. I think. I don't think all the if it's an experiment, it doesn't always work ⁓ and we know this as well. I'm wondering, is there anything in the past you've tried and you thought, I think this will work and then it just went sideways or you I mean, you still learn from it, of course. ⁓
But what are some things you've tried in the past that you thought would work and just didn't?
Akvile (22:43.701)
Actually many things. ⁓ I would say it's better what we haven't tried. ⁓ But ⁓ some things, ⁓ maybe some lessons where when ⁓ we started doing, ⁓ thinking, okay, what can come in the app? And we taught very strict programs, like six week program, eight week program. And we started developing these journeys. And then we learned that.
actually people are very irrational ⁓ and making people follow very strict steps, especially young people, it's basically mission impossible. Like I don't know how do you want to incentivize them like when you like really need very good incentives ⁓ to make them follow like eight weeks each day like ⁓ it's just crazy and we spend so much time actually on these programs.
⁓ We worked with dermatologists, scientists, nutrition experts. ⁓ It was a really huge project for us. ⁓ And then we launched and people started complaining, like, no, I don't want just six weeks. Why cannot read the content from week six? I need to wait now six weeks. I don't want to be pressured to do this and that. I was like, ⁓ okay. ⁓
So yeah, so maybe the biggest lesson is literally like that people are irrational. And the second lesson I would say like I was like so against TikTok for some like very long. Like I think like we went on TikTok quite late because I was like, don't understand this platform. Like no, it doesn't fit our brand philosophy. Like it's just entertainment. Like we are not for entertainment. We are actually serious Kim.
company and you want to help people to be better, improve their skin with real science, real data and not like, know, TikTok dances. ⁓ And then I remember I met Vlad, ⁓ was, left, when he left Ukraine, then the war started and he was like driving a taxi in ⁓ Warsaw because nobody wanted to hire him, but he worked for TikTok houses and he was like, I want to start a TikTok for you.
Akvile (25:9.069)
I was like, oh man, I have budget. I will give you 500 euros, like no more, like prove me, know, that it's worth it because I know how Neto works. I know the CPAs on Google. Like why should they tap into the platform? I do not understand. I don't like maybe. I don't even have the TikTok account myself. I was like, no, no, I will prove. And then Vlad proved he.
In 2024, we even got nominated for best TikTok award in Dakar region. And now I'm full TikTok. When people say we don't use TikTok, I'm like, oh my God, you're so old.
Akvile (25:52.142)
⁓ So yeah, so it took some time to get on TikTok, but now I'm fully committed. ⁓ It changed completely my perspective, ⁓ how to reach the younger audience, how the trends work, even ⁓ what is the psychology now, like generational psychology, and ⁓ skin topics are so important. And for Pimsy, it was really, really good to launch fast on TikTok, test things. ⁓
because an meta is a bit different. So yeah, so that I would say like two things I learned ⁓ to be more open. ⁓
David J Bland (26:32.297)
I mean, it's testing your channels. ⁓ I mean, you're trying to find your customer segment through the channels they use and reach them. ⁓ And I can't say I'm big on TikTok either. And I remember ⁓ last fall, I gave a keynote in New Zealand and I had my Uber driver driving me to the airport and he was showing me his TikTok. I mean, while we were stopped and whatnot, while he was driving. But he was showing me his TikTok ⁓ of how he sells business books online.
And because we were talking about books and I have a business book and he said, you should really sell your business book through TikTok. And I thought, wow, people buy books through TikTok. So there's so much that I don't understand about TikTok as well. But I think this idea of testing channels is very important. And I've seen this with some of the projects I've worked on in the past where we were so sure that this one channel would work like, YouTube is going to work or Instagram is going to work or Google ads is going to work. And it really is so dependent on
your customer and what they're using. It almost doesn't matter what you think will work. You have to test different channels and see what is the best. And I vividly remember some of these projects I've been on where, so ⁓ in my book, I have a case study about farmers. ⁓ Farmers don't hang out online all day. You have to go meet them at farming conventions or ⁓ at different places. You have to meet them in person. ⁓ So I think it's very interesting.
meeting your customers sort of where they are. And even though if you're hesitant about it, being open to the fact that I could be wrong about this ⁓ and I'm looking at the data and it seems to be that this might be the approach. I like that framing. ⁓ And it feels like, ⁓ even with PIMSY, it feels as if that might be a test that's working. ⁓ At least you're growing your followers and growing your brand exposure and all that. ⁓ What else is something you mentioned a lot of things that didn't work? What is else?
What else has worked for you in addition to Pinsley? What is something with the app that seems to have resonated or something you've maybe shifted away from programs? Is there something that you tested that actually worked better than you imagined?
Akvile (28:40.759)
Like we had like last year like this crazy idea like...
I was like, wow, it's like June as acne awareness month. And there are so many misinformation online and all these things. What did we launch? Very quick feature in the app, like daily facts and like myths. What you can is the user check and you just upload the list and you know, the short explanations, very gamified, like a little bit Duolingo feeling feature. And I was like, okay, I don't want to spend a lot of money on code.
this feature and distract team from the jobs. Let's do it quickly. I was like to my developer, you have two days, like do live coding, I don't care, implement this quick and dirty, know, I don't care. Let's test if it will work. And it flew like crazy. Like we had people who answered in the row, like I think 180 quiz questions.
⁓ And I was like...
Wow, and the data we got from this, like we even published a white paper on this because we had like more than 20,000 users like who sign up and did like, and we improved our feature, all these, like use what we learned, but it was so unexpected, this quick micro learning lessons and what kind of impact it can have and what kind of data you are getting.
Akvile (30:16.535)
from this because it literally shows what people believe in.
And it was like what we wrote now in the white paper because we did the analysis and it showed that it's not your ⁓ geography where you live, it's not your, ⁓ how old you are or like your gender that influence like what you believe about skin health and acne. It's actually literally beliefs ⁓ what you learn on social media. ⁓ And it's like what kind of impact because we have a global community ⁓
And when you think that someone living in India and maybe someone in Europe still believe that chocolate is causing pimples, or you're getting pimples because you are dirty and you are not hygienic. ⁓ So it's really valuable information. ⁓ What we learned from basically ⁓ vibe coded to this ⁓ feature. ⁓
David J Bland (31:19.840)
Yeah, it's amazing how those myths have stayed with us, even though we didn't have social media. ⁓ It seems like they traveled anyway, and we still word of mouth spread all this misinformation as kids. ⁓ I love that you ⁓ time boxed it. I love that you said, look, you have two days. I think that's what you said, like two days to do this. And ⁓ I think that is important because with that constraint, you do ⁓ get to be creative. know, like, what can I do?
in that time box to learn what I need to learn. And that's one of the constraints I like with learning. ⁓ It's almost as if I need to learn something within this ⁓ time box or this, you know, how do I learn from that? And I think that can be a really healthy constraint ⁓ instead of ⁓ not defining that. And then you maybe spend way too much time on it for what you're going to learn. So I like that you're that you're setting those time boxes. ⁓ What excites you going forward? Is there something specific that you ⁓
are really excited about testing or ⁓ some part of healthcare and skincare that you're really excited about, like a big assumption you have that you want to see if it's true.
Akvile (32:31.789)
I think what's really ⁓ very interesting in general to see because our app is in English and like we never did localization in any.
country, ⁓ nowhere on this planet. And I mean, I'm from Europe and in Europe, like I don't know how many languages we have. ⁓ It's like ⁓ crazy. And we never did any localization for the language because of the assumption that Genzienz and Alpha are becoming one global community. ⁓ That was my biggest bet, what I did from starting the company ⁓ and it's actually working.
⁓ So I still hope like maybe at some point we will need to dive deeper into localization, but at the moment it's really what works. And now we started adding ⁓ even more countries ⁓ in the app. Like now we see growing in Kenya and that excites me most, like really tapping into the markets. ⁓
which will be probably very soon future, like in the next 10 years, Africa will become very, very important. And to be so early in these markets and really starting to understand the audiences and what drives them, that's so, exciting because I started seeing from couple of days because Pimsy is growing so good on TikTok and in Kenya as well. are getting in the app.
⁓ users from this region as well. So that's very, very exciting. And of course, like in technology, ⁓ AI, ⁓ like now everything moves so fast. Like you can wipe code literally anything in a couple of days. They are planning to make from PIMSY-agentic AI, ⁓ basically that you can do conversations ⁓ with PIMSY. ⁓ So that we will see how it works. ⁓
Akvile (34:38.895)
that's in the pipeline as well to bring him, I don't know, it's Pimsy, he or she, ⁓ Pimsy whatsoever. Gender neutral Pimsy.
David J Bland (34:53.035)
⁓ Yeah, I love that. Well, there's different types of skin and everyone has their own, ⁓ you know, issues they're dealing with and being able to help them, I think is very powerful. ⁓ I love that, you know, we've covered everything from a TikTok influencing pimple to ⁓ how you use data ⁓ and how people... ⁓
almost reject the idea of very structured programs ⁓ and you try to give them what they need and how to reach them and do it in the language in their region. I think it's all very insightful. I'm wondering if someone is listening to this and they want to reach out to you or they want to learn more, what's the best way for them to get in touch?
Akvile (35:34.487)
Best way to get in touch, of course, is on social media or LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, my name is Dr. Akwile Igna Taito. my God, I cannot spell this. ⁓ You will need to write it down. Like, it's like, ⁓ A-K-B-I-L-E, ⁓ something like this.
David J Bland (35:58.444)
⁓ We will write it down. And then you mentioned the app. ⁓
Akvile (36:0.256)
But.
The app is Aquila AI, aka VL. ⁓
⁓ So it's ⁓ free on AppStores, Google and ⁓ Play Store, or iOS Store, it's free, you can download and just, you will find our contact details as well, at team at systemacquility.com if you have any questions, feedback, any bugs to report. ⁓
⁓ Happy to talk.
David J Bland (36:40.339)
Thank you. We will include all those links ⁓ in the detail page and also in the description so people can ⁓ find you. I want to thank you so much for hanging out with us. I learned a lot about skincare. ⁓ I learned a lot about data and how you think about data.
And I love how you test your way through things and you have an open mind. So much of this is having an open mind, you know, being open to the idea that you might be wrong. You can know all the different techniques, but if you explain away all the data, it's not it's not going to be very impactful. So I really appreciate you having an open mind and sharing everything with us and being transparent today.
Akvile (37:14.455)
Thank you, like open, like it's exactly what my Indian team has said to me today. Like, you actually are so open-minded. So it's literally like what I'm trying to do to be open-minded to many things and still say no, like actually have no on my background, you see. ⁓
David J Bland (37:35.091)
I do. That's awesome.
Akvile (37:38.525)
I painted this. ⁓ So yeah.
David J Bland (37:43.595)
All right, well, thank you so much for hanging out with us today. I'm sure our listeners learned a lot. Check out the app and we'll have the links in the description. Thank you so much for your conversation today.
Akvile (37:53.409)
Thank you so much for having me.
