Hi, I'm Doug. I founded HeyTaco.
The question I get most isn't about features or pricing. It's "Why tacos?"
The honest answer starts before the tacos.
I spent 10 great years as a UX designer at The Motley Fool. But after a couple of reorgs and a few management changes, something changed. I started losing my sense of belonging. I didn't feel seen anymore.
I knew I couldn't be the only person who felt that way.
So on nights and weekends, I built a simple Slack bot that let people thank each other with tacos. That was 2016. Ten years later, more than 5,000 teams have used HeyTaco to say thanks.
Why tacos? Because appreciation doesn't need to be so serious. A taco is unexpected. It makes people smile. And somehow, it makes saying thank you a little easier.
But the taco is just the fun part. Here's what I've learned along the way.
Anyone should be able to thank anyone.
Most workplace software is designed to measure, manage, or improve people. Surveys, performance reviews, dashboards. All useful, but none of it necessarily makes someone feel appreciated.
I wanted to build feel-good software. Something that makes people feel better about work, not just better at it.
And I believed appreciation shouldn't have to come from someone with a title. The people who notice your work most are often the ones doing it alongside you.
That's why anyone can thank anyone with HeyTaco, right in the conversations they're already having. And when someone gets thanked, it encourages others to notice the good work happening around them.
Small moments, every day.
The best teams I've been part of didn't need elaborate recognition programs.
"Thanks for jumping on that."
A shoutout after a rough launch.
Someone noticing the extra effort nobody else saw.
Most of us appreciate our teammates. We just forget to say it.
That's why HeyTaco gives everyone five tacos to hand out each day. It's a little reminder to look for the good in the people around you. Do that often enough, and appreciation starts becoming a habit.
Feeling invisible changes how you feel about work.
People don't always leave because of one bad day. Sometimes it's months of feeling like their work doesn't matter.
I know what that's like.
And now, as more work gets handed to AI, I think feeling seen matters more than ever.
Software shouldn't just make people more productive. It should make work better for the people doing it.
🌮
HeyTaco started because I didn't feel seen at work. I don't want anyone else to feel that way.
I hope that one day appreciation won't feel like a program or a policy. It'll just be how teams work.
And if a little taco helps make that happen, even better.
