Ooni is making a big change to the next chapter of its life. The founders, husband-and-wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland who are the current co-CEOs, are moving to new active founder and board roles.
They’ve appointed a non-founder CEO for the first time in the company’s history. Karthik Iyer will assume the role, moving over from being a strategic advisor to the Ooni Board. He brings over 20 years of experience at e-commerce and consumer tech brands including leadership roles at Dell and Dyson.
As a Board Advisor to Ooni, I’ve seen the passion for product innovation and customer experience that are the drivers of Ooni’s success. This month we marked a milestone of $1 billion in sales and nearly 3 million ovens sold since the company began which is incredible, but it’s just the start.
Karthik Iyer, Incoming CEO of Ooni
The company has come a long way from it’s founding in 2012 when Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland were searching for a better way to cook pizza in their backyard. They ended up developing a solution in Ooni that they launched with a Kickstarter campaign. From their they built the portable backyard pizza oven market, which has continued to expand.
Ooni grew to around $200 million in revenue in 2023, a decline from the prior year, but they did a great job focusing on the financial health of the company. They sold down inventory and used the cash to significantly pay down debt.
They’ve also focused on building out their leadership team. Within the past year they’ve appointed a new COO and a new President of North America.
Karthik Iyer joins as the CEO at unique time for Ooni. Like most companies, they’re no doubt navigating the challenges of the high tariff environment, with the US market being their largest. There’s also increased competition in the pizza oven market.
To help continue to grow the brand the right way, Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland will move to new roles in the company. Per a LinkedIn post announcing the change in leadership, they’ll assume the following roles that their most passionate about.
Kristian: Founder – Vision and Product to champion our products, ensuring they remain are at the heart of everything we do at Ooni. Kristian’s mission is to unite the whole company behind a bold shared vision—driving innovation, accelerating our product pipeline.
Darina: Founder – Purpose and Community to lead on purpose, connection and community. Working closely with our Board, our incredible team and our wider community of partners, customers and advocates to evangelise what we stand for.
Beyond the great product that Ooni creates, they’re a mission driven company. They have a goal to be a regenerative business in 2025, and they became a Certified B Corp in 2023.