Hey Monika’s founders, Jo Wood and Zoe Whitman, run a bookkeeping community. One question kept coming up, again and again: how do I get real experience?
Courses teach the theory. They don’t teach you what a real client is like: the missing paperwork, the awkward phone call, the month end that won’t balance. Some trainees were working unpaid internships just to get practice.
“They want to go and be self-employed, but they don’t have the confidence for that because they’ve never done this before.”
Jo Wood, Co-founder, Hey Monika
02What we built
A practice office, with AI clients.
Instead of another course, we built a place to practise. Learners pick a scenario and meet their new client, like Adele, a business coach who needs her month end done.
The real app: how it works
1 / 6Pick a scenario
AI clients with back storiesMeet Adele, business coachAdele replies in characterLive phone callMatch it in practice softwareFeedback on every answer
They can email Adele or pick up the phone, and she answers in character. She sends over her paperwork, and the learner does the work in practice accounting software.
Every answer gets instant coaching, and AI scores their calls and emails against the team’s own rules. It’s a live-fire exercise, with no real client at risk.
03What changed
Launched live. Then an award.
40+sign-ups on launch day, at Engager LABS
Hey Monika launched live on stage at Engager LABS. In Jo’s words, “we had like 40 or 50 sign-ups on that first day.”
Then it won the ICB LUCA Award 2025 for AI innovation in bookkeeping. Learners now get real experience, without the real risk.
Winning at the ICB LUCA Awards 2025.
"With AI, we finally found a way to bridge the gap between knowledge and real-world readiness."
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