Meet the Makers: Minna Life

Meet Brian Krieger. His company, Minna Life, is revolutionizing how we feel vibration. 

Who are you and what do you make?

My name is Brian Krieger and my company is Minna Life. We make an award winning vibrator called Ola and are just launching our second product, called Limon. Both vibrators use our revolutionary Squeeze-Pillow™ control technology (the harder you squeeze, the stronger the vibrations!). They also have customizable memory, because we believe that everyone’s body is different and everyone should have the ability to completely personalize their pleasure experience. Finally, Limon introduces our brand new Rumble Motor™ technology, for an incredible strength to size ratio.

Why did you start making sex toys?

Along with the other Minna Life founders, I was frustrated with the lack of high-quality, well-designed vibrators on the market. Considering that sexuality is such an important part of our lives, good tools to complement and enhance it were and to a large extent still are disappointingly few and far between. In particular, we saw an opportunity to innovate on the functionality and underlying technology used in sex toys to create products and experiences that were simpler and ultimately more pleasurable – and fun – for both individuals and couples.

What was your career before sex-toy maker?

Along with several of the other founders, I was a mechatronics engineer. It provided a perfect background for us to think about some of the problems with the existing space and how we could get beyond the traditional “motor + battery + buttons” designs. In the sense that we’ve always been working on creating easy-to-use technology that can improve people’s lives, it really wasn’t a career change at all.

How did you tell your family you were making sex toys?

Nervously… I think my parents thought I was playing a practical joke on them when I first brought it up, but actually my whole family has been super supportive of everything. They understand that we’re creating products that help with a natural and fundamental aspect of human happiness – there shouldn’t be anything taboo about that.

What is your all-time favorite sex toy?

I’ll assume that Minna’s products are exempt from this question.

I’m a big fan of a vibrator called the Tremoussoir that was invented in France in 1734 – it’s usually considered the world’s first vibrator. It was a hand-held toy that used a key to wind up a spring and generate vibration on one end. As someone who gets excited about trying to come up with innovative technology, I have a ton of respect for products that are literally the first of their kind.

Why should women/men/couples use sex toys?

A healthy sexuality is a fundamental part of human health and happiness, and sex toys can be a wonderful part of that in a number of ways. First of all, they can introduce more variety to a person’s or couple’s intimate lives; whether it’s exercise, diet, or anything else, people don’t like doing the same thing over and over, and having the ability to vary your experience to match your mood is invaluable. And secondly, sex toys can provide a broader range of physical sensations than is otherwise possible, via things like shape, material, and vibration or other motion. Ultimately, in my mind it’s all about freedom and control – the freedom to expand your palette of possible experiences and the control to choose what you’re in the mood for on any given day.

One thing people may not know about your sex toys, but something they should know is….

One feature that some people don’t appreciate at first about both Ola and our second product, Limon, is how great they are for couples. Obviously, any vibrator gives one partner the ability to move it around their lover’s body for maximum pleasure, but other vibrators offer no easy way to control the intensity in real time (it is practically impossible to use toys while simultaneously playing with buttons to adjust the speed). Our Squeeze-Pillow™ control technology (the harder you squeeze, the stronger the vibrations and vice versa) changes that – in the same way you might do other things in the bedroom faster/slower or harder/softer to tease and please your partner, you can now have that experience using your vibrator together.

What’s the coolest thing about your job?

Like I said above, I really nerd out over engineering and design, so I really enjoy the new product development process. From ideation and user research to figure out the concept, to prototyping and iterating to refine the design, the whole cycle is a ton of fun. We’re already hard at work on product #3 and I can’t wait to see what people think!

Get your gasm on today and experience the award winning OLA here