Piedra Roja GroupFOUNDER STORY · PIEDRA ROJA GROUP
Founder & CEO
Creating original IP characters and digital worlds to explore how connection shapes everyday life through experiences that feel natural, flexible, and accessible.
Founder & CEO01 / FOUNDATION
Piedra Roja Group Inc. was founded at the intersection of visual art, game design, psychology, and digital product development. Its work begins with a simple observation: technology can make life more efficient without necessarily making people feel more connected.
For Mark Kuang, that question is personal. Repeated moves across countries and transitions between stages of life sharpened his interest in continuity— how an experience can hold memory, emotion, imagination, and relationship over time.
The working premise is that connection should not feel like another task. It needs room to grow through presence, small actions, and time.
01A
The company is not organized around technology for its own sake. It brings original IP, interactive systems, and digital worlds together to create experiences with emotional range, continuity, and room for imagination.
This approach leaves space for more than one product. Amigo Friends is the current flagship, while the broader company is designed to support future products and selected services that share the same standard of clarity, craft, and human relevance.
01B
Across periods of relocation and change, Kuang became interested in why steady, non-demanding forms of connection can be difficult to find. Digital communication made contact easier, but often faster, more fragmented, and less attentive.
Amigo was conceived as a companion closer to a pet than an expert: present without pressure, expressive without demanding constant conversation, and capable of developing a recognizable relationship through everyday care.
02 / PRODUCT THESIS
General-purpose AI systems are often optimized around knowledge, answers, and continuous text. Amigo Friends is designed around presence, expression, action, and shared growth.
The character is not intended to become a simple copy of its user. It can learn familiar patterns while retaining a distinct personality, allowing the relationship to feel reciprocal rather than purely responsive.
03 / RESPONSIBILITY
Kuang treats information security and emotional safety as parts of the same product responsibility. Amigo should not use fear, guilt, jealousy, possessiveness, or emotional pressure to keep a person engaged.
Amigo is intended to support reflection and companionship. It is not designed to replace people, professional care, or a user’s life beyond the product.
04 / SELECTED PATH
B.A., Art and Game Design
Character Designer / Team Member Intern
Concept Artist
Concept Artist
Founder & CEO
Graduate studies in Psychology
Founder of Amigo · Seed to Scale participant
Selected additional experience includes freelance concept art work with Tencent Games.
05 / PEOPLE
The company is presented through the people shaping its direction while respecting the level of public visibility each person chooses.
Founder
Founder & CEO
LinkedInUCR INNOVAR
Program Participant · Strategy & Planning
Customer Discovery · Market Validation
Through UCR INNOVAR, Sammy explores how customer discovery, market validation, and long-range planning can help early-stage ideas develop responsibly. The role centers on strategic learning and a student perspective in discussions around Amigo Friends. Public details are intentionally limited.UCR INNOVARAMIGO FRIENDS
Follow the product’s development or join the list for early research and access.