Reflecting on my Life and Startup Work

Lessons & findings in the Second Half of 2019

Since I began working for my start-up in July, I haven’t spent enough time to reflect and write. So for the record, I want to leave a few work/life updates & insights I picked up in short bullet points.

“WOW Exchange” Self-Exchange Kiosk, in a hotel lobby in Seoul

What’s new with my Startup

• So much has happened in the past 4 months of my joining that I can hardly describe them all. I should really keep track of the lessons learned in writing.
• The level of intensity and focus at work is remarkably different from before. I usually work long hours and work in the weekends but still find it all worthwhile. I want to keep this energy level going.
• I do feel that I am learning more about leadership & soft skills (negotiation tactics) & product vision. I really love this part about my work.
• I have to deal with a lot of external communication for strategic partnerships with startups and corporates in tech/travel/finance/VC, and there are so many lessons to pick up in practice over the deal table. This is a learning opportunity I couldn’t have expected had I stayed in LINE where I mostly dealt with internal communication before.
• It’s really tough to deal with people who are older than you in Korea.
• I am definitely a generalist. My role covers several areas: product, marketing, CS, data analytics, fundraising, BD & recruiting. Though I am no expert in any one field (maybe the closest being product), I love how I can experience little bits of every field and optimize them from a holistic view to build a self-sustaining system.
• Marketing is so much fun. It’s my first time actually growth-hacking a product I helped build. We just reached 6k followers on social media, and it’s thrilling to see our performance tracked in real-life headcounts.
• I want to build a product team composed of global backgrounds. I realized that actually there are many capable and passionate foreigners in Korea, who are undervalued by the labor market because of their backgrounds. This is an opportunity to build a truly global team going forward. The challenge is Visa issues and how to spot out the great ones out there. So far, personal referral has been the best way to find foreigner talents.
• I am faced with the difficulty of dealing with traditional perspectives on “a son taking over a family business”. I find it pretty obvious why some people hesitate to be friendly to me at work; I would have felt the same too. I think time will solve the issue eventually, as I prove myself worthy here with various projects moving forward (instead of having to credit my past titles at my previous work places)
• We discovered a new opportunity through our joint projects with The Shilla Duty Free, and Creatrip, another travel-tech startup. This will serve as an important milestone for future expansion.
• I need to network more. I have met with several startup founders for partnership deals, and they all have one thing in common: they try so hard to connect with other founders & VC’s socially in their free time. This will be one of my next year’s resolutions: network with as many people in the tech / travel / startup industry as possible! (more of my new years resolution coming soon)
• I want to develop the ability to attract great talents to join me on a big mission. This is what distinguishes the great founders from the good ones. I think such charisma comes from the power of vision, self-assurance, knowledge & eloquent speech. How can one build and train charisma?

What’s new with my Life

• Last month I moved out of my parent’s place. I’m now living in a flat in Seoul’s Gangnam Area. It feels incredible to commute in less than 30 minutes & meet up with friends 15 minutes away.
  → It’s actually a great chance to connect with more people!
• I haven’t been managing my health too well. Sleeping late (~2AM) and waking up early (~8AM), eating out mostly and exercising irregularly. → I need to get my cycle back. It starts with better utilizing my time in the morning.
• Most of my day is occupied by work, and in the evening I spend time calling on the phone, reading or watching Netflix to relax. I want to get a set of lifetime hobbies I feel passionate about, but this has been an ongoing challenge since last year. I realize I seem to like a variety of sports, activities and hobbies but never really develop a deep interest in any.
  → Let’s think further about what I truly enjoy doing. (Going to dedicate an entire post on this)
• I haven’t been able to travel to a new place, the second half of this year. I really wanted to go to a continent I have never been to, like Latin America / Oceania / or Africa to travel but work schedule has been really tough.
  → Perhaps I will plan for a 2-week vacation next year depending on how the business works out

More of these reflections coming up soon next month. In the mean-time, keep fighting(화이팅, 加油!).