I have a few founders around me who are a bit stuck in their search for a new business idea. They’re either trying to start a new company or pivot their existing one. In many cases, they don’t come from a specific industry background, which makes it even more difficult because they’re open to any … Continue reading Big Industries and Big Opportunities
I’ve had the great fortune to know successful founders, some of whom I’m now good friends with. Now, among these people, I cannot think of one person — ONE person — who hasn’t experienced some sort of absolute rock bottom. Company running out of money. Personal finance at huge risk, as they took personal loans … Continue reading The Rock Bottom
When it comes to delegation, I think my #1 mistake wasn’t not trusting the person; rather, it was trusting the person too much and not putting in any work on my end. Let’s say you’re asking your marketing manager to come up with a new paid campaign plan. This might require a significant budget increase, … Continue reading Delegation
I often meet international founders who have built a product with traction and revenue in their local market, and now want to take the product global. The problem is, as soon as they try to go global, many of the founders realize their product doesn’t work for the global market. This is not surprising. Software … Continue reading Building For The Global Market From Day 1
Recently, Webtoon went public (Nasdaq: WBTN). I want to sincerely congratulate them on their successful IPO. My previous company was a competitor to Webtoon. They were much bigger than us, but we packed a punch, especially in content monetization and building a creator community. They had good financial backing from their parent company, while we … Continue reading Competitors
I was recently chatting with a founder whose first company didn’t work out, and now he wants to start another new company. In terms of deciding what to build next, my recommendation to him was: forget about your personal passion and optimize around the market this time. Why? Continue reading Optimize For Market
Recently, I met some smart people who I know are better than me in many, many ways, but are stuck in corporations, doing routine work. If their brains are V12 engines, my brain would be a motorcycle engine 🙂 They’re younger, smarter, and even better looking than me. But many of them come to me … Continue reading Taking A Risk
Personally, I would advise founders against taking a corporate strategic investment unless there is a significant and tangible benefit (I’m not talking about CVCs, I’m talking about strategic investment from a company’s balance sheet). There are many reasons why strategic investments could potentially go wrong: But every case is different, and for some companies strategic … Continue reading On Corporate Strategic Investment
Recently there seems to be a mini-trend of founders opting to raise smaller amounts of capital to minimize dilution. Many of these companies go through YC or other accelerators, which take around 7% equity before any financing. An additional ~20% dilution on top of this would certainly seem excessive, especially at such an early stage … Continue reading Raising A Smaller Round
When you put fleas in a bottle with a lid, the fleas will initially hit the lid as they jump. Soon, they won’t jump higher than the lid, even after it is removed. We humans are similar. There are many inconveniences in this world that we take for granted, assuming there’s no better solution. Entrepreneurship … Continue reading What Are We Being A Flea About?