창업의 비결 Jason 과 인터뷰

So welcome to splashing.com. well, Jason, thank you so much for coming to our show today. How are you?

I'm doing good.

Okay, wonderful. Okay. So for those people who don't know, Jason is from San Jose, California, and we first met at Tech in Asia. It's a. It's an online newspaper company that writes about technology in Asia. And that's where we met. And we got connected through Huey, the community manager at Tech in Asia. And now Jason is the founder of a memoir, Memoirs Inc. And the founder of Daily Boom, which is a daily deal site. And before that, he was working in the medical marketing division at McCann Erickson, and now he is working as a senior associate at Acknowledge. So a lot of interesting things. So you're the startup guy. You're the startup guy. So why did you decide to have a career in Korea? Like, why. Like, how did you find yourself in this position? Right.

I started my career off in McCann Erickson, and my background is in bio, so I was. I was involved in the medical department. Pharmaceutical industry is very lucrative. The reason why is because people pay a lot of money to live right? So it's a very good field if you like money, but it's very, in my opinion, unethical. So through. During that experience, I've seen some kind of things that I wasn't comfortable with. And then I've seen a lot of people pass away because they couldn't afford these drugs. So I started my first startup because of that reason. And then Memoirs is in a nutshell. It's a storytelling service. It's about legacies. Because if you really think about people's stories, especially their parents and your grandparents, their stories are not digitized. For myself, since I am Korean American, I can speak Korean as well. But my grandparents, they can't speak English. So by having this platform, they could record their stories, and in the future, we could translate it and so forth. And with the new technology we have today with VR and everything, we could experience stories in a new way. So that's how I, you know, started my. I guess my journey into startups.

Very interesting. You know, I would have never thought about that because it's not something. I mean, I see the value in it, but I don't necessarily wake up in the morning and suddenly be like, you know, I want to leave legacy. I want to tell my stories. Like, you know, those thoughts don't just, yeah, it's not like buying a pen from a convenience store. It's. It's a different type of needs.

It's kind of like insurance, you don't know you need it until it's a little bit too late.

Right, interesting. Okay, great. And so let's talk about ACNER Lab. So you're, you're a senior associate at ACNER Lab. What kind of work do you do there? What do you actually do?

Acknolab is a, it's an investor and a global accelerator with a special emphasis in area of biotech, hardware and high technology. And we have currently invested over 20 companies and through the government initiative we accelerated more than, I think more than 100 companies. Our team consists of very different fields, experts in hardware, electronics, finances and so forth. My role in Actor Lab is to discover and accelerate promising startups that can actually go global. I'm also very involved in communications with overseas partners. And because I also founded startups, I have, I guess I have the experience to tell or share my experience with other founders in our full of companies. But I do whatever it takes to help startups get to the next level.

Okay, so you kind of like a train, you do consultation, you advise startup founders.

Yes.

But as an investor, what you're looking is a fast growth.

Right.

So how do you know that? The founder has what it's taking takes to really grow their business very quickly.

So that's the difference that we, I mean there's, there's no equation for that. Sometimes there's a lot of luck, sometimes there's a lot of influence. Sometimes it's better both having a strong team especially who will go, like I said, you know, 200%. Doing whatever it takes to make sure they, you know, achieve their goal is a big thing. So it's tough to find and there's no equation for it. So you just, you just gotta see it.

Okay, so in other words, you're investing in people.

Mm. See? 100%. Yes.

So knowing what you know about me, do you think I have the mental toughness.

I have to get to know you more? I guess, right? Well, yeah, I mean if you, I mean you jumped in that entrepreneur kind of journey and there's going to be so many things that you will experience. And then personally for me, I like to see how people take care of themselves after a year, see how damaged they are after a year. Say after that you can kind of tell if they actually have the grit to pull it off or not.

Alright, so let's switch gears and I'm gonna ask you some rapid fire questions. Rapid fire questions. So what's your favorite business book?

Business book? Freakonomics.

Which CEO or industry leader do you follow Warren Buffett? What's your favorite tool or app right now?

Slack and fantasy football.

Like, do many people use Slack in Korea?

A lot of startups use Slack in.

Korea, but I guess it's like a Kakao talk, but with the ability to, like, filter and to do some of the group functions.

It's when I explain to people, I say, well, in Korea, I say, it's band and Kakao combined.

Okay, next question. Do you get eight hours of sleep every day?

No.

Why? What keeps you up at night?

You know, working. Working. In a vc, you meet so many amazing people, so many great ideas. And then since I am a founder too, so I do have that itch to start something and vice versa, if I look at certain items, I say, you know, how is that going to actually work? And things like that. So most of the time I can't sleep because I overthink about, overanalyze about people and ideas I heard and things like that. So, yeah.

Okay, now, last question. Jason, what advice do you have for someone with no money or connection and he wants to start a business?

You know, I say, don't do it.

Don't do it.

I say, don't do it because I don't. It's not a. You see all the glory in, like, people who actually pull it off. But that's 1%. That's D1%. So it's tough. But if you, you know, if you're gonna go all in, then go for it.

But you've done it twice, Jason.

Yeah, I've done it twice, and it wasn't fun. But I guess my advice is everyone has a great idea and everyone. So just with an idea, you can't really do anything. And then timing, timing. You have to ask yourself, why now? So if you launched today or in six months, will it actually work? Will the market, you know, take care of it? So after you kind of figure out those kind of, I guess, to the idea and timing, developing the service, making the application, that's on. That's on your own. You know, you got to figure that out. But the next thought, the next step is pretty much the hardest. One is marketing the actual item and selling it. So my advice is when you actually launch, have a very good marketing plan and then break down the marketing plan, I guess, in three ways. One is how your item or service make other people money. Second one is how a user can save money using your service or item. And third is how users can reduce time or steps by using your service or application. So make money, save money, and reduce time. If you can't package your item or service in that way, then it's very, very marketable.

Okay, so there you have it, everyone. If you want to start a business, think twice about it and have a good marketing plan before you launch it. And most importantly, and this goes, I think, for both, you know, whether you're starting a business or learning a new language, you need to have that grit. Well, thank you so much to coming to our show today, Jason. I really appreciate it, and it was really nice reconnecting with you.