John S. Kim
Sendbird / Valon Capital
Startup founder, investor, and community builder
I’m John S. Kim, Co-Founder/CEO of Sendbird, the first startup in history to originate in Korea, move to Silicon Valley, and become a unicorn.
I also operate Valon Capital/ASQ as a General Partner, investing in startups focused on AI/productivity, deep tech, healthcare, and fintech.
As an engineer, I am interested in the brain, artificial intelligence, deep tech (space, bio/longevity, energy, robotics), productivity, and complexity science.
“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.” – Anonymous
Our mission is to
build and invest in organizations that drive the positive future of humanity.
Sendbird
Sendbird is the world’s most useful omnichannel AI agent platform for delightful customer service. Today, we power over 300 million monthly active users who engage in conversations on our platform. To date, we have raised over $220 million from leading investors, including ICONIQ Capital, Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Y Combinator.
Valon Capital/ASQ
The mission of the fund is to invest in the future of humanity by partnering with founders who are changing the trajectory of human civilization for the better. We primarily focus on investments in AI/productivity, deep tech, healthcare, and fintech.
COMMUNITY & VOLUNTEERING
I host events for entrepreneurs to build a community of like-minded individuals who are on a mission to drive a positive future for humanity. I have advised three Presidents of South Korea and have guest lectured at Stanford University, Wharton MBA, and Seoul National University.
These might be a bit more
random than you expect
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AlphaGo vs Lee Sedol
AlphaGo won twice against Lee Sedol, one of the greatest Go players in history. This is a significant milestone in the history of AI, because the sheer scale of the problem space Go has is one of the biggest among the games humans play. This makes me think hard about how and what to teach our future…
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New Jobs for VR Industry
I’m a big fan of VR. There’s a lot more things that need to be fixed before it becomes mainstream, but I can definitely see the value that will unlock for humankind in the distant future. Here are few jobs I’d like to see for VR industry: VR Schools/Teachers/Tutors: teachers that best leverage VR experience…
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The Evening with Michael Moritz
At Y Combinator‘s Tuesday dinner event last Tuesday (2/23/2016), Michael Moritz came for a talk. It was deeply inspiring to see him in person, but it was even more energizing to see him still so ‘obsessed’ about his work at Sequoia Capital. Here’s a brief excerpt from his talk: That’s what, at Sequoia, we’ve always…
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Quote: Henry Ford
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” – Henry Ford
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Positive Tenacity
John S. Kim — CEO of SendBird (Y Combinator W16, Techstars London S14). We power chat for mobile apps and websites. An engineer who’s building a company. Ex-No.1 FPS pro-gamer. Previously, CEO of Paprika Lab (acq. by GREE). Love problem solving, technology, and all things scalable. A bit more about me.
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A Focused Culture
One thing I’ve noticed going through Y Combinator was how consistent were the messages repeated by the partners, the staffs, and the alumni network. As a startup founder, you should do two things: “write code and talk to users.” The more recent version is: “build product, talk to customers, and exercise” – which I think is…
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Positive Tenacity 