John S. Kim
Sendbird / Valon Capital
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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Dream: A Contribution to Civilization
I believe civilization is a collection of things people take for granted. Water, gas fire, electricity, internet, and nowadays, smartphones. It’s a great privilege to be able to contribute back to civilization and build something that people take for granted. Historically, a lot of these innovations were driven by technological advancement. But technology alone doesn’t…
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8 ways to spot a truly exceptional employee
Great employees possess a wide range of easily defined — but hard to find — qualities. 8 ways to spot a truly exceptional employee
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Lecture 20 – Later-stage Advice (Sam Altman)
Sam caps off the How to Start a Startup series with things you should ignore when you start, but become important a year in. Thanks for watching How to Start a Startup. Hope you learned a ton!
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Lecture 19 – Sales and Marketing; How to Talk to Investors (Tyler Bosmeny; YC Partners)
Tyler Bosmeny, founder and CEO of Clever, starts off today’s lecture with an overview of the Sales Funnel, and how to get to your first $1 Million. Michael Seibel, founder of Justin.tv and Socialcam and Partner at Y Combinator, then goes over how to talk to investors – the pitch. Dalton Caldwell, founder of imeem…
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Richard Branson’s Top 10 Quotes on Leadership – Virgin.com
10. A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could. –Zig Ziglar 9. Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. –Steve Jobs 8. Tend to the people, and they will tend to the business.–John Maxwell 7. Leaders think and talk abo… Richard Branson’s Top 10…
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Lecture 18 – Legal and Accounting Basics for Startups (Kirsty Nathoo, Carolynn Levy)
There’s a lot that goes behind the scenes in running a startup. Getting the legal, finance (equity allocation, vesting), accounting, and other overhead right will save you a lot of pain in the long run. Kirsty Nathoo, CFO at Y Combinator, and Carolynn Levy, General Counsel at Y Combinator, cover these very important topics, in…
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