Positive Tenacity

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.

Learn more

“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.

Recent Notes

These might be a bit more
random than you expect

  • Philips hue

    Internet of things? Lights can go a long way. Philips hue. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

  • The Macintosh

    Ran into this little cutie on Leather Lane. Good ol mac.

  • LIX: The World’s Smallest 3D Printing Pen Lets You Draw in the Air

    LIX is the latest contender in the handheld 3D-printing field. Launched just a few hours ago on Kickstarter, the developers claim the super compact design is smaller than any other pen on the market and it can even be powered by the electricity from a USB port. It takes less than a minute t I…

  • How do I balance user satisfaction versus virality?

    Originally asked on Quora. If you find yourself mostly thinking about balancing satisfaction versus virality, you’re probably doing it wrong. The Quora question I found this article to be of great help when deciding which feature/narrative to develop for the next milestone. It’s good to think about which bucket your feature falls into regarding retention/product-market…

  • Nate Blecharczyk, CTO of Airbnb (Startup School 2013)

    Great video for entrepreneurs. Nate Blecharczyk of airbnb at Startup School 2013.

  • Techstars London: Founder Diaries

    Month 1: Enough drama & love for a soap opera. Great post by Mick @ Spatch on the experience at Techstars’ 1st month. If you are interested in startup accelerators, go check it out. Techstars London: Founder Diaries

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Had a lovely 🍵 with Elizabeth, CTO of Netflix. She was so kind and warm. I really am proud of our team and our high-trust partnership. Let’s keep going! 🚀 Got some folks together for an event. :)) Good meeting today with fellow CEOs. And what a fantastic home made dinner. 🙏 Congratulations Nanro foundation for pushing Korean culinary art forward and across the globe. Such a proud moment. 🙏 Announcing delight.ai ✨ to our APAC market :) Incredible work from our @sendbirdhq team. Great turn out! 🙌 Happy holidays from team @sendbirdhq 💜🙌

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

Let us live life to the fullest, so that on our deathbed, we can rejoice with the person we could have become. :)