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.

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

Evolutionary Prompting: Using modular prompts to improve AI agent performance

There’s a lot to be said about efficiency—whether you’re writing code or crafting prompts for an AI. The basic idea is simple: if you can break something complicated into reusable, modifiable parts, you can build better systems faster. In AI, that means rethinking how we write prompts for LLMs and AI agents. Modular Prompts: The…
The Three Stages of the A2A Economy

In just a few years, AI—specifically OpenAI—has transformed what was once an interesting toy into a force that’s reshaping various industries and jobs in a non-linear way. Enter the new economic paradigm, known as the agent-to-agent (A2A) economy, where AI-driven agents from different organizations—or even between businesses and consumers—collaborate, negotiate, and transact autonomously. At the…
Rise of the A2A economy: How AI agent-to-agent interactions will reshape the world

At Sendbird, we’ve been actively working with companies across the globe that are considering the adoption of conversational AI to enhance their customer service. During this process, we’ve encountered many forward-looking enterprises eager to accelerate their adoption of AI agents—not just for customer service, but also to drive transactions and revenue growth. This got us…
Annual Operating Rhythms and Time Budgeting

As I progressed through life, I became increasingly aware of two major constraints on productivity: time and energy. While energy depends on the health of both body and mind, today I’ll focus on time. By the time you’re 10–20 years into your career, you (hopefully) have a solid grasp of managing your schedule. I recommend…
My Camera Bag Setup (FujiFilm X100VI)

Last update: 2025-01-01 Perfect camera bag setup didn’t exi… I quietly enjoy capturing photos of the people I meet, the places I visit, and the things that inspire me—like architecture, engineering, and art. To simplify traveling and avoid the complexity of lugging around a full camera kit, I’ve switched to using compact fixed-lens cameras. The…
Happy New Year 2025!

Happy New Year 2025 everyone! 🌅 I hope you’re all starting the year with a lot of hope, renewed energy, and big dreams. I began my morning with a run, followed by a short trip to the shores to take part in my annual ritual of planning for the year ahead. The day greeted me…