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

Health Supplements Stack

Inspired by Lifespan (David A. Sinclair), Bryan Johnson, and a few others, below is my current supplements stack as of today (2024-09-17). I will need to track my blood work and other biomarkers regularly over a period of time to assess the efficacy of the regimen, but for now, I am proceeding based on some…
How to Calculate Terminal ARR for Startups Using a Simple Formula

Startup founders often wonder (and fear) when their growth will slow down and eventually plateau. Especially in the early days of achieving product-market fit, the hustle and rapid growth often lead founders to overlook certain crucial metrics that ultimately determine the growth limit of the company. In biology and engineering, there is a concept called…
Abstractions and Why Details Still Matter

Today, I came across an interview with Jerry Seinfield that left an impression on me. One paragraph in particular stood out: If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it—every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That’s…
Performance Review Template

As you scale your startup beyond 20 people, you will start implementing a formal performance review process. The cadence could be once a quarter, once every 6 months, or sometimes, once a year. The rule of thumb is that if your direct report is deeply surprised by the content in your feedback, it means you…
The Level 5 Ownership

Leaders are often called upon to resolve conflicts and problems. During this process, we all experience varying degrees of ownership from the people involved. The level of ownership significantly affects how we problem-solve with these individuals and the effectiveness of our efforts. However, ownership is a concept that is often talked about but less understood.…
The Biggest Startup Ideas

As Sam mentioned in his essay “Hard Startups” & “Idea Generation” — picking a great idea that can become huge if it works is one of the most interesting seed a startup founder can plant early in their startup’s life cycle. Instead of exploring the problem landscape myself, I decided to leverage the global knowledge…