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

Mini-YC within a Growth Stage Startup

An early-stage founder asked me over dinner, how we explore new paths and product ideas to accelerate growth at Sendbird. I’d like to share a program we introduced earlier this year at our company. We spun up a small tiger team to tackle a new idea. Operating like a small startup, this team was self-contained…
On Motivation

Someone recently asked me “how can I motivate my team member when the market is down and the value of their stock options may not grow as quickly?” I initially tried to answer the question by focusing on the odds of startup valuation still growing faster than other asset classes, and other non-linear & intrinsic…
Entrepreneur’s Flywheel

Flywheel is a relatively straightforward concept to understand, but still worth reading this book for more practical tips when you’re drafting your flywheels. Below is an example of a high-level flywheel crafted for entrepreneurs. The inner loop is when founders start a company themselves to solve a big problem and create value.
Drivers, Not Passengers

“Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity” Frank Slootman is Chairman and CEO of Snowflake. He recently wrote a short book on business management “Amp It Up”, sharing his experience from days at Data Domain, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. In his book, Chapter 6 talks about “hiring drivers, not passengers” and below…
Managing Time Horizons

I recently came across the clearest definition of a bubble in an asset class: “When investors have different goals and time horizons—and they do in every asset class— prices that look ridiculous to one person can make sense to another… Bubbles form when the momentum of short-term returns attract enough money that the makeup of…
Thinking Second-order Effects

💡 I was going to write a longer piece on this topic, but found this article to be helpful. One of the key elements of being better in leadership, strategy, and organizational changes is being able to think and anticipate second-order effects. When you want to roll out programs, systematic changes, (re)budgeting, headcount planning, introducing…