Adding the Value of Sharing to Venture Activities 

In 2013, we decided that we would continue our activities as usual except that our passion and experience would be directed toward righting some wrongs in society. As part of this new philosophy, we ran the Stem Cell Awareness Raising Campaign to help patients suffering from leukemia and other illnesses. Our aim was to help overcome society’s ignorance and structural problems surrounding stem cell use. Five universities (KMU, Hongik, Chung-Ang, Dongguk, and Seokyeong University) jointly held a donation drive and petitioned the Ministry of Health & Welfare. We gained 725 donation applications and 13,684 signatures. In addition, comedian Hyuk-pil Lim and cartoonists, movie producers, actors, and others donated their time and talent to make a promotional video to raise awareness.  

Q. Please tell us about your start-up
I’m working on a mobile application service that lets you share alarms with your friends. An alarm, as we know, can lose its usefulness if not heard, or you can simply turn it off and go back to sleep. Alarm Talk let’s friends reactivate your alarm with the touch of a button. So, by adding a social factor to traditional wakeup alarms, we have solved a fundamental problem with alarms. 
Of course, this isn’t my first business venture. My first business start-up was five years ago. I somehow ended up winning the grand prize in a venture competition less than a year after becoming a member of Creative Factory. I was able to start a business with the seed money and office space that came with the prize. So there we were, a bunch of us students who had no clue how to start a business gathered together to try and run a business. It was a great experience and showed me, “This is what it’s like to do something you love.” “It’s so much fun.” That was when I first realized the thrill of entrepreneurship.  

Q. Was there a particular reason you started an alarm related venture? 
I personally felt the need for it. I’ve often been late because I would turn off my alarm and go back to sleep, or wouldn’t hear it at all, and that meant I ended up in situations where my life was in danger. I really thought my friends were going to kill me! So in an effort to preserve my life, I would ask my friends to call me if there was something important I had to do and keep calling until I was fully awake. That was effective. But it became a burden to both me and the people responsible for waking me up. I didn’t like always having to ask for help, and I found my life was in danger again at the hands of those burdened with having to wake me up. So I started looking for services that would help others know whether I was awake or not and would allow them to help wake me up. When I couldn’t find any, I decided to make one myself.

 
Q. As someone who has already started a business, what would be the difference between what you thought of ventures as an undergraduate student and the real world of business?  
Starting a business comes with enormous pain that you feel over and over, near-death experiences, shortened life span, and anxiety that makes you wake up in the middle of the night. I’ve seen a lot of my juniors prepare job applications, and with passion and effort like they have, that’s enough to be an entrepreneur. Who knows, you may be the next Steve Jobs. 

Q. Did the Creative Factory’s activities from your undergraduate days help in your business venture? 
I was one of the first members of Creative Factory. In other words, the members we had back then had to start everything from scratch and learn as we went along. Starting a business is also like making something from nothing. So for me, participating in Creative Factory didn’t give me any particular business skill, but it did become the foundation for all of my entrepreneurial efforts. 

Q. What would you like to tell students attending Kookmin and preparing their own ventures?  
Feel free to come buy me a meal if you meet with difficulties, as I’m doing way worse! I’m kidding (laughs). If you have a good idea, don’t hide it, talk about it. There are lots of people who are afraid that their ideas will be stolen. But I think the feedback and advice you get when you actually talk about an idea is the key to getting one step closer to success. It is especially helpful if you find someone who failed at launching a service similar to what you have in mind. Make a point to talk to them and learn all you can. If you don’t know of anyone, search. That’s one of the best ways to save time. We spend half our lives working, and I want to support my juniors spending time doing what they’re really passionate about. 

It’s possible to work with the Office of Entrepreneurship to launch your business, but joining KMU’s venture club Creative Factory is a great opportunity to grow among like-minded people. If you are a Kookmin*people who wants to learn what entrepreneurship is all about, stop by the Student Union, Room 212.