[Chaekdam] "After More Than Ten Failures, Enjoying the Excitement of the Process Gave Me the Strength to Avoid Failure"

Kim Mi-hee, CEO of Bigk

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] There is a term called ‘pain point.’ It refers to a weak spot, whether absolute or relative, in other words, a point of pain. For example, a weakness that evokes anxiety. However, its existence is not entirely useless. It acts as nourishment for improvement and growth. CEO Kim Mihee was no exception. The anger born from the lack of recognition during her adolescent years, when she was wandering due to her father’s business failure, became her reason to study. After grinding her teeth and spending a year and a half in tears, she ranked 20th in her school and entered university.

During her university years, she earned tuition through part-time jobs and tutoring while immersing herself in advertising contests. She failed every attempt, but such ‘pain points’ invited opportunities. With the mindset of enjoying the excitement of the process rather than the result, after more than ten attempts, she won a silver prize in the internet advertising category at Cheil Worldwide. From that point, she recorded a perfect winning streak in subsequent contests and later joined Samsung.

At Samsung, she worked as a planner and designer for Galaxy mobile services. The ‘pain point’ she had at the time was her insufficient English conversation skills. She almost mastered every English study method and, in the process, realized the business potential of a private tutoring matching service. However, after several defeats in internal contests, experts said it was an unfeasible item. Nevertheless, after resigning, she launched the mobile conversation platform ‘Tutoring’ in 2016 and recorded sales exceeding 10 billion won within three years. Currently, she is challenging herself to start ‘Bigk,’ aimed at establishing a stable revenue model based on the ‘pain point’ of creators’ unstable income. We met CEO Kim Mihee on the 4th, who encapsulated this challenging process in her book My Life, The Art of Compressed Growth (Pureunsoop).

- You said English was your ‘pain point.’ According to your book, you improved your grades quickly and even got into Samsung, so it doesn’t seem like you lacked academic ability. Was it a relative evaluation?

▲ Because I focused on English for exams, my conversation skills were weak. I was good at test English, but I would tremble and couldn’t speak in front of native speakers. I shouldn’t have learned English through writing...(laughs)

- Did your English improve a lot after launching the English tutoring service?

▲ It definitely improved. I’d say from beginner to intermediate. I saw results because I consistently used ‘Tutoring’ as a tester about every other day. However, since starting ‘Bigk,’ I haven’t used Tutoring for almost two years. I’m worried I’m reverting to my old self.

- You must have hesitated a lot, but was there a decisive moment that made you leave Samsung?

▲ When I imagined myself at 80 years old looking back on life, I feared most regretting not having challenged myself. There’s a saying that it’s better to challenge and regret than not to try at all. Jeff Bezos’s ‘regret minimization framework’ deeply resonated with me. After nearly six years of contemplation, I decided, and I have no regrets now. I even wonder why I worried so much. I’m not necessarily recommending entrepreneurship, but if you hesitate a lot about your challenge goals, I’d suggest considering the regret minimization framework. (Regret minimization framework = minimizing regrets when looking back on life before death)

- Your item was rejected countless times but eventually succeeded. Actually, such cases are not hard to find around us. What do you think is the reason?

▲ It’s embarrassing to call it a tremendous success, but I’d say success is not determined by experts’ predictions but by the process of creation. Depending on who, when, for what reason and meaning, and with what motivation it is created, countless scenarios and outcomes emerge. Experts’ predictions often stay within the usual range. I believe anyone can create such cases by applying efforts and methods beyond the usual range.

- You kept failing in contests during university but steadily achieved good results after winning the silver prize. What did you realize then?

▲ I think I learned how to fail rather than how to succeed. I became an expert in failure by enthusiastically enjoying failure in one area. The important thing was that my mind didn’t focus on failure but enjoyed it enthusiastically. At that time, the process of challenge itself was an opportunity for learning and growth. It was a time when I threw myself wholeheartedly. After failing more than ten times, I gained the strength to avoid failure.

- Every organization values talent as its greatest asset, especially startups. Your book mentions you met good talents. How did you achieve such matching?

▲ It’s very important that aspirations point in the same direction. Actually, there were many misconceptions and failures among numerous connections. Amid that, people with similar deficiencies and aspirations gathered and created good results. Those who came to the company first rather than through recruitment or came through recommendations had higher suitability. Especially those who sought out the company first likely had strong desperation and deficiency. We experienced great synergy when working together.

- Your first business reached a normal trajectory relatively quickly. Have you faced the biggest crisis moment including your second business? Or what do you consider a potential risk?

▲ Startups are scary every moment and always feel like they’re in crisis. We experience extreme stress worrying that the product we painstakingly made won’t be chosen by customers. Until something loved by customers is born, it’s a cycle of strategizing, fixing, challenging, and failing repeatedly. The key is to endure this repetitive cycle with patience, and the biggest risk is mental exhaustion during this process.

- You founded ‘Bigk’ to provide a stable income base for creators as your second business.

▲ Starting ‘Bigk,’ I thought a lot about the creator ecosystem and the future of work. How will the way individuals work and earn income change in 10 to 20 years? As a result, I thought that in the future, the value of super individuals will surpass corporate value, and the proportion of non-employment earning through their own content and IP (intellectual property) will accelerate. I started developing products for creators’ monetization, thinking about providing creative tools for super individuals.

- You said imagining yourself as the protagonist in a movie scenario helps success. What scenario are you currently envisioning?

▲ Ninety percent of my time is a continuous struggle with work and people. However, the ten percent of time spent making small, happy memories with employees, meeting unexpected people to create good partnerships, and the future visuals that come from such results give me the strength to endure. Imagining meeting people who confess that their lives changed through ‘Bigk’ in the distant future helps me endure the harsh reality.

- If you had to pick one essential capability a startup CEO should have.

▲ Drive and execution power. The core of drive is perseverance that doesn’t give up regardless of the outcome in the process of turning imagination into reality. Imagination and pure passion must be added. Startups based on innovation often start from hypothetical imagination. Without imagination and purity, it’s easy to lose faith in negative feedback. Pure passion to solve problems is very important.

- Conversely, what growth elements should employees have?

▲ Among the five good elements mentioned in the book, the two most important are ‘self-study (people who proactively push work)’ and ‘professional collaborator (people with flexible expertise capable of diverse collaboration).’ I think these are essential elements all members should have.

- You took your second challenge with ‘Bigk.’ How is the current situation?

▲ Founded in May 2021, we officially launched the creator platform last November. Currently, KPOP musicians, entertainers, and bestselling authors participate and hold live events through ‘Bigk.’ Within a short period, 300,000 users have joined, and we achieved profitability in the second half of last year. Since 61% of ‘fan concert’ users are overseas, we have also started expanding into the global market. We have secured 10 billion won in investment (9.5 billion won in investment and 500 million won in R&D TIPS project).