[Life Chapter 3 Companies] ‘Salm-ui Jil Yeonguso’ Connecting Elderly Parents & Adult Children

Cornell Graduate Jo Gi-woong, CEO,
Seragem Health & Beauty Vice CEO Lee Seung-hyun Founded

CEO Jogiwoong (left) and COO Seunghyun Lee of Quality of Life Research Institute Co., Ltd. posed at the entrepreneur space (Antler Founder Space) of Seoul Startup Hub in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Seoul Startup Hub in Mapo-gu, Seoul, is a space housing numerous startups. The open communal areas are filled with the warm energy of many startup entrepreneurs, each preparing their own businesses while holding coffee. On the 3rd, Asia Economy met with Jo Ki-woong (32), CEO, and Lee Seung-hyun (53), Vice CEO of “Quality of Life Research Institute,” which operates the platform “Answerlog” aimed at promoting social health among seniors. Despite their considerable age difference, the two CEOs explained that they are the best “partners” who can complement each other's shortcomings.

“Quality of Life Research Institute” is a startup that operates Answerlog, a platform providing questions that seniors and their adult children can answer together, facilitating effortless communication. The corporation was established in October last year and secured a 200 million KRW pre-seed investment from Antler Korea. The institute started from the awareness that “family relationships are the most important social relationships.” Their business focuses on alleviating loneliness and isolation faced by the elderly. Answerlog promotes continuous, effortless communication between parents and children. It also digitizes communication records and mediates deeper interaction by recommending content based on family intimacy.

The reason for focusing on the serious issue of “elderly loneliness” stems from CEO Jo Ki-woong’s special childhood experience. Jo said, “I was raised by my grandmother, who cared for me, but around the time I was in the 6th grade, she was diagnosed with terminal leukemia,” adding, “The experience of my caregiver grandmother becoming someone who needed care left a deep impression on me.” He continued, “Because of this, I wanted to do something someday for people like my grandmother and grandfather, and naturally began contemplating social solutions for elderly issues.” He added, “At Cornell University in the U.S. and KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in Korea, I refined and realized the elderly issues I had vaguely considered into a business through academic and practical means.”

Vice CEO Lee Seung-hyun said, “As I reached an age where I look at the elderly, I naturally began to think about the quality of life for seniors.” Lee is a former CEO of “Ceragem Health & Beauty,” a subsidiary of “Ceragem,” which manufactures medical devices such as massage chairs. He explained, “I spent about 26 to 27 years in the beauty and health business and also experienced being a professional manager,” and added, “Rather than working as a professional manager at another company, I wanted to directly provide solutions and commercialize the social problems I am addressing,” explaining his reason for joining the startup.

They met and started their business through a pre-startup support program operated by the global venture capital “Antler.” They judged that they were the right people to complement each other's weaknesses. CEO Jo had the business idea and technical academic capabilities but lacked social experience. He believed that working with Vice CEO Lee, who had solid business experience, would maximize synergy. Vice CEO Lee said, “From an academic perspective, I believed Jo would be a reliable ally in refining and advancing businesses that resolve users’ inconveniences.”

Since Answerlog is a platform designed to alleviate the isolation of the elderly, they also continuously make personal efforts to understand and empathize with seniors’ “hearts.” They agreed, “Because we entered the senior industry, it is very important to directly internalize what seniors want and need the most.” Therefore, they volunteer weekly for seniors even if it means squeezing time. They said, “We start with a communication platform, but as the platform advances, we want to develop it to include more diverse content for the elderly.”

- What kind of company is Quality of Life Research Institute?

▲ It is a startup aiming to improve the quality of life for middle-aged and elderly people aged 55 and above. It aims to launch the platform “Answerlog” to enhance the social health of seniors. There are already many platforms offering programs for the elderly in the market. We believe what seniors truly need is mental health support, and our difference lies in providing a family connection channel that helps care for mental health.

- Why is a special platform needed for families?

▲ Adult children and senior parents often live apart, so many families communicate out of obligation. Children feel a heavy sense of duty to call their parents to check on their health or well-being, but many feel burdened by this reality. Calls can become excessively long, leaving no free time, or often there is nothing to say. However, the more seniors communicate with their children and family, the more they can alleviate feelings of isolation and improve mental health. We judged that a mediator facilitating lighter, less burdensome communication is necessary.

- What does it mean that Answerlog facilitates family connections?

▲ Answerlog is a kind of Q&A platform that works as follows: it provides conversation “topics” in the form of questions to parents and children. This is called family Q&A. Through Answerlog, parents and children each answer simple daily questions, enabling communication. From the children’s perspective, they can communicate with their parents without the burden of long calls and understand their parents’ interests. It can be seen as facilitating light and long-lasting connections.

- Are questions provided once a day?

▲ Five questions are updated twice a week. We found this frequency to be the least burdensome. For example, a question like “My 20s was a ( ) life” is shown to both children and parents, who each write their answers. There are also light questions, such as whether they prefer Jajangmyeon or Jjamppong. The answers are analyzed as data, and based on this, Answerlog recommends content that parents and children can enjoy together. It delicately manages the questions to avoid fatigue by judging family intimacy through accumulated answers and providing appropriate questions.

- What kind of content is recommended?

▲ Simple articles or YouTube videos that can be read or enjoyed together are recommended. Most seniors focus more on videos than text, so YouTube links are mainly recommended. However, we are gradually advancing the recommendation algorithm and striving to provide a variety of content that families can enjoy together.

- How does the platform generate revenue if it recommends content?

▲ Content recommendations include “gifting.” Based on conversation content, we recommend products that might be useful and connect users to optimal sales channels, generating commission revenue. About 40 brands are registered within our platform. We earn commissions from sales through these brands.

CEO Jiwung Cho (right) and COO Seunghyun Lee of Quality of Life Research Institute Co., Ltd. are having a conversation in the startup space at Seoul Startup Hub in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@