What It Takes to Become a Startup CEO
JunHo and I met after 4 years since high school graduation. Since we weren't close friends, I do not have any clear memory spent with him. However, what I do remember is a person with an endless amount of energy on what he loves to do. When we met again, he asked me to join his team for a presentation competition, so I decided to join him without any hesitation. Even though we weren't able to get any prizes, we still made it to the finals and since then, we went on to do a lot of other projects.
During the first semester of 2015, he asked me to join him in starting a new tech company. Since the idea was also attractive to me, I signed to join the Android mobile application development part. The company was small starting with 5 people, but for me it seemed like a good opportunity to know about this young entrepreneur.
My time at the company did not last long enough to see my application on the market. There were patent problems with one of our developers. Since we weren't aware of any kind of legal issues, our ignorance, which once we perceived to be the wordless mutual trust, backfired on us as soon as the developer tried to litigate JunHo's company. After the issue was taken care of, I left the company, needing some time to think about myself. After about a month later, JunHo and I had an interview time. Going through all this trouble made him look at least 5 years older. Before the interview when I asked him about the future of his company, he took a deep thought period and said, "Since increasing the speed is not up to my decision, I'm at least trying to settle its direction. I still have some of my crews on board." While his face was talking about all the pain he had to go under, his voice was explaining the responsibilities he had to bear.
Despite knowing about the current situation as a former-insider, what I worried about this kind of interview was the power it has to glamorize the beauty and conceal the difficulties. Especially due to the current startup boom, I feared that it might give false impression about the industry. Nevertheless, I asked the first question in the hope that the interview can help those without any plans.
"To be brutally honest, enthusiasm and hard work is a necessity, not an extra-curricular thing. After the basics are fulfilled, you still need diverse amount of abilities and trustworthy networks" said JunHo. The first answer I had received was somewhat different from the kind of advice we get everyday. While most people sought hard work as a way to success, he perceived the basics as a seat belt to protect one from failure.
JunHo himself is currently majoring in both Business Administration and Computer Science. Apart from the university curriculum, he is taking care of most of the things at work, from management to web development. While it seemed like an excessive amount of work, his hunger for a new challenge proceeded him further.
"Startups are usually small and when the company lacks human resources, an employee has to take at least 2 positions simultaneously. Entrepreneurs must at least understand every part of their company."
Apart from the litigation incident, the company had undergone a lot of issues during the last few months. It was out of the frying pan into the fire. When we first started, we had to devote 24 hours a day to make the product on schedule. For JunHo, he also had to find a way to squeeze 72 hours of work into 24 hours.
"I can do this because it's what I love to do. Actually this is the message I wanted to tell everyone about. I know that there is a trend in starting a new company, but just don't start it as a way to earn lots of money. The company itself becomes a living hell if the first button is done wrong. Even right now you can see that my aging process started doubling."
Still, JunHo truly loved what he did. Even though he wasn't making Google or Facebook, he was always filled with confidence, and evangelized his sanguine thoughts to the teammates. The lack of funding always led us to eat at the building cafeteria, but this never dampened our young CEO's ardor. Instead, his legs moved faster to find new investment sources.
"Funding was not the biggest problem until now. Since there are a lot government and private organizations related supporting businesses, money is not always the issue. The most difficult part is human relations. Even from a company this small we encounter opinion differences and disputes every day." What he said was absolutely true. Whenever something went wrong, it was his job to become the middleman in order to solve it quickly and fairly.
When I asked if he had any last words, he cried out "Don't do it!" We burst into laughter and our laughter was filling the whole office floor.
Though I ended my contract after finishing the Android application development, JunHo is still working day and night. Towards the end of the year the climate is getting colder along with sky falling snow. Nevertheless, he heated up the office on the ground that he can do what he loves without anyone's interference. After a fairly long interview, I came back to school, and JunHo lighted up the office room. While testing completed product in the library, I once again dreamt about starting a new project with this young pioneer with a smile on my face.
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