EO Studio: A bumpy journey of growth

Category

Band stories

Written by

Son Yang (Director)

Date

Empty

“You keep posting that you have no money, so I think you’ll get funding from someone.”

(March 14, 2018, group chat with five Line interns. JoCoding, now who has become a well-known figure, was also there.)

These are the stories I shared with interns when I first introduced 'EO' (it was just Taeyong's Facebook page, not a YouTube channel then) while working at the LINE Global Strategy Team. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would become the investor.

I can't remember exactly which video I first saw on EO, but at the time, since I was at LINE competing with global big tech companies while also benchmarking and admiring them, CEO Taeyong Kim's figure—flying solo to Silicon Valley with just a camera and capturing the stories of top tech gurus—remains a vivid and memorable shock to me.

Looking back at 2018, Korea's startup scene was not as developed as it is today, YouTube didn't wield overwhelming media power like it does now, and high-quality tech content in the EO format (that also served as educational material) was extremely rare—so I think that's why the impact felt even greater.

And going beyond just being a shock, EO also played a significant role in motivating me to leave LINE and move quickly to my next step, whether global big tech or an MBA. It was thanks to the video below of Lee Si-seon (then CEO of Morning Recovery). The video was both incredibly entertaining and shocking; I replayed it over five times in one sitting, and it made me keep thinking that if I even wanted to try becoming someone like him, I needed to make a career move fast.

“Would it be possible to collaborate with the EO channel?”

Four months after watching Mr. Lee Si-seon's video, I received both my GMAT score and a Google offer and, after much deliberation, decided to join Google Play. There, I managed the launch and operations of the 'Changgu Program' to help domestic app/game startups grow and expand overseas.

The Changgu Program was a major, meaningful project that, in partnership with Google and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, provided 100 early-stage startups each year with an average of 100 million won in prize money and a Google growth support package. Ultimately, the program's long-term success would naturally depend on the quality of applicants, so for the first three years, we were determined to boost its recognition with various branding efforts. Part of this plan included creating EO content featuring the first-year award-winning startup CEOs.

Looking back, this was two years after EO's launch, and there was simply no channel as suitable as EO for branding a startup, the Changgu Program, and Google altogether. In fact, EO had a huge positive impact on both branding the program and on award-winning startups' satisfaction—and even became a benchmark at Google's Mountain View headquarters.

Through this, I formed connections with CEO Kim Tae-yong, COO Jeong Yun-hye, PD Choi Sung-woon, Manager Ahn Seo-hyun, and others at EO. Over two years, we created more than ten pieces of content together. During that period, EO received seed investment from great investors and tried various content and business experiments, showing remarkable growth. Naturally, I also noticed the growth of the entire team, and it kept me excited and curious about where this team would go next.

After working at Google for three years, I moved to Base Investment. I thought, 'I'll never have to make video content again, and I'll just see CEO Kim Tae-yong from time to time in the industry...'

(The first & farewell email I sent to CEO Kim Tae-yong)

“Knock, knock, knock. Is Mr. Kim Tae-yong here?”

Right after changing jobs, I ended up shooting an introduction video for Base Investment. Even though it was obvious how tough and questionable the task might be, after much discussion with CEO Shin Yoon-ho, we decided this would definitely help us in our work as investors, so we went ahead with it.

(CEO Shin Yoon-ho & CEO Kang Jun-yeol with CEO Kim Tae-yong @ the shoot)

But despite expecting it, the process turned out to be even tougher. After a lot of reshooting and countless edits, the video was finally released more than a year after filming. As of this writing, that was just yesterday. I honestly can't thank the EO team enough.

“A brand that early-stage and aspiring founders around the world encounter even before YC”

But in mid-April last year, while filming for the first time, CEO Kim Tae-yong said he was planning a Pre-A round. Although I knew EO had a meaningful subscriber base in Korea, diverse products, and decent revenue, I honestly wasn’t too interested and only asked for the deck after filming. But when I looked at the deck, there were things I couldn’t just ignore—things like “going global” and “the next YC.”

Back then, EO didn’t even have a global channel yet, but that deck made a very convincing case for why non-scripted, tech-focused content like EO was structurally missing in the global market, why EO could succeed where others hadn’t, and what kind of influence and impact success on the global stage could have.

Then I spoke with CEO Kim Tae-yong, and he said, “Launching a global channel is just going from 0 to 1 all over again, but if we become the very first brand smart, high-potential aspiring and early founders in the US, Africa, and Southeast Asia know and love, don’t you think we could be at least as influential as YC?” Hearing this, I could really see the excitement and potential of that vision.

So that’s how we ended up leading EO’s Pre-A round.

“A story of bumpy growth”

It might sound like it happened “just like that”, but EO’s Pre-A fundraising began when the market was freezing cold for investments. Many potential lead investors came and went, CEO Kim came to us twice for IR/investment committee meetings—all the while, he was running around making content globally, each new channel growing by double digits every week on average.

The nine-month review process was impressive, but honestly, our decision to invest was only possible because we had been watching him up close and from afar for more than five years.

This story might have started with my own growth, but I believe that, in the end, everyone in tech today has grown—directly or indirectly—with EO. Just as the screenshot from the first group chat showed, CEO Kim Tae-yong and the EO team, who “might look a bit amateur, but created a virtuous cycle with incredible boldness,” have consistently shared meaningful trends, discourses, and insights, and I believe they've had a huge influence on steering the tech industry toward something cooler, smarter, and hipper.

And even though we have all grown through this journey, I honestly think the one who has grown the most is CEO Kim Tae-yong himself. When I first met him for a shoot at Google, he seemed a bit clumsy; but now, there are lots of moments when he seems like a much bigger person than I am. What's really grown is the size of his dream: it’s rare to see someone nurture a vision that big and then immerse himself in reaching it for so long.

Of course, the path to going global will be full of unexpected bumps and bruises. Finding content-market-fit will be tough, and organizational challenges will pop up too. As nice as it is to imagine a typical hero’s journey—defeat the boss, live happily ever after—this is a road no one’s traveled before, the boss battles will be endless, and chances are there’s no set ending to this story. In other words (as CEO Kim Tae-yong often jokes in person), it’ll be a complete scramble. But in that mess, the team will grow and accomplish things.

(As shown in the above video) People who risk everything and push through these difficulties are often called 'apostles,' and those apostles are bound to accomplish something big, no matter what.

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