We recommend this for
- Anyone thinking about getting a job
- Anyone torn between getting a job and starting a company
- Anyone curious about Dalpha's company culture

Estimated reading time: about 5 minutes

Hello?

Threestartup attemptsWith the unusual background of

I'd like to share the story of how I joined Dalpha as a PM?

I'll talk through the thought process behind why I gave up on each startup,

and what led me to join Dalpha!

Three failures, three reasons

1. Failure - A shift in the market

My first venture was built on my experience studying for civil-service exams during the height of COVID-19,

while serving in the military, I developed an online learning platform for exam takers!

Even though all of my teammates were stationed in different units, each of us gave up our personal time,

and thanks to winning multiple competitions and getting accepted into a pre-startup support program,

we were able to take on actual entrepreneurship.

But by the time I was discharged, social distancing had been lifted,and

exam takers began returning to offline studying.

Whether we were courting investment or applying to support programs, we only got cold reactions,

and so, accepting that the situation had changed, my first attempt came to an end.

2. Failure - Wrong problem definition

After my first venture failed, I felt a deep emptiness and depression.

Even when I met up with friends to laugh and chat to soothe my gloomy mood, the loneliness wouldn't go away,

so I planned a social-salon platformwhere people could share their worries together.

Inspired by an interview with Tinder CEO Jonathan Badeen, our team

wanted to connect people with the same needs.We believed that if we brought together people who felt lonely and carried deep worries,

they could empathize with each other's pain and find comfort.

But the proportion of male applicants was overwhelmingly high, and as inquiries about the gender ratio kept coming in,

we eventually realized that what these people were really interested in was dating and meeting the opposite sex,

and so, due to a wrong problem definition, I gave up on my second attempt as well.

3. Failure - Lack of industry understanding

My most recent venture was a

QR table-order B2B service.It wasWe aimed to help small business owners cut hall-serving labor costs,

while letting customers order comfortably right from their seats.

Since the entire team consisted of developers, after quick planning

we developed an MVP in just three days and went around to various shops on a whim.

The Horangi bar near Korea University

and through direct interviews with various small business owners, we realized the following.

At shops that serve alcohol,

1. a system that charges payment for each order is unsuitable.Many customers don't use mobile pay services, so

2. physical card payment is essential.In areas where the customer base skews older,

3. handwritten accounting ledgers are still in use.I thought I had researched and pondered deeply, staying up all night in my own way,

but I concluded that without an understanding on par with people working in that industry,

it's difficult to come up with a clear problem definition and a fit-for-purpose solution.

That's enough about my startup story — now let me introduce

the three reasons I joined Dalpha!Three reasons I joined Dalpha

(Source:

As someone who had worked as a CEO, the most important thing I looked at while preparing for my first job change was

'Can I immerse myself in the problem this team is trying to solve?'

That was it.While working on various projects over the years,

the more deeply I pondered and seriously confronted the problem, the more I gained.

Job skills come naturally with time,

but the insight gained from deep immersion and experience

is entirely up to you.Dalpha's recent keyword is

Scalability — that is, the ability to expand.Our clients don't stop at a one-off

'AI experience';they dream of a future where they grow steadily alongside Dalpha,

and in figuring out what kind of AI to deliver in what form to achieve this,

I've already learned a great deal in a short time through constant thought.

Rather than taking a passive stance,

I actively step forward to grasp clients' needs,

and even proactively propose new plans,

catching both rabbits — client satisfaction and my own growth!

3. A team that won't fail

Throughout my school years and my working life,

there are certain friends who give you the feeling,

'this person will succeed no matter what they do.' There are friends like that,

and I got the sense that Dalpha is exactly where such people gather.

In an atmosphere of freely exchanging feedback,

I freely voiced my opinions even in a meeting held on my second day at the company.

Some were accepted and some were rejected,

but because everything is adopted based on reasoning rather than reliance on experience or gut feeling,

even when an opinion is rejected, you can put it forward with confidence.

Something I recently realized is that since joining Dalpha, I've 'I'm sorry' — I've never once said that.

I came up short during a client meeting

and received sharp feedback from a colleague,

but rather than feeling bad, my first thought was the regret of 'I should have done it that way sooner.'

I think this constructive atmosphere is possible because mutual respect is the baseline!

3. The 'real' way to use AI

Over my years in the startup scene, I've seen many companies that

push technology recklessly without thinking deeply about AI.

Embarrassingly, I was one of them, too?

I, too, either didn't account for the cost of developing AI models,

or tried to solve problems with AI that could be solved with a simple algorithm,

and I failed to design items that introduced 'the right technology where it's truly needed.'

But as I held meetings with clients across various fields,

I was able to sense numerous pain points that 'they'd be willing to pay to solve.'

When I sense that similar businesses have similar concerns,

it sparks a sense of challenge — that this really is a problem worth solving.

Pain points born from clients' decades of experience —

ones you can't grasp through desk research or interviews —

I felt the insights gained from discussing them together are truly invaluable!

And that wraps up a brief introduction to the journey I've walked!
Going forward, so that everyone can easily enjoy the AI Experiencetogether with Dalpha,
I'll do my very best! I look forward to it?

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