Going Through COVID-19 Crisis as Early-Staged Startup

…and More on Annotation From Startup Founder: Running a Customer-Oriented Company

It isn’t a new concept or anything inspirational. Sometimes cliché is the key to success. I discovered that being honest and humble is the key.

We are servicing a solution called [Shopl], that connects the retail shop and the HQ for better retail execution. We started our service by cooperating with the international branch of some renowned companies in South Korea. This is to share how we did it and how we felt about the business that we have been carrying out since 2019, for we, like all other companies, had many ups and downs.

So what’s up with Mexico?

With a bit of an exaggeration, I could almost say Mexico was the savior. At interviews, or even in the IR meetings, people asked me a question like ‘Why have you picked Mexico to expand your business initially?’ (Not to mention that I am so grateful for those IR meetings because it led us into a successful investment from Naver TBT a one of the largest IT firm in South Korea and Korea Investment Partners as our major shareholders in 2019 and 2020 respectively)

I thought the best possible I could do was being honest, because I saw the two investment firms as partners on board. So besides all the informative presentations, I started with a remark that it was not my choice, it was actually theirs. Yes. the other way around.

The first thing we did was to make our solution serviceable and useable to fit into the global market. And thus I was hungry for clients who dare to use our software. Then in 2019, the Mexico team appeared with a clear understanding of our solution nearly completed at that time.

Customer-Oriented? It’s More Like Customer Obsession

I visited Mexico from South Korea eight times in 2019. I was so eager to be successful because it was a chance that I could not neglect.
Sometimes they called me in for help, other times I went there whenever I felt that they think they needed me or they wanted me to be there for help. I tried so hard to give them a clear idea that I was not so far away from them (which technically I was).

I set my alarm clock at 2:00 AM to check if there are any messages I missed. No sign of contact from Mexico? I just messaged them anyway checking up things (This later backfired me as an occupational hazard, even now I wake up a number of times at night!! -crying-)

Customer obsession is the key I emphasized to my team. We talked a lot to each other about what it means by customer obsession assuming all startup founders would just do as I did (Like.. relentlessly focusing on customer needs).
Honestly, it was not so hard for me. It was actually a great experience to have some customers wanting our service, and it was also fun to watch our solution being upgraded. Thankfully my team and Mexico team did a great job, we went through a lot of meetings and also argued a lot.

Most importantly both of the teams were very thankful to each other about the achievements established together. Before becoming a startup founder, the past 11 years in corporate life was literally overwhelming but I now know that the decade worth corporate work was nothing compared to a startup founder.

I am certainly working very hard.

Hello, COVID-19 Crisis

Meaning results kicked in 2019. By chain reaction from our successful launch, doors for new business opportunities appeared in Central and South America region in the following year. But…

As we all know, COVID-19 is an epidemic and the world is in chaos. Things were very serious in South Korea. I went over to Central and South America and in March for two weeks desperately selling our software.

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At that time South Korea and China were at the epicenter of COVID-19 and that’s why all the customers I met personally avoided me. The good news was that they smile upon our software. Almost all of them were ready-set-go!

Speaking of COVID-19, many business opportunities I sought out went downhill because of the crisis. It is May now and the COVID-19 is fast spreading out across Central and South America region.

This was a very unfortunate event for both my team and the stores in the region for losing business. I had no choice but to strategically retreat back to South Korea almost empty-handed.

The solution we sell is collaborative software used for retail execution by the store staff and the headquarters, but since the stores are down for business, our product became unused. Because of this all the pilot projects we planned out are discontinued. And time shows no mercy flies away. (and of course, the money also burns away…)

Well… the more I look into these graphs, the more it seems like a probability of business failure indicator.

Mexico was the luck of meeting a good customer (not what I was good at but happened anyway). The COVID-19 broke out and hit Central and South America was also about -a bad- luck (again, not that I did something wrong, just happened). When I started my business, I was lucky enough to carry on with it. Thus I learned a lesson to be humble once again.

My company is going well? No need to be a smart-ass. Oh? my business is burning down? No need to cry over it.

Strategic Retreat!

Almost all global business route is blocked, I turned to South Korea and learned that there are companies that need us and that they are not small (but it turns out selling our solution is an entirely different issue…).

Also, there are companies that have become a hot topic in streamlining store operations due to the COVID-19 crisis. It’s another thankful opportunity I’ve never seen.

Obsessed With Customer Needs, and Humbly Wait

It’s as plain and cliché as the sound of ‘being full when you eat enough’, or ‘water is good for thirst’, but the truth I’ve learned over the years on this field is customer obsession and being humble.

Today, cool start-ups are flying like rockets, but I think I am still on the ground with my staff, treading carefully checking out what lies before us.

I am grateful for having my team and investors (and myself too!), that they are playing the fool when I say someday we could be on the rocket as we go on with our business. Oh and sometimes I think COVID-19 is grateful too.

Find more about us: https://en.shoplworks.com

or email us here: support@shoplworks.com