Jaeha LeeNew York

Korea to the world, part 1 of 1

Bringing Korea to the world

I first went to the world to learn. Now I want to help bring Korea to the world.

OngoingThe question that connects the rest

I grew up in Seoul. At fifteen I left for school in the UK, and a few years later I moved to New York. Each move was about learning: going to where something was done well and working out how it worked from the inside.

Looking back over the pieces on this site, a lot of them turn out to point the other way.

First: going out to learn at fifteen for college Seoul Cambridge New York Next: Korean products, food and art, to the US
Fig. 1 Two directions. The first was about learning. The next is about helping things move the other way.

The same problem, several times

At Bondit, Korean beauty brands wanted to reach American college students and needed a way in. At JuicyBite, a Korean food company making good products in the US still had to work out which stores to walk into, who could say yes, what price wouldn’t upset its biggest customer, and how to explain a product to people who had never eaten it. With the artists project, the work is already good. The gap is everything around it: an English statement, a price list, an introduction.

Different industries. The same kind of friction.

Where things get stuck

From what I’ve seen so far, it tends to be the same handful of problems:

  • Distribution. Getting onto shelves, apps and platforms, and knowing who actually decides.
  • Localization. Packaging, instructions and claims that make sense to someone who didn’t grow up with the product.
  • Storytelling. A reason to care, told in a way that travels.
  • Community. The first group of people who care, and tell others.
  • Partnerships. The right distributor, retailer, gallery or platform.
  • Pricing. Prices that work for the customer, the channel and the existing partners at the same time.
  • Credibility. A track record a new market can trust.

None of these are about whether the product, the food or the art is good. They’re about what sits between making something and reaching the people who would want it.

What I don’t know yet

Along the way I learned to look at companies first as an analyst, then as a buyer, and eventually as an operator. This kind of problem seems to need all three.

I don’t know yet what form this takes for me. It might mean working inside companies, helping several at once, or eventually building something that brings together creators, market-entry advice and hands-on operating support. I’d rather leave that as a question than write down a plan I’ll have to revise.

What I’m sure of is the direction. I first went to the world to learn. Now I want to help bring Korea to the world.