Korean startup Soonnoc Inc. CEO, Kyujin Sung, started the skincare products company in 2016 as a college student when he faced skin problems. He tried his products on himself and then gave it to friends and acquaintances. The product was well-received, and soon it was developed into a full-fledged business.

Soonoc Inc. now sells a range of skincare and beauty care products like lotions, toners for skincare, and exclusive eye-brow lashes serum through its Vive Lab brand. It has also developed shampoos, sprays, and cleansers for pets.

In a quick tete-a-tete with koreatechdesk.com Kyujin Sung spoke about the company’s launch, his belief in high-quality product, and the K-beauty market.

1. What are you working on currently?

I am the CEO of Soonnoc Co., Ltd., and I am in charge of product development and directing.

2. What motivated you to get started with your company?

When I was a sophomore in college, I made my cosmetics, used them, and distributed them to my acquaintances. The response was so good that I could sell them for money, so I figured out the possibility that I would develop into a business.

3. Please tell me more about your founding team.

We have co-representative Kim Min-soo. He’s in charge of marketing. He’s my classmate from the same college and started the business with me.

4. What is the market opportunity for your product?

The global beauty market is a huge market worth more than $500 billion, and there are no more effective products than I thought. We are making very effective beauty products.

5. How have you attracted users and grown your company from the start?

I made a product, filmed a video, edited it, and started selling it. In the process, word of mouth naturally occurred because of good product quality.

6. What’s your business model, and how have you grown your revenue? What strategy worked best?

The model is to develop and produce haircare, skincare beauty products. The best strategy that works is to create the product itself by combining unique concepts with outstanding effects.

7. How much funding have you raised in total so far?

I haven’t received any investment at the moment, and I still don’t have any plans to raise investment.

8. What are some marketing tips to help maximize the success of a product launch?

The product itself should be attractive and have marketing elements that can be talked about.

9. What is a good product launch checklist?

a.Do they work better than existing products?
b. Does it look more special than existing products?

10. What’s the hardest thing about product launches?

In our case, it is excavating good cosmetic materials.

11. What are the most common mistakes founders make when they start a company?

I think the problem is that there’s a lot of time spend to think and prepare.

12. What do most startups get wrong about marketing?

The problem is that you think product and marketing are separate.

13. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? and What advice do you have for someone who is interested in doing similar things like yours or in a similar direction?

Prove that your product is special, whether it’s cosmetics, products or software.

14. What are the one or two things that you would do differently if you could go back to 10 years ago?

If I can go back to 10 years ago, then I would have started this business sooner.

Read about the Korean beauty industry on koreatechdesk.com, 

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