After selling her first startup, Yunha Kim was tired and burned out. But through a newfound love for meditation and reflection, she was rejuvenated. Now she has dedicated her time and effort to helping others do the same through her mobile meditation platform Simple Habit.
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With meditations ranging from 5 to 15 minutes long, the app was designed especially for millenials with a lot on their plates. The company attracted $2.5 million from investors in a seed-stage funding round in 2017.
Taking some time away from the hard work at her startup, Yunha Kim reflected on her personal outlook with Crunchbase News.
What would you otherwise be doing right now?
When I started Simple Habit, I was actually at Stanford GSB, so I’d probably be earning my business degree.
One thing that I am also really passionate about is animals. I have a little dog and I love dogs and all animals. Every year millions of animals die by euthanasia. So I think I’d be working on a project to reduce the number of animals that are euthanized.
What is your main fault?
I get stressed easily. This is why I respond very well to meditation. Meditation is so important for my own personal well-being.
The quality that you most desire in a tweet?
I appreciate tweets that offer insights. I like when I can walk away having learned something.
Your idea of misery?
Failing without having learned anything. If you do something and you walk away and you’re not really sure if it was successful or not—not being able to understand or know why and build off of your mistakes would be miserable.
What do you appreciate the most in your friends?
Optimism and positivity.
Your chief characteristic?
I am very scrappy and fast in my execution of things.
What skill do you wish you possessed?
Quite literally, I wish I had more experience with building content companies! But that’s why I am building up a team! I surround myself with people who have more experience than I do in that respect.
Your most impactful book?
Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane. I found it really impactful because it teaches you how to define and evaluate charisma. It talks about why leaders need charisma to lead and teaches some very practical applications which I find very interesting.
What defines success?
Doing what you love, which I evaluate by whether or not I am really excited to go to work in the morning. I also think success is having a broader impact result from the work that you’re doing.
When is confidence lost?
When I get stressed and react quickly to something without taking the time to respond, I end up losing confidence.
What virtues do others have that you don’t?
Patience. Like I said, I’m very scrappy and fast, and I think one of the reasons I’m like that is because I don’t have a lot of patience.
What impact do you want to leave behind?
I want to have built a great team that finds meaning in their work; a team that comes to work every day really excited and mission driven. I would also like to create a world where people can stress less so that they can make better judgements and live better lives in general.
What’s the biggest problem tech is failing to solve?
Loneliness. I think we are all very well connected now if we compare ourselves to ten years ago. We have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Groupme. At the same time, there are a ton of studies that show that people who use social media are feeling even lonelier and more depressed. That’s what I’m trying to help combat. I want to help people feel more connected to the world and feel more supported by one another.
Editorial Note: Answers edited for brevity and clarity.
Illustration: Li-Anne Dias
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