Yunha Kim started meditating to decrease the stress she felt from working hard to build her first startup, Locket, which she sold to the e-commerce platform Wish in 2015. “I was able to focus better at work, sleep better at night and felt more present and happy in my relationships,” says Kim. She started using other meditation apps but quickly tired of hearing the same voice time and again and realized that people should be able to use one app to listen to a variety of meditation teachers.
“Platforms like Spotify make it possible for musicians to access a bunch of listeners and vice versa. When I started talking to meditation teachers to see where they were sharing their content, I realized there was a void in this space. So, I set out to create the Spotify for meditation — focusing on 5-minute meditations that busy people can use for any situation or mood,” says Kim. In 2016, Kim dropped out of Stanford Graduate School of Business to start Simple Habit and has since graduated from Y Combinator, pitched the sharks on Shark Tank, been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and raised $2.8M. We spoke about her career path and the power of meditation.
What has been the biggest challenge and, on the flip side, the biggest reward of starting Simple Habit?
The biggest challenge is not saying ‘yes’ to everything. As much as we always want to say ‘yes’ to every opportunity and commit for the sake of growth, we’ve chosen to first stay focused on building the best product possible.
The biggest reward by far has been seeing how Simple Habit is changing lives. Almost all of our 2M users have found us through word-of-mouth. And every day, we get emails and reviews from people all over the world. Just this week, I heard from a woman who was diagnosed with cancer and now uses Simple Habit to cope with the pain and stress of treatment. We’ve heard from foster parents who are using Simple Habit to help their kids cope with anger. We’ve heard from thousands of millennials who are less stressed and happier than ever before. At Simple Habit, we are working to create a world where every human can live life feeling happier and more connected. It’s these stories that humble me and remind me to keep pushing.
What advice do you have for other women who hope to start their own businesses?
Invest in yourself. Self-care is critical. You will work long days, and stress is inevitable, so it’s important to take a little time each day to step away, breathe and reset. I learned this the hard way with my first startup when I experienced burnout. Now, I meditate at least once every day. As a boss, leader and team member, I am more alert, focused and equipped to handle the hundreds of unexpected things that happen at a startup.
What are the most important characteristics someone needs to have to be successful in your role?
Resilience, resolve, passion, work ethic, humility, adaptability and a growth mindset. Things change fast and you won’t know everything, but you should be able to learn fast and grow with every experience.
How has developing a meditation practice helped you in your personal and professional life?
Meditation has changed my life. As a CEO, friend and daughter, I am more focused, more compassionate and more energized than I’ve ever been. Meditation helps me think clearly and respond to problems with better solutions. Therapists and exercise are amazing resources for managing stress, but they’re time-intensive and can be expensive. For me, meditation is a more accessible resource for my mental health. Contrary to what many people think, you don’t have to sit for 30 minutes with your eyes closed to meditate. I meditate wherever and whenever I have a spare one to five minutes — before a meeting, in a Lyft on my way to an investor pitch, on my walk home from work — and yes, we have meditations for all of these! This allows me to take advantage of the downtime to reset mentally and physically.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned at work and how did you learn it?
Build the right team. Find smart people who care about the ‘what’ you’re building. The most important thing you can do early on is build a team of people who move fast, work hard and genuinely care. Your product will constantly evolve, and your early team members will have a huge impact in shaping it. Our team uses our product personally on a daily basis and this has helped us build a great product.
What is one thing that you wish you had known when you were starting out your career?
Career and life coaches aren’t just for CEOs or people going through midlife crises. Choosing a career is so important. After all, we spend most of our days, if not life, working. Work can impact our overall quality of life, levels of stress and even happiness. Yet, it’s hard to know what our passions are or what kind of work will excite us for the long haul when we haven’t had the opportunity to explore every possible field. I think I’m like a lot of people who have instead relied solely on hindsight being 20/20. Career and executive coaches are fantastic resources that should be more accessible early on in building a career…maybe we should invite some on our app!
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Mark Twain said it: ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’
Basically…YOLO!
What is your business advice for other young professional women?
If you’re excited about something, take big risks and don’t be afraid to fail. With every experience, there is a lesson to be learned. But you have to commit. I remember making safe decisions when building my first company, Locket. Looking back, I didn’t give certain strategies 110%, and so, I can’t say with confidence whether or not our ideas worked or whether we just didn’t try hard enough. Now, I push myself and my team to think and act boldly. If you can walk away feeling confident that an idea was a failure, that is still a win in my book. Try, fail, find new solutions and then try again. That’s how you get better.
Image courtesy of Yunha Kim/Simple Habit.
