This text was originally written in Korean on March 18, 2024, and has been translated into English and uploaded
Last week, chatting with Hyunsol Park got me thinking about what I mean to my team and customers.
Kobe Bryant, the NBA legend who inspired people with his Mamba Mentality, once answered the question, “What do you do?” with “I bring numbers.” Points for the team, stacking wins, pushing for championships, making fans happy.
It felt like a nudge to figure out the core of my own work. To raise the bar on what I do, I think it’s time to pin down my own definition of it.
What’s the essence of my work? How does it impact people? Still sorting it out, but these lines came to mind:
"I build a product to better products be born"
"I spread inspiration to people to innovate our society"
"I connect people to build authentic relationships in their life"
"I shape the internet to distribute network of everything"
Here’s a deeper dive into each.
1/ "I build a product to better products be born"
With more products popping up every day, I’d love to see people bake stronger philosophies and tastes into them. There’s just too many similar things out there now—and they’re easy to churn out. That’s why founders and makers need to lean on their experiences and a solid take on what makes a product great, weaving that into stuff that hits people emotionally and sparks connection. Adding positive value to life? That’s a given. To me, that’s a truly well-made product. How do you grow a taste of product? I think every company and maker needs to keep asking themselves that nonstop moving forward.
Lately, I’ve been thinking—if a product isn’t vertical enough, we lose those sneaky insights only our team would catch, and that drags quality down. Especially early on, going vertical feels critical. The more focused you get, the more you zero in on what matters and ditch the rest. “Pick and focus” sounds cliché, but that’s proof it’s a classic for a reason.
2/ "I spread inspiration to people to innovate our society"
Building Disquiet, writing, bringing people together—all these things seem to boil down to handing out inspiration. And inspiration’s that jolt that gets people moving on their own. Sharing this with folks in the startup world naturally leads to better products and services, which I think ripples out to lift the whole society we live in. How do you spread higher-quality inspiration wider? Probably by chasing truth relentlessly. Fake inspiration flops fast and fizzles out. How deep I dig into problems and how real my messages hit—that’s what sets the quality and reach of inspiration apart.
3/ "I connect people to build authentic relationships in their life"
Lately, it feels—stats or gut—like the number and depth of real relationships are shrinking. For lots of people, family’s a rare meetup, good friends are hard to find, dating’s a money-and-time sink, and work’s just a paycheck grind. But humans are social—we can’t not form bonds. You see that itch in social media, community platforms, hobby apps.
I’m zoning in on using Disquiet to help people find the right teammates and build real connections. Work—full-time, part-time, freelance—is this inescapable chunk of life for most, eating up as much time as sleep does over a lifetime. And the kicker? You can’t dodge people in it—customers, teammates, investors, whoever. You’re meeting folks and tying knots no matter what. Teammates probably soak up the most hours. Finding a crew that clicks and forging authentic ties? That’s huge—and a lucky break. Disquiet’s tackling this with stuff like hiring or coffee chats to spark real bonds. What’s the key to linking tech pros well, and what’s the best way to nail it?
4/ "I shape the internet to distribute network of everything of tech products"
This feels like it wraps up 1-3. Everything I do seems to tie back to designing and running a product and ops that hook up all the tech product data—knowledge and people—on the internet, right where it’s needed. Stack the right data fast and simple, then show it to the right person at the right time in the best way. Lately, words like internet, social, network effects, hiring, career networking keep buzzing in my head, pushing me to wrestle with what’s the better solution, the sharper execution, the top-tier product.
Digging deeper into what I do, I figure my taste for it will take shape—and that’s where I can crank up the excellence. These thoughts in my makerlog are pretty raw, but I’m planning to keep sharpening this taste of work idea going forward.