Today marks exactly 10 years since I joined Sendbird.
On May 30, 2015, I still remember walking into Maru180, a co-working space in Yeoksam, Seoul, plugging in my personal laptop, and getting to work. I wrote our very first company deck under the name “Jiver,” and we wrapped up the day with a small welcome dinner at a local chicken joint called “Hwadeok.” It feels like it all happened just yesterday.
Looking back, if my younger self had known everything this journey would demand, I might have hesitated to take the leap into startups. Growth always comes at a cost, and sometimes, that cost felt too steep. There were tough goodbyes with teammates I thought I’d work with forever, long stretches away from family, countless sleepless nights, overwhelming schedules, demanding customers, and the emotional ups and downs that come with building something alongside people you care about.
And yet, despite it all, I would still choose Sendbird.
At the time, I thought we’d go public in five years, become successful, and each move on to our next adventure. But over time, I came to realize that this wasn’t just a stepping stone. For me, Sendbird has become the once-in-a-lifetime ‘masterpiece’ I get to help build. One heartfelt challenge means more than a series of wins that don’t move you.
What I’m most grateful for is the people I’ve met along the way.
John, Joe, Forest, and Brandon, these aren’t just colleagues, but lifelong friends. Relationships like these are rare, and I treasure them deeply.
I thought I’d be spending today surrounded by coworkers, receiving congratulations. Ironically, I’m on vacation for the first time in a long while, quietly spending time with my family at a resort. The loneliness I often carried with me since childhood has begun to fade, or maybe I’ve simply learned to live with it more peacefully. In either case, I’ve come to better understand what fulfilling relationships really feel like.
Not everything in my life is perfect, career achievements, where I stand in the company, personal relationships, or family. But all of these things influence one another and find their own kind of balance. And in that balance, I find peace and contentment.
The past decade was a fierce battle in a niche space called chat APIs, so niche that even analysts didn’t pay attention to it. But what we’ve built here is meaningful. Now, we’re stepping into a new decade, this time in the broader, fast-evolving space of AI agents.
Ten years from now, I hope Sendbird will be a name we can proudly share in any market, with any customer, anywhere in the world. And I hope my journey here offers even a little courage or inspiration to someone else starting out.