Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Kim.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started out shouldering a mountain of debt, living in my tattooer’s closet, working multiple jobs to make ends meet. I built my first company while living in a tiny semi-basement infested with cockroaches. A rags-to-riches story is nothing special and many people work their way up from zero. No matter where you are in your journey, you’re not alone. Find solace and solidarity in the knowledge that there are others walking the path you walk, unbeknownst to you.
We all need allies, kingmakers, and lovers to evolve and expand. That said, if you lean on others too much, you’ll lose yourself in the law of averages. If you want to go fast, go alone. Consider the opinions of others but do not entertain them.
When I was younger, I made the mistake of trusting certain people for too long because they were my friends, keeping incompetent teammates when they should’ve been fired, and identifying so personally with my work that I’d do anything to make other people’s companies succeed. I had the mentality of “no man left behind” and “never give up” which are honorable concepts, however, they stem from a working class mentality that can be profoundly toxic and self-destructive. That’s a big lesson I learned as both a completionist and a perfectionist. It’s important to lose the wrong people in order to find the right people. It’s important to lose the wrong projects in order to find the right projects. It’s not your job to die on your sword for some twisted concept of work ethic and loyalty – it’s your choice to abandon ship when the crew or captain feel unsound. Your “yes” is only valuable because of your right to say “no” and being a “yes man” is not a winning strategy.
That said, when you find the right people and worthy projects, I recommend giving 100%. Take on your share of the burden and more. As a leader, lead with self-sacrificing generosity and unconditional love. As a follower, follow with both loyalty and integrity.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I believe that we all have a fire burning in the soul. For some, that fire is nothing but a flicker of a dying matchstick. For others, that fire burns so intensely that we cannot help but breathe it out in the world.
I grew up mostly in Japan and California, to South Korean parents. Throughout my life, I was an outsider and I still have no place to call my hometown. As a teenage immigrant to the United States, I was what you’d call “FOB” – fresh off the boat. At that time, the public schooling system tried to send me to special education. Bullying at school, toxicity in my family, and inner hopelessness brought me to consider ending my life once or twice. Back then, I was a dying matchstick.
By the grace, generosity, and helping hand of others, I found my way to success. In the following years, I won national championships, paid my way through UC Berkeley, fixed my English accent, and graduated as president of my fraternity. During that time, I worked like a dog, doing all sorts of jobs including ice cream server, night security, cleaner, office admin, martial arts coach, and barback. When I got my first big executive role, leading a team of 80 people in the U.S. and China, I still worked evenings and weekends as a cleaner and server at a restaurant. I believe that there’s no task too low and no goal too high.
It was in this stage of my life that my inner fire reached a critical mass. To this day, I feel a bodily sensation of heat in my chest. It’s so real that it almost feels like pain – good pain – the kind of pain you feel when you’re being tattooed and forged into something greater. I wake up every morning and feel that fire trying to break out of my ribcage and into the world. I love that feeling.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In a twist of fate, I found myself in a state of early retirement. I never sought this outcome and I still want to work on interesting things for the rest of my life, never to retire. Financial freedom brings a world of possibility, but also, men become soft when tough times end. I’ve been getting used to this new reality, making sure I stay strong and sharp despite the comforts of life. Aristocrats have weak chins and I am no aristocrat. I started out in the fighting pit of life and I bring that energy to Elysium, so to speak.
For the past ten years, I’ve been building and investing in frontier technologies and emerging markets. I built the first-ever public sector co-lab at the United Nations federal building in San Francisco, in order to bring civic innovators and government officials together. I was on the management team of the first venture capital team in the world to invest in cannabis companies, at the outset of California’s legal market. I led expansion for a startup that’s still going strong today, securing its biggest accounts and opening new offices in Europe. I co-founded the blockchain lab and startup incubator at UC Berkeley, while at the same time, leading one of the earliest protocol-level firms in web3 with its own crypto exchange. I’ve advised a multitude of public offices including the U.S. Department of Defense, Dutch Consulate, Swiss Consulate, Latvian Commercial Service, South Korean Foreign Service, Economic Community of West African States, and Norwegian Consulate. I’ve raised tens of millions of dollars for venture-backed startups, made angel investments of my own, and led teams to create sustainable businesses. In my free time, I hosted a multitude of hackathons and events on my own dime in order to share opportunities with others and to serve my local community. The most rewarding volunteer work I did in that space was directing and founding a chapter of Startup Grind.
I’ve traveled so much that I forgot how many countries I visited and where I’ve been. But I know that I was changed for the better through my time living in Estonia, France, Portugal, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. Chaos and change are constants in my life and I feel comfortable in a state of intense growth.
Who else deserves credit for your story?
My tattooer is a close friend and I see him as an older brother. He took me in when I had nowhere to go and he forged me, quite literally, into the man you see today. His integrity and spirit of manhood call out to something older, more ancient and profound, than anything I’ve seen in modern society. We have both traversed a path of struggle and solitude, however, we keep a sense of wonder and love for the world at large. His name is Ed Swanson, founder and leader of Serpent Song studio. Whereas most of the world is a trifling game of smoke and mirrors, Ed reminds me that there exists something infinite and eternal that we all must seek.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luke_use.the.force/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukekim153/
