From Two Successful Exits to Challenging the Global Market with a Third Startup

Sungwon Lee’s Entrepreneurial Journey

After successfully selling two startups, Sungwon Lee founded his third startup, PlugBear. From the beginning, he aimed for the global market and started his third venture in the United States. However, even for a serial entrepreneur, the global market is a tough challenge. After pivoting twice in a year, he has now secured over 60 paying corporate customers.

Entrepreneurship and Pivoting

The initial service of PlugBear was to easily connect AI with work tools like Slack and HubSpot. “The first pivot was planned. We thought of quickly creating the first product to verify something and then resetting our criteria,” recalls Lee. The first product was Elaborate AI, a solution that automatically created materials needed for shared meetings.

However, due to the rapid advancement of AI technology, which could change the way shared meetings were conducted, they pivoted to the second product, RunBear. RunBear was a service that helped DevOps engineers efficiently manage runbooks. But due to the challenges of targeting engineers, they pivoted again to the current PlugBear.

Challenges and Success in the Global Market

Sungwon Lee says his experience in the U.S. market was very new.

In the U.S. market, I felt like a complete novice entrepreneur.

Unlike in Korea, the U.S. market is much larger, and even focusing on a specific field can find enough customers. However, the competition is much fiercer.

Platforms like Zendesk creating their own AI is a given, and even when asking someone working in a WeWork lounge what they are making, they would answer they are making CX AI.

RunBear’s target users are non-tech companies aiming to improve workflow performance using AI. A representative client is Laser Away, a cosmetic company that provides personalized skincare products and has over 3,000 employees. These non-tech companies are the main customers of PlugBear.

The Power of Content Marketing

PlugBear’s initial customer acquisition was mainly through content marketing.

Most of our customers were inbound. When we thought about where our defined persona customers were, it was platforms like Reddit and Product Hunt.

Sungwon Lee utilized social media and his network to promote the product. As a result, they achieved the feat of being selected as the 5th best developer tool on Product Hunt.

B2B SaaS Sales in the U.S.

In the U.S., it is important to give the impression that there is a person behind the software when selling B2B SaaS.

There is no time difference, so we can communicate much faster and more extensively, which is good.

He also reinforced their positioning in the U.S. market through the Techstars program and received investment from U.S. VCs, which provided significant help.

Conclusion

Sungwon Lee’s story shows how much effort is needed to succeed in the global market. He adheres to the principle of “launching quickly and learning from users,” continually challenging and learning to achieve success. His journey will inspire many entrepreneurs.

Sungwon Lee’s global challenge is still ongoing. His journey will continue to inspire many entrepreneurs and is expected to create many success stories in the future.