CEO Kim Young-min of Celrun reminds this editor of a story once heard: a twenty-year old man undertakes a lone hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps in Jean Giono's story, L'homme qui Plantait des Arbres (The Man Who Planted Trees). He meets a shepherd there, whose long and successful single-minded dedication to re-foresting a desolate valley in the foothills is the same dedication that Kim Young-min uses to improve the world around him. If a desolate valley can one day turn into a lush forest and a one man business into a high ranked company through a single-handed effort, then could this phenomenon of long dedication affect the whole world Two of Kim Young-min's college alumni and two Korea IT Times staff members gathered at President Kim's house on one fine Sunday to meet the real man, and find some answers.
The Story of Kim Young-min
A Boy Who Fell into Ditches
President Kim Young-min as a child was a boy who loved to read cartoon books until after the sunset every day. There he fell in love with robotic characters, dreamt of building one one day, and fantasized about futuristic worlds. "I was so into the books many days I ended up falling into the ditch because I often forgot that I was walking on the road," Dr. Kim recalled.
Who Wanted to be an Artist
"When I entered high school as a freshman, I said to myself I shall become an artist," Kim began. He first joined an art club, and day and night he kept drawing and coloring. "A year and a half passed since I dedicated my life in drawing activity, yet I hadn't gotten one single bit of recognition for any piece of my work. I began to realize that the world did not appreciate my art, and this was when I ranked 30th in my class in academic performance as a junior in high school," Kim said.
From 30th to the Top
The failed artist now had no choice but to raise up his grades to enter college. Mad days of studying began, and within six months his grades pumped up dramatically. He soon became the top student in math class and in his senior year he even ranked number one in the entire class.
"Most of the top students of my classmates were visioning to get into the universities in Seoul, but I didn't think of going too far. I am a very realistic person who mostly settles with the present. My motto is 'Do not do tomorrow's tasks today'," said Kim.
My grades were more than enough to be qualified to enter Chonnam National University nearby. With a scholarship, I entered the Department of Electrical Engineering," Kim continued, "My cousin told me I needed to major in Electrical Engineering if I wanted to built robots, so I chose to be it."
What's Paradise for a Curious Man
A whole new world of knowledge awaited Kim from the very first day he attended the class. Before, Kim visited the local second-hand shop every day to search for electronics to take apart and put back together to find out how it worked. Now, he now literally lived in the school library reading books one after another. "I just couldn't believe how an entire book was written about differentials only," commented Kim. By mastering differentials and integrals, he finally could state how a radio worked theoretically.
Who Always Sought to Improve the World Around Him
"We all worked at the University Radio Station at the time and Mr. Kim was an engineer in this club. Out of many episodes that speaks on his university life is that for one Christmas event in college, he put up messages with colorful light bulbs using the theory of information technology. He was an idea man who always brought in new cutting-edge technology to outshine our club," recalled his fellow alumnus during the interview.
"I invented hundreds of things to improve my community all the way from college years to graduate school years. So by the time I had to apply for military service, I was be able to place my service for a big electronic firm as an engineer. Daewoo chose me just by reading the lists of my previous inventions and there I worked five years in replacement of military service," said Kim. There Kim joined the digital monitor project and the product hit it big. Then he and his teammates automated any work that required fellow worker physical labor and increased the company's productivity up to 10 times what it was before.
After five years, Kim started his own business where he turned client fantasies into reality.
He made anything, from a trench mortar control system for military defense to a sensor that detected North Korean espionage under the Limjin River, his company fully satisfied every client both in price and quality. "One day in 1999, a stranger visited our office and asked us to built an internet television. Today we call this IPTV and it is being commercialized every day. But at the time being it was such a crazy idea. However, this man had a clear vision of success with this item and so we made his belief come true in real life."
This item soon led to rousing success by signing a big contract with China, and this was the time when the venture boom was arising. After the press conference, many investors came to stand in line, and Kim kept working in partnership with the man as an engineer. But the business had to soon be closed when the CEO flew out of the country with all the investors' money.
President Kim decided to be responsible for the debts the CEO left behind, so he began seeking to export his cutting-edge technology to Japan. He named this company Tcom.net and worked his way up to sign a partnership with the company dtvro. From a part time CTO, he now became the CEO of a company. This was an late 2000.
Answers to Every Problem
In the worst situation ever to be imagined, he was stuck with an enormous amount of money to pay back. The investors said they invested money not because they trusted the former CEO, but him the engineer. He attempted to list his company by merging with a company of his choice. This was a bad call that caused him nothing but a trouble.
"I began studying about stocks and M&As very hard since then. I had 0 money in the bank, yet I kept on searching for a strong company to merge with. This time, a perfectly fitting company was miraculously found in the market, so I flew to Japan to meet my long time buyer: the buyer who never has gotten a penny off from me even after him being a long term buyer. I asked him to prepay me with 500 million won worth of product they will buy in the future by offering them a little percentage discount, and they called me within three days saying yes. Then I bororwed another half billion from the bank to buy the company. This time, it was the right and perfect choice, which became the turning point of my business." President Kim then changed the company name to Celrun, meaning running ahead, and started re-foresting the company with the newest technologies and innovative products. President Kim then bought Haansoft and TG Sambo (Averatec) after the big hit of Celrun TV and IPTV solutions. "I've always had to create the products from nothing. Now that I have already made software and existing hardware from both companies I own, all I have to do is to think how to make them better.
Secret to Derive Failure from Success
"I guess I am a very optimistic person. Even when I paid salaries to my employees by borrowing money from my wife (at that time a girl friend) and from the bank in early 2000, I was never deterred from the situation I was in. I always believed that there will be solution to a problem I faced, and all I had to do was focus on searching for that solution."
This editor concludes that an episode of President Kim's bike trip in college from Jeollanam-do to Seoul summarizes his entire character, and illustrates the key of the motive power to bring him where he stands today. With about 5 US dollars in his pocket, he and his friend had to ride up one of the highest mountains in Korea and down, about a 400 kilometer ride. As he was riding down Daedoon Mountain, his bike's brakes failed, so he was about to crash into the car that was coming forward. At this moment, he recalls that he didn't panic at all but thought of what to do quickly in order to avoid the crash. He spotted a levee and threw himself into the levee with the bike. There he fixed his brake and moved on to finish the trip.
Single-minded dedication, optimism, and patience are only a few words that represent the successful story of an adventure to being a high ranked company. President Kim's vision is to emphasize "differentiation" in upcoming products. One of Averatec's desktop was recently purchased through Best Buy for being unusual. "Some say that this is the most chaotic period in PC market with the emergence of netbooks, which suggests laptops more as a fashion item than a portable computer. But I believe that this crisis is the biggest opportunity for companies that are always in search of the key to every door," he finished.
