Follow Sun Ung Lee
Well, technically I’m a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and writer. But actually, I’m a dreamer, who cannot get enough with cutting edge technologies the world has, every minute looking to advance.
Breaking stereotypes, I hate sitting in the office or at home, controlling innovations and business whilst looking at the same window every day. I prefer field work, direct communication with customers and partners, and of course employees. That’s how I do the advances every day.
What do you think is the single biggest misconception people have when it comes to startups?
A-ha, I can speak about it endlessly. The most annoying thing is the youngster’s faith in the “start in the garage”.
Since the 90s majority of people keep sure everybody could start Apple or Microsoft knowing nothing, doing nothing, never failing. It’s a mistake that stops even strong men with great ideas.
If you could go back in time to any moment from your journey, and give yourself one tip, what would it be?
Develop self-motivation at most. Self-motivation is a kind of multiplier. If you are strong, being self-motivated you’re X times stronger; if you’re ahead of your competitors, with self-motivation you are making distance X time larger everyday.
What makes you stand out as an entrepreneur?
I have a strong track record of delivering results, as evidenced by the success of my previous business ventures. This has helped me to establish credibility in the industry and among investors.
What are some of the best working habits you’ve gained over the past couple of years?
I’ve developed a habit of setting clear and specific goals for each day, which helps me stay focused and motivated.
I’ve also learned to prioritize my tasks by making a to-do list and focusing on the most important tasks first. This has helped me to be more efficient and productive.
Give us a bit of an insight into the influences behind the company?
Myself, and my partners, strongly believed in the necessity of data sovereignty in the modern world. It’s the only way for the world to survive.
Why? The more things being done on-line, documents being signed electronically. Last generations have their child photos electronic-only. Data lost = human lost.
That is exactly Cloudike established for – the company develops the software platform, every operator could take to guarantee local citizens security of their digital shadow.
Where do you see your business in five years?
Cloudike will establish itself as a leader in the telecom industry, much like how Excel has become a staple in offices for its powerful data management capabilities.
Cloudike in the telecom industry takes its place, like Excel captured minds in the offices.
What do you think the biggest challenge will be for you in getting there?
The world is overloaded with slideware, inventware, fatasyware being driven by people who have nothing.
That makes everybody unsure about anything new, stops progress… and kills business. We are spending years in direct communication with each person of the industry in particular to differentiate from the majority.
Talk to us about your biggest success story so far?
I was a member of a team at LG Electronics that was exploring new business opportunities in the Russian market, specifically in the cloud-based content and services. I prioritized each opportunity based on market size and strategic fit with the company.
I determined that developing social features such as content sharing between friends in the cloud would not only grow the market but also increase the competitiveness of LG’s devices.
However, LG faced difficulties as they were primarily a hardware manufacturer and not prepared for the cloud and content distribution. I decided to select key personnel to develop the cloud business with a Russian corporation but faced challenges in finding the right people.
Eventually, LG asked me to lead the development of the cloud business myself. Despite initial concerns and a lack of knowledge about the Russian internet industry, I was able to recruit key talents, now my co-founders, and successfully launch the cloud business.
The business faced a crisis that threatened to shut down, but through my leadership and the efforts of my team, we were able to overcome it.
How do clients and customers find you? Are you much of a salesperson for yourself?
By word of mouth. They come to the Cloudike web-site, enter their contact information, and within a few hours our sales team gets to them. Our sales culture – we do not push, we are not in rush, we don’t sell if customers do not need the Cloudike.
Sometimes, people are coming just to get free advice, some coaching, and assess their business readiness against new value-added services. We’re happy to do it, once we have all the necessary materials to do it quickly without any expenses.
What one tip would you give to fellow startup founders?
One tip I would give to fellow startup founders is to choose and focus on the key areas that will drive the success of your business.
This means selecting your target market and focusing on serving that market as best as possible, choosing key partners and collaborators, choosing key performance indicators and focusing on measuring and improving them, choosing key products or services and focusing on perfecting and promoting them, choosing a specific revenue model and focusing on scaling and optimizing it, and choosing a specific geographic location or market and focusing on dominating it.
By making strategic choices and focusing on the most important areas, you can make the most of your resources and achieve the best results.
And finally, what do you hope the future brings both you personally, and your business?
Personally, I hope to continue learning and growing as a leader and entrepreneur, and to have a positive impact on the people and communities around me.
For my business, I hope to see continued growth and success, while also making a meaningful contribution to the industry and society.
