[Independent Labels]Two Pivots and Counting! The Relentless Journey of Sunday Worker
18 Aug 2024
Sometimes, you come across CEOs who seem like they were born to run a business. However, today's featured CEO has a slightly different story. Initially, she didn't have a strong desire to start a business, but through the culture at Alpha Brothers, she learned to embrace challenges, growth, and the fearlessness of failure, which ultimately led her to pursue entrepreneurship.
Meet Yonnie Cho, the third featured entrepreneur in the Alpha Brothers Internal Startup Series, and the CEO of Sunday Worker.
Main Takeaways ๐ข
"Sunday Worker," pivoted twice with AI-related ideas and now gearing up for the launch of their third service.
Initially uninterested in entrepreneurship, but naturally drawn into it by being around people with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Meet Yonnie Cho, who is truly embodying Alpha Brothers' core value: "There’s no failure, only lessons learned!"
A Focus on Skill Development Over Luck, This is What Inspired Me to Join Alpha Brothers.
Hey everyone. My name is Yonkyong "Yonnie" Cho, and I am the founder of "Sunday Worker."
Q. Could you tell us about what motivated you to start Sunday Worker?
When I first joined Alpha Brothers, I didn’t have a strong desire to start a business. I vaguely thought it would be nice to start one someday, but as I worked at Alpha Brothers and interacted with the CEO and team leaders who were passionate about entrepreneurship, I began to think, "It would be amazing to take control and work on my own idea." That’s how I ended up founding Sunday Worker in 2022.
Q. I heard you pivoted twice. How was that experience for you?
When I founded Sunday Worker in 2022, NFTs were incredibly hot. At the time, I was leading the UX/UI team, so I felt confident in my ability to handle IT product planning and design, and I believed I could manage the development as a project manager as well. This led me to start a company focused on developing a program to prevent NFT plagiarism.
To briefly explain the idea, the program would crawl NFTs listed on the market, analyze their similarity to the original image using AI, and flag those with a high similarity as potential cases of plagiarism. However, as many people know, the NFT market crashed shortly after, rendering that idea obsolete.
For my first pivot, I decided to shift the focus to an AI-based program for detecting plagiarism in general design materials, not just NFTs. We even completed the development last year. However, as I am not a developer, I found it challenging to perform effective quality control and further enhance the program. This realization led to the second pivot, where I had to put that project on hold, marking two instances of what could be considered failures.
Q. It must not have been easy to decide to pivot twice. How did you feel during that process?
To be honest, I was the first person to start a business through the internal startup program at Alpha Brothers, so in a way, I was the program's first participant. Not achieving the expected results was quite scary for me. However, our CEO was always supportive, asking, "What's your next pivot idea? How will you approach it this time? How will you overcome this?" Thanks to that encouragement, I'm now preparing my third project.
Yonnie Cho, CEO, Leading an "AI" Lecture at Alpha Brothers' Monthly Study Session
CHAPTER 02. Alpha Brothers Taught Me to Dream Big
Q. Could you share the story of how you joined Alpha Brothers?
Before joining Alpha Brothers, I met with many different CEOs. While they were all impressive in their own way, I often got the sense that they were hoping to make money through sheer luck, which left me disappointed. Just when I was feeling disheartened, a friend recommended Alpha Brothers to me. What really impressed me about Alpha Brothers was their culture—it's all about hard work and dedication. The mindset here is, "Want to succeed? Then you need to work hard and give it your all." It’s a culture that doesn’t rely on luck, and I realized, "Yes, this is the true way to achieve success." That’s what led me to join the company.
Q. It must not have been easy to prepare for a startup while handling your regular work. Do you have any time management tips or strategies that you personally use?
At Alpha Brothers, we often talk about the 8+4 rule. Even though I’ve started my own business, I’m still part of Alpha Brothers, so I continue to fulfill my responsibilities here. I dedicate eight hours a day to my regular work, and then I add four hours of my own time to focus on developing my startup idea. I follow this 8+4 rule, working at least four extra hours each day on my entrepreneurial project.
Q. What kind of support did you receive from the Internal Startup Program?
First, there's the financial investment, though I won’t disclose the amount since it can vary from company to company.
Second, is the practical support. While I'm well-versed in the UX/UI field, I'm not as strong in other areas, such as finance, accounting, and marketing. Alpha Brothers provided me with a finance and accounting expert, as well as team leaders who specialize in marketing, to offer hands-on support in those areas.
The third and most impactful support for me is the weekly meetings with the CEO. In these meetings, what I learn the most is attitude—how to approach business with the right mindset and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. One of the key lessons that stuck with me is, "Don’t feel wronged; everything is your responsibility." Another is how to effectively manage people and work with the valuable team members who help build the company. These are lessons that you can't easily learn from books, and I'm grateful for the opportunity and the support to learn them directly.
Q. How do you think it would have been if you had started your business on your own?
Honestly, I don't think I would have started a business on my own in the first place. The very idea of entrepreneurship was something I could pursue because of the encouragement and gentle push from those around me. Plus, there are just too many things to manage. Since I don’t have a lot of seed money, if I had tried to start a business alone, I probably would have failed early on, or I might have scaled back my dreams to run a much smaller operation. I likely would have taken a low-risk, low-return approach. But after joining Alpha Brothers, I learned how to dream bigger and the methods to actually achieve those dreams.
Interview Video of Yonnie Cho, CEO of Sunday Worker
There's a saying that the five people closest to you are a reflection of who you are. The environment and culture at Alpha Brothers, which inspire and support entrepreneurial dreams, have once again produced another entrepreneur. We wish Sunday Worker a bright and powerful future.
Sometimes, you come across CEOs who seem like they were born to run a business. However, today's featured CEO has a slightly different story. Initially, she didn't have a strong desire to start a business, but through the culture at Alpha Brothers, she learned to embrace challenges, growth, and the fearlessness of failure, which ultimately led her to pursue entrepreneurship.
Meet Yonnie Cho, the third featured entrepreneur in the Alpha Brothers Internal Startup Series, and the CEO of Sunday Worker.
Main Takeaways ๐ข
A Focus on Skill Development Over Luck,
This is What Inspired Me to Join Alpha Brothers.
CHAPTER 01.
2๋ฒ์ ํผ๋ด! ์คํจ ์๋ ๋ ์จ๋ฐ
Q. Could you please introduce yourself?
Hey everyone. My name is Yonkyong "Yonnie" Cho, and I am the founder of "Sunday Worker."
Q. Could you tell us about what motivated you to start Sunday Worker?
When I first joined Alpha Brothers, I didn’t have a strong desire to start a business. I vaguely thought it would be nice to start one someday, but as I worked at Alpha Brothers and interacted with the CEO and team leaders who were passionate about entrepreneurship, I began to think, "It would be amazing to take control and work on my own idea." That’s how I ended up founding Sunday Worker in 2022.
Q. I heard you pivoted twice. How was that experience for you?
When I founded Sunday Worker in 2022, NFTs were incredibly hot. At the time, I was leading the UX/UI team, so I felt confident in my ability to handle IT product planning and design, and I believed I could manage the development as a project manager as well. This led me to start a company focused on developing a program to prevent NFT plagiarism.
To briefly explain the idea, the program would crawl NFTs listed on the market, analyze their similarity to the original image using AI, and flag those with a high similarity as potential cases of plagiarism. However, as many people know, the NFT market crashed shortly after, rendering that idea obsolete.
For my first pivot, I decided to shift the focus to an AI-based program for detecting plagiarism in general design materials, not just NFTs. We even completed the development last year. However, as I am not a developer, I found it challenging to perform effective quality control and further enhance the program. This realization led to the second pivot, where I had to put that project on hold, marking two instances of what could be considered failures.
Q. It must not have been easy to decide to pivot twice. How did you feel during that process?
To be honest, I was the first person to start a business through the internal startup program at Alpha Brothers, so in a way, I was the program's first participant. Not achieving the expected results was quite scary for me. However, our CEO was always supportive, asking, "What's your next pivot idea? How will you approach it this time? How will you overcome this?" Thanks to that encouragement, I'm now preparing my third project.
CHAPTER 02.
Alpha Brothers Taught Me to Dream Big
Q. Could you share the story of how you joined Alpha Brothers?
Before joining Alpha Brothers, I met with many different CEOs. While they were all impressive in their own way, I often got the sense that they were hoping to make money through sheer luck, which left me disappointed. Just when I was feeling disheartened, a friend recommended Alpha Brothers to me. What really impressed me about Alpha Brothers was their culture—it's all about hard work and dedication. The mindset here is, "Want to succeed? Then you need to work hard and give it your all." It’s a culture that doesn’t rely on luck, and I realized, "Yes, this is the true way to achieve success." That’s what led me to join the company.
Q. It must not have been easy to prepare for a startup while handling your regular work. Do you have any time management tips or strategies that you personally use?
At Alpha Brothers, we often talk about the 8+4 rule. Even though I’ve started my own business, I’m still part of Alpha Brothers, so I continue to fulfill my responsibilities here. I dedicate eight hours a day to my regular work, and then I add four hours of my own time to focus on developing my startup idea. I follow this 8+4 rule, working at least four extra hours each day on my entrepreneurial project.
Q. What kind of support did you receive from the Internal Startup Program?
First, there's the financial investment, though I won’t disclose the amount since it can vary from company to company.
Second, is the practical support. While I'm well-versed in the UX/UI field, I'm not as strong in other areas, such as finance, accounting, and marketing. Alpha Brothers provided me with a finance and accounting expert, as well as team leaders who specialize in marketing, to offer hands-on support in those areas.
The third and most impactful support for me is the weekly meetings with the CEO. In these meetings, what I learn the most is attitude—how to approach business with the right mindset and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. One of the key lessons that stuck with me is, "Don’t feel wronged; everything is your responsibility." Another is how to effectively manage people and work with the valuable team members who help build the company. These are lessons that you can't easily learn from books, and I'm grateful for the opportunity and the support to learn them directly.
Q. How do you think it would have been if you had started your business on your own?
Honestly, I don't think I would have started a business on my own in the first place. The very idea of entrepreneurship was something I could pursue because of the encouragement and gentle push from those around me. Plus, there are just too many things to manage. Since I don’t have a lot of seed money, if I had tried to start a business alone, I probably would have failed early on, or I might have scaled back my dreams to run a much smaller operation. I likely would have taken a low-risk, low-return approach. But after joining Alpha Brothers, I learned how to dream bigger and the methods to actually achieve those dreams.
Interview Video of Yonnie Cho, CEO of Sunday Worker
There's a saying that the five people closest to you are a reflection of who you are. The environment and culture at Alpha Brothers, which inspire and support entrepreneurial dreams, have once again produced another entrepreneur. We wish Sunday Worker a bright and powerful future.