Yunha Kim: Steps of Risk Pave the Success of Simple Habit
Top 10 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch Out For in 2022
Success is not defined by numbers or
growth; it is defined by the passion you carry in your soul to make it to the
top. A perfect example of this is the incredible story of Yunha Kim, the
Founder and CEO of Simple Habit, an award-winning app for daily stress relief.
Founded in 2016, Simple Habit is now the leading meditation app in the App
store and 2018 Google Play Award Winner for Standout Wellbeing App. The app
boasts 40,000 five-star reviews. Simple Habit has raised $12.8 million from
investors including Foundation Capital, Y Combinator, New Enterprise Associates
(NEA) and many other prominent CEOs in Silicon Valley including Dropbox’s CEO
Drew Houston and Gusto’s CEO Joshua Reeves. Kim was honored by Forbes 30 Under
30 and Marie Claire’s New Guard. We are privileged to have the opportunity of
publishing a few insights shared by Yunha; the newsmaker of this edition. In
conversation with Yunha Kim…..
What was your goal while growing up? Did
you always want to be where you are right now?
When I was young, my dream was to be a
professor because I loved academics. Eventually, that changed, and my goal was
to be a doctor because I believe doctors can have a huge, positive impact. But
I never thought of being an entrepreneur.
What drove you to enter in this field?
What was your life like before Simple Habit?
After college, I worked as an investment
banker on Wall Street in NYC. I then started my first company when I was 23. My
thought process was simple – she had the least amount of risk in her early 20s.
Her market salary was low, and she did not have a family to feed. If there was
any time to take a risk, that seemed like the best time. My excitement
triumphed a fear of failure.
After I sold Locket, I moved to California.
The stress of building Locket led me to build a meditation habit. I continued
to meditate daily while attending SGB. During her first year, Yunha was
intrigued by the idea of building the “Spotify of meditation” where hundreds of
experts could offer their meditation content to stressed out individuals like
herself and she used my own savings to bootstrap the project.
Simple Habit started as a passion project
while she was attending Stanford GSB.
After launching Simple Habit, Yunha started
receiving amazing feedback from people around the world. People kept writing
in, telling them that their product was changing lives. When she saw the
business, model was successful and Yunha dropped out of Stanford GSB to focus
full-time on building Simple Habit into the destination people trust for their mental
wellness. Simple Habit went through Y Combinator in April 2016 and again in
2018. They are now backed by Foundation Capital, YC, NEA and prominent
investors like CEOs of Dropbox and Gusto.
What have been the best parts and
toughest parts of your journey? Brief us about the marvelous journey. If
possible, kindly help us with statistical insights as an overview of your
individual achievements.
The best parts have been building a strong
team of great people and having a positive impact in this world. The toughest
part has been making hard calls; whether it is about people or prioritizing
work, there is always so much to do and you must decide what you want to build
first.
Today, millions are using our product and
we have over 40,000 five-star reviews raving about how Simple Habit has changed
their lives. We graduated YCombinator in 2017 and again this year, when we
raised our series A led by Foundation Capital. In the last year, we’ve grown
10x.
Have you achieved all that you had
desired? Tell us about the moment when you realized that your hard work has
finally paid-off. What keeps you driven and determined towards work?
No, I’m just getting started! I don’t think
I’ll be satisfied until billions of people are using Simple Habit to reduce
daily stress and live better lives
What are the most important
characteristics that make an individual a successful entrepreneur?
People are the heart of a business. Having
a good intuition about people and recruiting the right team members is critical
for success. Also, resilience and tenacity are important characteristics. As an
entrepreneur, you’re here to play the long game, which means you’ll endure
challenge after challenge. This leads me to self-care. As an entrepreneur, you
are your number one resource. Taking care of yourself and knowing how to
prioritize your well-being matters.
How do you impart the same upon your
colleagues, employees and children?
One of our company values is Ownership. We
empower every employee at Simple Habit to have agency to make this company and
our world better. As part of this, we encourage employees to take meditation
breaks at work using our meditation pods. We foster a feedback culture so that
each one of us can continue to grow and learn through challenges.
Brief us about the services that Simple
Habit provides and tell us why customers choose you? Simple Habit is an award-winning app for daily stress relief. Simple
Habit offers a personalized approach to your mental wellness needs. Discover
more than 2,000 guided audio sessions from world-class meditation teachers,
therapists and coaches. Simple Habit helps busy people care for their mental
wellness in just 5 minutes. Founded in 2016, Simple Habit is now a top-rated
meditation app in the App store and boasts 40,000 five-star reviews. Download
Simple Habit for free on iOS or Android or visit www.simplehabit.com to learn
more.
Simple Habit stands out from competitors in
a few important ways:
– Variety of experts – We
are a two-sided marketplace. We found top mental wellness experts from all over
the world and invited them to one platform.
– Personalized
experience – Users can save select interests and build a playlist. Also, users
can select from a library of over 2,000 short meditations and audio therapy
sessions for a variety of situations and moods (think Before A Date, Commuting,
Can’t Sleep)
– More than just meditation –
We’ve realized that beyond the human desire to meditate is an even greater
human desire to reduce stress and cope with life’s challenges. That’s why we’ve
invited therapists and executive coaches to create bitesize audio content.
Amidst all your responsibilities and
roles at Simple Habit, how do you manage to balance between professional and
personal life?
Weekdays I’m focused on Simple Habits. I
dedicate my weekends to me and my personal life. I’ve also found ways to
integrate wellness in bitesize format into my day. For example, I usually enjoy
a quick 10-minute run in the morning, and I use Simple Habit a few times
throughout my workday. When I have to set aside 30+ minutes for myself to go to
the gym or for some other appointment, it’s hard to maintain that when my
schedule is constantly changing. Only needing a few minutes here and there has
made it easier for me to build a self-care habit.
What are your individual plans going
ahead? What does the future hold for Yunha and SimpleHabit?
Continue to build a product that people
love. Grow this company, grow our team.
Simple Habit has been a major platform in
facilitating good mental health among its customers. Yunha was able to act upon
the problem as she experienced it herself but refused to succumb to the stress
she faced. She took it up as a challenge and transformed it into her success
path inspiring millions. Her journey is a motivation for us to face our fears,
changing them into life experiences for a successful tomorrow.