What Korean Pop Culture Tells Us About the Future of Content Creation: Reimagined with Robin

From spaces to banking to eyewear and beyond, offline businesses are being rapidly reinvented. As an investor, I’m curious about how people are changing the industries they work in. “Reimagined with Robin” is a show where I conduct live interviews with founders and change-drivers who are reimagining all aspects of life.

In recent years, Korean culture has become increasingly relevant in the global zeitgeist, evidenced by the growing popularity of K-pop, Korean dramas, e-sports, and Korean films. The impact of these cultural phenomena has been outsized, as seen by the success of groups like BTS and Blackpink, the popularity of shows like Crash Landing on You, and critically acclaimed films like Parasite winning multiple prominent awards.?

In South Korea, webtoons—or digital comics optimized for mobile devices that have become a sought-after source material for hit Korean dramas—are gaining popularity. The audience for webtoons, which has been traditionally underserved by traditional comic book publishers, is predominantly composed of Gen Z and younger millennials, with 60% being women. Today, webtoons have also become the most sought after source material for many hit Korean dramas like Kingdom, Itaewon Class, Business Proposal, and My ID Is Gangnam Beauty. You can read more about that phenomenon here.

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In this episode of “Reimagined with Robin,” I spoke with @Chang Kim, founder and CEO of @Tapas Media. I’ve known Chang for about seven years now, and I thought he would be the perfect person to talk to about how Korean culture has been capturing the attention of audiences around the world and breaking down traditional barriers in the entertainment industry. On top of that, Chang’s experience as an entrepreneur has been a fascinating one, having founded two companies with strong roots in content creation (in two different countries!), and he also has an incredible M&A story.

What’s your background, and what led you to go back to being an entrepreneur after founding and selling one company? ?

Chang worked on Samsung’s mobile content strategy before founding his first company, TNC, a blogging software platform based in South Korea. After selling TNC to Google in 2008, Chang eventually moved to California with his family, working at Google on products like Blogger.com. “I would say my background is really building content publishing platforms with social elements,” said Chang. And as it turned out, he still had more to build.

In the early 2010s, as smartphone adoption took off, Chang noticed new types of mobile-based businesses emerging in South Korea. He also noticed how companies in Asia were reinventing storytelling for mobile platforms in ways that went beyond what apps like Pinterest and Instagram were doing in the U.S. With his background in storytelling and platform building, Chang decided to reimagine storytelling for the mobile audience and bring the thriving mobile-based storytelling ecosystem from Asia to the U.S.

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Tapas started out as a user-generated content publishing platform with social networking and monetization features. After attracting many content creators, the Tapas team started working directly with them to develop original content. Kakao, a prominent South Korean internet company, invested in and eventually acquired Tapas in 2021. Chang compares Tapas’ evolution to that of Netflix, where companies in the space usually start out as technology platforms, but eventually become more like content platforms.

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Chang’s advice for companies in the content-based platform industry? Think about whether you’re really stronger on the platform or the content side, and be open to innovating beyond your initial starting point.

What was the fundraising experience like for you? How would you advise other founders?

The concept was hard to explain to investors, said Chang. Many VCs did not understand the true potential of the platform, mostly because they hadn’t seen something like it before. Tapas was a publishing platform where anyone who wanted to create new IP could publish their stories. Tapas was often compared to Marvel or DC Comics, but those were fundamentally different businesses with very different target audiences.

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From experience, Chang knows that people tend to understand new concepts better when they are put in the context of existing ones. Despite it being overused, Chang mentioned that using the framework of "Uber for X" can sometimes be useful in this regard. When raising seed capital, founders should be prepared to share metrics and milestones achieved early on, since it could be their one chance to raise money based on their track record and concept.

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Chang sold Tapas to @Kakao Corp in 2021 after initially trying to raise funding from them. The relationship was synergetic, and Kakao was able to provide IP that performed well on Tapas. Chang felt like Kakao was ultimately a strong partner since they had more resources to invest in IP development, which had become the nexus of Tapas. Like Netflix, Chang had the experience of starting a technology platform that eventually evolved to more of a content platform.

What’s the future of content creation?

Chang believes that engaging with the creators behind a show or IP is just as important as consuming the content they produce. He envisions a future where technology significantly increases productivity, leading to better quality content, while reducing the pressure and workload on creators to prevent burnout. Chang wants a platform that fosters interaction and community between creators and fans. The current process of content creation can be inefficient and labor-intensive, especially for mediums like webcomics and web novels. By using technology to reduce the workload of creators, he hopes to maintain the same quality of content while increasing productivity.

How are you reimagining yourself as a founder this year?

Chang is currently taking time off to figure out his next steps, though he is definitely geared towards helping other entrepreneurs. “I think startups need to play a really essential key role in solving the world's problems,” he says. Chang believes that once you're a founder, you're a founder forever, and he looks forward to helping other founders and entrepreneurs by sharing his past experiences.

Follow @GGV Capital to tune into more Reimagined conversations!

+ Special thanks to my colleagues?Amy Chen?and?Megan Tung?who made this come to life!