[NE Log] 'Gempuh' Lee Junsub, Why He Quit His Lifelong Dream of Being an Entertainment PD to Become a Blockchain Developer

Editor's Note[NE Log] is a video content produced for companies selected in the ‘NEXT ELEVATION’ startup accelerator program established by Asia Economy.

Hello. I am Lee Joonseop, the CEO of the blockchain startup ‘Gumper’. Currently, we operate ‘Talket’, a blockchain-based smart ticket membership service.

Talket is a blockchain-based smart ticket membership service. Simply put, it can be seen as a platform that issues various ticket memberships, which are currently issued on the internet, on the blockchain, allowing free exchange and transfer, thereby increasing user freedom.

What sparked my interest in the blockchain industry

I originally wanted to work as a variety show or drama PD, and I actually worked at an outsourcing production company for about a year. During that time, I wondered if I could continue working steadily in broadcasting. I wanted to do something more creative than broadcasting. Then, during university, I traveled a lot to countries with underdeveloped financial infrastructure such as Jordan, Nepal, and Egypt. At that time, I had difficulties related to financial infrastructure, like inserting my card into an ATM but it not working due to a power outage. Then I saw an article I shouldn’t have seen ? about a person who traveled around the world with only Bitcoin. That reminded me of my experience and made me think, ‘Could I create a new financial infrastructure?’ At that time, it was a vague idea. Since I had no experience in this field, I thought I had to get into a similar job no matter what, so I applied for a marketing position and entered this industry.

I joined the company during a period of rapid growth, and as the organization expanded, there were some mismatches between the company’s direction and where I wanted to go. Before growth, there were opportunities to do various tasks, but once the company stabilized, the direction became clear. At that time, I had new things I wanted to try, so after discussing with the CEO, I decided to leave and take on a new challenge.

Reactions from those around me when I said I was leaving the company

“Don’t do it!” Because they knew how tough it would be, at first people suggested that maybe I could try something within the company. But that felt like compromising ? like not really challenging myself and ending up in an awkward situation. I thought that might harm both the company and my personal growth, so I decided to take a bold step when challenging myself, founded my current company, and have worked very hard to get to where I am now.

Honestly, “I always regret it” is just what I say deep down, but I have never regretted changing my career path. My personality is not suited to sitting still and studying; I like trying various challenges and industries with ups and downs. In that sense, this industry is so spectacular that it has exceeded my expectations.

The difficulties of running a startup unrelated to my major

There are many! Very many, and I worked very hard to overcome them. However, I majored in media studies but didn’t study media theory extensively. That means my mind was a blank slate. I had no preconceptions, so I could accept things as they were. When someone said something, I took it in with a pure heart. If I had had clumsy preconceptions, I might have misinterpreted things based on my own standards, but since I was a blank slate, I absorbed everything like a sponge.

However, the thought process is very different. Anyway, it requires a lot of logic ? not that media studies are illogical, but here you really have to be logical to communicate with computers and machine language. Fortunately, I entered this industry very early and had many opportunities to learn. Also, luckily, there wasn’t much theory. I came in when there was only Bitcoin, so for a whole year, I woke up at 5 a.m. and went to bed around midnight. I studied a lot outside of work and gained knowledge through experts and seniors around me, which helped me grow. Even now, I still work very hard.

The reason for developing Talket

At my previous job, I worked with the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, and at that time, I realized that the gift certificate market was shifting from paper to mobile, and that many existing gift certificates could not be exchanged due to various reasons. There is also a large market for scalped tickets and many problematic markets, but I thought that if these could be exchanged transparently and distributed where needed, the gift certificate market could develop positively.

To be more specific, recently, scalping issues have become very serious in the ticket market, with prices sometimes soaring dozens of times. I think the market needs a platform where such issues can be addressed through blockchain by implementing price ceilings and enabling transparent and safe transfer or exchange. Ultimately, in the future, all membership points a person has could be used anytime, anywhere, even without their knowledge, exchanged, and customized into their own memberships to trade with others. In the Web 3 world, the keyword will be the sharing economy.

We often share Netflix accounts and various memberships, but if these can be made more transparent and, from the company’s perspective, if off-market transactions are replaced by transparent blockchain transactions, companies can better monitor marketing and customer behavior. This could help companies improve their membership systems. Recently, a company called ‘CoachN’, which runs PCA bodybuilding competitions, issued tickets and completed demonstrations, and we plan to expand into various fields such as theater, marathons, and golf.

The value and vision of Talket

Since I entered this industry, I have consistently asserted, and still believe, that even street food stalls will create their own digital assets. If a street food stall adopts an IT system, using existing centralized systems would be too costly, but if they adopt a system with basic infrastructure like blockchain, they can cheaply create their own membership system. However, there are still fixed ideas like “Why should a street food stall do this?” and many practical cases have not yet emerged, so various attempts have not been made. But I believe in this network power. Therefore, I expect that in the future, many personalized memberships will be issued and exchanged like a point network, and companies that provide more benefits and profits to consumers will gradually grow.

From a company’s perspective, memberships and similar types have been limited and issued only by companies, so customers had to accept them passively. But as customer consumption patterns diversify, only companies that reflect these changes in their membership services will survive. In that regard, membership service design will become interactive, and companies that can build such interactive communities will likely grow more in the future.

Regarding the perception that blockchain or coins are scams, I think the industry as a whole needs to reflect on this. For Talket, we are working on persuading people without using terms like blockchain or NFT by presenting tangible cases like tickets or memberships. For example, when health club memberships are transparently transferred, the terms blockchain or NFT are actually unnecessary. We are persuading general consumers this way and striving to be recognized as a company that creates positive social impact through this technology.

The future dreamed of by Gumper CEO Lee Joonseop

Basically, as an industry grows, some side effects or negative things tend to happen first. The securities market wasn’t always a good model; if you look back in history, there were many incidents and accidents before it reached its current state. Similarly, blockchain and related technologies need more time for good teams to emerge and show successful cases. In that sense, I hope people recognize that many companies are working hard to create good examples and that we can collectively work to positively develop the industry.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.