Today we will meet the CEO of True Value, a company creating a better world to communicate with dreams. True Value, the activity award winning team of 2019 Fall E*5 KAIST, pursues a new model of micro SNS and aims to achieve educational innovation.
Please briefly introduce True Value.
Hi, I am Joo Young Joung, the CEO of True Value. 3 KAIST students with more than 10 years of career education and mentoring experience and one veteran designer with experience in child and youth programs joined together to create an eduTech startup. True Value provides an SNS called Dream Appeal to communicate with dreams.
Communicating with dreams sounds amazing. It’s nice to have a service that can actually help students explore their careers beyond mentoring, and it’s great to see True Value making it happen.
How did you select this service as your startup’s product?
I’ve been mentoring and doing career education for teenagers for over 10 years. Even though times have changed, the frustration that teenagers felt 20 years ago still exists in teenagers today. As the job field changes faster and faster, the Z generation is required to manage their own careers. It is easy to find general information about, but it is difficult to find updated information about various jobs. It’s also hard to discover who you really are to know what efforts to take for the future. Even more, there is no one to talk to discuss dreams. I believed that it was crucial to solve this chronic problem for the future of Korea, especially in a country where human resources are important, so I decided on this item.
I strongly agree that students have difficulty deciding on their careers. So this is why True Value created an application called Dream Appeal!
Can you explain more about the Dream Appeal Service?
Dream Appeal is an SNS for dreams. By planning and organizing dreams, users can communicate with others about their efforts and clearly understand each other’s dreams. The service goes beyond simple communication and aims to provide updated information about various jobs by topic and community. We want users to fully focus and become the dream guide to help them work towards their dreams.
Being the guide of dreams is really impressive. I heard that you recently launched a beta service for teenagers. I’m curious about the reactions of the students who tried Dream Appeal.
What were the reactions of students using this service?
About 3,000 students from elementary, middle, and high school used Dream Appeal through career education, and thankfully there were a lot of reactions saying that all students in the country should try the service. Looking through the feedback, there were detailed reviews such as ‘I learned for the first time that my longtime friend had these thoughts’, ‘There were chances to get to know other people’, and ‘I gained confidence to talk about my dreams, and now I feel relieved expressing them’. I felt really rewarded when I saw students running to other classrooms to show their friends the application to ask for cheers on their profile.
It was noteworthy to see reviews thanking us because they realized that they have been meaninglessly working hard just to impress others. Once a teacher was surprised to see a student working hard, when he thought he always playing around. Students with dreams in the sport, arts and culture fields were especially satisfied with our service. They were frustrated that they had to prove themselves with grades and a few awards in competitions, but Dream Appeal helped visualize and show their efforts. Even though it was the beta version, many teachers recommended our service to schools, and we even received suggestions from schools and career groups to use the service as a formal career support management program.
The scene of sharing dreams comes across more vivid. I think Dream Appeal would also be helpful to teachers understand their students more.
How are you bringing out active participation of users of Dream Appeal?
Users can have fun leveling up as they actively participate with dream nicknames. Through communicating and succeeding in missions, they can earn dream points, which can be used to get gift vouchers or participate in various events such as making dream wishes or getting expert advice.
It seems unique to set dream nicknames. Instead of the usual nickname, users can participate as names related to their dreams and give positive impact to other users.
Can people other than students also use Dream Appeal?
Of course! Just the thought of communicating with others and working hard makes someone more passionate. People who already have jobs can also use Dream Appeal to work towards a specific direction or to pursue their other dreams. Just use Dream Appeal with the mindset that you want to support people who are working hard towards their dreams and meet new people!
Will there be any additional features in the official launch of the application?
First of all, the UI will be much simpler and prettier. We also added additional features such as starting with a friend, adding friends from contacts or SNS, and real-time communication through DM. We will also expand our application by partnering with others. Lastly, to help users build their careers, we are planning competitions in each field.
The users will be really satisfied if the features you mentioned are implemented. I also heard Dream Appeal has a unique way of advertising.
What is True Value’s unique advertising method?
Users can automatically receive the necessary information for their dreams based on their dream nickname, skills to acquire, and plans. For example, for a student who dreams of becoming a ‘cyber investigator who arrests quickly’ will be shown advertisements related to police academy information sessions, smartphone security volunteering activities, and martial arts academies. Students enjoy seeing advertisements related to their dreams. Our advertisements differ from original ads that use search, visit, and purchase histories.
In the advertisers’ perspective, they want to not only maintain their existing customers, but also approach potential customers without disturbing them. It’s hard to do this with the original advertising methods that use search, visit, and purchase histories, but it’s easy in Dream Appeal. For example, if we want to advertise a Bluetooth wireless speaker microphone, we would not only consider the gender, age, and region of the users but also the dreams of users. In this case, we would target potential customers from users who dreams of becoming announcers, teachers, sports commentator, and singers. If we target customers this way, we can also increase the effectiveness of the customized advertisements, like ‘we introduce a Bluetooth wireless microphone for you to become a commentator who is ready at all times!’.
Can you give a word to KAIST students as a senior entrepreneur?
Compared to 2009 when I first tried to start a business in school, it became a really good environment to start a business and is getting better. If you are interested in starting your own business, there are a lot of opportunities to learn on campus. One thing I want students to know is that there is a big difference in depth between working part-time and full-time. I always wanted to say this to my juniors as I ran a startup club. You can’t do anything about team members working part-time due to their situations, but if you want to find out whether you’re fit for a startup, you have to work full-time even for a short period like a month or two. When you first start a business, you can really feel the team’s capabilities developing in many ways, including analyzing markets, responding to customers, and coming up with ideas. If team members are not fully immersed due to various reasons such as assignments, midterms, final exams, it’s difficult to make these developments and easier to give up once you start blaming your startup item and team members. Even if you try part-time and it doesn’t work out, don’t give up thinking that startups don’t suit you. Try again full-time.
The advice of a senior who went through starting a business really makes out to future entrepreneurs. CEO Joo Young Joung mentioned the importance of fully immersing in the startup process even for a short period of time. There is a limit to working part-time in startups, and if you have the passion to start a business, you must challenge yourself full-time and get to know yourself.
Last question! What is the ultimate goal of True Value?
True Value’s ultimate goal is to create a world where dreams and efforts rather than the educational background and grades determine value. We want to become a manager that lights up users who work hard towards their dream, a platform that holds one day classes useful to users’ dreams, and an employment platform that connects the efforts of users to the admissions and hiring process.
When we first met True Value, I thought it was a startup providing a career program for teenagers and mentoring service. After the interview, I realized that True Value was creating a platform where anyone with dreams can communicate with dreams as a means. Users enjoyed the process of setting up their dreams and working towards them, and also cheering others through the Dream Value application. In that process, Dream Value became a guide for dreams by providing individually customized information and contents.
I hope Dream Appeal becomes a platform where anyone can set their career direction and communicate with dreams, and where users’ efforts and values are recognized.
So far we have met with True Value’s CEO Joo Young Joung.
About 3,000 students from elementary, middle, and high school used Dream Appeal through career education, and thankfully there were a lot of reactions saying that all students in the country should try the service. Looking through the feedback, there were detailed reviews such as ‘I learned for the first time that my longtime friend had these thoughts’, ‘There were chances to get to know other people’, and ‘I gained confidence to talk about my dreams, and now I feel relieved expressing them’. I felt really rewarded when I saw students running to other classrooms to show their friends the application to ask for cheers on their profile.
It was noteworthy to see reviews thanking us because they realized that they have been meaninglessly working hard just to impress others. Once a teacher was surprised to see a student working hard, when he thought he always playing around. Students with dreams in the sport, arts and culture fields were especially satisfied with our service. They were frustrated that they had to prove themselves with grades and a few awards in competitions, but Dream Appeal helped visualize and show their efforts. Even though it was the beta version, many teachers recommended our service to schools, and we even received suggestions from schools and career groups to use the service as a formal career support management program.
The scene of sharing dreams comes across more vivid. I think Dream Appeal would also be helpful to teachers understand their students more.
Users can have fun leveling up as they actively participate with dream nicknames. Through communicating and succeeding in missions, they can earn dream points, which can be used to get gift vouchers or participate in various events such as making dream wishes or getting expert advice.
It seems unique to set dream nicknames. Instead of the usual nickname, users can participate as names related to their dreams and give positive impact to other users.
Can people other than students also use Dream Appeal?
Of course! Just the thought of communicating with others and working hard makes someone more passionate. People who already have jobs can also use Dream Appeal to work towards a specific direction or to pursue their other dreams. Just use Dream Appeal with the mindset that you want to support people who are working hard towards their dreams and meet new people!
Will there be any additional features in the official launch of the application?
First of all, the UI will be much simpler and prettier. We also added additional features such as starting with a friend, adding friends from contacts or SNS, and real-time communication through DM. We will also expand our application by partnering with others. Lastly, to help users build their careers, we are planning competitions in each field.
The users will be really satisfied if the features you mentioned are implemented. I also heard Dream Appeal has a unique way of advertising.
What is True Value’s unique advertising method?
Users can automatically receive the necessary information for their dreams based on their dream nickname, skills to acquire, and plans. For example, for a student who dreams of becoming a ‘cyber investigator who arrests quickly’ will be shown advertisements related to police academy information sessions, smartphone security volunteering activities, and martial arts academies. Students enjoy seeing advertisements related to their dreams. Our advertisements differ from original ads that use search, visit, and purchase histories.
In the advertisers’ perspective, they want to not only maintain their existing customers, but also approach potential customers without disturbing them. It’s hard to do this with the original advertising methods that use search, visit, and purchase histories, but it’s easy in Dream Appeal. For example, if we want to advertise a Bluetooth wireless speaker microphone, we would not only consider the gender, age, and region of the users but also the dreams of users. In this case, we would target potential customers from users who dreams of becoming announcers, teachers, sports commentator, and singers. If we target customers this way, we can also increase the effectiveness of the customized advertisements, like ‘we introduce a Bluetooth wireless microphone for you to become a commentator who is ready at all times!’.
Can you give a word to KAIST students as a senior entrepreneur?
Compared to 2009 when I first tried to start a business in school, it became a really good environment to start a business and is getting better. If you are interested in starting your own business, there are a lot of opportunities to learn on campus. One thing I want students to know is that there is a big difference in depth between working part-time and full-time. I always wanted to say this to my juniors as I ran a startup club. You can’t do anything about team members working part-time due to their situations, but if you want to find out whether you’re fit for a startup, you have to work full-time even for a short period like a month or two. When you first start a business, you can really feel the team’s capabilities developing in many ways, including analyzing markets, responding to customers, and coming up with ideas. If team members are not fully immersed due to various reasons such as assignments, midterms, final exams, it’s difficult to make these developments and easier to give up once you start blaming your startup item and team members. Even if you try part-time and it doesn’t work out, don’t give up thinking that startups don’t suit you. Try again full-time.
The advice of a senior who went through starting a business really makes out to future entrepreneurs. CEO Joo Young Joung mentioned the importance of fully immersing in the startup process even for a short period of time. There is a limit to working part-time in startups, and if you have the passion to start a business, you must challenge yourself full-time and get to know yourself.
Last question! What is the ultimate goal of True Value?
True Value’s ultimate goal is to create a world where dreams and efforts rather than the educational background and grades determine value. We want to become a manager that lights up users who work hard towards their dream, a platform that holds one day classes useful to users’ dreams, and an employment platform that connects the efforts of users to the admissions and hiring process.
When we first met True Value, I thought it was a startup providing a career program for teenagers and mentoring service. After the interview, I realized that True Value was creating a platform where anyone with dreams can communicate with dreams as a means. Users enjoyed the process of setting up their dreams and working towards them, and also cheering others through the Dream Value application. In that process, Dream Value became a guide for dreams by providing individually customized information and contents.
I hope Dream Appeal becomes a platform where anyone can set their career direction and communicate with dreams, and where users’ efforts and values are recognized.
So far we have met with True Value’s CEO Joo Young Joung.
Of course! Just the thought of communicating with others and working hard makes someone more passionate. People who already have jobs can also use Dream Appeal to work towards a specific direction or to pursue their other dreams. Just use Dream Appeal with the mindset that you want to support people who are working hard towards their dreams and meet new people!
First of all, the UI will be much simpler and prettier. We also added additional features such as starting with a friend, adding friends from contacts or SNS, and real-time communication through DM. We will also expand our application by partnering with others. Lastly, to help users build their careers, we are planning competitions in each field.
The users will be really satisfied if the features you mentioned are implemented. I also heard Dream Appeal has a unique way of advertising.
What is True Value’s unique advertising method?
Users can automatically receive the necessary information for their dreams based on their dream nickname, skills to acquire, and plans. For example, for a student who dreams of becoming a ‘cyber investigator who arrests quickly’ will be shown advertisements related to police academy information sessions, smartphone security volunteering activities, and martial arts academies. Students enjoy seeing advertisements related to their dreams. Our advertisements differ from original ads that use search, visit, and purchase histories.
In the advertisers’ perspective, they want to not only maintain their existing customers, but also approach potential customers without disturbing them. It’s hard to do this with the original advertising methods that use search, visit, and purchase histories, but it’s easy in Dream Appeal. For example, if we want to advertise a Bluetooth wireless speaker microphone, we would not only consider the gender, age, and region of the users but also the dreams of users. In this case, we would target potential customers from users who dreams of becoming announcers, teachers, sports commentator, and singers. If we target customers this way, we can also increase the effectiveness of the customized advertisements, like ‘we introduce a Bluetooth wireless microphone for you to become a commentator who is ready at all times!’.
Can you give a word to KAIST students as a senior entrepreneur?
Compared to 2009 when I first tried to start a business in school, it became a really good environment to start a business and is getting better. If you are interested in starting your own business, there are a lot of opportunities to learn on campus. One thing I want students to know is that there is a big difference in depth between working part-time and full-time. I always wanted to say this to my juniors as I ran a startup club. You can’t do anything about team members working part-time due to their situations, but if you want to find out whether you’re fit for a startup, you have to work full-time even for a short period like a month or two. When you first start a business, you can really feel the team’s capabilities developing in many ways, including analyzing markets, responding to customers, and coming up with ideas. If team members are not fully immersed due to various reasons such as assignments, midterms, final exams, it’s difficult to make these developments and easier to give up once you start blaming your startup item and team members. Even if you try part-time and it doesn’t work out, don’t give up thinking that startups don’t suit you. Try again full-time.
The advice of a senior who went through starting a business really makes out to future entrepreneurs. CEO Joo Young Joung mentioned the importance of fully immersing in the startup process even for a short period of time. There is a limit to working part-time in startups, and if you have the passion to start a business, you must challenge yourself full-time and get to know yourself.
Last question! What is the ultimate goal of True Value?
True Value’s ultimate goal is to create a world where dreams and efforts rather than the educational background and grades determine value. We want to become a manager that lights up users who work hard towards their dream, a platform that holds one day classes useful to users’ dreams, and an employment platform that connects the efforts of users to the admissions and hiring process.
When we first met True Value, I thought it was a startup providing a career program for teenagers and mentoring service. After the interview, I realized that True Value was creating a platform where anyone with dreams can communicate with dreams as a means. Users enjoyed the process of setting up their dreams and working towards them, and also cheering others through the Dream Value application. In that process, Dream Value became a guide for dreams by providing individually customized information and contents.
I hope Dream Appeal becomes a platform where anyone can set their career direction and communicate with dreams, and where users’ efforts and values are recognized.
So far we have met with True Value’s CEO Joo Young Joung.
Users can automatically receive the necessary information for their dreams based on their dream nickname, skills to acquire, and plans. For example, for a student who dreams of becoming a ‘cyber investigator who arrests quickly’ will be shown advertisements related to police academy information sessions, smartphone security volunteering activities, and martial arts academies. Students enjoy seeing advertisements related to their dreams. Our advertisements differ from original ads that use search, visit, and purchase histories.
In the advertisers’ perspective, they want to not only maintain their existing customers, but also approach potential customers without disturbing them. It’s hard to do this with the original advertising methods that use search, visit, and purchase histories, but it’s easy in Dream Appeal. For example, if we want to advertise a Bluetooth wireless speaker microphone, we would not only consider the gender, age, and region of the users but also the dreams of users. In this case, we would target potential customers from users who dreams of becoming announcers, teachers, sports commentator, and singers. If we target customers this way, we can also increase the effectiveness of the customized advertisements, like ‘we introduce a Bluetooth wireless microphone for you to become a commentator who is ready at all times!’.
Compared to 2009 when I first tried to start a business in school, it became a really good environment to start a business and is getting better. If you are interested in starting your own business, there are a lot of opportunities to learn on campus. One thing I want students to know is that there is a big difference in depth between working part-time and full-time. I always wanted to say this to my juniors as I ran a startup club. You can’t do anything about team members working part-time due to their situations, but if you want to find out whether you’re fit for a startup, you have to work full-time even for a short period like a month or two. When you first start a business, you can really feel the team’s capabilities developing in many ways, including analyzing markets, responding to customers, and coming up with ideas. If team members are not fully immersed due to various reasons such as assignments, midterms, final exams, it’s difficult to make these developments and easier to give up once you start blaming your startup item and team members. Even if you try part-time and it doesn’t work out, don’t give up thinking that startups don’t suit you. Try again full-time.
The advice of a senior who went through starting a business really makes out to future entrepreneurs. CEO Joo Young Joung mentioned the importance of fully immersing in the startup process even for a short period of time. There is a limit to working part-time in startups, and if you have the passion to start a business, you must challenge yourself full-time and get to know yourself.
Last question! What is the ultimate goal of True Value?
True Value’s ultimate goal is to create a world where dreams and efforts rather than the educational background and grades determine value. We want to become a manager that lights up users who work hard towards their dream, a platform that holds one day classes useful to users’ dreams, and an employment platform that connects the efforts of users to the admissions and hiring process.
When we first met True Value, I thought it was a startup providing a career program for teenagers and mentoring service. After the interview, I realized that True Value was creating a platform where anyone with dreams can communicate with dreams as a means. Users enjoyed the process of setting up their dreams and working towards them, and also cheering others through the Dream Value application. In that process, Dream Value became a guide for dreams by providing individually customized information and contents.
I hope Dream Appeal becomes a platform where anyone can set their career direction and communicate with dreams, and where users’ efforts and values are recognized.
So far we have met with True Value’s CEO Joo Young Joung.
True Value’s ultimate goal is to create a world where dreams and efforts rather than the educational background and grades determine value. We want to become a manager that lights up users who work hard towards their dream, a platform that holds one day classes useful to users’ dreams, and an employment platform that connects the efforts of users to the admissions and hiring process.
When we first met True Value, I thought it was a startup providing a career program for teenagers and mentoring service. After the interview, I realized that True Value was creating a platform where anyone with dreams can communicate with dreams as a means. Users enjoyed the process of setting up their dreams and working towards them, and also cheering others through the Dream Value application. In that process, Dream Value became a guide for dreams by providing individually customized information and contents.
I hope Dream Appeal becomes a platform where anyone can set their career direction and communicate with dreams, and where users’ efforts and values are recognized.
So far we have met with True Value’s CEO Joo Young Joung.