Photo Credit: Courtesy of Felix Kim
It’s not the origin story you might expect. Felix Kim, a young lawyer in South Korea, suddenly realizes that the bullying from his childhood holds the key to his business success. Armed with his fresh perspective, he ditches a partnership track at one of the top law firms in the country and creates Redrob, a global brand focused on making opportunities accessible to everyone across the globe.
So, how exactly did childhood bullying lead to a global business? According to Kim, Redrob’s CEO and co-founder, global perspective merging with context AI. Allow him to explain.
The story begins in Kim’s nomadic childhood. He moved with his parents from various destinations in the U.S. to Seoul, South Korea, to Lima, Peru. Throughout his travels, one thing remained constant: bullying.
As Kim explains, “I was the constant immigrant. Everywhere I went, I was culturally different. People distrust what they do not know. As a result, I was bullied throughout most of my childhood.”
The insight into why people distrust those who are culturally different was buried deep down and emerged in 2018 when Kim was practicing law in South Korea.
“I was working in international law and seeing again that cultural trust issues are a huge problem in global business, I decided to do something about it,” Kim says with a smile.
The “something” was ambitious and risky. Kim left his corporate law job in Seoul and relocated to Noida, India, to launch a global IT outsourcing company.
Five years of bootstrapping taught Kim lessons. He launched a new business laser-focused on a global business that reorganized data to enable sales, recruitment, and networking, creating global business opportunities.
Redrob was born.
Redrob gives businesses the tools they need to expand internationally. They are building a global people search™ that uses context AI to reorganize data to enable worldwide growth through global recruitment and sales intelligence.
“65% of the world’s population is online, yet so few businesses are truly global. The greatest obstacle to hiring and selling globally is siloed contextual knowledge by country. For example, U.S. recruiters don’t know about the local Ivy League in India, while Indian salespeople don’t know much about local distributors in the U.S.,” the CEO describes.
Redrob’s clients are already seeing global results. According to Rondale Davis, founder and CEO of GradPad, an alumni networking startup incubated in UCLA Anderson’s Venture Accelerator, “Our team now spans continents, bringing unique perspectives and turbocharging our growth.”
Additionally, Redrob has other tools that help businesses expand internationally.
Redrob Online Skill Tests is a testing platform where prospective employers can design and deploy skills assessments in as little as 30 seconds. The assessment allows prospective employers to predict on-the-job performance without human bias. Another is Redrob Employer of Record (EOR), which helps companies hire talent directly from foreign countries without having to set up payroll operations in each country they hire from.
“Essentially, we are taking the resources that Fortune 500 companies have globally and giving these resources to small businesses and startups. We are eliminating the barriers to entry in the international market,” Kim states.
The company reported $2.1 million in annual recurring revenue and achieved 200,000 users worldwide. In August 2023, Redrob completed its first seed fundraising round of $4 million, co-led by Murex Partners and DS&Partners (whose notable landmark investments include South Korean tech unicorns such as Mussinsa, Market Kurly, and Yanolja).
Kim forecasts, “We have several patents pending in data privacy and context AI, which will increase our capabilities. I believe we will reach 3.4 million users by December 2024.”
Felix Kim, the kid who took lessons from bullying across the globe, is proud of his accomplishments.
“Redrob is here to break down borders and provide global recruitment, global people search, and sales intelligence. The hard parts of my childhood blossomed into a business that harnesses technology to overcome cultural differences,” Kim says.
For information on Felix Kim and Redrob, visit www.redrob.io.
Written in partnership with Tom White
Entrepreneur
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