Zoom, the global video conferencing platform, revealed plans for a significant acquisition during the peak of the pandemic in 2021. The company intended to buy Five9, a Nasdaq-listed provider of cloud-based remote customer service software, in a deal valued at $14.7 billion. At the time, Five9′s market capitalization stood at $11.9 billion.
However, the deal was ultimately scrapped in its final stages due to opposition from shareholders, fueled by U.S.-China tensions surrounding Zoom’s Chinese-American CEO Eric Yuan. Nonetheless, the attempted acquisition drew significant attention to Five9.
The man behind the founding of Five9 in 2001 in San Francisco is John Sung Kim (50), a Korean-American and the CEO of Jetbridge. Kim stepped down as Five9′s CEO in 2007 to pursue new ventures.
As a serial entrepreneur, he is well-known in Silicon Valley, where the odds of startup success are less than 10%. Achieving success as a serial entrepreneur is a rare feat, requiring not only business acumen but also a keen sense of societal and technological trends. “Looking at the Korean talents coming to Silicon Valley, I believe the time has come for Korean startups to compete on the global stage,” Kim said.
After stepping down as Five9′s CEO in 2007, Kim ventured into the digital healthcare sector. Inspired by his cousin’s battle with lymphoma, during which he sent hundreds of emails to doctors worldwide seeking help, he founded DoctorBase in 2010—a mobile platform that allows doctors to connect with patients and answer their medical queries. Five years later, he sold DoctorBase for $50 million, continuing his entrepreneurial success.
Since 2019, he has led Jetbridge, a company specializing in connecting experienced developers with employers. Recently, he has also become a limited partner (LP) in Rabbit Ventures, a U.S.-based venture capital fund that invests in early-stage startups founded by Koreans or Korean-Americans.
Born in Seoul, Kim moved to the United States as a one-year-old. Reflecting on his early years, he said, “In the 1970s, Koreans in America were undeniably part of the lower class. My parents ran a small sandwich shop in LA, working from 5 a.m. until late at night. Watching them struggle to make ends meet made me determined to succeed financially.”
Kim studied chemistry at Penn State University and began his career in banking. “After six months as a bank teller, I saw young people in shorts and sandals rather than a formal suit, coming in with millions of dollars to invest, and I realized I needed to quit my job,” he recalled. Those young people were all startup founders.
Kim’s Rabbit Ventures fund has invested in nine startups founded by Koreans or Korean-Americans, including “SortieLab”, a personal data managing platform, and “Tayren”, a security startup, both aiming to enter the global market. As a seasoned entrepreneur and investor, Kim noted, “Korean entrepreneurs are smart and creative, but they often lack storytelling skills.” He explained that many founders focus too heavily on the technical details of their business and fail to craft narratives that resonate with investors.
Kim emphasized that for effective storytelling, entrepreneurs should dedicate only about 20% of their pitch to discussing themselves or their product and focus the remaining 80% on what investors or customers want to know. He explained that when he founded Five9, it wasn’t the technical concept of “remote call centers” that interested investors. Instead, what really mattered to them was the potential for this small market to grow into a $2 billion industry.
Kim concluded, “Investors don’t just want to hear about technology—they want to see the big picture and the potential for growth.”
