Entrepreneurship Offers More Stability and Lower Risk Than Employment
The Bell's Founder Profile features Genesislab CEO Lee Young-bok, chronicling his path from Samsung Electronics through multiple startups, founding Genesislab, securing LG Uplus investment, and current revenue scaling plans.
Source: The Bell (더벨) — Lee Young-bok: “Entrepreneurship is more stable, carries less risk than salaried work” Original in Korean
The Bell’s Founder Profile series featured Genesislab CEO Lee Young-bok, documenting his career trajectory from Samsung Electronics through multiple startups to his current ventures in AI interactive solutions, alongside his current strategic focus.
Lee studied image processing and facial recognition at KAIST before joining Samsung Electronics in 2009. After working in the TV division and IoT device protocol standardization, he felt a desire to quantify the impact of his work directly. This prompted his entrepreneurial ambitions. His first startup attempt came at Toslab, which created the collaboration tool “Jandi” in 2014. He left the company in late 2016 to prepare for his second venture.
AlphaGo in March 2016 rekindled his entrepreneurial spark. Lee recognized that deep learning could be applied across human relationships and business broadly. In 2017, he co-founded Genesislab with Dr. Yoo Dae-hoon, a biometric security specialist who serves as Chief AI Officer. The company’s technology integrating facial expressions, voice, and behavior analysis from facial recognition became the foundation for “ViewinterHR,” an AI video interviewing solution that gained initial market traction.
The growth inflection came in late 2019 with investment from LG Uplus. This opening led to expanding customers among major enterprises and public institutions, predominantly within the LG ecosystem. By 2021, the Korean Army replaced its first-round recruitment with AI video interviews. The Navy and Air Force followed suit, with more than 100 organizations adopting the solution at the time of reporting.
Cumulative fundraising reached 26.5 billion won, backed by a diverse mix of venture capital firms like Korea Investment Partners and Stick Ventures, as well as financial institutions including Hana Financial Group, Korea Development Bank, and Industrial Bank of Korea.
Current strategic priorities focus on external expansion. 2022 revenue reached approximately 1.3 billion won, with plans to accelerate revenue growth starting in 2023. As ChatGPT adoption accelerated market acceptance of AI technology among private sector clients, the company judged this timing as optimal for scaling built applications and market position. Beyond ViewinterHR, the company plans to scale “ZUICY,” an interactive video content platform, and “Dr.Listen,” an AI mental health analysis service.
