It is by no means a stretch to say that Dowan Kim has seen it all.
He has been through the nadir and the apex of life, bucking the odds of a poverty-stricken childhood to become an accomplished corporate executive/startup founder before turning 30. He has travelled across the globe, crossing industries, discovering different cultures, and somehow felt right at home the moment he landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“Of all the Southeast Asian countries that I’ve been to,” says Kim, who heads a department here for a leading global tech company, “I really fell in love with the Philippines.”
Kim points to the country’s culture as a strong touchpoint. He loves the food and even more so the people. He is no stranger to the inner workings of Philippines’ business and society, having made inroads in becoming a trusted adviser to corporate executives, politicians, and celebrities.
More importantly, he considers the Philippines home and the “heartbeat” of the global operations of his fast-growing global multi-million dollar e-commerce business, Clickshare Media Ventures. Here, Kim looks back on his journey and talks about his dreams and advice for others who want to follow in his footsteps.
From a small desert town to Wall Street, to a new chapter in Asia
Kim was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, just across the famed house of Walter White from the hit TV series Breaking Bad. His parents migrated from Korea to the U.S. without a dollar to their name or an English word in their vocabulary.
Kim grew up poor and at an early age learned the value of working hard. He used the lessons to propel himself forward in life to chase excellence in every pursuit.
He graduated Summa Cum Laude, Valedictorian with a Bachelors of Business Administration from The University of New Mexico. After which, Kim wanted to position himself amongst the best of the best. He went to Wall Street and spent two years at Goldman Sachs in its prestigious two-year analyst program.
He was having a grand time, being amongst the sharpest minds in the financial center of the world. However, he did not see his future there, but rather set his sights to become an entrepreneur in Asia. Then, in one fell swoop, a phone call brought him closer to his dreams.
It was a job offer from the office of a Fortune 10 tech company halfway across the world in Singapore, for a post in HR, where the investment banker had no prior experience. “I had no idea about HR, about Asia, but I was like: Hey, you know what, if it’s meant to be, it’s supposed to happen, right?”
Becoming the entrepreneur he was always destined to be
Kim spent two years in HR before moving to the advertising-sales department. Part of the job was to talk with small business owners to learn about and optimize their marketing strategies. Kim turned client interactions into opportunities and built a business acumen. He took notes about what worked and what didn’t from the hundreds of small businesses he interacted with.
In 2017, Kim felt ready to launch his own company and entered the niche supplement space. He started as a one-man team, responding to every customer call, shipping out every package and doing everything else in between. He had to juggle his new responsibilities with his corporate career. Eventually, the toll caught up to him and Kim was hospitalized for an extended period of time.
Post-recovery, Kim pivoted into the direct-to-consumer, consumer goods space, leading to the birth of Clickshare Media Ventures (CSMV). During its first 30 days, CSMV made $4,000 in revenue. The following month, it was $7,000. By month three, Kim was staring at a six-figure business.
Today, CSMV is a full-fledged holding company with a portfolio of direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands in the baby, personal care, and beauty care segments. The company has steadily built a vertically integrated operation that covers manufacturing, logistics, distribution, and sales to provide customers with superior products at a great price.
By delivering a seamless discovery and purchase experience for users across a comprehensive line of products, CSMV has registered three consecutive years of triple-digit growth and maintains its stronghold of market leadership in each industry it operates. CSMV now has offices in the United States, Singapore, and the Philippines, where the company has just recently moved from its Quezon City space to a bigger spot in Ortigas, fashioned after Silicon Valley tech companies.
No resting on his laurels
In spite of all his accomplishments, Kim makes an interesting admission.
“Somehow, I still don’t feel successful,” he says. “I know people that are far happier with far less than what I have, so I think the metric of success is multifold. Growing up I thought success would be making $100,000 a year. At a certain point, I thought making half-a-million-dollars a year would be success, then a million bucks. Our yardstick of success changes.”
For now, the yardstick for Kim is to make CSMV grow even bigger. “We’re in the midst of one of the largest macro shifts in consumer purchasing behavior; transitioning from traditional brick and mortar retail to online. At CSMV, we’re well positioned to win a disproportionate size of this rapidly growing market.” Kim also plans to get married soon to his longtime girlfriend and aspires for a post in public office in the distant future.
“As I think about the future, I think success is really going to be living life on my terms with the quality of life that I want, with the freedom that I want.”
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