2021 was probably the most dynamic year in my short career history.

Most of the intense memories that settled in my head this year seem connected to Sonatus in one way or another, so it feels like my head was full of nothing but Sonatus this year.

Of course, in parallel, I participated in many other gatherings too. ASG (ADAS Study Group, which I named haha) second year, the speech group at Cloudy University SCP that my life mentor Vice President Lee Dong-hoon created for someone like me who can’t speak well, and the Cloudy University industry study where crazy studious people gather - I even embarrassingly led sessions as a mobility expert, but I feel like I only talked about work or work-related things even there.

Sonatus - a company that now feels like home, but at the beginning of the year I was desperately struggling to get into.

After a dramatic joining, followed by a series of really dynamic events.

It’s only been 6 months, but what I experienced in that short period feels like more than what I studied and worked for 5 years before, and the quality seems different too.

I think life is similar to atomic orbitals, and this feels like a meaningful year where I achieved some kind of quantum leap.

Looking back, whether I was in academia, during my military service, or at a large corporation, no matter how proactively I worked and studied with ownership, there always felt like there was some unreachable glass door.

So instinctively, I tried to find things that could satisfy those desires - studying various things, meeting different people, desperately trying to find and join online communities where so-called excellent people gather, having lots of conversations.

Sonatus resolved all these needs of mine at once.

My needs weren’t just tech-related, but also curiosity about macroscopic perspectives on global social phenomena, curiosity about various people trying to solve these things with emerging technologies, the joy of learning how these are viewed financially in the market, and the stimulation from new relationships with people who live with similar thoughts - this complex yet simple and continuously changing desire is one driving force that keeps me alive and breathing.

These complex needs of mine all connected when I joined Sonatus, opening new horizons in my head. Now I need to continuously fill myself with new things to settle into a new orbit and wait for the next quantum jump.

Now let me unpack what I felt in 2021.

Tech

The macroscopic perspective our boss Jeff has on the changing flow of the connected world. He read the unstoppable rapid flow that no one could resist and found opportunities there.

Jeff is a famous ace in Silicon Valley who successfully exited 6 times in the market (not quite Big Tech level, but still).

In the tech world he sees, papers, patents, and standards are too slow. (Of course, we need to take care of these things later too. But we can’t lock the barn door after the horse is stolen, right?)

To ride this incredibly fast flow, we must use the powerful tool of the titan called Open Source.

We also need to understand the hardware design and architecture ecosystem changing around open source software due to this mighty decentralized open source ecosystem.

Companies that can’t ride this wave will probably be phased out from the business world.

Also, if we just simply ride the flow led by American Big Tech, we’ll forever remain under Big Tech.

All business areas that will change human life will change around the decentralized open source ecosystem. Bio, Health Care, Blockchain, Mobility, Quantum Computer - all of this will move around that open source ecosystem. It’s an inevitable flow.

Finance

Quantitative easing has been going on for quite a while, but even more money was released to revive the economy hit by COVID, making an already money-rich market even richer. It would be nice if that money was used according to government scenarios to solve private sector recession, but it largely tilted toward making the wealthy even wealthier.

However, if we use this flow well, it could be an opportunity for a quantum jump.

Currently in the US, all these quantum jumps are led by tech companies, with Silicon Valley startups at the center.

This change seems to have started from 2010, the beginning of the golden era of VCs started by nouveau riche who successfully created wealth from the dot-com bubble through the mass adoption of smartphones.

According to Jeff, even 10 years ago, a startup’s successful exit meant being M&A’d by traditional American powerhouse companies like Cisco or Intel, but after FAMANG dominated the world, the exit paradigm completely changed.

So Jeff’s dream for his 7th company, Sonatus, isn’t to be M&A’d by large corporations, but to become a decacorn company beyond unicorn. And it’s an era where that’s possible.

Sonatus has so many engineers who have experienced consecutive exits. Sonatus is a company created by decent people among those with such experience, asking around and joining together, centered around Stanford alumni, growing with smart and passionate talent.

I’m also trying to do well riding that wave, and I hope it serves well as an initial investment for my life going forward. Haha

People

Before, I thought a lot about whether I should maintain work-life balance, but I’ve changed a lot. Work = Life, so there’s nothing to balance haha.

Thinking about it, I wonder if there’s a need to think of work as something separate. The people I work with are really good people I want to spend my lifetime with, so I don’t want to separate the two.

These days, work is my life’s motivation and joy, so I barely have time to go to mediocre gatherings for networking and drink with strangers.

And if I used to simply like giving, now I spend time on people I want to give more to because I’m grateful for what I’ve received. The time spent exchanging with people who give and take without worrying about who goes first is so happy and enjoyable.

It’s not just working together, but discussing social phenomena, contemplating how to solve them with the tech we know, and sharing when new tech comes out - this kind of life is so enjoyable.

Thinking about it, we’re always a rapidly scaling company short on people, yet we’re incredibly careful when hiring one person.

There are hardly any difficult people, everyone likes to teach each other, wants to take on even small tasks, and there seem to be only considerate people who think this is contributing to the company.

I feel like I’m a good person too, so I feel good along with them. Haha

Workout

If you asked me to pick my good habit, I would pick exercise without hesitation.

I’ve played basketball for about 20 years, and weight training (which I started for rehabilitation and to play basketball better) for 15 years.

And now it even plays a role in relieving my stress and helping brain function.

Actually, these things are what I’ve been doing continuously and are as familiar as eating, but what I’m most proud of this year is teaching exercise to company people.

It started when the Korean team leader, who had been doing CrossFit for a few years, told us to bring workout clothes on the first day, and now I’m overseeing all the workouts of people who exercise together.

I compress and teach what I researched and experienced physically while wanting to play basketball well, and everyone seems amazed and loves it, which makes me quite proud.

I’m like a semi-resident trainer, teaching workouts and even planning diets if they want… haha

I can teach them the very positive signals that exercise brings to human life firsthand and contribute to their lives, which makes it even better.

Now we can’t be separated even if we wanted to~~

I should wrap up the things I want to write more about here.

In 2022, I hope my tech knowledge becomes more mature, my English improves enough to have soulful conversations, and I write more to improve my writing.

I’ll set detailed milestones and definitely achieve them~!

Adieu Dynamic 2021