We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Kim a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Eric, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
Taking smart risks has been critical to growing my SaaS company and achieving over 27 years of success as an entrepreneur. I started my first business back in 1995 and have since launched multiple companies across 5 different industries (Software, marketing, chemical distribution, construction and retail – never afraid of uncertainty or change. Every new venture required me to take a chance, leave my comfort zone and embrace risk head-on.
I’ve never been afraid to put myself out there and take a chance on a new product, business strategy or partnership opportunity. Sure, some risks haven’t panned out, but that’s part of being an entrepreneur. You can’t let fear hold you back. Every day I look for ways to challenge the status quo in my industry. I constantly experiment with new technologies, marketing tactics and revenue models to stay innovative. While some risk-taking entrepreneurs play it safe, I’m willing to put it all on the line if I believe in an idea’s potential. That fierce drive is what’s enabled me to turn my startup into a market leader.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
At LikeIT Social, our mission is to revolutionize how marketing agencies operate by providing an all-in-one social media management platform designed specifically to meet their unique needs. As a CEO, my focus is on the big picture, but also operations because we are a SaaS startup! From crafting a strategic vision for how we can continue innovating to deliver the most cutting-edge, to automated solutions that save agencies time and generate results.
I’m proud that we’ve built an incredibly talented team that brings this vision to life through their creativity and technical expertise. On a daily basis, I’m involved in planning everything from product features to marketing campaigns that highlight the power of LikeIt to potential customers. I also make sure we maintain close relationships with our agency partners to constantly gather feedback on how we can improve.
What really energizes me is seeing how our platform is transforming agencies every day. Features like our multi-channel publishing, and unified analytics dashboards are game-changers. The stories of how we’ve helped teams cut their workload in half or enabled small agencies to take on more clients make all the hard work worth it.
And this is just the beginning – we have major launches coming up that will push the boundaries of what’s possible in social media management. I can’t reveal all the details yet, but let’s just say we have some extremely smart automation in the works that will blow people away.
At the end of the day, LikeIT Social is all about freedom. We want to free up agencies from the busywork holding them back so they can focus on strategy and creativity. We want to free them from disjointed tools so they can manage every aspect of social campaigns in one place. And we want to free them to continue growing their businesses and serving more happy customers.
As CEO, it’s my responsibility to steer this ship in the right direction – and I couldn’t be more thrilled about the adventures ahead. The future is looking very bright!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back on my journey building LikeIt Social into the successful company it is today, I’d say patience, vision, and hard work were the three most vital qualities.
Patience was absolutely essential – Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was LikeIt! There were many setbacks and lessons learned along the way. But staying patient, trusting the process, and never giving up allowed us to persevere. My advice to others starting out is don’t get discouraged by roadblocks. Stay focused on your vision and keep working hard each day to get closer to making it a reality.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Looking back, this past year has been a period of immense growth, both for me professionally and for our company in the dynamic social media marketing space.
On a personal level, I’ve cherished the opportunity to lead our talented engineering team as we brought innovative new capabilities to life. It’s been so fulfilling to see years of research and development culminate in features that deliver real value to our customers.
And the feedback has been incredible! Hearing marketing agencies praise how much time these new tools have saved them in content creation and community engagement has been the ultimate reward. One of my favorite moments was when a long-time client sent a glowing testimonial about how our latest release allowed him to take his business to the next level.
Moments like those remind me why I became an entrepreneur in the first place – to solve real problems and enable people to grow.
Looking ahead, I’m eager to build on this progress. Our roadmap is full of ideas that will further streamline social media marketing workflows. The pace of innovation today is thrilling, and I can’t wait to continue this journey with our talented team.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://likeitsocial.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/likeit_social
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yocheon.kim
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-kim-5311607b/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@likeitsocial
- Other: eric@likeitsocial.com
