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Gaining favor from Google and Naver, TrustTech startup Gogolook realizes the dream of going public
Gogolook is a leading TrustTech company established in 2012. With “Build for Trust” as its core value, it aims to create an AI-driven anti-fraud network as well as risk management as a service. As of November of 2021, the startup had its Whoscall app installed by users over 100 million times. Google CEO Eric Schmidt once appraised Whoscall as one of the greatest android apps that will attract Apple users.
In a tiny office with one broken toilet, Jeff Kuo, co-founder and CEO of Gogolook, launched the Gogolook from scratch. At the time when the team was developing the Whoscall, they had to use the bathroom in the coffee store downstairs or the temple nearby. The team even came up with their exclusive toilet map. They even joked about developing an app called “Whostoilet”.
Interestingly, the executives of the South Korean internet giant Naver appreciated Gogolook’s garage mindset. They even asked their employees to take a tour of their sloppy office. After years, the Gogolook team now moves to a spacious office building, as a result of unremitting efforts from the three core members: Jeff Kuo, Jackie Chen, and Reiny Song.
Acquired by Naver in 2013, the team bought back the company later
In 2013, Gogolook was at the stage that needs large amounts of resources and an agile team to boost growth. In the same year, Naver acquired Gogolook for 18 million USD, owning over half the shares of the company. Co-founder Jeff said that merging with a giant company might help recruit the talents, but it also complicates the management and slows down the decision-making.
Later, Naver changed its policy from merging to collaboration. “Gogolook was asked to be financially independent so that they needed to find new funding,” said James Lee, Gogolook’s first angel investor, who had invested in Tencent, Sina. Under various factors, Gogolook decided to buy back the company’s shares. Co-founders dug into their pockets, with investments from Trinity Investment Corporation, Fuh Hwa Digital Economy Fund, Cathay Private Equity, and Win Semiconductor Corp.
Merging did boost the startup. Naver not only connects the resources to Gogolook but also showcases how a big company organizes and attracts international talents. The key point that James invested in Gogolook, according to the angel himself, is the clear and open communication among the three core members.
Gogolook team: conquer difficulties with mindsets in sync
“They are perfectly a match!” said James. Jeff specializes in Ergonomics and industrial design, while Jackie and Reiny have a background in information systems and scientific management. They were classmates and had teamed up in competitions at the University. It turned out that their advantages are quite complementary.
Jeff is always the one that represents the team to speak. They form their mindsets in sync, building trust through teamwork. “Jackie is a man of action and acts on impulse, while Reiny is the type that adopts system thinking,” said Jeff, “they are literally at opposite ends of the spectrum.” Jeff thus, is the lubricant in the team, nudging the team towards consensus. They are so familiar with each other that they will point out their faults or mistakes straightforwardly.
Once there was an applicant that experienced the interviews given by three of them. The applicant was quite shocked that these three have totally different personalities. But at the same time, they manage to seek common ground while holding back differences and finding the best solutions for the company.
Having Teamed up since schooldays, Jeff, Jackie and Reiny get used to direct communication. “Friendship at that time is simple and pure,” said Edgar Chiu, the former COO of Gogolook and now the co-founder of Sparklabs Taipei, “they will soon make up with each other after the conflicts.” In this way, the team grows fast and responds fast.
“one must face tons of challenges on the way to building a startup, only those who can find the goal and realize the achievement through the process can last,” said Jeff, “ we three are that kind of people.” He listed the examples from the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, from which he learned that if an organization could form this flow for every member in it, the team could conquer every difficulty they meet. “Like Google and SEAL from the United States, they manage to form this flow, where people in it think independently and then reach the mindsets in sync,” said Jeff, “that’s the ultimate goal for Gogolook.”
Aim for IPO, two challenges ahead: Strategy of diversification, WFH
“Build software in Taiwan, do business all over the world,” said Jeff. Gogolook aims to adopt the strategy of diversification. It has opened its subsidiary in Japan. The startup has also teamed up with a number of institutes such as the Taiwan National Police Agency Criminal Investigation Bureau, the Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea, the Thai Police Cyber Taskforce, and the Fukuoka city government of Japan to fight fraud. Ultimately, the team plans to build a trustworthy communication network across the world.
In one year or two, Gogolook will go public in Taiwan or Japan. Doing international business requires much capital. The startup needs a sliver of bullets to fight those competitors. Becoming listed is a dream for 10 years and now it will come true soon. “For investors, going public is like watching your kid grow up, but for startup itself, it’s like entering the workforce and going through market testing,” said James. He commented on Jeff as a long-sighted entrepreneur, who will achieve his goal with his partners.
Another goal for the team is to realize completely WFH (Work from home) mode. “It’s an inevitable trend,” said Jeff. They want the employees to freely choose their worksites, office, or homes. Jeff is determined to do this, as he believes that he could control the situation when clearly aware of what’s happening next. Jeff believes, communication skills will be more and more important in the future, as the demand for conversations across time zones and races arises.
Extending “TrustTech” into Web3: the wallet address is the phone number in reality
As blockchain technology and cryptography grows rapidly, business needs to eye on international users. Talents should be able to communicate with users from all over the world, so that trust can further be established. Trust is most important in terms of fraud prevention and risk management.
In web2, Gogolook develops its trust tech by Whoscall, a service that labels the incoming phone calls to prevent fraud. “One needs IDs to apply for phone numbers in Taiwan, which requires a strong foundation of trust,” said Jeff. Now, Whoscall even allows users to comment on the phone number, turning the phone number into another “ID”.
As for web3, the wallet address is the phone number in reality. People only exchange their wallet addresses based on trust. The value lies in the wallet address, but the owner. Gogolook targets the wallet address as their move in web3. The startup has been developing fraud-prevention tools for the crypto world. Gogolook is also open to partnership, as there are quite a few startups in Taiwan working on anti-money laundry technology and anti-fraud technology.
When Jeff was little, he read about what Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos said before, that he thought about the future in 5 years or even in 10 years every single day. And Jeff didn’t believe so. “Here I am, finding out that I am doing the same things right now ——looking to the future,” said Jeff. With a good team and foresight, Jeff try to realizes the TrustTech empire.
The aritcle first appears on Bnext in Chinese
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