With determination to open endless opportunities to more individuals around the world, Ewha alumna Yeeun Lee utilized her affection for the English language to begin her own startup journey. Lee, after graduaing with a double major from the Department of Psychology and the Scranton Honors Program, has made her entrepreneurial aspirations a reality through the success of her English teaching edtech startup, EngAll.
EngAll, meaning English for All, provides personalized English lessons via virtual meetings to its users.
Lessons are curated after thorough consultations regarding each student's needs and initial proficiency, and scheduling is very flexible, making it easy to integrate English education into their busy schedules. EngAll’s system takes into consideration each individual's characteristics, goals, and concerns to curate the perfect lesson plan for them. Users can also seek advancement in their careers through various programs that assist in preparation for English presentations, conference calls, elevator pitches, and résumés.
The birth of EngAll was led by Lee’s desire to share the blessings that she owes to the English language with others. After having to make the involuntary decision of taking a break from her master’s course at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies in 2020 due to an ankle injury, Lee began to ponder what she truly wanted in life.
To find her ultimate goal, the big picture that her puzzle piece belongs in, Lee began to create a database on herself.
“As I created a database on the person that I am, I realized that English was there during the most meaningful, enjoyable moments of my life,” Lee said. “The connection between me and the world had always been communication through English.”
Lee’s experience creating a conversational English study group, studying as an exchange student in New York, and volunteering as an English teacher at an orphanage built her adoration for the language and also her yearning for a world with fairer opportunities when it comes to learning the language.
Working at the United Nations, Lee also witnessed how competent Korean speakers were unable to demonstrate their capacities confidently due to their lack in English proficiency. This magnified Lee’s desire to make English education more accessible so that great minds could open themselves to global opportunities without experiencing any language barriers.
Thus, Lee went on a journey to create a platform that makes personalized English education accessible. She started by turning her aforementioned conversational English study group into an accessible website. In launching and growing her startup, EngAll, Lee focused most on listening to the consumers and bettering its services one step at a time.
As the number of EngAll users went up, complaints from users regarding the initial website’s convenience also increased. Lee took in all feedback and renovated EngAll’s website to even more efficiently aid students in finding and scheduling lessons best for their needs. This led to a significant increase in scheduled lessons, proving the success of the newly renovated website.
With the growth of EngAll, Lee utilized the generated revenue to work with freelance designers and developers to expand her startup. Later, she was able to recruit full-time employees that would work together at an office, through clear communication and cooperation. EngAll’s growth continued, reaching its current state of success with over 1,600 content options and an approximate 9.2 out of 10 customer satisfaction rate.
Lee is now in her fourth year of managing her own startup as the Chief Executive Officer and Product Owner, also assisting in quality assurance and product requirement processes. With her accumulated experience, Lee believes that developing consumers’ trust is most important when it comes to growing one’s own startup.
“Frankly, it is difficult to even be given an opportunity to develop consumers’ trust as a startup,” Lee admitted. “Choosing a small business instead of well-established big corporations is already too risky from the consumers’ perspective.”
Despite the unfair playing field, Lee persevered. She focused on making instant accommodations according to each user’s needs, something a large corporation may not be able to do. Consumers began to be more than satisfied with EngAll’s services, purchasing lessons in bulk, recommending EngAll to others, and even connecting the human resources department of their own company with EngAll for a B2B (business-to-business) commerce.
Lee’s time at Ewha also helped her navigate through her startup journey, with classes such as Psychology of Learning, as well as Counseling Psychology helping her understand consumers more deeply. They provided her with insight as she contemplated how to make English education more enjoyable and less difficult for students. Philosophy classes and science classes also provided Lee with useful knowledge in conversing with diverse consumers from different business fields.
“After graduating and experiencing how all the knowledge I received in the classes came in handy, I now understand the reason behind Ewha’s system where students must listen to various classes, not just ones relating to their major,” Lee explained. “I was able to have a wide range of opportunities thanks to the wide range of classes I was able to take.”
Lee recommends the startup journey to risktakers. Starting a business involves a lot of uncertainty, and the timing of each business decision matters too much to be calculating the risks of each decision. Taking risks without stressing too much and being able to make quick revisions throughout observance is key.
“It is also important to remember to separate yourself from your product,” Lee mentioned. “The criticism coming toward your product can feel like they are targeted at you. One must be able to take in all the constructive criticism and create a better product for consumers.”