Hundreds of event attendees click on a link sent by the organizer. Attendees answer questions such as "Tell us how you felt about the event" in their own voices. The many responses collected this way are reborn as an event satisfaction report.
"Interviews with consumers or experts have taken too much time and expense. We made it so that if we send just one link, hundreds can participate at the same time and we can get results in a day."
Lee Eun-ho founded BlackWhos in 2023. This is the fifth time. While running a K-beauty and fashion reverse-direct-purchase platform in Singapore in the past, Lee felt firsthand how much time and expense it took to interview women in their 20s and 30s before entering the market.
It took many resources to reach the truth that "the answer is always with the consumer," and it was inefficient. Multiple startup experiences led to creating an "AI that asks questions."
"To conduct 300 to 500 interviews and receive a report, you need about 1 billion won. It also takes four to five months. We cut this expense to one-tenth. Instead, the speed is 10 times faster. AI skillfully follows up with probing questions, and respondents just answer accordingly. Then a draft report comes out based on the answers."
Lee said there is an advantage in quickly and deeply securing qualitative data that is hard to obtain with conventional survey methods. In a study conducted with LG Electronics targeting 300 people in three European countries, the team drastically reduced both the survey expense and the time required compared with existing methods.
"We have already built our own language model instead of a widely used large language model (LLM). Existing LLMs are uncontrollable and have too many banned words, making it difficult to conduct diverse interviews. They can change, which makes commercialization tricky. BlackWhos created a specialized model called a 'survey language model,' and we are collecting interview responses as data by industry. This data will become a major asset."
BlackWhos was established as a spin-off from Kakao's Blockchain subsidiary Krust Universe. It achieved 200 million won in revenue last year and is projected to record 500 million won this year. It secured investments in two places each in Singapore and Korea. It was also selected for TIPS, a private investment-led technology startup support program by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Next year, it aims for a leap in revenue with a validated model.
"We have conducted thousands of interviews to date. In the past, when we said we were conducting a study in Europe, we had to find a venue, conduct interviews in the local language, and then translate and organize them. We send one link, interview 100 people in a day, and turn it into a first report. It's something that hasn't been experienced before. The stakeholders who entrusted us with the work reacted positively."
Lee is looking beyond Korea to overseas markets. That is because overseas markets have a larger software as a service (SaaS) market than at home and more corporations seeking to check consumer satisfaction. Lee estimates the AI-based interview market at 14 trillion won.
"Since I started my business 10 years ago, my goal has been global. I want to show that a Korean B2B model can succeed as SaaS."