Together with co-founders Heemin Choi and Juyoung Hong of Rapport Labs (Feb 2021)

Will women in their 40s and 50s really buy clothes through their phones?

In May 2020, at Klim Park, Heemin Choi and Juyoung Hong founded Rapport Labs. On the day of the company’s establishment, we entered a seed investment relationship with them. Three months later, no one could have predicted that an X-generation fashion app would be born here, shaking up the world. Their base at Klim Park was home to Rapport Labs for seven months until they outgrew the space as Woo Fashion grew rapidly.

Woo Fashion is a mobile fashion commerce platform for middle-aged women launched by Rapport Labs in August 2020. Initially, it was a minimum viable product (MVP) with only essential functions. The goal was to quickly test the hypothesis that "women in their 40s and 50s will shop on mobile like the MZ generation," so they didn’t even implement a payment or delivery system. When a customer made a purchase, members manually matched deposit records with customer names and processed orders by hand.

An unexpected thing happened: the market response to this incomplete Woo Fashion app, with no automatic shipping and limited UX/UI, was explosive. The app became an ideal outlet for consumer sentiment repressed by COVID-19. Customers came through word of mouth without any major advertising spend. Every day set new transaction records, and within three weeks of launch, manual handling of orders was no longer feasible due to high demand. Just two months after its soft launch, the app began to show an overwhelming growth curve, with monthly sales doubling or tripling.

The Unyielding Path to Entrepreneurship

Heemin Choi and Juyoung Hong, who met as classmates in SNU business, became best friends with a shared desire to change the world through entrepreneurship. From their university days, they started three ventures together. Despite both majoring in business, they decided to learn programming themselves, with Juyoung majoring in computer science to develop coding skills, while Heemin focused on business planning.

Their first venture was an economic news summary service. Although they rapidly gained 100,000 members, they closed the business after a year due to a lack of revenue model. In retrospect, it was more focused on their own needs than customer needs. They wondered, "Is entrepreneurship really for me?" Heemin joined an established corporation, and Juyoung went to law school, but soon both decided to leave. They believed that doing something enjoyable would yield results over time, and their commitment to entrepreneurship grew stronger.

Heemin gained experience at Hyperconnect and Toss, while Juyoung worked at Aware and Hyperconnect. They also tried online plant sales and a dating app service, and although the outcomes weren’t successful, their passion for entrepreneurship only intensified. In 2020, they decided to try starting up again. Nine years had passed since their first venture at the age of 23.

Rapport Labs, the Team Connecting People, and the Birth of Queenit

Heemin and Juyoung envisioned creating a warm service that brings people closer together. Rather than targeting Gen-Z customers that many startups focus on, they were interested in groups that often missed out on the benefits of new services.

Their first item was Discovery of Neighborhood, a local lecture platform targeting young children and seniors over 50. The core elements were “speed” and “execution.” They quickly conducted market research, recruited instructors, and promoted the platform, focusing exclusively on validation for about two months. There was market demand, but with COVID-19, they found it difficult to scale an offline business quickly and decided to pivot. Drawing on lessons from previous ventures and startup experience, they made swift decisions and remained unshaken despite the first setback.

Discovery of Neighborhood Launch (Jun 2020)

After the pivot, the team explored ideas for a second item. Then one day, Heemin, reflecting on a conversation with his mother, came up with the concept of a fashion platform for middle-aged women. His mother, who avoided department stores due to COVID-19, had sent him product photos and asked him to buy items on her behalf. This was an opportunity. Market research revealed an enormous market that no one had yet ventured into.

Given that this was an unprecedented market, they were careful with validation. Heemin interviewed dozens of customers weekly, confirming the enthusiasm among the target group. Juyoung and Hyeongki continually improved the app based on customer feedback, aiming to deliver the highest satisfaction to every single customer.

Woo Fashion grew at a breakneck pace. Since Rapport Labs was based at Klim Park, we witnessed every step of planning, launching, and testing, as well as the fervor of their customers. This made supporting Rapport Labs through follow-on investment especially thrilling. A few months later, the official mobile app Queenit, with a full-featured commerce function, was launched.

2021 was the year of Rapport Labs. Queenit saw a 1,900x increase in installations, ranking #1 in installation growth. In a fashion app market previously dominated by younger customers, Queenit’s unprecedented growth targeting women in their 40s surprised everyone. In 2022, just two years after launch, they achieved a cumulative transaction volume of 200 billion won.

The initial team’s cohesion was key to Rapport Labs' rapid growth. Their long history together meant they understood each other deeply, which fostered trust, speed, and performance. Their current culture of recruiting “skilled and warm-hearted people” likely stems from these early experiences.

Our Story with Heemin and Juyoung 

We have a deeply trusted friend among startup founders with whom we’ve shared a long-standing friendship. In one of our usual conversations, we learned about “someone they would love to recruit.” That person turned out to be their senior from university, Heemin, and Juyoung, who were both gaining startup experience at the time.

Two years later, they decided to start a business. On the evening of May 12, 2020, we met. Both were brimming with passion for entrepreneurship. We had many conversations, understanding and empathizing with one another. We wanted to support the new value these two founders aimed to create.

“We want to change the world through entrepreneurship.”

We partnered with Heemin and Juyoung, committing to a long-term relationship. Hyeongki, who had built a career as a startup engineer, joined as a co-founder, forming the three-person Rapport Labs team. They set up their first office at Klim Park, a space created for early-stage founders, becoming the first resident team. By the end of May, we supported the start of Rapport Labs as a seed investor.

The New Value Created by Rapport Labs

Queenit created new value in the world, overturning the prejudice that middle-aged people would not enjoy mobile shopping or use apps as effectively as younger generations. Within a few years, mobile services targeting the generation X have been launched in quick succession, demonstrating the impact Rapport Labs has made. They are an inspiring team that creates new value through their courage and execution.

When we think of early Rapport Labs, we remember their extraordinary energy level. The team’s atmosphere was always vibrant, with constant conversations among members, filled with confidence and positive energy. With 150 members today, Rapport Labs continues to foster a culture where “people we like work happily together,” promising a unique and outstanding corporate culture.

At Rapport Labs’ Samsung-dong office (Aug2022)

For us, Rapport Labs is a team of special significance. We met them when neither side had much, supported each other’s challenges, shared thrilling moments, and became steadfast allies. We are now convinced that focusing on founders and building friendships is our most valuable mission. We are partners for the long term. We look forward to continuously supporting the new value that Rapport Labs will create.