Mtogo:
Calling Asian American Cellphones


Four young net entrepreneurs see the ringtone craze as a way to tap an explosive future for cellphone commerce.

by Lan Minami

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Mtogo Min Tung Min
Mtogo's founders in their mid-Wilshire offices: Min Chan (standing left), Wes Nam (standing right), Duke Tung (seated left) and Jisun Lee (seated right).


Mtogo: Calling Asian American
Cellphones

ver wonder how those crazy kids get their cellphones to announce calls by blaring entire pop songs instead of your basic ringtones? They may have been opening your ears to one of the mobile internet's hottest unheralded trends.

     Four young Asian entrepreneurs saw the craze for custom ringtone as an excellent entry into the emerging brave new world of cellular commerce. To target the Asian American segment, they recently launched mtogo, a site that already offers 1,300 ringtones comprised mostly of Corean, Chinese and American pop songs. It's adding 200 more tunes each month, not to mention a growing collection of colorful e-greetings and nifty features. Coming soon to mtogo.com: cellphone blogging.

     Further down the road, one of the more exciting applications mtogo envisions providing customers is GPS-based matchmaking. If you and the hot prospect of your dreams happen to be within shouting distance, your cellphone will tip you off to the opportunity for face-to-face contact.

     Since its launch in May, the two Chinese Americans, one Corean American and a Corean expat who make up Mtogo have been been working in their offices in L.A.'s mid-Wilshire district. In June we asked Duke Tung to provide some answers about their venture.

GS: When was mtogo.com founded?
MT: The concept and strategy for Mtogo, Inc. ("mtogo") was formulated in January 2004. Mtogo officially launched this past May.

GS: Tell us exactly how you came to found mtogo?
MT: Well, before answering this question let me explain a little about the background of each founder. Two of the founders are Corean (Korean), born in Corea. The other two of us are Chinese, born in the States, however both having worked in Asia. After living and working in Asia, the four of us saw the significant demand for digital content for mobile phones. Back in the States, realizing that U.S. cellphone technology was slowly reaching parity and that there is a vastly underserved Asian-American market, we decided to capitalize on this opportunity by founding mtogo.

GS: Please explain exactly how the four of you came together to form mtogo, in terms of dates, places, discussions, financing, etc.
MT: Three (myself, Min, and Jisun) of us were classmates at the USC Marshall School of Business. The other co-founder was a friend of Jisun's. In the Spring of 2003, the three of us were in an entreprenurial class together and worked together on the same team. Although the project was not on the digital content industry, we became friends and knew that we worked well with one another. So, the following year, we met periodically to brainstorm potential business concepts. Finally, in January 2004, we identified this digital content opportunity. Soon after, Mtogo, Inc. was born. The four of us then began refining and developing our strategy from January until the official launch in May 2004.
     In terms of financing, the majority of the capital was raised by the four founders. We also have several minority investors.

GS: What are your individual duties and responsibilities?
MT: Jisun Lee is our President. Jisun is involved primarily in general management. She helps to set strategy at the corporate level, while at the same time overseeing daily operations. Lastly, she develops and manages business partners (retail, content suppliers).
     Wes Nam is Executive Director Information Technology. Wes designs our system architecture and manages the development of our content delivery platform. He also coordinates the launching and enhancement of new services with the marketing team.
     Min Chan is Executive Director of Marketing. Min leads our marketing initiatives and manages the communication of mtogo's unique services to our customers and partners.
     Duke Tung is Executive Director of Business Development. Duke is in charge of formulating mtogo's product and content strategy. This involves acquiring, developing, and maintaining all partner relationships.

GS: What are your backgrounds in terms of birthplace, age, education and work experience?
MT: Jisun Lee, 39, was born in Seoul. She got a BS from Seoul National University in February of 1987. She got an MBA from USC's Marshall Business School in May 2004. From 1988 and 1996 she worked as a journalist in The Electronic Times, The Chosun Ilbo and The Korea Times, all in Seoul. In 1996 she founded Dream Communications Inc in Seoul before coming to L.A. for her MBA.
     Wes Nam was born 36 years ago in Georgia. He got an MS in computer science from Georgia Tech and spent 7 years in the IT field before co-founding mtogo.
     Min Chan, 29, was born in California. He got a BA in business administration from UC Berkeley in 1998, then got an MBA from USC in 2004. He worked six years as a consultant in mobile telecom industry. Two of those years were in Greater China.
     I was born in Illinois 29 years ago. I got two BAs from UCLA in 1997, one in business economics and another in psychology. From 1998 to 2000 I worked as a financial applications consultant in Taiwan. Then I spent two years as a financial analyst at a business valuation firm.



GS: Do you envision cellphones becoming a kind of remote access device for PCs or more as standalone PDAs?
MT: I envision cellphones moving more towards standalone PDA's. The reason being, cellphone memory, speed, useability are all increasing rapidly. Furthermore, technology is being developed where typing words/messages/etc. on your cellular phone will be simplified signicantly. This currently is a major barrier preventing cellphones from becoming more standalone. PAGE 2

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“We view ringtones, graphics, pictures, etc. as just a stepping stone to something much larger.”