The below is my original application for the position of COO at Otis
Why Otis
I've been following Otis since July 10 when Fred Wilson announced it on his blog [A VC]. I signed up immediately and patiently awaited the Kehinde Wiley drop to get my share. I've had an affinity for his work since discovering his largest-to-date portraits in the Sean Kelly booth at the Armory back in 2012. I also recently discovered that a friend's girlfriend is actually his studio manager (small world).
Upon my research into what Otis was doing, it felt as if the world was catching up with itself. The opaque industry of fine art and objects was finally unveiling itself, while simultaneously coalescing with crowdfunding, securitization, personal investing, cultural conversations, and social networking. It felt brilliant, refreshing, and like a pinhole into the Vanta black box that the art world often seems like.
Discovering Otis brought back the same sense of excitement I had when I left my career as a quantitative risk analyst on a trading floor to start a career in the fine art world. Son of a professional contemporary painter, it wasn't until 2011 when I discovered that living artists' works (i.e. Richter) were selling for 7 and 8 figures. It was unconscionable to me, but also created this wildly intense curiosity as to what was happening in this curtained market whose secondary sales were only slightly published through infrequent headlines, on Artnet, or via other less reliable online sources.
With my ambitions decided, I set sail building my new career as an Art Dealer. I worked with my father as the sole artist on my roster and continued to network at museums, across Chelsea galleries, and by traveling to the 'Bushwicks' of every country I had the money to travel to across Europe and Asia. My father is South Korean born, and so an exciting moment was when I went to Seoul in the summer of 2012 to try to reconnect him with the galleries around the Gyeongbokgung Palace area. I ultimately failed in my pitching effort, not only in Seoul, but in Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok too. However, I returned to the US with renewed energy, realizing New York is the city that mattered most for a practicing artist. From there, I continued on, started working with more emerging artists, and ultimately networked my way into exhibiting at an art fair in Miami Beach in December 2012. From there I began curating and producing exhibitions through pop-ups and art fairs in New York, Miami, DC, Basel and Paris and was soon working with the the directors of Art Miami, Volta, & Pulse as well as a network of art journalists and collectors.
This traveling project ultimately turned into an immersive exhibition space in Bushwick that would last for 3 years, gaining hundreds of press mentions along the way, and eventually reopen as a public art space in Chelsea on 22nd Street in early 2019 (currently managed by my operating partner). During this stretch of time, I also took over the family business, which was a fine art framing, reproduction, and printing retail operation. I managed the entire thing end to end and cut my teeth on all that it takes to run an organization. This included equipment financing, purchase planning, P&L, HR, training, sales, sales training, online and email marketing, social media, customer experience management, merchandising, accounting, shipping, logistics, installations, and large scale corporate and hospitality production orders. It was intensely difficult and equally rewarding. I ultimately sold this business in 2018 and paved a path for my parents to officially retire and become full-time grandparents.
Following this venture, I joined Storefront -- an online marketplace platform for booking retail, gallery and event space on a short-term basis. I serendipitously came across the opportunity and was drawn to it because the solution they were building was for a problem I had as a traveling curator -- it was impossible to find and rent affordable ground floor space in New York City. I met with the CEO, and in a matter of months would be leading the Global Operations team helping scale and create customer success, sales, marketing, people, and operational efficiencies across 6 offices on 3 continents. I now oversee the North American division with a primary focus on people development, office P&L, sales training, revenue targets, customer success, account management, executive & stakeholder alignment, and on constantly evolving office culture and employee well-being. Its exciting and growing quickly, but there's still something missing.
This brings me back to "Why Otis?" I have a passion for what I do now, however the passion doesn't compare to the early stages of my gallery program or to the super volatile highs and lows of running a business. Otis is interconnecting the many experiences I've had, the skills I've developed, and the genuine interests I explore on a daily basis.
Otis is redefining investment in the context of the 21st century -- I loved the analysis and challenges of my first professional experience in banking, but never truly cared about the ultimate product. It was just dollar signs and 8 figure amounts flying across 4 screens day in and day out. I could never and would never see the ultimate joy that was experienced by the people who would benefit from the returns on those assets.
Otis is bringing transparency and access to cultural moments in time -- There are many artists I love, many of them are artists I work with. These artists I can own because their price points are not yet matured. However there are also many artists I adore who I will never afford. Seeing their work in museums is one way to enjoy them, but feeling a sense of ownership is such a different and more powerful way of being close to them and their work. Also, every time an iconic work or object is acquired by a private collector, it exits public view (usually forever) and that honestly isn't helping anyone, especially not the artist when it's the result of an auction sale.
Otis is creating a sustainable and scalable way of enabling this access to more young people -- The way that technology will expedite and democratize this access is exciting. There are funds like Anthena giving individuals a way to add artwork to their portfolio, but it's difficult to access and is honestly quite boring. Unlike them, Otis is reducing the barriers to entry, offering more affordable access points and gamifying the entire experience. Otis has the opportunity to scale this across an entire generation ripe with interest for the very assets featured.
Otis is paving a new road and seeing something no one has seen. It's a new frontier and I'd love to have the opportunity to be on the wagon that pushes forward further.
What is prompting you to seek a new opportunity?
I am happy in my current role - I have a high level of responsibility and autonomy, and have created a level of growth for the company I'm proud of. I haven't been looking for another role but ever since I came across Otis last July, I have been following it online and regularly checking in on its progress. It wasn't until I ultimately found the COO post in which I was compelled to finally reach out as a job seeker, rather than just a shareholder.
If I did have to choose one element of why I would consider leaving my current post as Head of North America at Storefront, it's because I feel we've reached a level of sustainable growth that I can peacefully walk away from knowing that they're on the right track. When I came into the NYC office, it was far from that, but I'm proud enough of what we've done in the past 3 years to help a new promising venture grow.
What is important to you in your next role?
What is most important to me in my next role is having a team that is fully committed to and passionate about the core mission of the company. I've managed people in the past that were simply there for a job -- many I've been able to motivate and empower, and others I've helped move on when the fit ultimately wasn't there. The latter, while necessary in organizations, isn't the fun part of growing or managing a company. Working with smart ambitious motivated people who will run on all cylinders to make the thing happen is what excites me everyday.
Beyond this, I think trust is paramount and thinking through organizational structure in a holocratic way is important. Governance through dispersed decision making allows leaders to lead and focus on high-level priorities. Trust is also important when it comes to respecting the formats in which people are most productive. Flexible work with established KPIs and a culture of accountability will always be a structure I support more than standardized schedules. I'm the father of a 1.5 year old, and sometimes that means working productively through the night because you're up anyway, or jumping back home when they spontaneously get sick and need to go to the doctor!
From everything I've read about Michael's leadership style and the VCs associated with Otis, I trust there is an immensely healthy and promising culture that aligns well with where I want to be professionally and personally.
Thanks for taking the time to read. I look forward to potentially connecting with the team further.