Interview With Han Sup Yoon – Founder of ZuneBoards.com

By: Michael Dunlop     Topics: Entrepreneur Interviews

15 year old Han Sup Yoon, recently sold his website ZuneBoards.com for approximately $62,000 to other investors. In this interview he will speak about how he managed to create such a successful website whiles still in school! Han also offers some great advice for young entrepreneur who want to start a online business! First off – can we have a little background information on Han – Where you live? How old you are? What motivates you? What inspires you?

First of all, I’d like to thank you for the interview, it’s an honor. My full name is Han Sup Yoon, but please feel free to simply call me Han. I prefer that. I live in Fullerton, California, and I’m 15, turning 16 in January. One thing that motivates me most is family– especially my parents. They’ve worked so hard to keep food on the table and keep our lights on. They’ve worked literally hours upon hours just to make me and my brother happy. I just want to let them know that I appreciate them, and I’d do anything to help them out in any way and lift some burden off their shoulders.

1) ZuneBoards has now grown to over 60,000 members, what inspired you to create ZuneBoards.com

Actually, since I’ve sold the site, it’s grown to almost 75,000 members. The thought of the Zune becoming a serious iPod competitor inspired me to create ZuneBoards. I thought that other makers, like iRiver, Archos, and Creative, offered more feature-packed players (at the time), and it intrigued me that Apple dominated the market. I thought that with Microsoft, things would be different (think Xbox).

2) I understand that you are only 15 years old, how did this effect running such a large and successful website?

I was very limited time-wise because of school, sports, and friends, but other than that, there weren’t really any significant limitations. I had my own banking account, PayPal account, Google Adsense/Adwords, debit card, TribalFusion account, social security number, etc., so I was pretty “free” in regards to what I can do with my money. One negative aspect, however, is that advertisers would be turned off after finding out that the owner is only a teenager.

3) How did you go about selling ZuneBoards.com – Do you have any tips for selling websites?

I sold ZuneBoards on SitePoint.com, listed in the Premium Sites section. I’ve bought sites on SitePoint before, and to be honest I have not been satisfied with them. When selling a site, I think it’d be best to be completely honest. List all the things you are proud of the site, and list all it’s accomplishments and/or things that are notable. Don’t be afraid to list a few negative things, because that shows that you are honest in listing your auction. Oh, and don’t try to fabricate data/screenshots/earnings, or you’ll have one pissed off buyer after he or she finds out. It’s not worth your reputation.

4) What advice would you give a young entrepreneur trying to make money online running community driven websites?

You can’t set up a forum, invite people over, and expect it to flourish. Be unique, and think like a businessman. Ask yourself questions. Why do people sign up and leave? Why are people not posting? Do something UNIQUE that makes guests WANT to stay. Strategize on how to be successful. ZuneBoards was established months before the Zune itself was released, because I knew it’d give us a head start on search rankings. We recruited hackers before the Zune was released, and as soon as it was released, we released a Zune hack within days. That Zune hack was our huge “breakthrough,” as we started to receive tens and thousands of hits, and hundreds of registrations in a single day. We continued to release these types of things often, and we, ZuneBoards STOOD for something. It wasn’t just another place to talk about zunes, it was a unique place to discuss the modding of the Zune. But don’t just stop there. Continue to seek more and more ways to make your community stand for something. Monopolize, outsmart your competition. As soon as Zune Games were confirmed, we immediately started setting out plans on how to dominate in that category. We set up forum categories for Zune games (note, that this is still months they were actually released), and immediately started SEO work, and set up a plan of what exactly to do as soon as games for the Zune were released.

Use your resources. Use your staff. Use Digg, Reddit, and other large sites. If you have GOOD content, then Digg, Reddit, Engadget, Gizmodo, and other mega-sites (depending on the niche), should have no problem featuring you.

Don’t overdo your ads, it will turn people away. Try your best to stay away from annoying flashy ads, and those that expand over your content. Depending on your niche, some ads will do better than others. Play around with ad sizes, colors, and types. Don’t make your revenue stream dependent on one network, use a variety of them. You will notice that during some seasons, some networks will do better than others. Try playing around with both CPC, CPM, and even CPA ads. You’ll be surprised to see how well they work together.

5) You sold for your website ZuneBoards.com for $62,000, what do you plan to do with this money?

Most of it is donated to family members, and a big chunk of it went to taxes. I made a blog post a few weeks ago on where my money went. Check it out here: http://hansupyoon.com/2008/10/where-my-62000-went/ – Despite the big drop in my money, I am still managing to rake in a few thousand dollars a month from multiple projects and affiliate marketing. I also have two major web startups in line, just waiting to be developed. I’m sure a big chunk will be invested in those too.

6) If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were first making a name for yourself as a website owner, what advice would you give yourself?

If I could go back in time, I would’ve started a journal or a blog to record my journey through this great experience. I’d love to go back and see exactly what my thoughts were, and my plans on implementing them, and then compare to what the actual outcome was.

7) Is there anyone that you look up to and model yourself on? (You can name more than one)

My role model is Jesus. I’m not a hardcore diehard religious guy, but one person that really amazes me is Jesus. I think Christians and non-Christians can both agree that Jesus was a great teacher and that we could learn so much from him.

 Do you have any favourite business related or personal development related books that you can recommend to other entrepreneurs?

Although I am mostly self-taught, one book I thought was helpful to me is a book by Larry Ullman, PHP and MySQL For Dynamic Websites. I think all web developers need to know at least basic PHP. But still, I think I learned the most from the internet, and experience. I’ve been messing around with websites ever since I was in 3rd grade. It wasn’t until I was in 7th grade when I started taking things more seriously. Some sites I’d seriously recommend are: Pixel2Life.com (great selection of tutorials), NetTuts.com , Forums.DigitalPoint.com, NamePros.com , and of course, Google. Seriously, google is your best friend on the internet.

9) What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Content is King. I know this statement is such a cliché in the web development field, but it never fails!

10) What advice would you give to a Young Entrepreneur setting up their first business?

Don’t be discouraged if your sites end up as a total failure. I’ve gone through 4 to 5 startups before I had one that was a success. The more you fail, the more experience you’ll get. Think like a businessman. Don’t just set up a website and expect it to be successful. Ask yourself, “What can I offer that others don’t?” Also, I can’t stress this enough, but choose your niche/topic wisely!

I see so many forums on the iPod, video games, Playstation, etc. fail. Why? I think it’s common sense– those markets are already established and saturated. Unless you are going to offer something so substantially new, I wouldn’t touch those markets. Instead, keep an eye out for something new and promising, or find a market thats not very saturated.

On the other hand, if you are going to set up a web startup, like Digg, Reddit, Twitter, etc., that’s a whole different story. Let’s say you have a great idea. I wouldn’t call it ‘great’ just yet–trust me, I thought I had tons. Ask yourself this:

What audience am I targetting?

Is my service ‘good enough’ for people to be spending time on?

How much work would it take to maintain the site? Is my idea even possible?!

How will I market the site?

How will I keep them coming back?

After that, and your idea STILL sounds good after a week or two, then you may have a good idea. 

11) If the Internet had not existed – what do you think you would be doing?

I’d probably spending most my time studying, working out, and playing football. Recently, I stopped playing football, but I dream of joining again, if I can.

12) What do you like best about the Internet?

I think it’s pretty cool how the world is really connected to eachother, and all kinds of information is available for anyone. Technology has come a long way. Oh, and I love how easy it is to make money on the internet, and how many people are actually willing to pay for things on the internet.

13) What do you like least about the Internet?

It’s addicting. I’m addicted.

14) Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?

Sure. Right now, I’m working on two school projects, both for FBLA, which is the largest student-run business related organization in the world. I’ll be entering the competition for Web Development and Internet Application Programming. I’m really confident that I can win nationals, after seeing the previous years’ entries.

As I have mentioned before, I have two startups planned. I’ve had these planned for a good few months now, and I can’t wait until the Spring or Summer when I can work on them, because I honestly think they’re the best ideas I’ve had.

My lifetime goal is to become so rich, that I can start doing a lot of philanthropic work. I’ve been so blessed, and I thank God everyday, and I want to help people who are in need.

I’ll do my best to keep things updated on my blog , so please, feel free to subscribe to my feed.