Phil is the founder and Managing Partner of Big Basin Capital.

 

Since founding Big Basin, he has raised three seed-stage funds and invested in more than 40 start-ups in Korea and the US in various sectors such as consumer applications, e-commerce, enterprise software, digital content, education technology, and gaming.

 

Phil serves on the boards of many companies he backed, including Kong Studios, Gopizza, ODK Media, Goodtime, Swingvy, and Classum. Prior to Big Basin, Phil was the Investment Director at Walden International, a global VC firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, where he honed his skills in cross-border investments.

 

His most notable investment at the time was SundayToz (KOSDAQ:123420, known for the 'Anipang' game), which created a sizable return for the firm. Prior to Walden, he was with Intel Capital where he learned the fundamentals of venture investing.

 

Phil's technology career began in 2000 when he joined the CMU-spinoff startup Neolinear as a software engineer and worked on the design automation software in the semiconductor industry. After the company was successfully acquired by Cadence Design Systems in 2004, Phil assumed various customer-oriented roles. 

 

He served as an Adjunct Professor at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) from 2018 to 2021 and advised entrepreneurs and startups on campus. Phil holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University, an M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, and an M.B.A. with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.