The Founder15 is a blog series where we profile founders of Work Tech companies in their own words. Today, we bring you Julie Choi, the Founder and CEO of Pointr.co, a colleague network designed to make bonding effortless for anyone. She is also the founder of CBK Partners, an innovative strategic talent advisory firm focusing on blue chip clients and providing them bespoke advisory, as well as deep competitive intelligence on the relevant talent market and business landscape.
- “Tell me about you.” How do you answer that question? I am a founder and CEO focused on the lost art of relationship building at work.
- What’s your company’s origin story? I’ve spent many years advising CEOs on how to attract and keep the highest performers to perpetuate success. The best leaders intuitively build trust by personalizing interactions.
- Why is your company different? Pointr delivers the human behind the employee to accelerate relationships.
- Why do you do what you do? I love to decode what makes people different.
- What do you know now that you wish you had known before you started your company? The problem of belonging can’t be solved by HR alone, but by grassroots personal bonding.
- What is your favorite Work Tech application that isn’t yours? Notion.
- Who is your go-to person for professional advice? Ed Mathias, one of the early founders of The Carlyle Group. He’s an expansive thinker and a lifelong learner.
- What book are you reading now? Middlemarch by George Eliot. Even 150 years later, empathy is key to appreciating the complexities of being human.
- Who was your best boss? My first boss, Virginia Jermain. She showed me how to tap into my own intrinsic motivators to hit her exacting standards.
- What’s one thing that people would be surprised to learn about you? I am a Julliard-trained concert pianist.
- What’s one moment that changed your professional life? When a CEO valued what made me different, and I could come clean about my unconventional background.
- What do you fear? Being put in a box.
- What smells remind you of childhood? Kimchi and sesame oil.
- What activity instantly calms you down? Backgammon and creating new recipes.
- What’s a question we should ask the next person we interview? What are you trying to get good at?
Note to readers: This is a series for Work Tech Founders. If you’re interested in being a part of it, email us at ocho@thestarrconspiracy.com.
