'Hyangnoh' Mid-Autumn Festival Course Completion Challenge

Hello, this is Hyangro.
I hope everyone is staying healthy and doing well.
I'm having a hectic week with this week's Black Friday event :)
(You all bought a lot of courses, right!? 😊😊)

If you ask what the hottest book in the IT startup industry is these days, I think most people would mention CEO Park So-ryeong's new book Passing Through Failure.

When I first saw this book, my thought was "the Korean version of Ben Horowitz's *The Hard Thing About Hard Things*."

It wasn't a glamorous success story, but rather contained the full weight of responsibility that a manager must bear and the moments of difficult decision-making.
At the time I was reading this book, I also had many complicated thoughts, so there were many parts throughout the book that reflected my current situation.

I don't think I'm the only one who felt this way.
Many content companies and YouTube channels hosted book talks with CEO Park So-ryeong, where we could hear her candid stories.
It was great to be able to dive much deeper through these book talks, as they conveyed CEO Park So-ryeong's deeper thoughts and experiences that couldn't be delivered in the book, but on the other hand, there was also some disappointment.
This was because most of the interviews and book talks so far have been focused on the personal narrative and emotional reflections of 'entrepreneur Park So-ryeong' as an individual.

While there were many stories about the most painful aspects of being an entrepreneur such as VC, investment, and layoffs, there weren't many stories about being a product maker, which makes up a large part of IT companies.

Rather than just how difficult it was as a founder or what kind of comfort was needed, I kept thinking that "the experience as a general leader who has launched and operated three IT products" - Publy (content membership) / Careerly (SNS) / WeHire (SaaS) - over 10 years is truly invaluable experience that should not be lost, not only for me who is currently building products at an IT startup, but for many others as well.

So this time, together with CEO Park So-ryeong, we will be hosting an "Online Live Book Talk" for leaders, developers, PMs, and designers who create IT products.
This is because we hoped that this valuable record would not be consumed merely as an emotional resonance.

A CEO's struggles over 10 years, managing three different IT products (content, SNS, SaaS) without being a developer or having a PO background, along with the decision-making processes and outcomes at each stage of the products.

In this session, I'm going to dig deep into the 'real problems' that product makers face in their actual work.

[Publly (Content Membership) / Careerly (SNS) / WeHire (SaaS) - Trial and Error Experiences from Building Three Different Services]

• "What metrics did you use to measure growth for early products that didn't have paid models?"

• "What was the earliest sign that made you realize 'we shouldn't have started this product' after investing time and resources?"

[The realistic sense of helplessness experienced as a non-IT founder & leader when leading a product organization without knowledge of technology and products]

• "When a CEO without product experience hires their first developer or CTO, how did you determine they were a 'good developer'?"

• "When three businesses operate within one company, there's inevitable conflict between revenue-generating and cost-incurring organizations. As CEO, how did you coordinate between them?"

• "When you emphasized 'talent density,' what qualities did you consider most important beyond technical skills when hiring senior developers?"

Rather than simply introducing the book, I share with the author of the Korean edition of "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" the decision-making processes, journeys, and outcomes of our product organization over the past 10 years.

We invite those who will gain practical insights beyond that.

📅 Schedule Information

• Application Page: https://inf.run/xZb4s

• Application Period: Until December 4th (Thu)

• Live Event: December 5th (Fri)

For those who have concerns as makers and leaders creating IT products, I believe the story of CEO Park So-ryeong over the past 10 years will be of great help.
(In addition to the questions I've prepared, if you have any questions for CEO Park So-ryeong, who has created three IT products over 10 years, please leave them in the comments.
I will ask them on your behalf at the event.)

Hello everyone! How are you doing?

It's already been 10 days since the Chuseok challenge was followed by the completion of the 'Hyangno' Win challenge.

Is everyone building their passion furnace, laying bricks one by one beneath the surface?

I recently watched videos by Romantic Runner Shim Jin-seok through a team member's introduction.

Mr. Sim Jin-seok is a runner who achieved '20 consecutive overall podium finishes' in marathon competitions in just about 5 months, from March 1, 2025, to August 23, 2025.
What's amazing is that he's not a professional athlete, but works as a scaffolder at construction sites on weekdays and only participates in marathons on weekends.

Even people who have worked on construction sites for a long time say that working as a scaffolder is so difficult that they stick their tongues out in exhaustion.
I was very curious about how you manage to place 1st or 2nd in marathon competitions every time while doing such physically demanding work every day.

You can see how Sim Jin-seok spends his days in videos that capture his daily life.
Since he has to go to work early in the morning for his scaffolding job, it's difficult to find separate time for training, so he uses his commute to and from work for training.

Every day, I wake up at 5 AM and run to work as training, wearing work clothes and work shoes.
Instead of a smartwatch, I wear an old Casio watch and run 8km to the subway station, matching my pace with road signs.
On rainy days, I wear a raincoat and run, they say.

Throughout watching this video, I found myself reflecting on myself a lot.

This morning I wasn't feeling well, so I went to the hospital and found out I had a cold.
It wasn't a severe cold, but the doctor suggested I should rest for a day, and I agreed, so while I was resting and watching this video, I found myself reflecting on how many excuses I had been making to myself.

Of course, as a professional, I think it's natural to improve equipment and surrounding environment for better performance and achievements.
However, after deciding to do something, when taking breaks for various reasons along the way, I did wonder whether those reasons were really worth taking a break for?

So I ended up writing this post in a hurry.
If you've had that thought, I was reminded once again that there's something romantic about taking action in whatever form you can in your current situation, rather than waiting until you have all the equipment or environment set up.

A while back, one of our team members suggested that I try doing a newsletter.
Creating a newsletter subscription page and promoting the newsletter itself feels like... it would make me hesitate to take on more work 😃
If there's content or thoughts that have inspired me, I'll start right away by sharing them as updates with those who have participated in the challenge.

Thank you all for your hard work today.
There are only 49 days left in this year.
If you have any goals you've been putting off during these remaining 49 days, let's start them right away.
Just like athlete Shim Jin-seok, who wears his work clothes and work shoes and uses his daily 8km commute time for marathon practice 😃
I'll also start working on the things I've been putting off.

I have recorded the final live sessions from the 2 challenges.
I plan to edit each of the final live sessions into 20-30 minute segments and make them available for others to watch 😃
I will share them again once the edited videos are ready.

Hello
This is Hyangro!

It's already been 3 days since the challenge that ran until the Lunar New Year holiday last week came to an end.
Are you all still maintaining that spark in your hearts? 😊😊
I usually feel quite unwell on rainy days, but seeing everyone's passion blazing even on that heavily rainy Monday made me realize that the challenge's energy is still alive 😊😊

I'm sure everyone is waiting for rewards for completing challenge missions and course completion, as well as the lottery, so I'm giving you the first announcement regarding this 🙂

• Since the last live session was switched to YouTube, the last live session has been reflected as attended by all students.

• Challenge event participation restrictions include only course progress and submitted missions up to October 12 (Sun).

  • Unfortunately, missions submitted after that will not be included due to exceeding the deadline 😭

There are several data correction and filtering tasks, so it's taking longer than expected to organize the graduates/course completers 😭

Therefore, the final results and guidance regarding challenge rewards will be delivered within this Friday, 10.17.

We sincerely apologize for delivering this later than expected 😭😭

Even as I write this, when I think back to the challenge during the Chuseok holiday period, the passionate study certifications posted in the KakaoTalk chat room in the morning, afternoon, evening, and even at dawn, the missions that were submitted, and the comments shared during live broadcasts feel like a dream.
I feel once again how truly grateful it is that so many people loved and welcomed this challenge.
Thank you so, so much!!

We will work hard to share with you as quickly as possible to match the passion you've shown us!

ps. Our challenge TF is working hard to plan the next challenge.
We'll come back with something much more fun and creative than the Chuseok challenge.
Let's have fun and participate passionately together again!!

The 9-day challenge from 10.3 to 10.11 during this Chuseok holiday has been completed.
How was it for everyone?

Through course reviews and KakaoTalk group messages, many of you left feedback, and I feel that this long period was really well-spent.
Thank you all for your hard work during this long period.

While conducting this challenge, I was frequently reminded of the essay "Ryo's Thoughtless Thoughts" by Ryo, the founder of London Bagel.

Someone's growth doesn't necessarily mean they succeeded.
It simply means they pursued their fears.
Whether big or small, growth means having the courage to take a step forward even knowing it's dark and uncertain, and I think that has much greater meaning than any success that others might talk about.

Out of the blue, but this morning I find myself thinking of sending sincere support and applause to all the courageous people who trudge forward and begin despite knowing their fears, and hoping that the weariness of both body and mind will be carefully looked after.

Learning is not something that is guaranteed just because you execute it.

Like games that guarantee dopamine satisfaction,
or exercise that guarantees muscle soreness from muscles tearing and rebuilding,
or sleep that guarantees relief from fatigue,
when it comes to whether there's something that definitely returns as a reward when you do it, learning doesn't have that.
Short-term learning alone doesn't produce any noticeable rewards.

Therefore, deciding to participate in this challenge means "giving up all games/exercise/dates/sleep that have guaranteed results, and spending the entire long holiday period on something with no guaranteed outcome," which requires the courage to choose despite knowing the uncertainty.

Who wouldn't applaud the courage to leap into the unknown despite the uncertainty?
I truly want to tell all 1,642 participants in this challenge that you are absolutely amazing.

As I briefly mentioned during the live session,
we are all participating in an infinite game, and one of the important things in this infinite game is creating and maintaining the spark of unquenchable desire.

The ember in a furnace is difficult to ignite at first, but once it catches fire and grows, you transfer this ember to another furnace before it goes out, and then move the ember to yet another furnace before it extinguishes, keeping it burning forever.

I believe that everyone has a spark within their heart.
However, that spark often cannot be ignited by one's own strength alone.
That's when the power of solidarity and being together becomes important.

So someone fans the flames to help the fire catch in the hearth.
I hoped this challenge would serve just that role of fanning the flames.
I believe these sparks that have been lit will now spread to each person's many other hearths and grow even bigger.

The courageous decision to commit to learning throughout the entire 9-day long holiday,
and continuing with your studies and missions regardless of whether it was morning, dawn, or evening throughout the holiday - I really want to tell you how amazing that is.

And I would also like to express my gratitude for reminding me how enjoyable it is to study together,
and how much comfort and encouragement it brings to know that someone else is studying just like me, even during these early morning hours.

There have been several moments over the past few months when the spark in my heart almost went out.
But through this challenge, my spark was able to grow much bigger instead.

The challenge that was created with the purpose of igniting the spark in the hearts of the participants ended up fueling my own spark even more.
So it was a truly grateful time, and I felt that I received much more than I gave.

Our challenge will conclude at midnight on the 12th (Sunday).
Even after the challenge ends, I believe everyone will be able to continue living wonderfully and passionately in their daily lives with the good habits and memories you've gained.

I think I'll be the first one to do that! 😊😊

Thank you for the entire Chuseok holiday.
Thanks to you, I gained a lot of strength and renewed my commitment to continue developing Inflearn in a more enjoyable way.
I will repay you with better service and a more passionate attitude.

Everyone really worked so hard.

Hello, this is Hyangro 🙂
As requested during yesterday's live stream, I'm sharing a 90% discount coupon for the IntelliJ Guide for IntelliJ Beginners that I created a long time ago.

- Discount coupon: https://inf.run/4qLpH

This is a course that organizes and explains the main features of IntelliJ that I and the developers around me frequently used in 2017-2018, focusing primarily on keyboard shortcuts.
Since this course was recorded a long time ago, the UI is quite different from the current IntelliJ.
However, since it focuses on explaining keyboard shortcuts, regardless of UI changes, I think it would be good to listen to it as a way to learn which keyboard shortcut activates which function.

Of course, it's perfectly fine if you don't purchase it!

These days, with the rise of AI editors like Cursor, JetBrains development tools (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PhpStorm, PyCharm, etc.) may not boast the same dominance as before, but they are still the most fundamentally used development tools in the industry.
I also tend to use JetBrains IDEs whenever possible 😊😊

If you haven't tried anything other than VSCode and Cursor
If you're just starting with JetBrains IDEs like IntelliJ
It would be good to give this a listen at least once 🙂

Oh! Additionally, there are also the following 2 courses officially launched by JetBrains, so please make sure to take these courses as well 🙂

- KotlinConf 2025
- IntelliJ IDEA Conf 2025

It's Tuesday with 3 days left until the Chuseok holiday.
Are you all having a pleasant Chuseok holiday?

I'm spending my Chuseok holiday even more meaningfully while reviewing the missions you submitted from the 3rd to the 6th.

Over the past few days, as I've been continuously submitting missions, I've been thinking that there's quite a lot to do, right?
And those of you who submitted missions yesterday probably thought that this challenge has some pretty unique missions, don't you think?

Today, I'd like to talk about why we added these special missions and why we structured the basic missions the way we did.

Usually in these types of challenges or cohort education programs, to encourage participation, they tend to lower the barriers for missions as much as possible and choose methods that are as easy as possible to complete.

We've made this mission have quite a bit more work to do.

• Course Title

• Lecture screen or learning environment capture

• Currently enrolled course link

It seems like you might have found it bothersome, thinking why there are so many things to do when you could just upload a verification photo.
In fact, there are people who submitted without filling out all those items, so we're also taking that into consideration when giving mission feedback.

Even though it might be a bit bothersome, the reason I requested links and even screenshots of your study sessions for the daily missions you need to accomplish is because I wanted to give you an even greater sense of pride and accomplishment after this challenge is completed.

I tend to believe that the emotions you feel when finishing something are more important than the emotions you feel when starting.
For example, going to the gym early in the morning on a day off to work out is really tough when you're starting.
I sometimes toss and turn in bed for several minutes because I don't want to go.
But after it's over, I feel so good that I can spend the entire day in a great mood.

So I thought about how we could give a good feeling even at the end of this challenge.
Of course, I think just the fact that you studied throughout the holiday is enough to bring a positive mood to the end of the challenge.
However, I felt that if only the invisible inner growth accumulates, the ending might feel a bit disappointing.

In all things, there has always been a time gap between action and results.
While some things show results immediately after taking action,
the studying/growth we are doing now almost never produces immediate results.

Just because you study for coding tests right away doesn't mean you'll immediately pass all coding tests, or suddenly pass all the document screening processes.

As you go through this, you'll start having various thoughts like 'Am I studying the right way?', 'Is this the right path?', 'Should I have just taken it easy instead?'

But even if you don't see immediate results, those who have been consistently working at it - it's just a matter of when, not if - eventually achieve good results in some form or another, which I've often witnessed.

So I thought it was important to guide them in a direction where they can consistently study and grow, even if the results aren't immediately visible.

So this challenge was designed in a way that leaves evidence so you can know for yourself that you consistently did something throughout the holiday, even if immediate results don't show.

Thankfully, many people left this mission in a more meaningful way, which made us who prepared it very happy as well.

The special mission had a slightly different intention from this.
Including the special mission you first submitted yesterday, there are a total of 3 special missions in this challenge.

• Finding the Full Moon

• Leave a question about the lecture

• Write a Course Review

Our Inflearn logo is changed to match each commemorative occasion.
So for this Chuseok as well, we used a full moon logo.

I prepared the first special mission with the hope that whenever there are challenges or study groups like this in the future, rather than just remembering the challenge or event itself, you would also remember what kind of holiday this holiday was.

The remaining 2 missions were intended to convey what Inflearn pursues in a broader sense.

Unlike other services, Inflearn is a platform that "fully discloses all course reviews and Q&A content".
We transparently share the content left by our students.

This is largely to provide as many people as possible with a purchase experience and learning experience free of deception before taking the course.

Ultimately, we believe that by gathering course reviews from those who have taken this lecture, questions left while taking the course, and the corresponding answers from knowledge sharers, more transparent information can be shared and a learning environment without information gaps can be created.
This would also be more helpful for those considering enrollment in the future.

And even in this era where AI provides answers, I believe that the value of answers left by the most trustworthy people remains undiminished.

In that regard, writing questions and receiving answers from knowledge sharers is a completely different experience from getting answers from AI, so I wanted to give you this experience as well.

In the end

• The desire to leave behind some tangible result that shows the passion of those 10 days

• We focus on growth, but still, I want to remind you at least once what kind of holiday period this was

• A desire to create a learning environment without information gaps through transparent information disclosure

• I want to provide you with the experience of receiving answers from trustworthy people even in the AI era

These 4 elements came together to plan the mission for this challenge.

I hope these four mindsets are well conveyed to those participating in the challenge.

This challenge will likely continue in the future based on the feedback from participants.
So please feel free to share anything - feedback on the missions, feedback on the process, reviews about the challenge itself - whatever you'd like to say 😃
We will always receive feedback with a grateful heart.

Thank you as always!

Hello, I'm Hyangnro.
It's already the 3rd day of the holiday.

Is everyone having fun participating in the challenge?

I'm also currently enjoying listening to Kang Byeong-jin's AI Agents for Workplace Automation Ready to Use in Companies (w. n8n, LangGraph) every day.

Thanks to everyone who participates in the daily missions, I'm constantly getting stimulated and receiving a lot of motivation to work even harder.

Almost 1,000 missions are submitted per day 😊😊

Dozens of mission submission notifications pop up every hour, and I liked the mission submission alerts more than the payment notifications 😊😊
(I wonder if the CEO would dislike me saying this...?)

Inflearn is an open platform that deals with educational content, so many people often think of it as commerce that sells educational content.

At first glance, it might seem that way,
but there's a fundamental difference from commerce in that the goal isn't to somehow get customers to pay but rather to somehow help customers grow according to their goals, which I think is a significant difference.

And in the process of achieving that goal, we are improving our features and systems to ensure that the knowledge value of those who share their knowledge is not undermined by maintaining appropriate pricing and promotional policies, while enabling learners to gain more learning than what they paid for.

My former company Baemin's vision was "Good food, wherever you want to eat it."

At that time, this vision was so clear that I watched the company-wide presentation thinking that I really hoped such a world would come to pass.

(I heard their vision seems to have changed recently?)

Inflearn's vision was the same when I joined as it is now.

"Equality of Growth Opportunities"

Even in this era overflowing with online lecture platforms, we often receive the question: "Is this vision still valid?"

FastCampus, Class 101, Hunet, Multicampus, and other online education services exist, and

Especially in this era where Coupang is selling books and Naver is selling content through a service called 'Premium Content'.

However, no matter how convenient the world becomes and how many platforms emerge, I have a question mark about whether the direction these platforms are heading truly aims for "equality of growth opportunities."

There are many things in the world that aren't equal.

"You can't help it if you know but don't do it,

Shouldn't we at least solve the problem of not being able to do something because we don't know how?" is the way of thinking.

This challenge also brought similar feelings.

Actually, everyone probably has passion burning inside their hearts,
They're people who could blaze brightly if someone just lit their inner flame,
but maybe neither they themselves nor those around them realize this?
I thought that if we could help them discover this, wouldn't that align with our vision too?

Although it was more of an experimental hypothesis,
seeing everyone participate so passionately in the mission and share their daily study progress in the open KakaoTalk room
made me think, "Ah, as expected... everyone has such passion in their hearts, and when someone just provides the opportunity, they really unleash incredible enthusiasm."

It made me think that I should work harder in line with our vision,
so the mission submission notification was better than the payment notification 🙂

Oh of course..... I also really love the payment notifications 😆😆😆😆

I also went to my wife's family home for the ancestral rites tomorrow, and I'm now on the SRT heading down to Daegu.
Looking at the thousands of missions you all submitted, I was so motivated that I was able to open my laptop on the train.

(On the SRT train)

Including today, the Chuseok holiday runs until Tuesday, so I think many of you will probably be traveling today.
Everyone please travel safely,
for those who have ancestral rites during Chuseok, I hope they go well,
and for those without travel plans, it would be great if you could participate in the challenge for just a short time (?) and then take some rest!!

The challenge mission has finally started today~~!
Just watch one video each day and submit proof of completion.
Sometimes the screen may not be visible due to video protection technology (DRM).
In that case, you can open the Curriculum tab on the right as shown below and capture a screenshot including the checkmarks 🙂

• You can submit the captured content as a mission as shown below.

• You can include the lecture link along with the captured content in the attachments.

Oh, and please always check the mission as public so that fellow students can take a look and motivate each other. Thank you! 🙂

I'm also working hard on the mission today before going to my wife's family home 🙂