My Meaning of Life

I once talked with friends about life after financial freedom, completing our bucket list, and getting plenty of rest.

How will we spend our time after that?

Surprisingly, answering that question took time. Perhaps reality swept me up and I lost my sense of agency. Maybe I’m living without knowing the life I truly want. Maybe who I am now is drifting away from who I wish to be. Putting those thoughts aside, I want to share my perspective.

Why Do We Live? 

Some say life has no reason and we simply live; others say we choose our own reason. I believe humans live to love. Biologically and philosophically, we live to love—not only emotional love, but agape-like love that includes every effort and action to make myself and my surroundings better.

Love begins with me. I love myself, and to exist as a better me, I exercise, study, and read. Next comes love for family and relationships. I try to make the people around me happier in better environments—from tidying a room to experiencing new cultures—finding the environment I’m satisfied with and gradually changing parts that aren’t.

Finally, there is love for society. I spread my influence to those I love, to my family, and to society at large. I observe the world closely, find parts that can become better, and develop them—that is both my way of living a better life and, I believe, the reason people live.

Changing the World 

Thus, to live is to make myself and my surroundings a better place. Ultimately, the answer to how we should live is connected to the answer to what kind of world we want to build.

Everything that you call life was made up by people around you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.

A big secret is that you can bend the world to your will a surprising percentage of the time-most people don’t even try, and just accept that things are the way that they are.

Much of the world cannot be controlled at will, and if you stay still, you only grow more confused. That is innate nature of the world, the increase of entropy. So I imagine how miraculous it is that we organized society and advanced it. It is the product of countless efforts to push back against that increase in entropy. Therefore, my belief that I, too, can meaningfully bend the world—the active attitude toward life—is not mere optimism but a realistic necessity.

There are many ways to change the world, but after working five years as a product manager, I’ve come to believe we can guide people’s lives in better directions through good, technology-based products. In live streaming, we built an ecosystem for streamers; in fintech, we created a financial environment where countless groups can come together. This was my way of realizing love for society. Building products that change people’s everyday lives through technology is what I love most, the way I change the world, and the path I will continue to pursue.

The Inevitability of Companies

To build a better world, we need organized, collective effort beyond the individual. In a capitalist society, companies are the most efficient form of organization to create meaningful change. A good company not only increases capital but also creates socially meaningful value while achieving sustainable growth.

The purpose of a car is not to buy gas. The purpose of a car is to go somewhere, and fuel helps you get there.
The purpose of a company is not to make money. The purpose of a company is to accomplish something to advance a great cause to contribute to society and money will help you get there.

Just as Toss realized free transfers for life to lower financial barriers, SpaceX created Starlink to serve a vision of bringing humanity to Mars, and OpenAI popularized ChatGPT toward AGI for humanity, a well-designed company combines capital, technology, and talent to produce changes at a scale difficult for individuals to achieve.

In that sense, I believe companies should not be evaluated solely on financial performance but on how those results connect to social value. Building a company that practically improves people’s lives through technology and great products—that is how I plan to scale the magnitude of change I dream of.

In closing

This is how I currently think about and live my life. I will keep questioning, exploring, and growing whenever I find shortcomings. My thoughts ultimately return to the first question: after achieving financial freedom, completing the bucket list, and getting ample rest, what choice will I make?

In the end, I will still build products.

Whether as a product manager or an entrepreneur, I will create products that transform individual lives and lifestyles.

Through technology and good products, I will build a better world and create value for those around me and for society as a whole—that is both my reason for living and my path forward.