This video is an NFM live broadcast from October 31, 2025, featuring host Kim Sung-jung and panelist Wonju discussing recent thoughts and venture trends. It marks the first attempt at a newly conversation-centered format after a post-Chuseok reorganization period. The discussion centers on the social and economic changes brought by the AI era and the evolving direction of the venture capital (VC) industry. In particular, the hosts redefine AI as an "executable unit of language" and offer insights on the importance of technology ownership and revolutionary-era change.

1. Changes to NFM Live and Personal Updates

The broadcast begins with the announcement that NFM Live has returned after a reorganization period on October 31, 2025. The host mentions extensive deliberation about the live format and declares an intention to strengthen the conversation-centered concept. This change stems from the realization that the previous interview format, with its clear questioner-respondent roles, did not feel like genuine dialogue.

"Rather than approaching this as if we're smart and diligent and delivering something to you, the core of running this as a live conversation format was always about the sparks generated through talking with people."

The host now aims to throw out topics worth thinking about together, without predetermined questions, and engage in free-flowing conversation. Having returned after a month's break, personal updates from both panelists follow.

• Kim Sung-jung's update: Achieved live-near-work proximity, now living a 90-second run from the office. He emphasizes how this dramatically improved morning productivity by eliminating the energy drain of packed subway commutes.

• Wonju's update: Describes becoming a "developer" -- more precisely a "coder" rather than a "software engineer." This reflects a mental shift toward designing everything to be repeatable and scalable. A major catalyst was adopting Claude Code, which Wonju notes introduced the MCP (memory recall capability) concept ahead of other AI code tools like Codex, making it particularly developer-friendly. As a non-engineer civilian turned coder, Wonju sees a role in evangelizing AI code usage to fellow non-engineers.

2. Redefining 'Code' and the Core Shift of the AI Era

The panelists engage in a deep conversation about the definition of "code." The host redefines code as an "executable unit of language," arguing that while natural language was previously non-executable, in the AI era natural language can now serve as an executable unit of language.

"Natural language was never really an executable unit of language -- because it contained jokes, exaggeration, and so on. But now it seems natural language can actually be used as an executable unit of language."

This change suggests that the business world itself is becoming codified, moving into a "third territory."

Wonju strongly agrees, drawing a parallel to how developers became founders in the early U.S. mobile market, and emphasizes that understanding and applying this concept of "code" is now critical in the Korean venture scene.

The host describes a personal shift toward "delegating thought" -- handing over the volume, complexity, and alignment of thinking to AI, while reserving the role of thinking about AI's output. This role separation has led to explosive productivity gains, such as completing three-month projects in two to three days.

"I handed over the volume, complexity, and alignment of thinking entirely to AI. And I said, 'I'll think about the outputs you produce.' That's the role separation I made."

3. The VC Industry and AI's Impact Through the Lens of Evolutionary Economics

Kim Sung-jung shares content from an article he is writing about "evolutionary economics," a field that applies biological evolutionary theory to economics. It proposes that economies evolve toward more fit forms through communication between external environments and species, connecting particularly to Schumpeter's concept of "Creative Destruction."

The host shares long-held concerns about the VC industry. Since his twenties, he believed VCs must continually innovate, but in practice, pursuing change was often not encouraged. Wonju interprets this, noting that resistance to change is universal -- even in Silicon Valley -- and ultimately those who push through that resistance become the new normal.

The discussion then deepens through the case of Y Combinator (YC).

3.1 The Birth and Essence of Y Combinator

• YC's founding background: After starting a company in 2004, Paul Graham endured so much suffering through the VC investment process that he described VCs as archetypical villains. From this antithesis, he founded YC in 2005.
• Defining YC: In Korea, it is commonly labeled an "accelerator," but in reality it has been interpreted as a school, a religion, a network, a VC, a media company, and even a "great invention." This ambiguity stems from Graham building YC from his own essence, making it difficult for outsiders to categorize.
• YC's success factors:
  1. The timing of 2005 and software technology advancement: Graham had ideas about how software would transform the startup scene.
  2. Predicting a shift in the founder archetype: He foresaw a society centered on "hackers" rather than businesspeople.
  3. Declining software development costs: He recognized that the open-source movement had dramatically reduced software development costs.

Graham saw that traditional VC's large-scale investments were mismatched with startup speed and inhibited innovative thinking. YC took a different path by teaching business to hackers, connecting them with each other, and providing a platform for coevolution.

"Y Combinator may appear to have become the standard through individual original experiments, but ultimately the most important things were: first, discovering the key characteristics of the most important changes of that era; and second, doing the thing most true to themselves."

Ultimately, YC started by criticizing VCs but became the very standard that other VCs followed -- underscoring the importance of "discovery" and "action."

3.2 Conditions for Evolution: Environmental Change and Mutation

Evolution does not happen simply because there are many mutations -- it is when the environment changes that mutations become advantageous and can shine.

"Mutations only thrive -- or rather, mutations shine -- in environments that favor their survival."

The key question is therefore "What opportunity are you betting on?" -- in other words, "What environmental change are you reading?" Just as changes in software technology gave rise to both YC and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the hosts ask whether we are now in a period that demands many mutant species.

Wonju acknowledges underestimating AI's impact and describes being so all-in on AI as to be practically "AI-biased." AI is not like the creator economy or K-beauty -- a change in a specific vertical -- but rather "an event like sea levels rising across the entire planet," a fundamental change that everyone must respond to.

"AI is like software -- it's an event where sea levels rise across the entire globe."

AI is a revolutionary technology that will change how companies operate, the talent profiles they prefer, how teams work, and even how companies are structured.

4. Three Axes of Revolutionary Change

The host frames the present as a "period that demands many mutant species" and identifies three major environmental shifts:

1. AI technology's overwhelming productivity transformation:

   • AI is a high-ROI tool capable of penetrating every industry vertical to boost revenue, increase enterprise value, and generate profit.
   • AI technology has revolutionary potential to change corporate operations, talent profiles, teamwork methods, and even how companies are constituted.
   • Wonju compares attitudes toward the AI era to a "religious phenomenon" -- people at the frontier hold firm conviction, while those who are not defer judgment.
   • The host emphasizes through industrial revolution history that "owning technology" was a crucial choice for ascending to the upper class during revolutionary periods, and that we must now decide whether to own something related to innovative technology.

2. Global low-growth trends and population decline (choosing deflation):

   • Citing Eric Schmidt, the host explains that humanity is voluntarily choosing "de-population," entering a low-growth phase.
   • Korea, with its extremely low birth rate, will viscerally feel the major impact of population decline within ten years. This is compared to the gradual but massive environmental change of rising sea levels or temperatures.

3. Diaspora phenomena and the rise of bootstrapping founders:

   • The concept of nationalism is rapidly eroding, and the importance of nation-states is declining for younger generations. This suggests the 300-400-year-old concept of the "nation" itself may be destabilizing.
   • Bootstrapping founders -- those who build businesses entirely on their own without external investment -- are increasingly emerging in this era of uncertainty. Since these represent evolutionary changes in species within the VC industry's food chain, VCs must coevolve accordingly.

The host diagnoses that the convergence of these three major environmental changes may signal a moment when "mutation" is demanded in the VC industry as well.

5. Future Direction of NFM Live

The panelists share reflections on the day's pilot test.

• Wonju found that focusing on conversation yielded immediate takeaways and appreciated the feeling of building something together. Keywords like "code," "ownership," and "what you own matters during revolutionary periods" stood out as satisfying insights.
• The host agrees that, much like why YC cultivates networks, in a changing world it is important to gain knowledge through collisions and conversations with peers.
• Going forward, NFM Live promises to move beyond one-way information delivery toward active interaction with viewers, working through shared questions together. The hosts emphasize the importance of "asking good questions" and plan to compound knowledge by posing questions that help everyone look at the same facets of issues.

"Asking good questions is really important. I've been thinking a lot lately about how important it is to look at the same side of things and talk about them."

The broadcast closes with an announcement that next week's episode will share a conversation from LA.

Closing Thoughts

This NFM Live episode offered deep insights into how individuals, companies, and the VC industry should evolve amid the rapid changes of the AI era. Emphasizing the redefinition of "code" and the importance of "technology ownership," it argued that we are at a "transformative moment" where we must read and boldly respond to three massive environmental changes: AI, low growth, and diaspora. We look forward to NFM Live becoming a forum where these concerns are explored together with its audience.