Hello, my name is Minsun. I have been a digital media nerd for 17 years and until a year ago, I was the lady boss of Neo@Ogilvy Australia. Currently, I am a tech entrepreneur and the co-founder of Run Theory. As a result, digital media has become my side gig but I continue to be active as a trainer, lecturer and consultant.
I’m quite a cautious person by nature. I like to make decisions based on data and use my experience to navigate new situations. Which is why co-founding a business in a new category while working with scientists, researchers and elite athletes on a subject I’m a relative noob on was both terrifying and electrifying. For me this was the ultimate example of ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, and I’ve been doing it every day for the past year.
Run Theory was officially incorporated on 22nd November 2016, with a simple mission to help everyday athletes run faster, faster. We believe this mission represents our biggest opportunity to contribute to the running community.
I’m a runner myself and I always want to run faster. But there is very little good training material out there and even less that can be personalised in any way shape or form. The only viable option is to get a running coach or join a running group. That’s all well and good if you have cash to burn or want to train on someone else’s terms but in today’s on-demand economy, that experience just doesn’t cut the mustard.
This is the genesis of Run Theory, an intelligent running and recovery coach that provides a personalised and optimised training experience. We do this through the ‘science of speed’, an approach to athlete development that brings together cutting edge running science, world class coaching and machine learning to create a unique training program based on your running goals and athletic ability.
So where am I now, versus a year ago? Happy. Surprised. Humble. Alive. I can’t say that the grass is greener over here. It’s all shades of green to blue to burnt black at times! It’s all about your perspective. Was it worth the jump for me? Hell, yeah!
I work harder than ever before and with a whole lot more energy. Every day is another day and I am present. I’ve realised that I was on auto-pilot a lot before. Now I am awake and want to remember every achievement we’ve made in the business. I am surrounded with phenomenal people every day. I love how human nature works around me. I am constantly learning and feel smarter. I am learning about subjects that I would not have been interested in school, like science, maths, code and sports!
Do you want to know how it happened? Well, it certainly wasn’t just a flick of a switch, that’s for sure! I used to think jumping ship from one company to another, especially between cities, was nerve wrecking enough. This massive leap was the most scary and exhilarating thing I’ve done to date. It was scary because of all the unknowns and the self-doubt (and boy, there were plenty!) I am constantly pushing out of my head. On the other hand, I was excited that I am doing something that I didn’t think I had the guts to do. I am also very fortunate to have a supportive husband, both emotionally, physically and financially.
The business idea and beginnings of Run Theory was actually several years in the making. That first step of quitting my job and dedicating my time to such an unknown took several attempts. There were many times that I chickened out. This journey for us could have started 4 years ago when I left my post as Head of Digital of OMD. But when an opportunity came up for a bit of both familiar and unfamiliar, which was to run the Neo@Ogilvy business, I took it because it seemed less risky. I had the skills and experience to run media teams, but I wasn’t business savvy. I was thrown in the deep end with some hefty goals to hit but had amazing support from a handful of people, particularly Sally Kissane and my team. Sally is the Managing Partner of Ogilvy Sydney and was my manager. She showed me the way, let me grow and run my own show. My team believed in me and worked hard for me. It was the best environment for my team and myself, and we thrived. Three words sum up that role: GUMPTION, LOYALTY and FRIENDSHIP.
Three years later, the desire to do something else was growing again. This time, I felt stronger about spending my time doing something that would contribute to the world, to help people and ultimately do something that I loved and felt 100% passionate about. At the end of the day, life is too short to be doing something that doesn’t fulfil your life’s purpose. Yes, the job at Neo gave me a lot of that but my reach was within my own team and our clients. I wanted it to be bigger.
My focus now is helping the 275 million runners around the world run faster, faster. That’s enough for me right now.
To ensure I stay focused and keep things moving, these are the three things I do every day:
- Be a better version of myself than yesterday
- Surround myself with great people
- “Listen, think and do” – I take all the advice I get, think for myself and decide what I will do
Thanks for reading my story. I know there are more of these stories from our Wyse Women community and I hope you amazing people out there share your stories, too.
Run Theory is an intelligent running and recovery coach that combines cutting edge running science, world class coaching and machine learning to help athletes run faster, faster. To do this, they design, refine and deliver personalised and adaptive training programs to athletes (runners) of all abilities. To learn more, visit www.runtheory.com