Meet Jonathan Lee, co-founder of AutoPreme

When you spend so much time with one hand on the wheel and the other in the container of leftover food you’re rushing to finish eating, it really starts to become about the little things. The smallest detail or bit of luxury can make your smoggy day that much better.

This is what lies at the heart of AutoPreme: luxury. Rather than some run-of-the-mill, plain car floor mats, they pride themselves in using natural resources for mats with elegant features. And when you spend as much time in the car as I do (and how can you not in a city like LA?), then every small detail truly does count.

I got the chance to speak with current USC Marshall student Jonathan Lee, one of the co-founders of AutoPreme. Read what he had to say about his decision to study business, the strategy he and business partner Kun Song used to build a customer base, and what his advice for success is.

I usually start off these interviews by asking where you’re from, how you got interested in business. You know, a little profile on who you are. Who is Jonathan?

Well, I grew up in Irvine, CA—

No way! I’m from Santa Ana. [At this point, we took a minute to discuss high schools and did the whole, “Do you know this guy?” and I’d say, “I knew of them, but not like, knew them knew them.” The usual.]

Yeah, this is actually my first year here. Transferred in from Chapman. I’m a business major here. I met Kun [Song], my business partner, here at school. He’s a transfer student as well, from the University of Washington. We just so happened to be in the same classes –literally every single class– the first semester.

He had mentioned a couple times to me that he had been working on it, didn’t really think much of it. I’d been telling him how I had some ideas as well, how I’d been going to these events that like, really inspired me to go out and do something on my own. And he was just telling me about it one day in class, and I was like, “Well, if you need help on marketing, I can maintain and work on your Facebook and Instagram for you.” Because he hadn’t started that.

And then two days later, he calls me. “Hey, you wanna have lunch and maybe chat about it?” Over the next weekend, I worked on it and it was a lot of work but I really saw potential. From there, it kind of just went off and we’ve been working together ever since.

What about the area of business, generally speaking? What got you interested in that?

Honestly, I always knew I was a business-minded person. I grew up swimming and I taught kids how to swim as well since I was a coach. About sophomore year of high school, I branched away. I didn’t have much time so I thought that I could teach on my own hours. I started posting ads on Craigslist and started my own little swimming business, and since then up until last summer, I’ve been giving private lessons to a bunch of families.

That just grows because if one family likes it, they tell another family. I have like 30 families in Irvine even texting me today. “Are you gonna be back this summer?” So I’ve always liked the business side. I didn’t even really think about it until a couple months ago, but that was, I guess, entrepreneurship.

I mean, you were out there hustling, getting those swim lessons!

Yeah, and I love swimming and teaching kids so I didn’t really think about the business side. Turns out, if you really think about it, it’s a business.

That’s so cool and I feel so unaccomplished now.

[Laughs]

Okay so, you started talking about your “origin story” with your partner Kun. You guys got started pretty quickly!

It was the week before Thanksgiving break, and after Thanksgiving weekend, every day we were working. Finals week –I kid you not– I had the worst grades because we didn’t study for finals. We’d stay up till six in the morning just working. And then an hour before the final we’re like, “Shit okay let’s start to review!”

So it wasn’t a good semester as far as grades —

But the partnership began.

Exactly. So it’s a funny story.

Do you feel like that happens often in Marshall? People just kind of snap people up?

That is– it’s common. I’m part of Sigma Chi, and one of our brothers, he started EnvoyNow. It’s kind of like Postmates, but on campus. So he started that freshman year with his friends, just in the dorm rooms.

I feel like it happens a lot. We’re kind of with Blackstone LaunchPad and we work there a lot. And if you look in there, you just see and listen to all the kids, it’s like…they’re- they’re up to something. They’re gonna change the world. It’s really cool.

Oh, definitely. So back to the business: AutoPreme? Wait, am I saying it correctly? Auto-preem?

Auto-preem.

Okay, I thought it was like Auto-preh-meh with some fancy accent mark or something.

Yeah, it’s like “supreme” but for auto…

Ohhhh. Man, I was sitting there researching trying to figure the name out. Now everything makes sense. So when you guys started working together, did you have a specific consumer in mind?

Basically, it all started was when Kun went to school in Washington. He’s originally from China. Grew up there, and then up until sophomore year or something, he went to boarding school in Boston. So in Washington, obviously it rains a lot up there, and when he got his first car he asked the dealer, “Hey, can I get some nice floor mats that will protect my car?” And all they had to offer were some rubber floor mats, and Kun was like, “Well shit this is ugly. I don’t want this in my car.” Back in China, they have a lot of people who are into this and have kind of created a similar type of product. So he thought: well, no one’s doing this in America, so why not bring it over here?

After we tested, we knew that people want our product out there. So if you have any interest in cars…people always want to add something. Carbon-fiber side doors or whatever. Seems like pointless stuff, but it makes them feel good, I guess, because they love their cars. We knew we had to hit the car enthusiasts. I couldn’t go to my friends and say, “Hey guys look at this!” They’re not gonna care. They don’t care about cars, you know?

So the people that are like, “This is my baby,” every time you get into their cars.

Exactly, so what we did to market ourselves for the first test launch month is we created our Facebook and Instagram. And then we hit the forums, because car forums are where all the car people are at like every day for news. That allowed us to test our products and send it out to customers and see what they thought. Everyone loved it, and we even got feedback for what else they wanted.

So ever since January, we stopped taking orders and then we took the time to expand and add in new stuff, new color stitching that they wanted and whatnot. And also, since then, we had in mind of launching a Kickstarter campaign. We also stopped taking orders to build the hype, and when we launch the Kickstarter, it all goes there.

Y’all are keeping people waiting!

We’re always on the forums and people are like, “It says sold out! I want them now!”

I was looking through your Facebook and Instagram, and especially your Instagram…in terms of the aesthetic, it’s pretty “on point”, for lack of a better term. How pivotal do you feel like achieving a look and aesthetic is now for a company?

If you’re trying to start a company and grow it, and you’re not on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter like…I don’t know what you’re doing. A lot of older people are like, “What is social media? Who uses Facebook?” Really, if you look around, everyone’s always on social media, and if you’re not reaching out to the people using it and looking up certain topics…the car people looking those things up, then you’re doing it all wrong. Especially in this day and age, social media is the key to marketing.

So do you think that has played a huge role –definitely the forums– for you guys?

Yeah, it’d be super hard to get our name out there without it. With a new company, people are skeptical. It’d be harder to go one by one to auto shops and ask them to try it out. Instead, we have social media and it spreads like wildfire.

You had mentioned a Kickstarter. Haven’t launched it yet?

No, not yet. So May 15th through the 20th is our time frame that we’re gonna launch for sure.

How do you feel about that? Do you think crowdfunding is gonna work out for you?

Oh, we’re very excited. We want to launch but we know we need to build more hype. The worst thing that could happen is for us on the first day, have some people buy it and then it kind of goes down. For most successful Kickstarters, you see a trend that goes up. People talk about it and then media gets involved. So that’s our main concern right now, which is why we haven’t launched yet.

Do certain businesses work and not work within that crowdfunding format?

Definitely. I mean, you can even see some great ideas that for some reason, it doesn’t do well. It may not be the product, but it may be more of how that company structured their campaign and how they basically got ready for launch. Because we could have launched January right after we saw that people want this, I guarantee you we wouldn’t have been successful or reached our goal.

But now that we’ve built the hype and expanded and really thought about what we wanted to do, how we’re gonna implement the rewards system and the video and whatnot…now we know like okay, if all goes well, it’s gonna be successful. Obviously it’s also the product, but really, pre-planning for Kickstarter campaigns is what defines if it’s gonna be successful or not.

I know you have a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund. How do you think that’s impacted your appeal as a brand?

For me, when I look at a company you see that they have a good product, you think that’s okay. But when you see a company that’s part of a movement and wants to make a change in the world, you really want to immerse yourself in them and you think, “Wow I’m not just buying a product, I’m part of a movement.” You feel proud to be a part of that. It’s like when you buy Toms and they have the one-for-one idea. Yeah, I’m buying this, I like my shoes, but also, I’m helping kids get shoes too.

Should companies have that sense of social responsibility?

I mean, not all can. But if you can, and if have a way to implement it, I think you should. For us, before the World Wildlife Fund, we really thought that maybe drunk driving, something to do with that, would be for us. But then we realized, we have our materials, we don’t use real leather and it’s for this reason, so maybe we could go that way. We debated over a bunch of different, I guess, foundations. And we thought, who doesn’t love animals and the environment?

You sent me a photo of you and Kun at an auto show. How was that experience?

That was our first real auto show, like with us in a booth. But we’ve been to car meetups and events. It’s pretty cool since people come up to us like, “What is this?” Especially when you look at the company car –it’s a Maserati with “AutoPreme” on it– then we explain who we are and what it is. It really gets a lot of attention. For that car show, it was the USC Car Show, so we got to meet a bunch of people from USC and hear their stories. We plan to go to a lot more. We have one scheduled on May 14th. But yeah, car shows are definitely great because when people see the product, they see it’s legit and not just some piece of crap. It’s a good way for us to get our name out there.

And you also mentioned in that DT article that you auditioned for Shark Tank? Um…what?!

So, we just thought it’d be cool to audition because like, god, Mark Cuban is…the sickest guy ever. [laughs] Yeah, he’s a little mean, but he’s a smart guy, obviously. It was crazy because we drove up Thursday night, through the night, got there at six in the morning, and then we waited in line from seven to nine, auditioned from nine to ten, and then drove back down. That was in San Francisco. So that all happened in less than 24 hours.

Daaaaamn. That’s crazy.

I mean, we thought we did well. And seeing all the other people auditioning, we were the youngest for sure. Like one of two college students out of 200, 300 people. They said they’d call us back if we get chosen. Who knows? Maybe we will get a call back. But honestly, we don’t really care. We did that for the experience, and it was nice to pitch an idea to someone just for practice.

You said you were the youngest ones there. And you guys are killing the game. I mean, has that age difference been something that surprises people?

It’s been a mix. A lot of people say oh, we’re just students. But if you look at the big companies now like Facebook and Tinder, all those companies– they started with kids in college. So I think it’s a common thing now, and less looked down upon. People are always skeptical, but with these big companies growing, and knowing who their CEO and founders were, like sure they’re young but they know what they’re doing.

Seriously, congratulations on everything going well. I suppose I’m being sort of a Debbie Downer here: have there been stumbles or challenges along the way? How do you balance this business with school and life?

I mean, this semester was crazy because I was pledging a fraternity, and I had school and this business. I don’t think I’ve slept in past…like nine? And I love sleeping. But it’s really fun because you wake up and yeah, you have a lot to do, but in the end it’s gonna be worth it, you know? Timing is really tough. Also, as far as other negatives, me and Kun never had a problem.

We’re the perfect balance for business partners, because he comes from a different culture in a way, and I’ve grown up here, so I know the culture here. We’re always giving good feedback to each other. We’re never like, “Dude, why’d you do that?” We have so many different areas to reach out to: he’s part of the entrepreneurship fraternity, I’m part of a social fraternity. And we’re creating this big network. It’s really good for us.

So what’s next, besides the Kickstarter?

Yeah, it’s really the Kickstarter. If that goes well, I mean who knows? It really depends on that for now. If it fails, it’s not the end of the world. We can either try again, or go back to how we started with the forums and reach out there, reach out to the auto shops and car brands themselves. We’ve had multiple auto shops come to us that want to sell our product.

And actually, another cool thing: are you familiar with the Delorean? From Back To The Future? So they’re going back into production next year, and they reached out to us. “We really like your mats. We really want these in our cars next year.” So we’ve been talking to them, and we’re still going through that process. I mean, they’re really busy with production. It’s not set in stone but if that goes well, that could also blow us up.

Yeah! Just a little! Casual!

We don’t want to bank on that option, though. And we know that other cars will be interested, like Tesla. We have a feeling our mats would be perfect in Teslas, and they only have like three cars. I don’t know. We have some different ideas if the Kickstarter goes well.

I know, I know: stay humble, don’t bank on anything, keep your feet on the ground. But let’s just take a second here: how does this feel, that you’re doing so well with this?

It’s not so much that we’re doing well. I’m like at a happy point where I feel like I found what I really like to do, to create stuff and make a name for myself in a way. The best part, I think, is just meeting a lot of cool people. Just by sending out emails like, “Hey my name’s Jonathan, I’m an aspiring entrepreneur from USC.

I’d love to have 15 minutes to talk with you.” And these big name people give 15 minutes of their time. Just talking to them and seeing what they have to say is…man, I’ve learned so much more from those 15 minute talks than…my econ, accounting classes, you know? Networking, really. That honestly been a fun part.

Last thing: what advice do you have for people that might have an idea and don’t really know what to do? Maybe they’re not at a place where they can collaborate with other people as easily…what would you say to them?

Obviously, I can’t really say since I didn’t start the idea myself, but you just gotta go after it. If you have an idea and think it can become something, go after it, talk to a couple people, and see where you go. A lot of people think they’re in college, can’t handle it. But if you get started and you personally believe and are passionate in what you’re doing, you’ll succeed for sure. You just gotta give it 110%.

Sure, it’s hard with school, but it’s all about time management. You just gotta work with it and figure it out. It’s a learning process, really. You’re gonna learn that you’re not gonna sleep, but it’s opportunity cost: if you give up sleep, you’re gonna have more time to do other things. And if you do that every day then eventually, something good will happen.

Right, and there’s always coffee to offset that.

Exactly. [laughs]

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Learn more about how you can get your hands on AutoPreme floor mats at their website. You can also check out their Facebook and Instagram, and stay tuned for their Kickstarter campaign, launching in mid-May.