#17: Brian Yun of Woodstock on How Social Trading is Shaping the Future of Wealth Generation

Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, a show where we bring on guests from tech, business, politics, and culture to talk about all things Japan.

In this episode we are joined by Brian Yun, Co-founder and CEO of Woodstock, a Coral portfolio company building a social trading app with the mission to empower the next generation to create a better financial future. Brian has a phenomenal career leading up to Woodstock. While in college, he  began working as a hardware design engineer at AMD. After graduation, he took on roles in equities trading at Barclays, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. He later led the  sales finance and strategy at Twitter (now X) for Japan and Korea, then transitioned to Coinbase to drive their Japan expansion.

A graduate of the University of Waterloo in Computer Engineering and an MBA honors graduate from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Brian combines deep expertise in technology and finance. We’re excited to share his insights on entrepreneurship, Woodstock’s journey, and the future of investing.

Below are some of the highlights from the episode:

• Brian’s first investment experience was buying Nvidia stock back in 2003
• Building an "Oceans Eight" team with co-founders Daisuke Kawamoto and Min Ju
• Brian’s experience at Twitter (now X) and Coinbase taught him about leveraging the internet and navigating complex regulatory markets
• Woodstock’s user base: half are under the age of 29, and over 70% are first-time investors
• The Woodstock Index, weighted by community ownership, has more than doubled since its inception in April 2023, outperforming both the S&P and NASDAQ by a large margin
• Social media has leveled the playing field for financial information, reducing reliance on traditional equity research reports
• Young Japanese are embracing risks instead of relying on pensions
• How Woodstock is complementing government efforts to raise investment awareness by promoting financial literacy
• Heavy Japanese users of X average 4–5 accounts, often under pseudonyms
• Woodstock’s vision: becoming the go-to platform for all things finance

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