Calm by default
Our products shouldn't ask for attention. The best system is one that does the work and then steps out of the way.
Everything Essential is built by Siyoun Kim, Daniel Song, and Jongyoon Back — a mathematician, an operator, and a financier who first overlapped over an empty fridge at 11 p.m. and have been circling the same problem, in some form, for the seven years since.
Everything Essential was founded in 2024 on a simple observation: most households quietly run a small operations team — for food, money, time, and waste — entirely in their heads. We're building the software that does that bookkeeping in the background.
Our first product, Friddy, applies that thesis to the kitchen — connecting grocery, inventory, expiry, recipes, and reorder into one calm loop. Future products will extend the same pattern to other parts of daily life. The brand will always feel calm, intelligent, trustworthy, and a little premium — never loud, never gamified.
We work as a small, focused team. We move slowly on the things that matter (data, defaults, design) and quickly on the things that don't. We'd rather ship one product that earns trust than five that don't.
Our products shouldn't ask for attention. The best system is one that does the work and then steps out of the way.
Grocery, inventory, recipes, budget — they're one system in real life. We treat them as one system in software.
Explainable defaults, careful data, decisions you can understand and override. Intelligence in service of clarity.
Siyoun Kim, Daniel Song, and Jongyoon Back connect technical execution, operational strategy, and financial discipline to make household food management simpler and more sustainable.
Technical execution, systems thinking, and user-centered product development. Siyoun turns everyday problems into practical digital solutions by designing, building, and refining Friddy's core app experience.
Siyoun is a Mathematics and Statistics student at the University of Toronto, a background that shapes his structured and problem-solving approach to product development.
At the core of his role is technical execution: he turns everyday problems into practical digital solutions by designing, building, and refining Friddy's core app experience. Siyoun brings a strong focus on systems thinking, user-centered design, and scalable technology, connecting Everything Essential's vision with tools that can create real impact in daily life.
Fascinated by the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, consumer behavior, and everyday efficiency, he works to transform Friddy's mission into a product that helps users reduce food waste, manage groceries smarter, and make better household decisions.
Operational strategy, project management, and partnership building. Daniel orchestrates future operational planning while keeping ongoing projects running seamlessly.
Daniel is a specialist in Economics and Human Resources, a background that uniquely shapes his holistic approach to business growth.
At the core of his role is operational strategy: he orchestrates future operational planning while keeping ongoing projects running seamlessly. Daniel brings a proven track record in project management, having successfully led both online and offline campaigns from initial client pitches to final execution.
Fascinated by the intersection of internal team dynamics and external client management, he bridges the gap between managing employee relations and building lasting external partnerships.
Financial strategy, market research, and sustainable growth. Jongyoon grounds Everything Essential's product vision in practical business logic and measurable value.
Jongyoon is a specialist in Finance and Economics, a background that shapes his analytical approach to business strategy and sustainable growth.
At the core of his role is financial strategy: he develops revenue models, evaluates market opportunities, and strengthens Everything Essential's investment readiness by grounding ideas in realistic business logic. Jongyoon brings a strong focus on market research, budgeting, and monetization, connecting product vision with practical paths toward growth.
Fascinated by the intersection of consumer behavior, resource efficiency, and scalable business models, he helps translate Friddy's mission into measurable value for both users and the company.
All three versions are true. We disagree about the lighting.
I was in Toronto for a friend's wedding in 2018, staying in an Airbnb with a fridge that someone had recently abandoned a head of lettuce in. I posted a photo of it on a small mailing list I was on at the time, with the caption ‘this is a UX problem, not a personal failing.'
Jongyoon replied within twenty minutes with a three-paragraph response and a hand-drawn schematic. Daniel replied an hour later with a one-line note that said ‘call me when you're serious.' It took six years.
Siyoun and I had been friends since university — we'd shared a kitchen, badly, for two years. I read his post and immediately recognized the problem. I also recognized that he would procrastinate on it for at least five years, because that's how he works.
I sent a short reply and a long-running side bet. When Siyoun finally sent the founding memo in late 2023, I had a draft of the operating plan ready the next morning.
I'd been thinking about household inventory since grad school — it kept coming up in everything I worked on at Shopify but for stores, not kitchens. Siyoun's post crystallized something I'd been sitting on for a year.
We exchanged emails for a few weeks, then drifted. Every nine months one of us would send the other a screenshot of a half-rotten cucumber. In late 2023 Siyoun sent a memo instead. I flew to Seoul the next month and met Daniel for the first time on day three.
A short, accurate timeline of how Siyoun, Daniel, and Jongyoon ended up running the same company.
Siyoun posts about the abandoned-lettuce fridge. Jongyoon replies with a schematic; Daniel replies with a side bet. The three stay in loose contact.
A weekend prototype of a pantry tracker, written in a shared Notion. All three agree it's not the right time and shelve it.
Siyoun sends a 14-page memo arguing that multimodal models have finally made the kitchen tractable. Daniel returns it with an operating plan. Jongyoon flies to Seoul the next month.
Three founders, two cities, one cap table. Friddy is named in the second week — after Siyoun's grandmother's fridge, which had a hand-lettered label that said the same word.
Friddy goes live on the iOS App Store in Korea with the first 40 households across Seoul and Toronto. The first reported saving is ₩9,400 — a single jar of kimchi that didn't get repurchased.
Team of six. Pre-seed closed. App live. Working on what comes after the kitchen, while keeping the kitchen honest.
Investors, partners, kitchen-software nerds, future hires — write directly. We read everything that comes in.