# Turning Services Into Software To Move Talent To America | Minn Kim, Lighthouse

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/solo-founders-7728246/turning-services-into-software-to-move-talent-to-america-minn-kim-lighthouse
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/solo-founders-7728246/turning-services-into-software-to-move-talent-to-america-minn-kim-lighthouse.md
Podcast: [Solo Founders](https://stenobird.com/podcast/solo-founders-7728246)
Published: 2026-05-20T16:56:43+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/dc88a76c
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/dc88a76c/a9ac4af3.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/solo-founders-7728246/episodes/turning-services-into-software-to-move-talent-to-america-minn-kim-lighthouse
Duration seconds: 3393

## Resource

Minn Kim runs Lighthouse, the AI-powered immigration firm rebuilding the visa stack for frontier-tech companies. She is solo. She isn't a lawyer. Her first two hires were engineers. The conversation with Julian covers how she got there, why "solve your own problem" isn't always the path to success, the complicated-vs-complex framework she uses to pick what to build, and her bull case for solo founding stated as a fact about her own life rather than a thesis. Topics covered: The Korean-immigrant origin and the 2022 side quest that became Lighthouse Services-as-software: why "professional services don't scale" stopped being true around 2021 Why "solve your own problem" isn't always right — and what to do instead The complicated-vs-complex problem framework for founder fit and capital structure First two hires were engineers, not lawyers Long-game hiring and contractor-to-full-time as a deliberate pattern The 30-question anonymous Google Form for surfacing blind spots "Twenty of them in the world" — the talent-infrastructure thesis behind Lighthouse Bear case and bull case for solo founding, the latter stated as lived experience Guest: Minn Kim — founder and CEO of Lighthouse, the AI-powered immigration firm for frontier-tech companies and their hires.

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## Transcript

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