SEOUL, KOREA – Is it possible to find another Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in Korea where a few conglomerates seem to dominate the economy Many Koreans have long expressed concerns that many talented youths opt to work for large established companies instead of taking risks and venturing into new businesses in order to avoid failure. There are increasing voices that the country should foster more ambitious youths to start their own businesses in an attempt to jump start the national economy.
AppCenter Supporters
Kim Jin-hyung, a professor of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology initiated AppCenter Supporters, designed to support promising developers to create quality software and eventually start their own firms. The non-profit community is comprised of diverse professionals including developers, testing professionals, designers, contents holders, product planners, startup investors, and research developers. “I wanted to lighten the load on developers by creating an environment where they can freely develop software. The center provides web Mock-up for developers to run simulation of their applications which will be developed for various operating systems such as iPhone, Andriod, and Window Mobile. On top of that, web developers can freely use standardized open API of public information, web information and database information we provide,” stated the professor.
Startup Weekend
Since 2010, AppCenter Supporters has held ‘Startup weekend,’ where anyone interested in development, design, planning and marketing gather to generate new ideas and present their novel outcomes during weekends. On the first day, participants present their ideas for 100 seconds at a time, and the most promising ideas are selected by a show of hands. Based on the selected ideas, members form a team – with people they are initially meeting - in order to cooperate together during the two days. The essence here is collaboration. However productive the planning capability and development skills are, successful outcomes will never be produced without the promotion of the spirit of team work. On the last day, the participants have opportunities to interact with IT professionals at home and abroad and attract investment from them to create startups.
Super App Korea
‘Super App Korea’, another event organized by AppCenter Suppertors, is a survival competition where the application development process is broadcast on TV. Selected candidates from paper screening have one hundred days to compete. During the competition period, participants are provided with mentoring services and necessary training. The final candidates will have diverse benefits. They will be provided with cash prizes of 60 million won (USD 50,000) in total, and also have opportunities to commercialize their products.
KStartup
With the experience and know-how to discover and foster developers throughout these events, Appcenter Supporters have initiated ‘Kstartup’ to foster startup businesses in mobile, online and game areas. This event is jointly set up with Seoulspace to enable the participants gain competitiveness in the global market. Seoulspace is a startup incubator which is the leading platform for many of Korea’s IT startups and early-venture businesses to set forth on the global stage. With a strong global network, they help startups interact with IT entrepreneurs overseas.
“Throughout the organization of two events, Startup Weekend and Super App Korea, I witnessed many of the participants starting their own firms with the developed service. At that time we had insufficient funding to financially support them in these ventures. Now, however, we have persuaded Korean Americans in Silicon Valley to invest in this program to provide seed funding and also increased investment for the best teams,” he said.
During the incubation period of 100 days, candidates form a group with more than two members to compete against others. Participants are offered diverse benefits. They are provided with seed funding of 15 million won (USD 14,000), and mentoring services from IT professionals at home and abroad. During the period, participants should formulate their ideas and develop business models. Each week, they are assessed by development and design specialists and together they figure out the best method of resolving problems. On the 100th day, participants should unveil their final outcomes and the best team will have opportunities to attract investment from angel investors and venture capital.
He said that formerly two or three years were required to determine success or failure, but now three months is an adequate amount of time to assess everything from service development to market evaluation. Accelerator in the U.S., intensive incubation for a short period, is already recognized for this strategy.
Technical skills and Team Work
“Korea has the world’s best Internet infrastructure and innovative ideas, but I saw many online services limited exclusively to the Korean market. The most important factors for the success of startups attempting to advance into the global market are technical skills. No company can last long without technical capabilities. They can easily be overtaken by newcomers based solely on ideas. The strength of Kstartup, therefore, is supporting developing technologies as well as building up a global network. Appcenter boasts years of experience in know-how designed to systematically train software developers. Startups seem dynamic and exciting initially but it requires efforts for this to last. To attain success, members must overcome difficulties together. It is not easy for an individual to have all of the necessary requirements for success. Each role should be divided to improve specialization and it will naturally create a synergy effect.”
“Working as a team instead of an individual is important because members can make up for their weaknesses and rely on one another in difficult situations,” he emphasized.
