Startup Nomad 2013 is a three month long global accelerator program organized by The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and The National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and hosted by VentureSquare in collaboration with Plug&Play.
The Startup Nomad teams plan to leave in early November for Silicon Valley to participate in an acceleration program at Plug&Play Tech Center. Each team will undergo intensive mentoring and coaching to equip them with the tools to enter the global market. There will also be an opportunity to showcase the startup to local investors in the USA, and upon return to Korea, a Demo Day will be held on Dec 11th.
VentureSquare has taken this opportunity to hear about the global strategy and the expectations of each team waiting aboard on ‘Startup Nomad’ global accelerator program in Silicon Valley.
IT&BASIC’s audience responsive system, Collabo is a solution for speakers and audiences to communicate effetively. Audience can ask the lecturer with a device whenever they come up with questions, On the other hand, the lecturer can offer audience pop quiz to make sure if the audience follows him or her.
IT&BASIC is a brand new team who launched their business this year. How did you build your team and start your business?
The key members including me, CTO and chief designer have been friends for 20 years. The developer and the designer have been working on this application. They already had the prototype when I joined them. That was when I got out Bluehole Studio and was looking for some entrepreneurial job. They offered me the position and I accepted it.
It looks like Collabo is simple and easy to use in real-time communcation between the lecturer and audience. What’s the technological strength behind the scenes?
We already have the patent for the main technology. It looks like Collabo works simply and easily but, there is tons of data being managed inside. Collabo’s strength lies in seamless operation regardless of internet environment, the number of concurrent users, and firewall blockage.
The log of every single user is collected and analyzed internally. From the version of OS the users are using to small errors that happen, we gather the information and keep updating the application. An internal algorithm is designed in a well-orgainzed and competent way for fast and smart UX.
My tream prioritizes customer’s satisfaction. A team visits the places where Collabo is used and gathers feedback and helps operate the devices if requested.
What made you to decide ‘Go global’?
When we launched the service, global market was not an option. Our initial target was universities. In universities, however, the decision making process was complicated and way too slow. We didn’t make a step forward. Meanwhile, we have found out that Collabo has more opportunity when Collabo was introduced to the conference and corporate training side.
From this lead, Collabo has expanded its focus to corporate training and lifetime education. These markets are not limited to Korea. Since Collabo is the platform service that users make their own contents inside, going to global market doesn’t cost much for localization. Only touch-ups on UI and word selection for local culture are needed.
Recently we had an opportunity to join TechCruch Distrupt. During the visit to Silicon Valley, we had confidence that Silicon Valley would provide us with more opportunity and better environment. If you are ready, it would be much more easier to find investors through accelerator program in Silicon Valley. Collabo is targeting the B2B market, going global is neccessary to scale fast.
We’re a newly-born startup which has not been funded yet. Startup Nomad is an excellent chance for a startup like us to secure a local network and gather feedback on the product.
What’s the goal that you would like to achieve through the Startup Nomad program?
My goal is just one. During the 5 weeks, I’m going to show our service to two prospective customers. One is San Jose Univ. We already have been talking with them since TechCrunch Disrupt. The other is conference host that would like to try Collabo during their session and give us feedback on it.
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