[Weekly VentureSquare Stories] Why the first year in a company is the most important

Why the first year in a company is the most important

The first year in a company can be a stressful and bewildering time. However, it is also the most important year, and the way you go about your work can have a big effect on how things will pan out for you. 62 new employees of American Telephone and Telegraph were part of an experiment for five years. David E. Berlew and Douglas T. Hall led the experiment which monitored how employees’ first year review had an effect on their progress throughout the next four years. You can view the study here, http://goo.gl/6jsKq

The 2nd Primer Internship Demo Day “Reproducing Founder DNA”

On the 30th of August, startups gathered at Gwanghwamun’s KT Olleh Square to take part in the 2nd Primer internship demo day titled ‘Reproducing Founder DNA’. Many startups were mentored through an incubation program over the past year led by an angel investor network whose mission is to help other young companies succeed. The startups were introduced at the for the first time at the event. Here are the different startups for you to view.

Startup Guest: CEO Song Young-gil – Booga Ventures

Song talks about the recent criticism of domestic IT companies focusing too much on hardware and not enough on developing competitive software. “Currently people are talking like the age of hardware is over but the world goes round in circles and hardware will have its time again soon.” says the co-founder of eMachines. EMachines shot to success selling desktop PCs and managed to climb up to 3rd place in the American retail market after just 9 months. He is currently CEO of NComputing, Booga Ventures, Co-founder of Primer and head of K-Group but spends most of his time in Silicon Valley.

Korean Startups: Wescan – CEO Lee Tae-ho

CEO of Wescan Lee Tae-ho believes that the future is in recognition. But what does that mean? Lee explains that while technology has changed fast and there are many smartphones and other new devices, people are still continuing to use PCs and older phones along with them. There can be inconveniences when using smartphones too, such as trying to type and search for something on the tiny screen while continuously making typos. This is where Lee saw that people needed an easier way to search for things and founded his company, ‘Wescan’ on his own. Currently domestic users only have the choice of programs that are overseas and he believes that this is an opportunity to help make people’s lives different.

There is no end to Studying your Customer Base

There is no age limit on challenge. If we look at sites like G-Market and 11th Street, they are developing new services to target markets in America. However, before launching into a new market they will need to study the characteristics of their customer base first. Startups also need to decide whether they will be first movers and take on the challenge of introducing a new service or fast followers, who try and improve on a new service.

Change of Moblie Communication and mVoIP

Recently the “Era of 4G, LTE mVoIP MVNO Big Three Concert” was held, hosted by K Mobile. It mainly focused on the changes in communication patterns and the four big players; Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and what companies they have acquired. Here is a slide show summing up what was talked about on the day.

Lee Min-hwa’s Korean Venture Stories: Venture Globalization Project (INKE)

Globalisation in the 21st century is more important than ever. No matter how advanced and competitive your Korean venture is, without entering the global market you cannot win or even hope of making the amount of money that international ventures make. INKE was established by the Korea Venture Business Association in 1999 and allows Korean ventures from around the world to network and exchange resources. You can read more about the INKE at http://inke.org.

Get Ready for “2011 EBS Young Entrepreneur Audition – Brain Big Bang”!

These days audition shows are just as popular as starting your own business. Now they have been combined into one. EBS says that they will produce a ‘business audition program’ which will be a great chance for some young entrepreneurs to help make their ideas become a reality. The program, named ‘Brain Big Bang’, will be offering a grand prize of 100,000,000won to help fund their venture and will be filmed over a period of three months while young entrepreneurs get mentoring from experts. If you are interested in taking the challenge and sharing your idea on television, check out the information below.

Registration
Age:19 – 35 Korean
Area: No restrictions
Date: September 9 (Monday) – October 3 (Monday)
Please go to the Brain Big Bang homepage, fill out the form and mark it as hidden.

Contact:
Producer – Lee Ji-hyun: 02-526-2676
Writer – Choi Ji-hye: 02-526-2532

* 한국의 스타트업 소식을 영어로 번역하여 알리는데 관심이 있고 동참하고 싶으신 분은 editor@venturesquare.net으로 연락주시기 바랍니다.

* If you’re interested in sharing your ideas or company and translating them into Korean, feel free to e-mail us at editor@venturesquare.net.