Weekly VentureSquare Stories are summaries of some of the week’s top posts relating to the Korean startup and venture Industry.
Venture Square Turns 1
On the 1st of September it was one year since VentureSquare was founded. Here at VentureSquare we aim to offer a place where anyone can write about their venture and startup experience while establishing an ecosystem for ventures. Over the year we held seminars, a recruiting expo and a venture competition while promoting startup news not available from other outlets. If you are interested in using Venture Square contents for your media, please contact us at editor@venturesquare.net.
People in Startup – People are your Hope (TNM)
I interviewed the CEOs of TNM, Myung Seungeun and Han Young about their startup and where they are taking it. We talked about the troubles that startups run into financially. Han told me that it is not necessary for employees to know every detail of a business but for workers to focus on their part of the team.
Green Monster challenges the Global Market with ‘Flava’
There is a lot of talk these days about software. There is already a Rumours of Samsung’s group messaging service have finally been confirmed with the announcement of their new messaging application ‘ChatOn’, which is to be offer service in 120 different countries and in 62 different languages. This is sure to add more heat to the fierce competition which is already taking place as users continue turning to text messaging. However Samsung’s ‘ChatOn’ service seems like it may offer more than meets the eye. While there is nothing concrete yet, there are some signs that social networking features may be added to its platform in the future.
KT Open a One-Stop Incubating Center to help App Developers Grow
KT are opening their third One-Stop Incubating Center called Econovation in Seocho-dong on the 31st of August. The center is located at KT’s Seocho branch on the 3rd floor. The other centers are located in Umyeon-dong and Seolleung and are a general space for developers to use. Econovation, on the other hand, will offer a space for 5 teams of 6-8 developers who are already passed the foundation stages of their project or venture. Teams are brought in by interview, evaluated every month and then become independent after one year. KT have already been educating around 5,000 developers at their app development school ‘Smart School’ since April.
7 out of 10 Companies have Cliques
A survey that was taken by job recruiting site www.jobkorea.co.kr showed that 7 out of 10 students believe that there are cliques within companies based on one’s school . Some 75.3% thought that such cliques existed depending on the type of company. A majority 80.6% of students thought that such culture existed in public companies but only 68.8% thought that it existed in small venture companies. Interestingly 56.8% said that cliques are bad for the company but are like a necessary evil. Only 30.1% thought that such behavior in companies needs to stop. 
We take a look at how some of the startups we previously introduced are
doing now. Today we look at Green Monster who came to our Open
Recruiting day. They have been getting a good response from the overseas
market with their application ‘Flava’ which did not cost anything to
market. Flava acts like a diary of sorts to write down anything that
comes to mind, mark needed webpages, organize ideas ideas, look around
for books and more. With the app already having made it to the app
store’s ‘New and Noteworthy’ and ‘What’s Hot’ lists, it continues to
spread to more and more users.
How can Korea become a leader in Software?
known truth about the importance of software and the latest deal between
Google and Motorola has got some worried that Korea can no longer be
neutral. The government is getting involved also, investing
54,000,000,000won to create a Korean OS to be developed in an agreement
between Samsung and LG. The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Ramstad analyzed
the current situation and wrote an article called “The Korean Government
in Smartphones? They’re Not That Stupid”.
Samsung Electronics – Starting a new Social Network Service?
Im This is the twelfth Time: Wednesday, 2nd Posco is to create a market place for business ideas with the first transaction to take place in mid-October. A launching party is being held on October 6 at the Posco Center. Those who have business ideas or a startup company can take part by registering at www.onoffmix.com by the 22nd of September. Startup CEOs will share their experiences and give advice to those with ideas in a Q&A session.
Ji-hoon’s VC Session #12: VC session for VC Wannabe
venture capitalist session. This time the topic will be ‘VC session for
VC Wannabe’. There are a lot of people who have been asking how they can
become venture capitalists. This event is for those interested in
knowing what you should prepare to become a venture capitalist. Event:
Do you want to become a Venture Capitalist?
Posco – Developing a Business-place for Ideas
September 7:30 – 9:30
Location: Seolleung Station, 5th Floor, Posco
Building, Korean Microsoft, Main Meeting Room
Who: Anyone who has
thought about becoming a Venture Capitalist
Price: Free
Registration: Up
to 120 people can register via http://onoffmix.com/event/3648* 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.