[Weekly VentureSquare Stories] What kind of heart does a leader need?

Weekly VentureSquare Stories are summaries of some of the week’s top posts relating to the Korean startup and venture Industry.

What kind of heart does a leader need?

Ken Blanchard, one of America’s most well known leadership experts explores in his book “The Heart of a Leader” how to influence people’s thoughts and opinions. Reading the book will give you a chance to think about the various principles and philosophies a leader needs. He does this by sharing his experience and life lessons he has learned throughout his long and rich career.

Microsoft Aim for a Dual Operating System

Competition has been heated between smartphones and tablets but it has now boiled over into the PC market as well. With Microsoft’s recent preview of Windows 8, there are two special features about this latest OS. Firstly with the new desktop ‘tile’ interface, it appears the touch interface we use on smartphones has now migrated onto PCs. Secondly, until now there has been no ‘dual’ operating system but it seems Microsoft are attempting this by targeting both tablets and PCs with Windows 8.

Startups Need Various Education Opportunities

I met founder and CEO of Cho & Company Cho Gyu-cheol and discussed the need for training and education regarding starting your own company. Cho said that he felt the need for this in order to help solve the various problems startups run into as they grow. As business starts to pickup and gain traction, naturally these issues and problems arise but the company should be able to figure out what to do themselves. While asking an outsider for advice can be easy, it can also be quite dangerous to let someone from outside the company judge a situation.

Facebook adds Twitter and Google+ Features

Facebook has recently been taking the best features of Twitter and Google Plus and gradually incorporating them into Facebook. The most recent feature is the ‘subscribe’ feature which allows you to see updates from people who are not your friends directly in your news feed. This is essentially the same as following someone on Twitter or adding someone to your circle on Google Plus.  However before people can subscribe, the subscribe function needs to be enabled on your profile so users who are not your friends can see your updates.

Korean Startups: Quicket – CEO Chang Won-gui

Many people have things lying around their home which they don’t use. These things are often in fine condition so people don’t want to throw them away either. Of course people can sell these things online but it is not as simple as it sounds. Selling something online requires you to sign up as a seller and while it may be for the safety of buyers, authenticating yourself as a seller can also take up a lot of time. This is how CEO Jan Won-gui came up with the idea of a simple and easy to use system for buying and selling items online.

Event – KOREA Student Venture Competition with NCsoft

Eligible Participants: Groups of 1 – 5 Korean postgraduate students who have an original and promising idea.
Registration: You can register via the homepage.
Registration opens – September 26, 2011
Registration closes – October 3, 2011
Homepage: http://www.studentventure.co.kr

Business field: All types of ideas are acceptable.

Prizes:
1 NCSoft Prize – 10,000,000 won
1 SNU R & DB Foundation Prize – 4,000,000 won
1 BlueRun Ventures Prize – 2,000,000 won
1 Korean Economic Prize – Asian Student Venture Forum

Schedule:
Registration: 9/26 – 10/3
Heat Results: 10/12
Mentoring (Offline): 10/21
Final Judging: 11/24
Winners Announced: 11/26
KSVC Homecoming Day: 11/26

* 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.