Sue J. Hur(Sue J. Hur)
Interview with Jaeuk (Jake) Park, CEO of VCNC
  ·  2013년 05월 20일

Inspiring CEO, an incredible team, united by one vision. VCNC: possibly one of the most successful startups in Korea. Just like Jake, the CEO of VCNC, the company is incredibly, incredibly driven and passionate. I must say, it’s not every day that you get to interview both the CEO and someone from within the company – and what integrity. I’m excited for things to come for this one – and you should…

Interview With Gwendolyn Tan, Founder and Editor-in-Chief at SGE
  ·  2013년 05월 20일

I had the privilege of interviewing with Gwendolyn Regina Tan, SGE’s Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief. SGE is one of the best online publishers dedicated to the Southeast Asia startup and entrepreneurship scene. SGE is one of beSUCCESS’ partners and serves as an online ecosystem where fellow entrepreneurs, investors & venture capitalists, technologists, developers and business plan competition organizers discuss their experiences on entrepreneurship and enterprise in Singapore. Startups In Korea: Her Perspective “This…

[5 Minute Chats] With Jeff Clavier, Founder & Partner Of SoftTech VC
  ·  2013년 05월 08일

Justin and I got the opportunity to chat with Jeff Clavier about the Korean startups and the ecosystem. Jeff Clavier has a MS in Computer Science and a degree in Distributed Computing and is the Founder and Managing Partner of SoftTech VC (one of the most established seed VC firms in SV. They closed 150 investments since 2004!). What I found fascinating and admirable was that although SoftTech concentrates on the US, Jeff makes at…

[Exclusive] First Angel Investor At Shakr Tells Why Shakr, Why David Lee, And Why Shakr Is The Next Big Thing
  ·  2013년 05월 06일

I sat down with Andrew Kim, the first angel investor at Shakr Media, just a few hours before Shakr was announced as the beLAUNCH2013 Startup Battle Winner. Andrew Kim is currently working for a major Korean conglomerate in a senior position, and was previously with telecom startup Kineto Wireless. He studied Engineering at Carnegie Mellon and holds a M.Sc. in management from Stanford University. We talked about why he invested in Shakr,…

[Exclusive] Interview With Shakr CEO David Lee, Winner Of beLAUNCH2013 Startup Battle
  ·  2013년 05월 06일

I had the privilege of interviewing David Lee, Founder & CEO of Shakr Media at beLAUNCH 2013. We asked him about Korean startups, the ecosystem, Shakr’s goals and about David himself. Sue J. Hur: Thank you for making the time for this interview David! Justin, this is David Lee, the Founder and CEO of what I can confidently say is the ‘next big thing’ – Shakr Media. David Lee: Nice to meet…

[Exclusive] Interview with CEO of KakaoTalk
  ·  2013년 05월 02일

My colleague Vallabh and I conducted an exclusive interview with the CEO of KakaoTalk, Sirgoo Lee. Sue J. Hur: Hi Sirgoo, thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us. This will be a great opportunity for Korean startups and entrepreneurs.  Vallabh Rao: Yes, thank you so much for sparing the time for us.  Sirgoo Lee:  Thank you. Sue: Phil Libin said that it’s dangerous for Korean startups to…

Phil Libin – On “Building a 100 Year Startup” At beLAUNCH2013
  ·  2013년 05월 01일

The following is the extract from Phil Libin’s speech. [On their service] “The more people use Evernote, the more they come back to it. The more people sign up, more people stick around. It really shows that people can become attached. [People] use it and they stop over time. This is true with a lot of companies at the beginning. The whole goal with Evernote is that it becomes more valuable the…

[Exclusive] Interview With Phil Libin At beLAUNCH2013
  ·  2013년 05월 01일

I had the privilege of talking to Phil Libin, the CEO of Evernote, about the current outlook of the Korean startup ecosystem. Phil shared with us some of his valuable insights with regards to the startup industry, entrepreneurship, and his perception of Korea. Sue J. Hur: Hi Phil, thank you for making the time for me today. Phil Libin: Thank you Sue. Sue: You mentioned that you’re looking for significant talents in…

Startup Battles At beLAUNCH2013
  ·  2013년 04월 30일

Startup Battle 1:  1. CloudVision – Knowck Co.  2. Tipinboard – Corping Inc.  3. Anydoor – Anydoor Inc.  Startup Battle 2:  1. Shakr – Shakr Media 2. Lookpage – Lookpage. 3. Tripvi – Tripvi Inc.  4. DGMIT – DGMIT Inc.  5. Profeel.me – Profeel.com   Startup Battle 3:  1. Twinword – Twinword Inc. 2. Phongle – Phongle 3. 500 Videos – 500 Videos 4. Wishket – Wishket 5. JDLab – JDLab Startup Battle…

Our Esteemed Speakers For beLAUNCH 2013!
  ·  2013년 04월 30일

  Check out our speakers for beLAUNCH 2013!! The order is in the order that they are speaking in! 🙂 ■     James Jung     CEO of beSUCCESS ■     Euno Lee     Editor of beSUCCESS ■     Mongjoon Chung     Honorary Chairman of ASAN Nanum Foundation ■     Phil Libin     CEO of Evernote ■     Jaeuk Park     CEO of VCNC ■     Jeongseok Chester Roh     CEO of Ablar Co. ■…

beLAUNCH 2013 Agenda
  ·  2013년 04월 30일

  AGENDA 1 May 2013 [Day 1] 08:59 ~ 09:05 Opening by beSUCCESS ■     James Jung     CEO of beSUCCESS ■     Euno Lee     Editor of beSUCCESS   09:05 ~ 09:10 Welcome Speech   09:10 ~ 09:20 Congratulatory message ■     Mongjoon Chung     Honorary Chairman of ASAN Nanum Foundation   09:20 ~ 09:50 Founders Stories – Evernote, “Building a 100 year start up” ■     Phil Libin     CEO…

3 Great Websites To Increase Your Startup Productivity
  ·  2013년 04월 15일

I never recommend anything without trying it first: that is the golden rule that I go by! 🙂 Here are some great websites I found that will help you increase your productivity within your startup. 1. Projectflow It’s simple and easy to use with a drag-and-drop interface. It has customizable columns – so you can add more columns needed and is more flexible than the traditional To Do/In Progress/Done columns. “A popular example is…

The Foreign Taxpayer’s Guide To Korea
  ·  2013년 04월 13일

There is a growing population of foreign workers here. The National Tax Service, estimated that the number of non-Korean taxpayers surpassed 500,000 in 2012. (That’s a significant increase from 403,000 in 2010 and 465,000 in 2011!) Foreigners must file for their year-end tax settlements, but NTS provides a set of guidelines you can follow. Foreign residents must submit tax forms on the same day as Korean citizens, but tax treatments differ slightly….

[IP] Talk Synergy: Why Startups Choose To Share With Others
  ·  2013년 04월 13일

As I explained in the previous article, startups can choose to share or partner up with others for mutual benefit. Startups like yourself would enter into these sorts of partnership arrangements as a part of your endeavor to do everything legally/ethically as possible; not only that, this would improve your bottom line and sustain/increase profits. This can be done in various ways. You can do things like: arms-length licensing, strategic alliance building, joint ventures,…

4 Ways To Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights
  ·  2013년 04월 13일

You want to remain profitable in an increasingly global economy. There’s pressure to create new opportunities, new revenue streams from existing assets, new innovations. And all for what? Well, to create new products, enhance existing ones, and to explore new markets. Innovations are valuable assets and must be protected by using the tools of the intellectual property system before you reveal, share, or have it stolen from you. Gain and retain competitive…

[Part III] Is Cross-licensing Still Trendy?
  ·  2013년 04월 13일

This is the third part to IP issues in Korea. You can read Part I here: http://betech.asia/2013/04/part-i-what-is-the-rationale-behind-ip-disputes/ And Part II here: http://betech.asia/2013/04/part-ii-ongoing-patent-battles-in-korea/ We talked about IP patent battles in Korea in the previous article. There is a recent IP agreement that caught my attention, which was between Apple and HTC. Apple v HTC Apple and HTC announced in November 2012 that they have settled their ongoing patent dispute, opting for a 10-year…

Korea Composite Stock Price Index Surges, Foreign Direct Investment Reaches $3.39 Billion – a 45% Increase From 2012
  ·  2013년 04월 12일

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index has also been surging over the past three days as of Thursday morning, moving up 5.80 points to 1941.38. Also, other indexes have shown South Korea is and remains as an attractive business destination, with foreign direct investment reaching $3.39 billion in 2013 Q1. This is a whopping 45% increase from 2012. The president explained her “creative economy” mantra will also apply to foreign businesses who she…

Korea Safe And Stable For Business
  ·  2013년 04월 12일

Seoul is keeping a staunch watch on any military provocation from North Korea through a close cooperation with the U.S., China, and the international community. Representatives of eBay, Google, GE Healthcare, Citibank Korea, BASF Korea, Siemens, Standard Chartered Bank Korea, Dongwoo Fine-Chem, Denso, Bank of China and S-Oil joined in the luncheon with President Park. With some representatives stating their wider investment plans for this year, the members, expressed faith in the…

[Part II] Ongoing Patent Battles In Korea
  ·  2013년 04월 12일

This is the second part to IP disputes in Korea. Part I here: http://betech.asia/2013/04/part-i-what-is-the-rationale-behind-ip-disputes/ Samsung Electronics v LG Electronics Recently, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have locked horns over the eye-scrolling technology that was embedded in Samsung’s Galaxy S4 unveiled in New York earlier this month. This is LG’s stance: LG LG had rights to the eye-scrolling technology- it applied for a related patent in Korea in December 2005. LG also applied for…

Korea101: The Basic Facts
  ·  2013년 04월 12일

Achieved a place in top 15 global economies, and has stayed there 8th in terms of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Smartphone penetration: 97%. Internet speeds (top 3 in world for last 10 years) Population: 49.8m GDP per capita: $22,424 ($2,300 in 1980) GDP growth (2011): 3.6% Inflation (2011): 4.0% Key cities: Seoul (9.8m); Busan (3.4m); Incheon (2.5m)