[Startup Station Lecture Series #6] 'Success in the Global Market' – Jongkap Kim, Chief Executive Director of Born2Global Centre

The sixth lecture of the Lecture Series, organized by Korea University Business School (Dean=Johngseok Bae) and KUBS Startup Station (Director= Hojung Shin), was held on November 17 (Tue). The Lecture Series is a lecture given by startup mentors currently active in the field as a part of the Entrepreneurship Academy hosted by Seung Myung-Ho Center for Entrepreneurship Education - the education institution in the Startup Station.

The special lecture was conducted under the title of "Success in the Global Market" by Jongkap Kim, Chief Executive Director of Born2Global Centre, a consulting center that helps Korean startups enter overseas markets. The lecture was sent online in real time due to the COVID-19 situation.

According to Jongkap Kim, Korea has invested a lot in Research & Development (R&D) that it ranked first in the Bloomberg Innovation Index in 2019, but has failed to produce global startups.

Then how can Korean startups enter the global market? Kim stressed the importance of consulting on Product Market Fit (PMF). It is crucial to connect the customers that best match the ideas that startups are trying to implement. Therefore, the first step in the consulting process is to ask "what value does the startup offer to customers?" and define the target customer accordingly. Afterwards, depending on the type of business, the company will find potential partners or receive feedback through hands-on experiences.

Kim concluded the lecture by saying that startups must make plans thoroughly in order to succeed. He introduced the formula for startup success: "Idea + Timing + Planning x Execution," and emphasized that not only ideas, but also the right timing, setting hypothesis about potential customers, implementing and accepting feedback are important.