“2021 Spring CHOO CHOO DAY” Ends Successfully, Full of Creative Ideas

The “2021 Spring CHOO CHOO DAY,” organized by the KUBS (Dean=Jongseok Bae) Startup Station (Director=Hojung Shin), was held in the SBS Studio of Media Hall on May 14^th. CHOO CHOO DAY is a Demo Day where startups from the KUBS Startup Station, that have been committed to startup for the past year, present their business models and visions. The 9^th CHOO CHOO DAY event was broadcasted online through the KUBS Startup Station Youtube channel due to Covid19. Investors, to-be entrepreneurs, and startup associates participated through live chat.

Dean Jongseok Bae of Korea University Business School stated in his congratulatory speech that “Considering that a startup is a product of 3Cs (Creation, Collaboration, and Contribution), I am looking forward to their stories of hard work and effort.” He continued, “Since the ultimate goal of business management is to help everyone enjoy better lives altogether, we will continue to actively support young entrepreneurs in making their stories. Please look forward to our support.”

Next, the opening remarks of Director Prof. Jungbin Moon of “, the director of Iljin Center for Startup Incubation” followed. Director Moon emphasized that “All startup teams of KUBS Startup Station are continuing their progress, and such adaptiveness is the key to building a startup’s competitiveness.” He signaled the start of CHOO CHOO DAY by saying, “I send a big round of applause for the five teams who will present their business models to investors and accelerators today.”

Before beginning the presentations, CEO Ryunhwan Kwon of Petpeotalk (7^th class of KUBS Startup Station, Iljin Center for Startup Incubator) gave a keynote speech. CEO Kwon mentioned, “I started a pet-related startup while I had a pet bird.” He then introduced Petpeotalk’s service, which provided pet CCTVs and an analytical system for the behaviors of pet dogs. He continued, “I didn’t know much about startup. However, after receiving an Award in the Startup Express event and joining the KUBS Startup Station, I could receive investments.” He encouraged the participating teams by saying, “I hope you show your strengths as university students and gain confidence.”

The five teams that participated in this year’s CHOO CHOO DAY were: △ “LIKENOT (CEO=Yerin Lee)”, which runs a bra shopping platform “Poola” based on AI body type analyzer △ “Collectors (CEO=Youngjae Jang),” a platform where people save and archive fashion images/sources △ “Popinbridge (CEO=Kibaek Song),” which uses collective intelligence to run music contents platform △ “Complexion (CEO=Chiho Park),” which runs a physical education service “OnSports” based on AI-powered posture sensor △ and “EDUMANAGER (CEO=Sungwoo Cho),” an automated service for analyzing students’ educational achievements in private sectors. All teams showed a short video clip introducing their business item and gave a presentation. Next, both offline panels and online participants were given time to ask questions.

CHOO CHOO DAY came to an end with a word of appreciation from the Director of KUBS Startup Station, Prof. Hojung Shin. Director Shin stated, “The current trend of startups is a cultural phenomenon as well as an economic one,” he continued, “I hope startups grow to function as space where many people can participate and communicate.”

CEO Cho of EDUMANAGER, who participated in this event as one of the 9^th CHOO CHOO startups, expressed his gratitude by saying, “Thanks to the five professors – Professor Hojung Shin, Professor Jungbin Moon, Professor Jaeho Chung, and Professor Jinkyu Park – who looked after us and gave positive feedbacks, our team could make progress and participate in this event.” CEO Yerin Lee of LIKENOT also said, “At first, I was quite anxious about participating in a big event like CHOO CHOO DAY. Still, we were able to end the event successfully thanks to the mentoring given by the professors of KUBS Startup Station.” She continued, “It was a very fruitful and meaningful experience.” CEO Chaeyoung Lee of Collectors, the last participating team, stated that “Although I hoped the event could take place offline, it was still very worthwhile since it is such a great event. I am looking very forward to upcoming CHOO CHOO DAYs that will take place after the end of Covid19.”

Article | Sangbong Chung (College of Political Science & Economics, Department of PSIR 17^th)

Photo | Serim Shin (College of Political Science & Economics, Department of Economics 18^th)