Startup Idea Takes the Lead — KUBS Students Win 1st Place in Campus CEO Competition 

Once again, the creativity and execution skills of KUBS students have been demonstrated. In the first semester of 2025, a student team from Korea University Business School—composed of Hyunjun Ko, Byungchan Kim, Jaewook Shim, and Kiyong Choi—secured 1st place in the Campus CEO Startup Competition, showcasing their practical business capabilities. 

The Campus CEO Startup Competition is Korea University’s flagship startup idea contest, hosted annually by the Crimson Startup Support Center. The competition is open to students enrolled in entrepreneurship-related courses. Teams are nominated by course instructors and selected through a document screening process to advance to the final round, where the top-performing teams are awarded based on their presentations. 

The winning team—Hyunjun Ko (Class of 2019), Byungchan Kim (Class of 2021), Jaewook Shim (Class of 2021), and Kiyong Choi (Class of 2021)—took part in the course BUSS306: Strategic Technology Commercialization, where they developed and refined their business idea. Based on their professor’s recommendation, they entered the competition and impressed the judging panel with their differentiated business model and highly feasible strategy. After a highly competitive final round, the team earned the top honor among all finalists. 

Professor Jinyoung Kim, who supervised the course, commented: 

“Startup classes are less like traditional lectures and more like juggling practice—not where the professor juggles alone, but where each student holds their own ball and learns to juggle together. The Ourtube team showed remarkable commitment throughout the course, transforming failures into assets for growth. They were truly impressive.” 

Student Hyunjun Ko shared, 

“The project started with forming a team and a short pitch in class. Thanks to the professor’s recommendation, it naturally led us to the competition. Balancing startup preparation with job searching was tough, but our strong teamwork got us through to the end.” 

Student Jaewook Shim added, 

“Our first pitch was a real challenge, but through repeated practice, I was able to improve my presentation skills significantly. The feedback we received during the competition was the most valuable takeaway.” 

This victory is especially meaningful as KUBS has produced winning teams in the competition for two consecutive years. In the first semester of 2024, Project SPS, a team that included Hunhee Cho (Class of ’19), also from the same course, won 2nd place. These back-to-back achievements highlight the excellence of KUBS’s practice-based entrepreneurship education. 

A representative from the Crimson Startup Support Center stated: 

“The students’ continued success—driven by creativity and execution—is highly encouraging. We will keep expanding practical entrepreneurship education and support programs to foster more innovative student ventures in the future.”