Startup Train, Continues in 2024! 2024 Spring CHOO CHOO DAY

Hosted by the 'Startup Institute' (Director: Moon Jungbin), an affiliated organization of Korea University Business School (Dean: Kim Sang-yong), the startup demo day '2024 Spring CHOO CHOO DAY' (hereafter referred to as CHOO CHOO DAY) was held on May 10th at the LG-POSCO Business Hall SUPEX Hall. This event was supported by the Korea University LINC 3.0 Project Group and the Korea University Anam Campus Town. CHOO CHOO DAY aims to revitalize the campus-centric startup ecosystem and strengthen the investment attraction capabilities of student startup companies. The 'CHOO CHOO' signifies the sound of a train starting energetically, symbolizing the support for tenant companies to secure initial investments and move to the next stage.  

Participating teams at this year's CHOO CHOO DAY included: △ 'Build Now,' an all-in-one solution for pre-verification of partner companies for general construction companies △ 'Pet Night,' a service for preparing for and caring for pets' farewells △ 'Today's AI,' a virtual CS employee that responds to customers 24/7 △ '1click 100moods,' an AI solution that prevents various problems in the interior design process and saves time/costs △ 'Toaster Finance,' a blockchain-based DeFi investment platform. The event also featured panelists such as Moon Jungbin, Director of the Startup Institute, Park Jinkyu and Kim Youngkyung, Directors of the Startup Station Center, and other Korea University staff, as well as external guests like Kim Seunghyun, Director of Shinhan Venture Investment, Lee Changyoon, Team Leader of the Youth Startup Foundation, Kang Kihyun, Partner at Fast Ventures, Jeong Inoh, Team Leader at POSTECH Technology Holdings, and Yang Hyungjun, Team Leader at Base Investment. 

The event began with an opening address by Kim Youngkyung, Director of the Startup Station Center, who introduced the ideology of "Pay it forward!" emphasizing the growth of efficient altruism. Dean Kim Sang-yong opened his welcome speech by explaining the focus on nurturing startups, stating, "Innovation and change are essential in the challenges for the future." 

Dean Kim Sang-yong further added, "We send our interest and support to the five teams that pursue the common good of our society through entrepreneurship and management. The Business School will actively support not only Korea University but also many young entrepreneurs outside the university by opening wide windows of opportunity." He concluded his welcome speech by expressing his hope to join the journey of today’s startup teams making the world a better place.  

Next, Stipop CEO Park Kiram took the stage as an open mic speaker. Stipop is a marketplace where emoticons can be sold on various chat apps and has received investments from Y Combinator and Snapchat. CEO Park Kiram highlighted three key points to be mindful of when starting a startup: ① Focus on making products and talking to customers ② Hire slowly, fire quickly ③ Do things that can’t scale up first. 

The presentations and Q&A sessions of the five participating teams were conducted sequentially. Before the closing, Moon Jungbin, Director of the Startup Institute, took the stage. Director Moon, in his closing speech, told the audience, "I hope you become the entrepreneurs presenting on stage," supporting many young people's startup ventures.