• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.191-198
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to explain the bootstrapping method to understand the process of overcoming the difficulties experienced by the limited resources of the initial start-up, through the example of Black Ruby Studio. Most nascent start-ups have constrained resources. This problem is a subject that is constantly being repeated in entrepreneurship research. Despite these problems, there are relatively few studies detailing the process of overcoming the initial difficulties of start-up. Bootstrapping is described as a way to reduce external inflows, reduce risk, and resolve funding issues internally. Many start-ups initially rely on bootstrapping as a way to solving scarce funds and limited resources. Therefore, this study reviewed the prior literatures in bootstrapping, and used 32 detailed item bootstrapping methods suggested in Winborg & Landstrom(2001) on bootstrapping in order to understand bootstrapping concept of start-up. This study gives insightful implication to prospective founders by using the bootstrapping method for survival of start-up and the process of overcoming the difficulties in the start-up.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2021.04a
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• pp.181-184
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• 2021

본 연구는 국내에 벤처 창업 자금이 많이 제공되나 실제로 스타트업이 투자 유치에 어려움을 겪고 있는 초기투자의 딜레마 문제를 연구하였다. 기술기반 스타트업은 새로운 제품과 서비스를 제공하는 신규 시장을 형성하면서 일자리와 고부가가치를 창출한다는 점에서 국민경제에서 역할이 매우 중요하다. 하지만 주요 선진국에 비해 국내에서는 초기 스타트업이 기술이전 후 창업으로 연계되지 못하는 경우가 많은 실정이다. 특히 최근에 국내 벤처창업 생태계에 정부 자금의 공급이 넘쳐나고 있음에도 불구하고 초기 단계 기업들은 자금 투자의 필요성을 역설하고 다수가 자기자본으로 시작하고 있는 것이 현실이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 국내 창업벤처 및 육성 지원책을 고찰하고, 국내 벤처캐피털 투자현황을 분석하여, 초기 단계 벤처기업에 대한 투자 활성화를 위해 투자 방식의 개선, 투자 주체의 확대, 그리고 투자 유형의 다변화를 제시하고자 하였다. 또한 벤처생태계의 초기투자 활성화를 위한 정책 수립에 필요한 조사와 방안을 제시하였다.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.147-157
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• 2023

This paper investigates the financial factors affecting angel investors' investment decisions for 818 firms from 2009 to 2018 in the Korean venture investment market. We construct a quasi-experimental design using propensity scoring matching and compare the investment determinants between investment firms and matching firms. The main empirical findings are as follows. First, we find that angel investors are more likely to choose firms based on a firm's growth such as profit and assets rather than profitability or financial stability. In addition, we identify that they prefer the firm not only higher intangible assets but also higher R&D expenditures. Second, we find that angel investors consider both growth and activity ratios in the firms for over three years and have entered the mid-stage of startups. Overall, we confirm that the investment decision of angel investors mainly focuses on the venture startups' growth trend or future growth potential rather than the realized profitability or financial stability. We also infer that the possibility of performance creation is an important investment factor along with growth for the mid-stage startup.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2020

Increasing the number of unicorn startups has recently received much attention. In this study, we attempt to investigate that startups achieving an extremely high valuation could postpone their exit to raise more investment and receive more benefits. This study tested the hypotheses using data from Crunchbase, World Bank, Global Competitiveness Report, and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Using 140 unicorn startups that have already exited through an initial public offering (IPO) or mergers and acquisitions (M&A), we find out that unicorn startups tend to acquire higher valuation as their investment duration increases. Furthermore, we also examined the moderating effects of governmental policy and institutional distance from foreign investors in order to consider the institutional aspects of startups. The results of the moderating variables show significant supports. We expect to provide a better understanding with respect to making an exit decision of unicorn startups. Furthermore, managers and investors need to acknowledge the institutional factors of startups when they decide to fund.

• Korean small business review
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.173-209
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• 2021

Start-up accelerators are a new type of investor that provide mentoring, education and seed capital to start-ups for a fixed duration and receive a certain stake in them in return. They help start-ups achieve successful commercialization. With increase in performance visibility, the number of private and public sector accelerators rose across domestic and international markets. Private sector accelerators are established and operated by private entities while public sector accelerators are established and operated by the government. Both play complementary roles that are becoming increasingly important to start-ups. Therefore, this study aims to examine the differences in major operational goals and investment determinants between private and public sectors and to understand their implications. The results show that the private sector prioritizes profit generation through the investment, while the public sector aims to contribute to the development of high-growth start-ups, and create region-specific and technology-specific start-up ecosystems. Additionally, both groups consider customer needs the most important determinant. Public groups are more conservative in investments and tend to place importance on objective indicators such as patents, partners, mentors, and co-founders. Conversely, private groups value the capabilities of founders and their ease of collaboration with accelerators. These findings can help start-ups get support from public or private accelerators more easily. It will also help public and private accelerators refine the criteria for selecting start-ups.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.45-61
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• 2023

The start-up rate is increasing due to the government's start-up support policy, but it is true that the continuous survival rate and growth rate of companies are lower than that of the start-up rate. As part of increasing the survival and growth rate of startups, the importance of start-up mentoring has been highlighted, and companies selected for the Government's startup support project are increasingly having mentoring opportunities for corporate growth. In order to determine the relationship between start-up mentoring and entrepreneurial alertness as a way to generate management performance, this study examined how start-up mentoring affects entrepreneurial alertness and management performance. In addition, the government's support project was divided into companies with less than three years of start-up and companies with more than three years of experience, which are the criteria for early and leap companies, and analyzed whether each group has a moderating effect. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the mentoring problem-solving function had a significant effect on the ability to evaluate entrepreneurial alertness, and the motivation function of mentoring had a significant effect on all factors of entrepreneurial alertness. In addition, although mentoring functions did not have a moderating effect on entrepreneurial alertness depending on the work history between companies less than 3 years and companies for more than 3 years, there was a difference in factors affecting entrepreneurial alertness between groups with low and high work history. The implications of this study can contribute to the advancement of start-up mentoring programs by studying the impact of mentoring factors on entrepreneurial alertness when providing mentoring to start-up companies selected for the government's start-up support project.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.29-43
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• 2016

The Lean Startup, a methodology for minimizing failure rate of startups, has been receiving attention since its publication in 2011. Although it has been receiving enormous attention as an effective methodology of startups' growth and the emergence of unicorn companies, it is undeniable that the theoretical research and cases on this topic have not been fully accumulated in Korea. Progress of management theory has been made when combining the theory and case studies. In this paper, we thus excavated the 'Cardoc' case, which has applied the lean startup concept to the entire process of service and customer development from the inception of its product design. The following are the findings of the case. First, for the successful application of lean startup, it is essential that all team members to understand the lean startup concept and are willing to apply it thoroughly to the business management. Second, the prompt launching of MVP(Minimum Viable Product) is more important than table discussion. Third, it is crucial to select the appropriate key metrics and analytic tools for effective learning. Fourth, startup must scale up promptly as soon as it verifies the product-market fit through the BML(Build-Measure-Learn) iteration cycle. Fifth, all new business expansion should be lean. Cardoc is currently testing new MVPs in order to move onto the next scale-up process with huge investments in newly added segments. This study is meaningful in that it elaborates the representative case of a Korean startup that has applied the lean startup strategy under the circumstance of insufficient discussion of Korean startup cases in comparison with growing attention both in concept development and case accumulation abroad. We hope that this paper can be a stepping stone for future relevant research on the implementation of lean startup methodology in Korea.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.19-31
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• 2022

Currently, the role of public accelerators in the domestic accelerator market is gradually expanding. Accordingly, in order to establish relevant policies properly, it is necessary to check the effect and validity of public accelerators' investment. However, there is no quantitative research conducted on domestic accelerators, using their financial data, as domestic accelerators have a short history and quantitative data on them are not disclosed. Therefore, this study conducted an empirical analysis with financial data of the startups that received equity investments from public accelerators to confirm the effect of public accelerators'investment in startups. A regression analysis was conducted with financial data from 112 startups that acquired investments from public accelerators in the period of 2016~2020. And the findings are as follows: First, it was found that the initial investment of public accelerators had an effect on the growth and profitability of startups. Specifically, it was confirmed that the initial investment of public accelerators had a positive (+) effect on sales growth rates and total asset growth rates, which are growth indicators. Second, it was found that the joint investment of public accelerators had a significant positive (+) effect on profit margin, an indicator of profitability, rather than on growth. Therefore, it is deemed that it will be a great force for growth if investment in the early-stage startups that showed significant investment results in this study is continuously expanded in combination with support projects, which are a strength of public accelerators. Since this study has confirmed the investment effect of public accelerators, it is deemed necessary to actively promote policies that direct public accelerators' projects toward improving the performance of startups through joint investment with the private sector and supplementing private accelerators' deficiencies.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.17-30
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the characteristics of start-up CEOs on the performance of investment attraction from the perspective of Series A investment. The results of the study are as follows. First, when the educational level of start-up CEOs was high and startup CEOs had start-up experience and investment attraction experience, venture investors such as venture capital had a significantly positive (+) effect on the investment for start-ups. This was systematically significantly positive even when control variables were introduced. When start-up CEOs had work experiences, there was no significantly positive effect on the total investment amount for start-ups but a significantly positive (+) effect on the average investment amount. Second, the standardization coefficient of total investment amount was larger in the case of start-up experience than that in the case of investment attraction experience while the standardization coefficient of average investment amount was larger in the case of investment attraction experience than that in the case of start-up experience. This suggests that the start-up experience is important for the total investment amount while the investment attraction experience is important for the average investment amount. Third, when the sales of start-ups were high at the time of Series A investment, the total investment amount and the average investment amount were also significantly high. Even if early start-ups are less profitable or have losses, the start-ups with a certain level of sales seem to be attractive investment targets for venture capital. The results of this study are useful for the investment decisions of venture capital and the financing strategies of start-ups. The implications for pre-CEOs preparing for start-ups art that the total amount of investment will increase if they have expertise through degree acquisition, challenge start-ups, gain start-up experience and implement investment attraction. Even if CEOs of start-ups do not have start-up experience, the average amount of investment for start-ups can increase if they have work experience in related industries.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2023

Due to imbalances in supply and demand within the labor market, start-ups have emerged as crucial players in the generation of high-quality employment opportunities, particularly in stagnant job markets. In response to this trend, governments are allocating substantial financial and human resources to initiatives that support start-up development. This has led to an increasing rate of engagement in start-up ventures across diverse age groups, not limited to younger individuals. Start-ups are enterprises focused on the commercialization of innovative ideas with the aim of achieving profitability in the marketplace. Research concerning the successful market integration of new products and the attainment of sustainable growth is pivotal. Such research is instrumental not only for the success of start-ups but also for realizing the broader social functions and contributions that these enterprises can offer. Previous research has often examined new product market-entry strategies, often referred to as new product marketing, particularly for large companies and SMEs. However, there is a gap in studies focusing on prototype marketing strategies specific to start-ups. Thus, this study aims to examine the impact of Pre-announcing marketing strategies on the market attention garnered by start-ups with low recognition and limited infrastructure, and how such attention contributes to their sustainable growth. Specifically, the study aims to uncover the causal relationship between information attributes like relevance, vividness, and novelty in building customer relationships, and their impact on purchase intentions influenced by performance expectations and hedonic motivations. In terms of Pre-announcing information attributes, relevance, vividness, and novelty positively influence performance expectations and hedonic motivations as outlined in the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). These factors, in turn, positively impact the purchase intention for pre-announced new products from start-ups. These findings are expected to provide both theory and practical insights into the factors influencing market entry through the use of Pre-announcing marketing strategies for start-up new products.