• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.51-57
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• 2023

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2022

Recently, accelerators are attracting attention as a new startup incubator. This study empirically analyzed the relative importance and priority of decision-making factors when a startup selects an accelerator using the AHP technique. As a result, startup founders recognized the importance of decision-making factors in the order of funding factors, program factors, and accelerator characteristic factors. there was a difference in the relative importance of detailed factors between startup founders and accelerator workers, depending on the location of the business site and the presence or absence of sales performance. This suggests that accelerators need to strengthen the financial support capabilities and improve customized services to meet the needs of startups. This study can be used as a decision-making criterion when a startup selects an accelerator, and can be used as basic data for additional research on the accelerator program.

• 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.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.1-20
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• 2023

This study conducted an empirical analysis of whether the accelerator incubation program (mentoring, seed investment) and entrepreneur self-efficacy affect competitive advantage performance for start-up representatives who have experienced the accelerator incubation program. At this time, the mediating effect of innovation capability was also examined. As for sample collection, 334 samples collected from representatives of start-ups nurtured by national accelerators and regional centers for creative economy and innovation in Korea were tested using the Smart PLS 4.0 program, and the analysis results are as follows. First, mentoring has no significant effect on competitive advantage performance, whereas seed investment and entrepreneur self-efficacy have a positive (+) effect on competitive advantage performance. Second, mentoring, seed investment, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy have a positive (+) effect on innovation capability. Third, innovation capability has a positive (+) effect on competitive advantage performance. And fourth, it was confirmed that innovation competency has a positive (+) effect between mentoring, seed investment, entrepreneurship self-efficacy and competitive advantage, and has a mediating effect. As a result, while mentoring did not have a direct significant effect on competitive advantage performance, it was confirmed that there was a significant effect mediated by innovation capability. Seed investment, entrepreneur self-efficacy, and innovation capability directly helped competitive advantage performance, and it was confirmed that innovation capability has an effect on the competitive advantage performance as a mediating effect. It is expected that this study will be able to suggest a direction that can help start-ups improve their competitive advantage performance.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-46
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• 2023

This study classified and confirmed the learning modes about start-ups that are based on the accelerator's program which was focusing on the Korean accelerators in the ICT field targeting global market. Eight accelerator practitioners were interviewed who were in charge of operating programs for accelerators, qualitatively analyzing method of the interview was conducted. The interview results to identify various learning modes that accelerators provide to startups through programs. In order to identify and classify learning modes, the researcher reviewed various prior documents and using categories of experience accumulation, observation, experimentation, trial and error, and improvisation as a priori code for the qualitative analysis. The interview results were analyzed through a subject analysis. As the result of the study, the learning modes offered by the accelerator's programs to startups were confirmed, with two subcategories identified for each of the five categories: experiential, learning from others, experimental, trial and error, and improvisation. Given the limited research on accelerator programs and their main function, the main function of accelerators, this study identified the types of learning modes that offered by the accelerator's programs to startups from the perspective of learning. This study provides important insights into the types of learning modes that offered by the accelerator programs, which can help to improve our understanding of how accelerators support organizational learning for startups. Additionally, this information can be useful for startups considering in participating in the accelerator programs, as it can help them making informed decisions about their involvement.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2022

Although start-up is a key national strategy to increase national competitiveness and create employment, the survival rate of start-ups has not improved significantly. This is an important reason for the inability to provide timely and appropriate support to startups, which are in the early stages of start-up, due to the unique limitations of existing start-up support institutions and investors. The relatively recent accelerator is attracting attention as a subject of solving the above problems through professional incubation and investment. However, there are only a few empirical studies on investment determinants that affect the survival and success of accelerators, and there is a lack of theoretical evidence. Accordingly, in previous studies, 12 investment determinants were derived from a static, strategic, and dynamic perspective as accelerator investment determinants based on a business model innovation framework. This study subdivided the accelerator investment determinants derived through previous studies into 21 and analyzed the importance and priority of each factor using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) analysis technique for domestic accelerator investment experts. As a result of the analysis, the top factors of importance of accelerator investment determinants were in the order of 'human resources', 'customer and market', 'intellectual resources', and 'entrepreneur's ability to realize opportunities'. It can be seen that the accelerator considers the core competencies of startups to implement solutions as the most important factor when making startup investment decisions. It was also confirmed that accelerators are strategic to create a clear value proposition and differentiated market position based on the core competitiveness of startups, and that the core value delivery method prefers a market-oriented business model and recognizes entrepreneurs's innovation capability is an important factor to realize a business model with limited resources in a rapidly changing market. This study is of academic significance in that it analyzes the importance and priority of accelerator investment determinants through demonstration as a follow-up study on accelerator investment determinants derived based on business model innovation theory that reflects the nature, goals, and major activities of accelerator investment. In addition, it is of practical value as it contributes to revitalizing the domestic startup investment ecosystem by providing accelerators with theoretical grounds for investment decisions and specific information on detailed investment determinants.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2018.11a
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• pp.283-288
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• 2018

스타트업의 자금조달 능력은 초기 스타트업 생존에 가장 직결되는 문제이다. 스타트업은 정부 지원금을 비롯하여 엔젤투자자, 벤처캐피탈 등으로부터 자금을 지원받고 있지만 초기기업 회수시장의 불확실성으로 인해 투자 규모는 작은 편이다. 이에 따라 초기기업에 투자함과 동시에 경영 및 기술 멘토링, 교육, 관리 등을 체계적으로 지원하는 '액셀러레이터'가 최근 창업생태계의 핵심으로 떠오르고 있다. 액셀러레이터는 단순하게 인큐베이팅 시스템을 제공하는 것이 아니다. 초기기업의 팀빌딩부터 성장 과정을 함께하는 '공동 창업자'와 같은 역할을 하면서 이들이 성장해나갈 수 있도록 집중적인 멘토링과 교육 등의 프로그램을 제공한다. 이러한 시스템을 거친 스타트업은 생존 기간이 상대적으로 높고, 벤처캐피탈도 이렇게 성장한 스타트업 투자에 보다 더 적극적으로 참여하는 경향이 있다. 하지만 액셀러레이터 설립의 역사가 오래되지 않아, 관련 연구는 비교적 다양하지 않은 편이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 엔젤투자자, 벤처캐피탈과 다른 액셀러레이터의 특징이 무엇인지 분석하고, 특히 액셀러레이터가 스타트업 투자의사결정시 영향을 미치는 요인에는 어떤 것들이 있는지 렌즈모델을 통해 알아보고자 한다.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2022

This study analyzed the effects of start-up preparations for start-ups, start-up support for start-ups, and accelerator support on business satisfaction for start-ups. For this purpose, an empirical analysis was conducted on 308 founders. The main empirical study results are as follows. Start-up preparation, start-up support, and accelerator support have positive(+) significance in the start-up satisfaction of start-up companies. Among the variables that had a significant effect, the preparation of the start-up team was found to have the greatest influence. These results are considered to be consistent with the view that the importance of the private start-up support system is gradually increasing in the start-up ecosystem, and that the composition of the start-up team is the most important factor in start-up.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.253-270
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• 2023

Research on investment determinants of accelerators, which are attracting attention by greatly improving the survival rate of startups by providing professional incubation and investment to startups at the same time, is gradually expanding. However, previous studies do not have a theoretical basis in developing investment determinants in the early stages, and they use factors of angel investors or venture capital, which are similar investors, and are still in the stage of analyzing importance and priority through empirical research. Therefore, this study verified for the first time in Korea the discrimination and effectiveness of investment determinants using accelerator investment determinants developed based on the business model innovation framework in previous studies. To this end, we first set the criteria for success and failure of startup investment based on scale-up theory and conducted a survey of 22 investment experts from 14 accelerators in Korea, and secured valid data on a total of 97 startups, including 52 successful scale-up startups and 45 failed scale-up startups, were obtained and an independent sample t-test was conducted to verify the mean difference between these two groups by accelerator investment determinants. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the investment determinants of accelerators based on business model innovation framework have considerable discrimination in finding successful startups and making investment decisions. In addition, as a result of analyzing manufacturing-related startups and service-related startups considering the characteristics of innovation by industry, manufacturing-related startups differed in business model, strategy, and dynamic capability factors, while service-related startups differed in dynamic capabilities. This study has great academic implications in that it verified the practical effectiveness of accelerator investment determinants derived based on business model innovation framework for the first time in Korea, and it has high practical value in that it can make effective investments by providing theoretical grounds and detailed information for investment decisions.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2020

Accelerators that invest in early startups, as well as nursery and overall management, have recently emerged as "key players" in the startup ecosystem. This can be proved by the case where the number of domestic accelerators registered in the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups has recently reached 208. Accelerators provide the necessary education for early-stage companies, including guidance for a certain period of time, and support startups in ways such as demo days to attract subsequent investment after the seed investment. There is not much research in academia about what factors impact on these accelerators when making investment decisions at the time of seed investment. In this study, we checked the meaning and function of the accelerator and tried to analyze what factors affect on accelerators when making a decision to invest in startups. The research method is based on a literature survey of previous studies on investment decision-making factors of venture capital and angel investors, and a lens model and judgment analysis method through empirical research targeting 43 accelerator investment decision-makers. Empirical analysis shows that accelerators have three of the key factors to consider when choosing the first startup to invest and educate; entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial traits, their product and service expertise and a potential return on success. This will provide an opportunity for early startups to gain strategic access to accelerators when they need money or need a structured educational program. Also, the results obtained through this research will be a kind of guideline for startups to attract accelerators' investment. The significance of this study is that discriminatory evidence was presented on the accelerator determinants of investment, and it would be highly suggestive to startups and related public institutions.