• Korean small business review
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.187-219
• /
• 2021

Startup accelerators, a new type of investment entity, have emerged as a way to solve the difficulties of early startups and existing investment methods with high risk. With the visible performances of these startup accelerators on the success of startups, medium and large accelerator companies have emerged, along with the increasing size of seed money they invest in. In addition, differences between small and medium&large accelerator companies are emerging. Therefore, startups need informations on what factors to prepare for attracting startup accelerators' investment. Accelerators also need determinant criteria to select startups as the amount of investment grows. However, the study on this subject is not currently being conducted. Therefore, we conducted the study through dividing the average amount of seed money into small and medium & large-sized investment groups and examined the differences in major investment determinants, investment purposes, and major accelerating programs. As the results of this study, small investment groups could be subdivided into 'consulting-oriented accelerators' and medium- and large-sized investment groups into 'investment-oriented accelerators'. In addition, major services and investment purposes and investment decision criteria vary depending on the size of the investment. I think these findings will be good standards for accelerator companies, startups in need of their help, and follow-up researchers.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.253-270
• /
• 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
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2023

Strong Critics of' Moral Hazard, due to plummeting severely their stock price down and damage falling on plain investor, has been skyrocketed against massively and simultaneously exercising stock option right of C-Level members in Stock market listed startups right after IPO regardless of proper and legal process followed. Korean Financial Supervisory Board initiate new act of extending to apply'Lock-up Rule'even to stock option of core interest group after IPO. However, it will cause startups and venture more difficulties to recruit top level of talented staffs. This paper aims to propose RSU(Restricted Stock Unit) as alternative to breakthrough the current deadlock issue with respect to stock option controversy many startups facing. This paper to meet goal, first, including Korean introducing status of RSU, it clarify the concept of RSU by comparing exploration with Restricted Stock and define characteristic of RSU by comparing Stock Option. Second, it bring more effective ways of startups introducing RSU in Korea overcoming its limitations and challenges. Third, it carry out FGI to legal expert deeply involved of introducing RSU in Korea at policy domain. FGI focus on defining core challenging factors and their level of huddles of introducing RSU in Korea with proposing breakthrough policies to landing RSU softly in Korea. Fourth, it suggest valid policies of introducing and stabilizing RSU in Korea completely. This paper expect some contributions Korean startups and venture on finding market friendly right breakthrough out of stock option dilemma currently in.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2024.04a
• /
• pp.135-141
• /
• 2024

최근 정부정책과 국내외 초격차기술 및 딥테크 중요성 대두로 어느때보다 기술창업에 대한 수요와 필요성이 높아지고 있다. 특히, 대기업과 함께 스타트업에서도 초격차 기술을 포함한 딥테크에 대한 접근성이 용이해지고 기술사업화를 통한 적기 시장진입을 위하여 다양한 시도와 노력을 수행하고 있다. 대기업에서는 국내에서도 점차 활성화되고 있는 Corporate Venture Capital과 함께 기술스카우팅등을 통한 사내벤처링(Corporate Venturing) 방법론을 통하여 기업의 신성장 동력확보에 노력하고 있다. 스타트업계에서는 정부 정책과 지원을 통한 다양한 사업들이 진행되고 있으며 중견 민간기업에서도 국내외 스타트업과 관련 창업보육기관들과 함께 다양한 상생협력 활동을 하고 있다. 특히, 극초기 기업을 발굴하고 보육하는 액셀러레이터 즉 컴퍼니빌딩에 대한 사례가 많음은 관련 업계 누구나 부인할 수 없는 현상이다. 본 연구에서는 저자가 대기업에서 다년간 참여한 사내벤처링 방법론 현장에서의 경험을 토대로, 대학에서 기술창업기업 발굴에 대한 방법론을 기획하고 지난 3년간 현장에서 직접 실행한 경험을 토대로 초격차기술창업 발굴과 성장전략 방법론을 제언하고자 한다. 파괴적 혁신의 패러다임이 제안된후 다양한 영역과 부문에서 이론에 대한 검증도 병행된 것처럼, 초격차기술창업 발굴의 수요가 급중하고 있는 현시점에 현실적이며 robust한 고유한 방법론이 연구되어 결과물이 기업과 시장에 적용되는 것을 기대해본다.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.131-144
• /
• 2021

The organizational ambidexterity is an organizational strategy designed to pursue exploration activities to seize new opportunities and exploitation activities to efficiently use resources. Most of these ambidextrous structures have been studied for large corporations with slack resources, and there are still not many studies on the necessity of an ambidextrous structure for startups with relatively low-level resources. However, recently, the startup ecosystem is being advanced globally, and the amount of VC investment is rapidly increasing. This is a time when a lot of venture fund is invested in startups and a startup-friendly environment for rapid growth is created. This is the time to discuss the necessity and applicability of an ambidextrous organizational structure for startups. Therefore, this study conducted a hypothesis test whether the importance and necessity of balance that startups solving market problems with new ideas and utilizing accumulated resources have. To conduct this study, we analyzed 140 startups data gathered from the survey and the moderation effect was also analyzed. As a result of the study, it was verified that the balance of startup exploration and exploitation had a significant effect on startup performance, and the moderating effect of environmental dynamics was found to have a significant effect on the relationship with non-financial performance. Therefore, for startups with insufficient resources, it was concluded that the surplus resources generated in the process of a firm's growth should be effectively utilized and the balance between exploration and exploitation should be balanced from the initial stage of searching for a new business. In other words, it was confirmed that it is important for continuous growth and survival to seek the structure of an ambidextrous organization in order to internalize a mechanism that enables startups to pursue both effectiveness and efficiency in the long term. This study suggests a strategic direction for the growth of startups from the perspective of organizational structure. We expect that this meaningful results on the relationship between the ambidextrous capabilities of startups and performance contribute to the growth of startups in the rapidly growing startup venture environment.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.127-139
• /
• 2023

During the process of preparing for and initiating a startup, startup entrepreneurs allocate a significant amount of time to developing a business plan. Within this process, the documented business plan serves not only as a roadmap for the venture but also as a communication tool for capital acquisition and internal team collaboration. However, is the business plan, meticulously crafted by entrepreneurs, actually effective in generating startup performance? To answer this question, this study empirically analyzed the impact of a business plan on startup performance. Additionally, it examined how the relationship between the business plan and performance changes based on the satisfaction levels of entrepreneurs regarding the business plan. Through the analysis, the study validated the influence of the completeness of the business plan and entrepreneurial satisfaction on startup performance, and derived implications. To conduct the empirical analysis, a survey was conducted among 150 entrepreneurs. Regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and performance, and the sample was further divided into two groups: startups with less than three years of operation and startups with three or more years of operation, for secondary analysis. The analysis results revealed that the completeness of the startup's business plan has a positive impact on both financial and non-financial performance. Furthermore, it is observed that the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan had a moderating effect on the relationship between the business plan and financial performance. Moreover, for startups that are less than three years old, the entrepreneur's satisfaction with the business plan exhibits a moderating effect on the relationship between the completeness of the business plan and non-financial performance. This study holds significance as it reaffirms the importance of business plan development as a means to achieve sustainable growth for early-stage startups and empirically validates its significance. It is expected that this study will provide valuable insights for future startup entrepreneurs to better understand the importance of business planning and contribute to reducing the failure rate of early-stage startups.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2022.04a
• /
• pp.11-15
• /
• 2022

한국은 전 세계에서 미국에 이어 두 번째로 인터넷 연결에 성공한 나라가 되었고 1990년대 후반에는 세계 최초로 초고속 인터넷이 도입, 개발되면서 많은 닷컴기업들이 등장하였다. 이렇게 인터넷을 기반으로 한 비즈니스들이 출현하고 '인터넷 혁명'이라 불릴 정도로 사회, 경제적 변화가 일어났으나, 인터넷 비즈니스 역사에 대한 연구는 매우 제한적이다. 본 연구는 인터넷 비즈니스의 역사에 대해 다양한 개별 기업의 역사연구를 수행한 후, 비교를 통해 설명 변수를 발견하고 이를 통해 이론을 발견하는 경영사적 연구접근 방법을 소개하고자 한다. 구체적으로 본 연구는 귀납적 접근방법을 기초로 1990년대 말, 2000년대 초의 이른바 창업자, 벤처 관련 인사들의 인터뷰 및 문헌연구를 진행하였다. 스타트업 역사 상 의미가 큰 기업으로 메디슨, 큐닉스, 새롬기술, 다음, 네이버, NC소프트, 넥슨에 대한 내용을 정리 중이다. 이 기업들은 공통적으로 새로운 기술 도입을 기회로 삼아 가치를 창출하여 사회를 바꾸려하는 기업가정신을 추구하고 있었다. 또한 인터넷 인프라를 기민하게 활용하였으며 1997년 말 외환위기로 인해 인재와 자금이 벤처로 이동한 환경적 변화가 성장의 기폭제가 되었다. 또한 코스닥을 통한 자금조달 등은 벤처기업들의 시장기회를 확대하고 성장에 기여를 하였으며 자율적이고 유연한 기업문화에 형성하며, 대학가에 창업 붐을 일으키기도 하였다. 제 2벤처붐이 도래한 이 시점에 벤처기업에 대한 귀납적 방법론을 활용한 경영사적 관점의 지속적 연구가 필요하다.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.1-17
• /
• 2022

Entrepreneurs recognize that their passion was an important factor in driving successful entrepreneurship. However, they were often unaware of the impact that third-party passions related to startups have on them. Therefore, in this study, it was verified whether the accelerator incubation program had an effective effect on portfolios. At this time, I tried to do an empirical analysis focusing on how the third-party accelerator entrepreneur passion affects the entrepreneurial performance of portfolios. To this end, a survey was conducted on representatives of portfolios across the country who completed the accelerator incubation program, and empirical testing was conducted based on 330 valid ones. As a result of empirical analysis, it was confirmed that mentoring and networking among accelerator incubation programs had a positive (+) effect on entrepreneurial performance of portfolios. On the other hand, education and seed investment in the accelerator program did not significantly affect the entrepreneurial performance of portfolios. On the other hand, it was tested that accelerator entrepreneur passion significantly moderated both the incubation program elements (education, mentoring, network, seed investment) and the entrepreneurial performance of portfolios. The results of this study are meaningful in that they reveal that the passion of accelerator entrepreneurs is an important lynchpin of incubation programs and the key to success in startups. In addition, this study suggests that it is important for startups to go one step further from seed investment and properly identify the accelerator entrepreneur and his passion, the key man of accelerators.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.183-192
• /
• 2020

This study conducted an exploratory study to derive the success factors of entrepreneurial marketing for startups. Through Delphi analysis, we derived the items of proactive orientation, risk management, innovation, opportunity driven, resource leveraging, customer intensity, value creation, price setting, marketing communication, channel management, product development, sales and marketing information management. The importance and execution of success factors were measured through IPA analysis. The first quadrant(keep up the good work) has proactive orientation, risk management, resource leveraging, customer intensity. The second quadrant(concentrate here) has innovation. The third quadrant(low priority) has channel management, sales, marketing information management. The fourth quadrant(possible overkill) has prices setting, product development. These results showed that the success factors of startup's entrepreneurial marketing were proactive orientation, risk management, innovation, opportunity driven, resource leveraging, customer intensity and value creation.

• Korean small business review
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.165-186
• /
• 2021

Startups are undergoing a change throughout the growth process of startups that appear in existing studies as they move away from the existing B2B or B2C frame and expand their target customer groups to O2O, C2C. In this regard, a new type of startup known as unicorns, a unicorn which has grown rapidly in a short period of time, is being created by successfully attracting government support and external investment in recognition of the potential value of the startup. This study examined the relationship between investment attraction and growth after founding for five representative unicorns in the U.S. and Korea. As a result, it was found that private investment in Korea is passive and defensive, and is attracted after the Series A stage, compared to the U.S., where the growth potential of the startup ecosystem is positively evaluated. In addition, it found that government's support policy throughout the startup's growth process is an abstract and comprehensive policy focusing on initial funding for startups. Therefore, it was suggested that the scope of government policies should be expanded to forster startups as unicorns, and that it is necessary to establish and implement differentiated support policies for each growth of the scale-up of startups. This study is significant in that it presented the criteria for the growth stage and support of startups as well as policy support for scale-up through practical case analysis of unicorns.