• Journal of Platform Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.19-34
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• 2023

In order to identify the trends and insights of 'startups' in the global era, we conducted an in-depth trend analysis of the global startup ecosystem using Google Trends, a big data analysis platform. For the validity of the analysis, we verified the correlation between the keywords 'startup' and 'global' through BIGKinds. We also conducted a network analysis based on the data extracted using Google Trends to determine the frequency of searches for the keyword or term 'startup'. The results showed a strong positive linear relationship between the keywords, indicating a statistically significant correlation (correlation coefficient: +0.8906). When exploring global startup trends using Google Trends, we found a terribly similar linear pattern of increasing and decreasing interest in each country over time, as shown in Figure 4. In particular, startup interest was low in the range of 35 to 76 from mid-2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was a noticeable upward trend in startup interest after March 2022. In addition, we found that the interest in startups in each country except South Korea is very similar, and the related topics are startup company, technology, investment, funding, and keyword search terms such as best startup, tech, business, invest, health, and fintech are highly correlated.

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

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.45-55
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• 2022

Accelerator is a private investment institution that provides startups with comprehensive solutions to solve various difficulties such as startup facilities, funds, commercialization, securing a market etc. In addition to the role of an investor as a new startup support model, accelerators have contributed much to improvement of business ability of startups through intensive mentoring. Considering that previous studies gave weight to the determinants of investment from the perspective of investors, this study made a comparative analysis on the relative importance of determinants of investment in startups among accelerators, investors and entrepreneurs through the method of AHP. Results show that accelerators and investors regard "managerial characteristics" of startups as of the highest importance, whereas entrepreneurs think that "market characteristics" of startups are the most important. The result stems from an empirical judgment from the perspective of investors that success of startups depends on the ability of entrepreneur, and it is considered that investors evaluated marketability of startups as the most important factor in consideration of investment payback period. The result is similar to the result of previous studies on the determinants of investment determinants of angel investors and venture capitals. This paper is expected to make a contribution to the advancement of investment decision-making model for accelerators to discover startups with high possibility to grow and achieve more in incubation and investment.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2019

Even though Korea is strengthening the support for startups due to the limitations of growth policies focusing on large companies, the survival rate of startups is very low, so that there should be more efforts to increase the survival rate of startups. As the existing startup support institutions have provided only fragmentary supports to startups, it would be necessary to have the comprehensive support institutions. As an alternative, the accelerator providing the comprehensive support such as spatial support, education, mentoring, networking, seed investment, and connection for follow-up investment to the initial startups was legalized in Korea of 2016, based on the registration system. Currently, within less than two year from then, there have been much interest in it enough to have about 136 registered accelerators. In the United States, the accelerator was introduced more than ten years ago. In Korea, however, it is still in the initial stage, so that the researches or social consensus on the accelerator are not sufficient. Thus, this study aims to suggest the measures for the development of accelerator and the consensus on the decision making for the selection of accelerator of startups, by researching which parts are considered when startups in the accelerator stage select the accelerator. As a result of the empirical analysis, the factor that has the greatest influence on decision making factors when startup chooses an accelerator was the subsequent investment attraction. This can be explained to the accelerator as desired, considering the factor that the startup of the initial stage places the most importance on growth as investment. We hope that these research results will be sustainable in future research related to accelerators, in hopes that it will be useful for establishing accelerator policies for domestic startups and direction for revitalizing related industries.

• 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.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.27-35
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• 2016

Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning have boosted up launching more 'GRI(Government Research Institute) Spin-off High-tech startup' to accelerate the technology commercialization of GRI technologies via the alternative of high-tech startup since 2101. This paper is proposing to found the global platform of accommodating more successful high-tech startup with diagnosing the current policy platform of launching GRI high-tech startup. This paper deliver the outcomes of case study including FGI research over developing the ideas of the experts for the policy line-up of starting from GRI technologies-Hardware Manufacture-BtoB-Global. The research result suggests that the focus of policy should falls not on the quantitative goals, but on more disruptive successful case through utilizing uprising private equity investment in the early stage of business. One of the best policy brought by this research is 'Inbound Globalization Strategy of bringing global early stage investors in Korea for incubation and investment rather than sending out our startup to global without validation by global investor.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2021

The purpose of this research is to improve the investment success rate for startups in the water industry for the development of the entrepreneurial environment of the Korean water industry. In this research, we identified investment determinants through prior research and stratified them, and then surveyed the investor group at the beginning of the start-up using the FGI method, and determined the order of the investment determinants of investors. At the same time, we classified 41 start-ups related to the water industry into two groups: the group that received investment and the group that did not in the early stages of the start-up. Then we investigated the understanding of the investor's investment determinants, ranked them, and compared them by using the AHP technique. Through this, this research proposes five implications. First, it is important for start-ups in the early stages to receive seed investment to revitalize investment for startups in the water industry. For this, startups need to understand investors and prepare to attract investment with the perspective of angel investors rather than the perspective of VC investors. Second, Start-ups in the water sector should consider that the characteristics of the founder are important in order to receive seed investment, and also need to define their business at the industry and market level, and provide relevant rationale to meet the expectations of investors who value industry expertise and experience, and to increase the possibility of seed investment, which is important in the early stages of a startup. Third, institutions, such as K-water(Korea Water Resources Corporation), that support water industry startups need to conduct open innovation business opportunities discovery programs linked to startups so that startups currently participating in the startup support program could have business opportunities from the business infrastructure of platform-forming companies in the water industry. In particular, such institutions should help founders develop their industrial expertise and careers by supporting this type of start-up preparation process through the participation of in-house venture founders. Fourth, when K-water uses the government start-up support fund to discover and foster founders, it should increase initial contact with seed investors, conduct more thorough verification of business plans, and develop programs that use government start-up support funds to prepare a business suitable for seed angel investors. Fifth, K-water should support seed by connecting funds for initial investment among funds operated by itself. It is also necessary to develop a program that links the company receiving the seed investment with VC investment, not angel investment in cooperation with the VC fund operation entity participating as an LP so that companies that have attracted seed investment could attract follow-up VC investment.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2017

4차 산업혁명의 핵심 엔진인 AI 기술이 인류의 희망과 우려 속에 전 지구적인 열풍에 휩싸여 있다. 이 와중에 거대 IT 업체들이 AI 기술 확보를 위한 치열한 경쟁에 나서서, 유망한 AI startup들의 인수합병에 몰두하고 있다. 또한, VC(Venture Capitalist)들도 AI startup에 대한 적극적인 투자에 나서고 있다. 본고에서는 이러한 글로벌 AI startup들에 대한 인수합병 현황 및 투자 트랜드를 살펴보고, AI startup 들이 집중하고 있는 연구개발 분야를 분석함으로써, 국내 AI 기술 경쟁력 확보를 위한 방향 설정에 도움을 줄 수 있도록 시사점을 제시 하고자한다.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-60
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to inform the university stakeholder and startup policy makers about the current status of startup support programs and to identify criteria that could impact the startup effectively among various support program. The purpose of this study is to categorize the startup support programs into three different types. These types are startup education support, startup activity and commercialization support the startup Intention of university students was analyzed using survey and interview during the these programs. In addition, the impact on startup intention was empirical analyzed utilizing entrepreneurial self-efficacy and opportunity recognition support programs. Research results show that, Firstly, startup activity support program had impacted on both entrepreneurial self-efficacy and opportunity recognition. Commercialization support had impacted entrepreneurial self-efficacy. However, startup education support program had no impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy and opportunity recognition. secondly, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and opportunity Recognition have influence on startup intention. Thirdly, startup activity support had influenced on startup intention. Finally, startup activity support and startup intention strongly influenced entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Also, commercialization and startup intention strongly influenced opportunity recognition. Other factors only influenced partially. Startup support program shall seek various solutions to improve quality to increase startup intention based on the research results. Also, high quality educational program shall be offered to improve entrepreneurial self-efficacy and opportunity recognition, while promoting startup activity and commercialization support emphasized. Try to realize a strategic development for activation of startup business.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.141-156
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• 2023

The advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), along with the expansion of government and private investment in startup discovery and funding, has led to the emergence of startups seeking to generate outstanding results based on innovative ideas. As successful startups serve as role models, the number of aspiring entrepreneurs preparing to launch their own startups continues to increase. However, unlike entrepreneurs who challenge themselves with serial entrepreneurship after experiencing success, early-stage startups face various challenges such as team building, technology development, and fundraising. Accelerators play a dual role of mentor and investor by providing education, mentoring, consulting, network connection, and initial investment activities to help startups overcome various challenges they face and facilitate their growth. This study investigated whether there is a correlation between the characteristics of startups and their entrepreneurial performance, and analyzed whether accelerators mediate the relationship between startup characteristics and entrepreneurial performance. A total of 11 hypotheses were proposed, and a survey was conducted on 302 startup founders and employees located across the country, including the metropolitan area, for empirical research. SPSS 23.0 and Amos 23.0 were used for statistical analysis. Through this study, it was found that factors such as innovation, organizational culture, financial characteristics, and learning orientation among the characteristics of startups, rather than having a direct impact on entrepreneurial performance, are linked to entrepreneurial performance through the role of accelerators. By analyzing the impact factors of startup characteristics on entrepreneurial performance, this study presents research on the role of accelerators and provides institutional improvements. It is expected to contribute to the expansion of investment and differentiated acceleration programs, enabling startups to seize the market and grow stably in the market.