Yonsei School of Business

Yonsei School of Business and Twosun Campus, a firm that incubates nascent enterprises and nurtures their entrepreneurial founders, opened “Startup 207: Making Startups” for the first time during the 2018 summer semester. Participating students attended the program at the Twosun Campus site in Pangyo, Gyeonggi province.

The program has two types of classes. One category deals with theoretical knowledge, such as selecting a start-up idea, developing it, and producing a written business plan. The second category includes a workshop in which the president of a start-up introduces his or her business and tells the story of how his or her company came into business and includes team activities and presentations of business plans.

Ideas broached during the program included a platform service that provides information about the effect of chemical substances on humans and promotes relevant eco-friendly products, an apparel-rental service for college students, a platform for the improvement of club culture, and a platform service that connects photo studios and consumers

The students also heard the founders of start-up companies that use items such as blockchains, Korean Wave content, bio-clinic platforms, and others, recount how they began, the problems they encountered and overcame, and the current statuses of their businesses. The students also heard about the stories of start-ups that failed and why. They also heard from some founders who teetered on the brink of failure but survived. The students were warned not to expect easy success but to prepare thoroughly for all eventualities.

“I could learn the process of starting up a new business that I thought was ambiguous at first,” said Jeeyeon Lim, (entering class of 2017, Business). “Although the program was only two weeks long, we could think of choosing an item and also think about a year-long planning process that made us feel we were operating a real business,” she added.

“Although I did have any experience or plans to open a start-up business, I participated in this program to gain an all-round knowledge about start-ups,” said Seunglee Choi, (entering class of 2013, Business). “I could sharpen my business sense with a practical sense throughout the two- week-long team project of writing up a business plan,” he added.

Despite the end of the program, the students and business founders continue to exchange ideas.  And some groups are preparing to turn ideas born during the program into real businesses.