Yonsei School of Business

Aspiring entrepreneurs and venture capitalists got an inside look at the fields in May from four speakers on the theme of “Win-Win Solutions in Startups and Venture Capital & My Growth Story,” a special combination of the YSB’s Venture, Innovation, & Startup lecture series and the Creative Leadership career development program.

Kil-Soo Suh, dean of the YSB, introduced the event with the “hope students will develop the entrepreneurship that the YSB considers very important.”

Seung-Won Hyun, CEO of D.Share, the event’s keynote speaker, spoke of his experience as the founder in 2011 of “3JEdu,” an online-and-offline knowledge-sharing platform, that combined online lecture services and offline student management services. He advised students thinking of startups to not “get frustrated because of a lack of funding, because no initial funding does not mean that you can’t start a business.”

The second speaker, Yuna Sun, senior manager of strategic business development at Riiid!, explained the process of new business development. Sun said there are generally two approaches: Waterfall Project Management and Agile Project Management. Large companies typically use Waterfall Project Management in which teams of 10 or more people tackle a project from launch to final results over a period of four months or more. Startups generally prefer Agile Project Management in which a team of five to six people complete a project in less than two months.

The third speaker, Yun-Ji Kim, an associate of Atinum Investment, recounted her career path from working on a strategy team to new business development to her current work in venture capital. She emphasized that students should seek out an industries that appeal to them and develop their own expertise rather than becoming vested in a specific company’s brand.

The last speaker, Nam-Ho Hong, a business analyst at Kakao Ventures, recalled his college life in discussing preparation for a career in venture capital. After giving an overview of work as a venture capitalist, Hong emphasized that students considering the field focus on communication skills, develop wide-ranging understanding of various industries, and cultivate the ability to understand and empathize with the startup ecosystem.