1415T2g1 South Korea/Reflection/day4
South Korea
| Day 2 |
Contents
Day 4: Reflections
Quick Introduction of Korean Broadcasting System
Learning Point from Korean Broadcasting System
- From our visit to KBS, we have a deeper understanding of the production of various news platforms in South Korea. Although there are controversy surrounding KBS providing government propaganda, it is interesting to note that they have high standards to provide accurate information to the public.
Quick Introduction of Visual Dart
Learning Point from Visual Dart
- Passion is key – Visual Dart was a solely created by a single founder, and it was his passion which drives the company forward to achieving various prestigious award in Korea, such as the Venture Certification to illustrate their success of providing top-notch game graphic solutions are over the world.
Quick Introduction of Seoul Tech Society
Learning Point from Seoul Tech Society
- Substantial amount of foreign entrepreneurs in Korea – from our meeting with the people who attended the networking session, there were several foreign entrepreneurs who are contemplating whether should they start their business in Korea.
- Greater understanding on how to start a business in Korea – The presentation by the Gobal Business Center provided us with information on the procedures needed to start a start-up in Korea and allows me to make an analysis on the similarities and differences between the start-up ecosystem in Korea and Singapore.
KBS
Visual Dart
Seoul Tech Networking / Seminar
KBS
The company tour around KBS opened my eyes to the traditional media industry and gives me a better understanding of the infrastructure and systems as to what goes behind a television show. With the help of Hye Ri, I communicated with the lady who brought us around and understand that not everyone has the privilege of touring around KBS. It requires one to know an employee from KBS in order to apply for the tour, which goes to show that guan xi is not only important in China, but also in many other countries even though they do not emphasize so much on guan xi. This is probably the reason why SMU places more emphasis on FTW workshops and organising networking sessions for their students as compared to other local universities as they want to ensure that we are equipped with the right set of skills in order to network and maintain relations with others.
I'm also looking forward to see changes in KBS after the launch of their new creative content center last year.
Visual Dart
I learnt from Visual Dart that it is important to be adaptable and pro-active. When the market shifted from PC games to mobile games, Visual Dart was adaptable as they were pro-active to determine the market trend. Due to the shift in demand, there was a reduced need for outsourcing game design companies, and so happens that Visual Dart has good relations with their clients, thus putting other competitors out of the market. This goes to show that it is important to maintain good guan xi with companies' stakeholders in to stay competitive in the industry.
I also learnt that a lot of thoughts have to be put into game designs, even nitty gritty details about the characters movements, background design and colours. Every single part of the game makes a difference to the users, thus the game designers are very particular about every single detail.
Seoul Tech
- Learnt that the start up scene for foreigners wanting to develop a start up in Korea is pretty high, looking at the number of foreigners who attended the tech conference
- It is relatively easier to start a business in Singapore because the government is very supportive, even towards foreign start ups in SIngapore.
- Also, Singaporeans do not block opportunities for someone, regardless of race and citizenship, to develop a start up. In fact, they bring about more opportunities by connecting the strangers together. They do not need to have personal connections with others in order to get linked up to VCs.
From Visual Dart, we can see how they differentiate themselves in the gaming industry. Instead of focusing of game development, they choose to focus on the designing process and excel on it. They are willing to go an extra mile for something they like and be really good on it. I can see their passion as can be seen from how they are willing to work extra time for hours. They also have excellent teams, where people are located to a department which suits their skills and personalities. I am personally very impressed with the way they organize themselves and do many projects at the same time.
During Seoul Tech Networking, we have the time to talk to like-minded entrepreneurs from different parts of the world. Although I didn’t manage to talk to all of them, but I manage to talk to some of them who have started their own company. We also manage to learn from the presentations and one of our teams even has the chance to present about Singapore entrepreneurship ecosystems. I can see that Singapore is more open to foreigners starting a company in the country. Although South Korea government seems to have more programs than Singapore does, Singapore government is also growing and paying more attention to entrepreneurship growth within the country. Considering the size of Singapore, the government has done a great job developing the ecosystems and I believe that more entrepreneurs will appear in Singapore.
- During our trip to KBS, I was really amazed of blue screen technology to mimic realistic backgrounds. In addition to viewing their impressive broadcasting equipment, I also had the pleasure of viewing their internal concert theater which was the biggest one I have even seen.
- We learnt that in Visual Dart, its biggest competitors are from developing countries such as China and India. In addition to what I have learnt from school and from my experience overseas, I have discovered that this represents an increasing trend of developed countries rapidly losing their edge to those in the developing countries.
- During our networking session at Seoul Tech conference, I have learnt that both Korea and Singapore have robust existing schemes to entice foreign entrepreneurs and startups to their countries, even though Singapore is more welcoming to foreigners in general. On the other hand, Korea has numerous private accelerators that are able to link startups up with international VCs and angel investors better than Singapore as the accelerator companies’ founders usually have experience and connections in the US and many other countries.
Today’s visit to KBS was an eye-opening experience. Being an avid Korean drama fan, it was like a dream come true to visit Korea’s national broadcasting company. During the tour around KBS, I realized that even for a small TV production, there are so many procedures and complexities involved behind the entire filming process, all the way till the production stage.
Apart from providing entertainment to the masses, KBS holds great responsibility in also providing the citizens of Korea with up to date local and international news. While I was walking past their office, I noticed a few staffs looking through multiple monitors that are showing foreign news programs, such as BBC. I believe that they are keeping track of all the latest news and have to react instantaneously when there is any major outbreak of event.
The trip to Visual Dart was mind blowing for me. The sheer amount of details in every design is really overwhelming and I applaud the designers for their professionalism and passion in their job. It was very refreshing to understand how the functions of the different departments (animation, character, environment, effects) come together and how they complement one another. It was also interesting to notice how the atmosphere defers in the character as compared to the environment department, due to the nature of their work which requires individual and team effort respectively.
The last visit of the day was to Seoul tech networking event. I felt inspired after speaking to a few entrepreneurs who gave up their stable and well-paid job to venture into their own start-up. In my opinion, it not only takes a lot of courage to do so, but it also takes humility, as you might be losing your high ranking job and starting all over again from bottom up. To sum up, today is a very fruitful day and I am glad that I really did my best to make the most out of my learning experience.
KBS
During the visit to KBS Korea, the largest broadcasting station. We are fortunate enough to be able to have a tour around KBS to see what it is like behind the scene. I was really amazed by the technologies, props and their stages. I have just learnt that everything that we see on screen is actually 1.5 times of the actual size.
Visual Dart
Visual Dart is one of the only two vendors that get projects from Bizzard. I was amazed by how fast the company have expended. Now being the biggest animation company in South Korea. During the tour around the office, we get to see how intense and passionate they are in creating the animations. The effort each designers needs to put into to create all the little details. What I see from visual Dark is that it is important to have a responsible and passionate team in order to get the product
Seoul Tech NetworkingDuring the networkings
During the sharing session, the presenters presented on both Singapore and South Korea Start-up ecosystem. In both countries the governments plays an important part in assisting and motivating citizens to start their own business. Both countries are making the effort to nurture young talents and encourage the younger generation to be creative and start their own start-up. I felt that if young entrepreneurs want to start a business in asia, they should consider Singapore or Korea for their startup as both of these countries have highly supportive governments.
Visual Darts is a 2D and 3D computer graphics company that amalgamates the power of graphics software and attractive visuals in character and environmental designs. It is inspiring to learn how the company grew from a sole proprietor to one that has 3 branch offices with more than 60 employees. As such a visual design industry is very labour-intensive, talent recruitment and development is actually one of the most valuable assets of the company. As such, it takes more than oneself to really grow the company.
At the Seoul Tech Networking session it was rather interesting to meet so many people from all walks of life who are keen on starting their own ventures. Despite being very modern and metropolitan cities, I feel that Korea is not as open to foreign companies compared to Singapore. This is especially so in areas where there are already local conglomerates dominating the market, which the government asserts their legal prowess to hinder the entrance of foreign companies, such as Apple. It was also heartwarming to hear a foreigner comment about the conducive startup environnent in Singapore, and receive more interest in our home country after the talk. Hence, there was a sense of achievement after having gone through great lengths to source and liaise with Seoul Tech Society for this collaborative event to be pushed through successfully.
KBS
In this rare glimpse into the inner workings of TV production, the large inventory of props managed was the most fascinating for me. It’s also interesting because as an operations management major student, I am taking a module this semester about Warehousing. Hence, the way that such a large inventory of props intrigues me. I am also curious about the way in which the collect a large variety of items that can no longer be easily bought in the market (including old props such as typewriters, old microwaves, etc.).
Visual Dart
As one of the only 2 vendors for Blizzard, Visual Dart has really carved a name for itself in the industry as one of the major players with renowned brand name clients. Although I’ve never played such computer games before, the level of effort, intensity and detail that goes into the game development entices me to try the games out, just to appreciate all the work that goes into developing it.
I’ve always thought that perhaps there was a software that could automatically generate the background or lighting effects to the games but found out today that this is not true at all.
Every single detail – even where the rust is, or which direction the grass grows – was developed intricately. This reinforces my belief that everything around us starts with an idea and exists only because someone put a lot of effort into it – something that also aptly describes the start-up process.
Seoul Tech Networking
I originally thought the greatest takeaway I would have from Seoul Tech is meeting many Korean entrepreneurs.
Surprisingly, my greatest takeaway is the comparison between Korea and Singapore’s start-up ecosystem and business environment. Through the Q&A session after Alan and Zu Cheng’s presentation, I’ve learnt more about foreigners’ perspective of Singapore, what foreign entrepreneurs are concerned about entering the Singapore market, areas which we are doing better in as compared to Korea’s start-up scene and areas where we can improve on.
One example of what struck me most was when a foreign entrepreneur in the audience spoke up to share how connections and relationships were not important to getting things done in Singapore. Doing business in Singapore was easy because everybody was ready to introduce you to contacts or opportunities without holding back and thinking how they could gain from this. This was something I thought was ‘normal’ but only learned today that it really is not that normal – something Singapore must continue to uphold.
KBS
We visited KBS and got a tour around the building. KBS is South Korea's largest broadcasting station and it was interesting to see the filming stages, halls, broadcasting room, and props store.
Visual Dart
Visual Dart is a game art designing firm with about 60 employees. They modularize the design into various forms such as sketching, initial drawing, 3d creation, animation, background design and more. A single design takes about 10 days to a month to create depending on the design complexity. Visual Dart started off small and they initially did work for home shopping networks. They then moved on to small scaled designs and the company was promoted through competitions and exhibitions. From our interaction with the first employee in the company, I've learnt that
- communication with the client is important to ensure that both parties have an agreement on how the design concept should be developed
- fostering good relations out of work helps to build better relations with co-workers
- get constant exposure locally and internationally and stay up to date on the latest technology advancement and change in trends
- idea generation can be inspired from various ways e.g. by watching movies, playing games, and observing the environment
Seoul tech networking night
At the sharing session and networking event, we heard about the South Korea and Singapore start-up system. In both countries, the government plays a big role in encouraging people to start their own businesses. The government takes various initiatives to nurture talent, support mentors, provide funding, and educate its people on entrepreneurship. I think it is good that the government takes the lead to develop the start-up ecosystem. I expect that in the future, reliance on the government will be reduced if start-ups can support each other. Also, there will be more private services that cater to support the community.
Tomorrow is our last day and we will be visiting Seoul Topis, Auctionary, and Korbit!
First company we visited is KBS. At KBS, we have enjoyed our time by having the tour to some of the studios, halls and control stations. From the visit to Visual Dart, I have learnt about Visual Graphic for Game and Gaming industry in Korea. We have learnt about how they manage about 20 projects at a time by a single project manager. We also have a chance to visit their partner gaming company from Turkey in Seoul at the same place. From the visit itself, I had better understanding about how visual art company works together with gaming company in production of games. From the networking session to Seoul Tech conference, I had chances to have conversations with various nationality working/studying in Seoul and learnt about their work in Korea. Also, the talk and sharing from speakers also gave me the insights of doing a startup companies in terms of getting grants, procedures and ways of approach for the roadmap to have successfully starting a business.
KBS
The visit to KBS, Korea Broadcasting System is very enriching and interesting. I never got the chance to step into a broadcast studio. Thus this is a rare opportunity. In KBS, I get to see their news reporting room, a live show, their props room and more. I also get to experience how the celebrities and reporters are “placed” on top of other background such as the weather forecast.
Visual Dart
1 challenge that Visual Dart faced is when the client suddenly decline the job. When Visual Dart and their client agreed on a project, Visual Dart will proceed to arrange for manpower. However, there are cases that their client decided to turn their back against them. This can also happen after the client signed the contract. Thus, I learnt that we have to always be aware and prepared of this type sudden changes. Even if you signed a contract with the other party, they might still turn their back against you. It does not matter if the contract mentioned that there will be momentary compensation when 1 party break the contract.
When designing, there are bounds to have time when there is no inspiration. Thus, their employees will get idea from the internet, movie, books, walking around and even looking at other people game design. This is also applicable for us when we are stuck in our school or future work life. Thus, I learnt that there's no point stressing over it, instead we should relax and look around for inspiration.
Seoul Tech Networking
At Seoul Tech Networking today, we learnt about the various reason why foreigners find it hard to startup in Korea. It is due to the immigration, commercial and foreign direct investment laws. Although Korea government has as many start-up support as Singapore government, foreigners still find it hard to start up in Korea as compared to Singapore. I also get to know about the FDI procedure and OASIS VISA. These information are useful for foreigner start-ups who want to venture into Korea.
KBS
I believe that a strong economy will increase the opportunity as well as market for startup. The development of media in Korea will lead to much demand for services that Startup companies can solve and generate business.
.Visual Dart
Luckily, the company is not facing any difficulty in finding good talent in Korea and the future for Visual Dart is very bright with many big partnerships.
Seoul Tech Networking / Seminar
Through the talk I met a few interesting people who has their own business and people who are expert in the field such as Big Data. Participants to the talk are very diverse and very open in sharing their ideas.
Lesson lesson: 90% of startup networking events are a waste of time
I spoke to one engineer in Seoul tech and I asked him if he was here for the talks that were going to be presented. He told me that that is a waste of time and at that moment, I was shocked by his response. He told me that What he learns at most startup networking events is the same stuff you can learn online. The only difference is startup events typically cost money. There are a few networking events that are worth attending, but most aren’t.
However, he only goes to networking event if he has a purpose and this time, he is looking for another developer to work together with him. I found this useful because the next time I go for a networking event, I will make sure there are either potential clients or people who are a lot smarter than me are at these events. This is because if I am the one teaching the room on how to run a company, something is off. I can only learn if people who are smarter than you are at the event. He told me to attend good networking events, look for the ones that are intimate and invite only. It’s hard to get into those events, but when I do, it will be worth it. Those are the type of events that will allow me to create new friendships and business partnerships.
While doing a startup, timing is important too. Changing with the current trends or changing your business model when the need arises is key. In Visual Dart’s case, they switched from doing graphic design for non-gaming industries to gaming industries when games became a rage in South Korea. Now they are one of the top graphic designing companies taking on projects for well-known companies such as Blizzard, Sega, Sony, etc. This case exemplifies the need to keep our eyes peeled for the market trends and if it affects your directly or indirectly, we have to consider to make the move.
From my visit to Visual Dart, i learned about the process of delivering a game graphic solution from creating the concept art to the 3D modelling and lastly delivering to the client. I also came to know about the various software used such as Unity3d and Spine Pro and this gives me some direction as to what i should learn if i want to pick up the basics of game design. From my visit to Seoul Tech Networking, i learned that for any entrepreneur that wishes to start their business overseas they need to consider the political stability, economic development, culture, cost of labor, cost of living, the start-up ecosystem, how much support the government gives and how easy is it to open a start-up company in that country. Even if you possess a good idea, competent team and passion to drive the business, there is a high chance that these factors might impede your development.
KBS i learn more about how traditional television media is done in South Korea. From the backstage preparations, to the props required, as well as helping hosts/actors. In addition, i also saw how they established a global presence in different countries, bringing about korean culture to the world.
Visual Dart At Visual Dart, it was interesting to learn about the history of an established startup, which was at the start headed by only a few employees who did a few aspects of graphic design ;how they were able to establish a name for themselves and open themselves to more opportunities along the gaming graphics design value chain. In addition, i finally understood what processes goes into creating mobile and PC games, from the establishing concept requirements with their clients, to conceptualization and creation of the concept art, to 2D/3D modeling and finally animation and movement.
Seoul Tech Networking Meeting Ilya and his team from Seoul Tech Society, i found out that most of their group are just doing this networking work part time and that they are actually working in various industries full time. they are highly interested in both startups as well as emerging technology. It was also interesting to note that even with such a supportive environment for Korean Startups, there are still many unseen barriers for non-koreans to enter the Korean Startup ecosystem and work in a Startup. It was an eye opener to see that many expatriates who are concerned with visa and investment issues through the numerous questions that were asked to me during my presentation. i also got to learn about the support structures put in palce by government agencies such as SBAA and Korean Business Association.
