1617T2g1 South Korea/Reflection/Day2

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Day 2

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Student Name	Google campus	People Fund	KBS
Ang Jui Ping	Analytics remains much unexplored and unprofited from and each startup has their own motivations/team culture, from the founder's vision.	Crowdparti 1. Cloud computing is a useful tool that enables stronger connectivity amongst firms. Fansim 1. Incentivising people emotionally (targeting a non-intrinsic need) can create great monetary benefit.	Your product itself and business model should be the strong factor, and marketing (such as through influencers) could just serve as an accompaniment to your "perfected" product.
Benedict Wee Yu Rui	A company that use data and analytics to collect word associations and categorise them and some quotes i learn from him was that “Learning is always an important growth factor for me” and “Humble yourself and expect others who can teach you as valuing individual inputs is more important than money”.	A quote i learn is to “Keep calm and don’t give up in the things you do”, after hearing the the founder success story of having to fail in 2007 with the company name, “Auctionary” and he persevered in creating “My WorkSpace” in 2013	I learn that they they key success for their company is via Social media with over 100 millions users anywhere, anytime which aims to be the number 1 food media over the world and what make them special is 3 reasons - 1. Target mid 20’s teenagers 2. Every video content must be unique from other channels 3. Target early adopters with new recipes
Bryan Lian Junquan	Throughout the engagement, I was able to sense their beliefs in their key technology, however they are also realistic and are able to pivot when there is a need too such as going into SEO consulting to generate revenue to fund their R&D efforts.	Unlike the Twinword founder, My Workspace focuses more on providing a conducive environment for entrepreneurs at a cheap cost considering the Workspace prime location, this vision is very different compared to the other founders.	This is the most interesting startup for me because I am part of a video recipe Facebook page back Singapore and together with my friends, we are planning to start up and the founder gave a lot of insights on what the company does which is useful for us when we start planning.
Chua Weilun	“Be humble, everyone can be a teacher.”	“Never give up, keep trying and never stop thinking for a new idea, because the greatest failure is only when you stop and stay stagnant.”	A good content is one which ignites happiness in the audiences.
Dawn Tan Sze Hui	💰💵💳💸 At the end of the day, no area of the business should be neglected Be forward-looking, not just try to improve the current situation Trust your leader || Angel investments really helped the founder realise his dream; luck is a bonus My main takeaway from the founder’s sharing was how he was able to let go and bounce back from setbacks; he realised his first startup auctionary which was a translation business was not working out well but didn't try to harp on the past || - Content uniqueness: specific kinds of Asian-inspired food makes ppl recognize and want to search through their channels - Content freshness: targeting early adopters, have frequent meetings to generate new content
Goh Gui Xiang Wendy	"Not to build something new but something people would use" and "Be humble and Learn"	Learnt that the increase of startups scene in Korea is due to the lack of job.	Amazed by how much a small firm could focus so much. From YouTube content to restaurant to own product
Goh Teo Wee Gavin	Learning to change was important for their business model as their main revenue driver of text analytics was not generating enough revenue for them, there had to change to SEO from text analytics.	The founder here faced a similar problem where his first idea of language translation was not working out at all, people were not receptive to the idea, and had to change from language translation to work space rental.	From just creating content on food, the company has also moved towards (sort of a change) creating quality comedy together with food to gain more reputation and subscribers.
Jason Koh Xue Quan	"Humble yourself and expect that others can teach you" Learning point: always be teachable.	startups are created because there are a lack of jobs in Korea. It's a matter of survival. Learning point: Everyone needs a motivation. || The CEO does not specialize in creative but is still able to achieve success. Learning point: Hiring the right team is important.
Jerome Lek Guan Hong	Money makes the world go round, and having money as a goal could motivate a company to develop great products. Targeting where the money is at is important for a company to know what product or tool to develop next, to gain the biggest amount of profits.	My Workspace taught me that startup failure is not the end of the world. Even if you fail with your first idea, you might end up chancing upon an even better business opportunity. Don’t be afraid to try, and you may find more success elsewhere.	Building a social media content page is tough. There is a constant need to develop fresh and new content to keep the users engaged, something that companies should keep in mind when doing their social media marketing. And they make good cookies and cream spread too!
Student Name	Google campus	People Fund	KBS
Jonathan Chua Yi Xian	For a startup to be successful, there needs to be a good team. For a good team to exist, there needs to be a good company culture built by the management. Too much focus on money and profits for a startup may lead to failure.	The CEO of My Workspace turned around a downfall into an opportunity and was able to capitalize on the demand for workspace in Korea. This has taught me that opportunities are everywhere as long as we remain sharp and persist.	Food is a great method to create viral content, and remaining focused on your strength is a good strategy towards success.
Kay Zong Wei	A very very realistic example of the world. Even if we have a great idea, we still need funding to realise our great idea. However, if we do get a great idea, we would most likely attract VCs to give us the funding.	A constant reminder that change is necessary in the startup world. If your existing idea is not as lucrative, do feel free to make necessary changes and we may succeed.	Another great example of how something simple can be made into a successful, revenue generating business idea. Simply taking video of making food enables Greedeat to open multiple line of business, and get so many partners.
Kelvin Poh Kian Lim	Having just the good business idea doesn’t really mean that you be successful, choosing the right human resources is also a critical factor to determine one success	In order to ensure stability in your business, one must understand the rules and regulation of the country well and be able to seize potential opportunities when it come alongs	It is important to always look at the target audience needs and requirements and a way to do it is to engage different advertising platform to reach out to the audience to gather information on what is the current trending food categories that most of people are into, and start working on it.
Kovan Chan Jie Hong	I have learnt to be flexible, and to change one’s business strategy according to consumers needs ; just like how they make the switch from the initial “advanced control F” to recognising the market for SEO within the corporate clients.	My Workspace’s business model revolves around having to price their rentals at about 40% cheaper than that of their competitors in the area. This goes to show that it actually pays to be less “revenue-motivated” and more “vision-oriented”.	I have learnt that it is of utmost importance to understand consumer needs and stay true to your own beliefs. One example was to reject the idea of using popular KPop stars to be the ambasaddors. Although it would help in promotion, he didnt want the focus point (i.e. featured food) to be overshadowed by the Kpop stars.
Lam Wan Ting	Twinword is a company that analyses documents to make word associations; with money as the current main goal in mind, the company has only just started earning profits via SEO consultancy services through their text analytical tool.	My WorkSpace is like a pay-per-use coworking space that is open to the public as well as for its own residents to book spaces/rooms for the purpose of meetings, work, etc with an affordable fee.	GreedEat is a fun company that generates lots of fun and interesting contents for food lovers; Aside from their hit channel Cookat, they have also recently launched their own unique spreads, named Spread101, with really delicious flavours such as Cookies & Cream and Matcha.
Lee Kuan Yong	Although TwinWord deals with Text Analytics, technology is not the most important factor but staying ahead of the curve is.	My Workspace: It is inspiring to learn that the company changes its business model through times to adapt to demands. CrowdParti: Although somewhat unclear in its business model, CrowdParti is devoted to developing animated content for crowd sourcing. Fansim: Their goal is ambitious and long-term focused as it aims to create instant messenger and link with Kpop groups. || Most lasting impression as the founder sets clear vision and goals and even diversify his business into advertisement and restaurants.
Lee Teck Hui	Being ahead of the curve and look for the next big thing: Find where the money is (Hint*)	Provide different service to cater to demand: They provide random seating to people don’t mind sharing(pay less) and standard seating for founders who want their private spaces (pay more).	Focus on your strength: Their strength is on food category and expanding beyond that would lose their strength in the category.
Loo Qi Xuan Ryan Elyas	It’s all about the money; I wonder if the start-up can last long if this is the main motivating factor...	My Work Space: • Don’t quite understand how he makes a profit with such low rent rates, but as long as it works, none of us have any complaints. CrowdParti: • Nothing much to comment since I didn’t see any examples, but interactive comics do sound interesting	Great social media marketing strategy, and literally spread the love to us afterwards.
Mak Kar Kit	MONEY. On the second day of TSM, it really reminds me the realism of life and work itself. Everyone essentially does it for the money. But I think that along with making money, the startup companies inadvertently made a difference as well.	One thing the CEO mentioned was that these startups renting these spaces don’t really talk to each other as compared to the western culture where they are more outgoing. Perhaps encouraging lunch talks among these companies/people would be useful and interesting.	This is the best company so far, they make food “porn”, they gave us cookies and cream spread and the studios are very special. You know they are serious about making the food videos when they have syringes for inserting custard into their bread
Ng Jia Ning	“Always humble yourself so you do not become an idiot”	“Your entrepreneurship journey may not be what you intended it to be but eventually you will do something better”	Creating the right content to gain attention in the cluttered media space and stand out takes time and dedication
Student Name	Google campus	People Fund	KBS
Ng Zheng Hao	“Team culture is important. We fight. We need to know the final conclusion and there needs to be a leader that makes the final decision. I respect his (Mr. Kono Kim’s) decision to tell me what to do.” Mr. Kono Kim & team, 2017	“Sharing economy is really what I like. I want to apply this concept to my workspace. We were thinking of why waste this space? I personally like doing inferior design and this startup helps with that.” Mr. Ron Yang, CEO, 2017	“Make different concept and different content from your competitors.” Mr. Munju Lee, CEO, 2017
Pek Caimao Jeremy	Started off as a Facebook page, they are incredibly successful by pivoting to food media and many other sources of revenue, they have two complete food video studios to make their food videos and they are very nice to give out their new products and letting us try too.	Two main products which recommends the user what to search for in a webpage, learnt that sometime the company has to find other sources of revenue to continue their original idea.	Very nice and affordable co-working space for small businesses and individuals, they have some bonding session for those within the office as well, good for connecting people together, however ,Their idea might not possible in Singapore as the URA have more regulations about renting properties to others.
Ranon Sim Wen Yang	Don’t do things just to make quick money. Do things so that the money can be used to achieve your dreams.	My biggest takeaway here was the importance of having tenacity amidst the struggles of running a startup company with little support.	It pays to stay focused on one’s strengths in a competitive market where everyone can potentially produce and distribute viral content.
Royce Junior Tan San Ye	I think the people at TwinWord were very frank about the main challenge that they faced, which was money - this problem probably plagues most start-ups and it was a little sad they had to divert from their original goal and shift to SEO to make money to sustain the business.	CEO did a great presentation, it was an eye-opener to see how he actually started on the idea - through the rental of a portion of his office to other startups.	Awesome place to visit, amazing to know how they gained so much traction within just a year!
Russell Yap Song Chen	Money is very important in ensuring that the business is sustainable. Choosing the right niche is key to success.	Lady luck is sometimes lurking around the corner. As long as one stays positive and stays nimble, they will be able to capitalize on opportunities and pivot themselves from a bad position into a good one.	I like how much they care for the category (food) they are in and this will hopefully allow them to eventually dominate in the food content industry. GO GREEDEAT!
Sally CHIN Si Ying	“Our goal should be where the money is. I realized that I was excited about the Control F function we were building, but after a while I realized that only I was excited about it.”	“It’s a dream that I managed to combine my hobby of interior with my passion for startups, even though I failed in my previous startups”	The secret to GreedEat’s success is hiring good people, and producing unique content different from everybody else.
Sebastian Hadinata	Although Twinword might appear as a startup that is very profit-oriented, I believe that no company will survive without money.	Understanding the space requirements for startup, creating a conducive environment is important for the startups to grow.	“Food is live and live is food. An innovative idea can start from anything that is most relevant to our day-to-day life”
Sim Mong Khim Jared	TwinWord seems to me like the kind of business that won't be successful selling their own products or services but the kind that gets acquired.	My Workspace has great cheap spaces for start ups but also shows how supporting processes can become your main business.	Greedeat is similar to Buzzfeed but seems to differentiate themselves by selling their own food items.
Soh Han Cherng Stanley	“Greed is motivation.”	Profitable and successful ideas may come about in unexpected ways.	Quality and creativity of content is equally important as the quantity of it.
Tan Jie Sheng	Technology is not the same important factor but staying ahead of the curve is	Setbacks are common so do not give up	A clear understanding of your intended audience + unique + new content are the keys to growing your user base for a social media startup
Tan Lay Ting	Technology might be important but being forward-looking and able to build the next curves is more crucial.	Sometimes it is inevitable but to pivot from the original goal due to unforeseen circumstances.	Having a unique image/concept, and being an early adopter would also help to build a competitive advantage.
Tan Si Ying	I learned how existing technologies can be re-innovated, to form its own unique selling point, and become a much more useful and attractive business.	What I learn from My WorkSpace was how they keep their mind open to ideas and opportunities. They have been through ups and downs with their past startups experiences. What’s amazing was they did not just push on with their field of interest but look out for opportunities from their daily issues, and create profitable solutions, contributing to the progress of their current startup status.	There are numerous content generating websites and platforms on the net. Personally, I only follow a small number of quality food channels, and GreedEat is one of them. it was an amazing visit to GreedEat to meet the brains behind this amazing project and their passion with creating great and unique content.
Tay Ren Ann Andrew	“Everything in the startup is important. Everything is required to sustain. If one thing is missing, it will destroy everything” — Kono Kim, Twinword Founder	Because of the culture of how Korean students work. My workspace provides an environment for both team and individuals to work at a low rate at the heart of seoul.	GreedEat is an amazing example of how a startup have made use of their creative and riveting content to attract both users and businesses to grow their community.
Tay Wei Rong	TwinWord end goal is an extrinsic motivation to find the right fit in the market to generate revenue so they could focus on their passion to build on new text analytics application.	Change, flexibility and good eye in identifying current trends are an important aspect as Mr Koo, Work Space CEO change his business to provide spaces and an environment that supports for Start-Up.	The CEO is constantly being ahead, he foresee that YouTube is the next source of channel that he could create an revenue if Facebook did not increase their video length.