TAN Yun Xi
Contents
Reflection
Blog/Journal
Day 1
Company visit (Twinword, SCC) and Myeongdong
After touching down in Korea, we headed off to Twinword for our first company visit! It was really welcoming for SCC and Twinword to paste directional signs for us when we first step out of the lift. From Mr Kono Kim's presentation, it was interesting to know how Twinword came about and made me understand the importance of natural language processing and how word association varies. For example, how different countries will have different preferences leading to various combinations. SCC also allows me to understand the growth of smart content and how it is becoming more relevant in our life.
After an enriching morning from three different presentations and the tour around the office, which all of us were particularly intrigued with the two 3D printers, we headed off to a more relaxing afternoon, with a tour around KBS, understanding more about their operations and shopping at Myeongdong!
Day 2
Day 3
Day 3 marks the end of our 3 days’ visits to Korean startups. Personally, I feel that today was the most fulfilling industrial visit day. Not only did we visit the most number of companies, all three companies are successful in a short period of time and have their own success stories and tips to tell.
VCNC created Between application whereby couples have a shared platform to share their memories together. The application has been receiving tremendous growth and it is interesting to know that the growth was the result of word of mouth rather than the company’s marketing strategy. This shows that the creation of a product is important. When a product is well-received by the users, they will generally spread positive news about the product and marketing activities from the start-up companies would be minimal. This will also benefit start-ups as they would have minimal or no budget for marketing.
Also, when startups are expanding to different markets, there is a need to hire the right locals to aid the company and make it more specialized to the particular market. Startups should also not just focus on expanding their market when they have the budget to do so, but instead, their primarily focus should be to sustain and improve their firm foundation.
