On November 19, 2014, Yonsei School of Business held its 19th CL Forum titled “Start-up Career” in the Janggiwon International Conference Room at the Yonsei University Samsung Library It was held as part of the 2015 YSB’s 100th anniversary celebration. The event hall was filled with enthusiastic students who hope to start businesses.

The first keynote guest speaker was Yong Han Shin (BBA alumnus, entering class of 1988), chairman of the Presidential Youth Commission. The Presidential Youth Commission was launched in July 2013 to discuss the future and take note of actual needs with regards to various problems, including youth employment, start-ups, and welfare. Chairman Shin explained the unavoidable problems of jobless growth, referred to the 10-year average length of employment within large corporations, and conveyed the message that start-ups are now no longer a choice, but a requirement. Furthermore, the start-up era has been around for quite a while, and only a few countries match Korea with systems and policies actively supporting and providing valuable information about start-ups. Chairman Shin criticized the tendency of the youth, particularly of students from prestigious colleges, to prefer more stable employment, even though most youth, if ready, could take up the challenge of building a start-up. He finished his lecture by wishing that students of Yonsei University would become the strength of Korea, leading the Korean economy with a more innovative and challenging attitude based on a frontier mindset. The participating students were kept on their toes throughout Chairman Yong Han Shin’s energetic lecture.

Later, during the second meeting with start-up entrepreneurs, six alumni with rising start-up companies were introduced, and Q&A sessions took place. The event shone with brilliance as the following alumni attended the forum: Hang-Gi Park, CEO of Metabranding (BBA alumnus, entering class of 1989); Do-Hyun Jung, CEO of Lapaz (entering class of 1987, food, science & technology major); Jong-Dae Lee, TREUM director (entering class of 2004, business major); Mi-Gyoon Kim, CEO of Cizion (entering class of 2005, mass communications major); Joon-Ho Won, CEO of COMOVE (entering class of 2006, business major); and Ja-Young Yoon, CEO of StyleShare (entering class of 2007, electrical & electronics engineering major). The audience was attentive to successful start-up experiences in various fields, including medical technology, consulting, data analysis techniques, interface techniques, game content, and development of fashion platforms. Of these, the audience seemed most interested in Jong-Dae Lee’s statement that while working as the first uGET member, Mr. Lee got to begin a start-up company. The second meeting ran as a panel discussion, and Hang Gi Park,  served as master of ceremony. Many questions were asked related to experiences with failure, how to get investments, how to look for good team members, the pros and cons of co-representative management, and the driving force of overcoming hardships. Each panel gave valuable answers drawn from life lessons and long periods of experience.

A student participant of this forum, Han-Ryeol Sung (entering class of 2011, business major), said, “Listening to both the stories of hard-to-meet medium start-up entrepreneurs and founders of rising start-ups, I could feel the various experience and power. And because it was not a large-scale event, the panel discussions felt relatively close, and I felt good as there was close communication between students and representatives.”