Yonsei School of Business and the Yonsei Enterprise Support Foundation concluded their joint four-part “Entrepreneurship Lecture Series” in the fall semester with one speaker on venture capital and another on how to found a successful start-up. The series was part of the ongoing celebration of the business school’s centennial.

Chief Strategy Officer Jinsuk Lim of Yellow Mobile in his lecture on ‘Dreams of Fish Gathering to Become a Whale” told of his experience in how to survive as a venture capital company and grow rapidly.

In 2012, local companies providing various services had difficulty attracting capital investment although they were generating operating profit. In response to the problem, several companies agreed to a partnership with Yelp of the U.S. as a role model and founded Yello Mobile. Because of the greater revenue and larger client base after the merger, they were able to attract capital more easily because of their improved credit rating and to invest the capital into marketing to secure even more business.

He underscored the conditions for a firm’s survival as follows: First, improve sales and revenue for operations and clients concurrently; second, secure more client by consistently improving product quality and attracting investment based on the credibility gained by sales and revenue growth and by reinforcing marketing capability. Lastly, keep this cycle going.

Drama & Company, founded by Jaeho Choi, now its CEO, is a start-up gaining market share with Remember, its the platform-based business card managing application that was released January 2014. In his lecture in December, Choi said he analyzed why apps providing services similar to LinkedIn failed in the Asian market. Based on a user survey, he concluded a self-input function and an automatic update of information should be key functions. As a result, Remember has attracted investment of 9.5 billion Korean won from domestic and foreign investors since its launch a year and nine months ago and will expand into to the global market next year. It is striving to provide better service including business card backup and update management service, and integration with KakaoTaxi etc.

Choi relayed his experience of how he failed in the job market because he lacked a specialty in his major despite graduating from KAIST in electrical engineering and how he sold ties bought at wholesale in Dongdaemun Market. He commented that these hard times served as an important foundation in establishing a business. While he couldn’t find employment, he was luckily able to intern at a consulting firm. He decided to start his own business after studying various industries and industry cycles and learning during his internship the logic of founding a business.

Choi said a start-up “may be difficult by yourself but possible as a team; 99°C is insufficient. You must reach 100°C in order for the business to boil”. He said that successful start-ups can be established if you have a partner who believes in your vision and you constantly push each other to achieve objectives. He urged YSB students to found businesses, asserting that the rigor required in a start-up is great but the sense of accomplishment is well worth it.