Start-up

Start-up (창업/創業) means the whole or a part of activities to form a company, a partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a sustainable business model. Start-up companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets.

In Korea, the term has become popular thanks to the Park Geun-hye government's campaign for the creative economy. On the international scene, it was largely encouraged during the dot-com bubble when a great number of dot-com companies were founded.

Key words
start-up, start-up financing, venture capital, angel investor, entrepreneurship, network

Forms of Start-up
Start-up forms are unlimited. In other words, start-up companies can come in all forms, i.e., a company, a partnership or temporary organization.

A critical task in setting up a business is to conduct research in order to validate, assess and develop the ideas or business concepts in addition to opportunities to establish further and deeper understanding on the ideas or business concepts as well as their commercial potential.

A company may cease to be a startup as it passes various milestones, such as becoming publicly traded in an initial public offering (IPO), or ceasing to exist as an independent entity via a merger or acquisition. Companies may also fail and cease to operate altogether.

Investors are generally most attracted to those new companies distinguished by their risk/reward profile and scalability. That is, they have lower bootstrapping costs, higher risk, and higher potential return on investment. Successful start-ups are typically more scalable than an established business, in the sense that they can potentially grow rapidly with limited investment of capital, labor or land.

Start-up Financing Cycle
Startups encounter several unique options for funding.
 * Venture capitalists and angel investors may help start-up companies begin operations, exchanging cash for an equity stake.
 * In practice though, many start-ups are initially funded by the founders themselves.
 * Factoring is another option, though not unique to startups.
 * Some new funding opportunities are also developing in crowd funding.
 * In Korea, there are a number of start-up oriented funds willing to foster the entrepreneurial spirit in the public and private sectors. Universities are running incubating facilities for student start-ups on campus.

Networks of Start-ups
The young hopefuls for start-up may seek support from various networks in Korea as well as in the world. A few examples are:
 * The Go Venture Forum, represented by Chairman Go Young-ha, is a network of start-up companies in Korea.
 * The Korea Young Entrepreneurship Foundation (한국청년기업가정신재단) has staged a nation-wide c ampaign to promote start-up for the young generation, "The Pioneer - Best Startup of Korea" in cooperation with the Korea Development Bank.
 * Geeks on a Plan is an international network of start-ups, investors and executives. Geeks on a Plane stops in various countries and invites entrepreneurs and venture capitalists onto the plane, providing a unique atmosphere for networking.
 * The Startup Alliance is a peer group of active start-up founders and executives helping one another to maximize their businesses. A local branch of the Startup Alliance incubated its first start-up in July 2013 to foster enterprises.
 * Learn from Israeli Start-ups has been organized for the students by the Small and Medium Business Administration.