[K Startup Great Transformation] "The Key Is to Grow the Scale and Develop into a Unicorn"

Seok Jong-hoon FuturePlay Partner Interview
"The Core of the Second Venture Boom is 'Scale-up' to Turn Startups and Venture Companies into Unicorns"

Seok Jong-hoon, Partner at FuturePlay. Photo by Jin-geun Yoon, PD

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Seok Jonghoon, partner at FuturePlay, identified regulatory improvements across various social sectors as a key policy change needed to spread the second venture boom. He emphasized, "Regulations in diverse fields such as finance, healthcare, transportation, and education are hindering the growth of startups," adding, "This issue must be resolved through the active operation of sandbox and regulatory free zone systems."

Above all, he stressed that startup venture investment should be revitalized in the private sector rather than by the government. Partner Seok stated, "After the first venture boom in the late 1990s, the venture industry experienced a slump, but investments by accelerators and venture capitalists (VCs) who discovered and nurtured first-generation venture entrepreneurs like Lee Haejin and Kim Taekjin firmly supported the startup ecosystem, leading to today's achievements." He explained that "while supporting and activating startups was important until now, the current era focuses more on scaling up startups and growing these companies into unicorns."

Partner Seok served as the Presidential Secretary for Small and Medium Venture Businesses at the Blue House until early this year and previously gained entrepreneurial experience in Silicon Valley, USA, and at Daum Communications.

Having experienced both the public and private sectors and joining FuturePlay, an accelerator, to return to the startup ecosystem, he said, "Alongside private sector efforts, public sector support led by the government must be strengthened. In particular, the government’s active role is required to enlarge venture funds and improve listing systems to accommodate companies like Coupang on the domestic stock market." He added, "It is also necessary for the government to efficiently address areas where private early-stage investment is weak."

Additionally, Partner Seok pointed out talent development as the most urgent issue in the current venture industry. He diagnosed, "Companies seek employees with 2-3 years of experience, but with a flood of new university graduates, resolving the talent mismatch is urgent." He further noted, "To nurture development talent, it is necessary to significantly adjust university department quotas and to allow freer inflows of overseas talent and capital."

Partner Seok stated, "While it is commonly thought that startups rapidly grow through the role of VCs, mature companies beyond a certain stage require multifaceted support beyond simple investment, including guidance on growth direction and corporate spirit." He concluded, "As government support and investment scale for startups have significantly increased compared to 10 years ago, our goal now is to consider what support accelerators can provide to startups entering the growth stage and to discover new areas."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.