There was a recruitment notice for trainees for the 2024 INU Startup Academy in preparation for the Preliminary Startup Package.
I found out about the training for January 25-26, 2024 while browsing K-STARTUP. I applied together with a younger friend named Choi Ijae, whom I got to know through 42 Seoul.
They asked us to submit a summary version of the business plan, a copy of an ID, and a business registration certificate, so I wrote everything up and submitted it before the deadline... but I got rejected. At the time, neither of us was selected, but Ijae and I encouraged each other and kept preparing for the Preliminary Startup Package.
Looking back now, I do wish I hadn't been eliminated in the first round of startup training, because then I could have applied what I learned here before submitting to the Startup-Centered University program and written it better.. 🥲
Of course, the INU side also said they had more applicants than expected, but whatever the selection process was, I wasn't chosen. Fortunately, because there were so many applicants, they sent a text saying they were recruiting a second round from among the first-round rejections. I replied quickly and shared that with Ijae too. This time we got lucky, and both of us were selected for the second round, so we attended the training on February 1-2, 2024.
To arrive on time for the start of the training, I had to get there by 12:40 PM on February 1. I took the M6405 and went to the Sheraton Grand Incheon Hotel. I got off at Songdo 1-dong Administrative Welfare Center and walked for about 10 minutes. My stomach started hurting while I was walking, so that was rough.
(A crosswalk I saw in Songdo while walking)
I was really impressed that it even showed the amount of time when you can't cross. It seems like Seoul needs this too, so why have I never seen one before?
And of all days, the deadline for the Startup-Centered University Preliminary Startup Package was 4 PM that same day, so I kept trying to finish it up and left after sleeping only two hours. I wasn't in great condition. I was organizing my business plan on the bus on the way there so I could submit it, but using my laptop on the bus made me feel nauseous, so I kept stopping and starting.
After I finally arrived, I sat down and worked a little more, then submitted the Preliminary Startup Package application (Startup-Centered University) at 1:05 PM.
I also found out this time that team members need to sign up for K-STARTUP too so they can be added.
After breathing a sigh of relief and listening through the startup training, I realized there were a lot of things I had misunderstood in the business plan I submitted. Before writing the business plan, there were many things I only vaguely knew, hadn't thought through concretely, or had only imagined, and those parts felt overwhelming. The lectures showed me how to work through those issues.
I'd love to share everything I wrote in my notes, but I don't want it to affect the startup education program, so I'll only share part of it.
Some of the points I summarized
- If I can't define myself, someone else will define me. - Machiavelli -
- A business model is, literally, a model of how a business works. So what evidence is there that this actually works?
- A business model is about building a delivery method that makes it easy for customers to spend money.
- Competitors are the services within SOM.
- In a business plan, the prototype is the most important part.
After the training, there was a special lecture by Dr. Jang Jiho at a social venture preliminary startup company briefing session. The content wasn't very different from what I had seen here, so I'll share the link! It will be really helpful.
2024 Preliminary Startup Package Specialized Field (Social Venture) Project Briefing Session
I wanted to build 이때, so I wanted to apply for the Preliminary Startup Package and even applied for this training, and I got a lot out of it. Some training programs honestly feel like a waste of time and spend a lot of time talking about things that don't match the topic, but this one was good almost all the way through.
If you're thinking about applying for the Preliminary Startup Package, make sure to take INU startup training when you get the chance 🔥
It cleared up a lot of the things that felt overwhelming when I was preparing for the Startup-Centered University Preliminary Startup Package, and it really helped a lot!
Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.
— Jack Buck
