Everyone's Startup Metropolitan Area Meeting: "Mentor Matching Must Be Tailored to Prospective Entrepreneurs' Needs"

MSIT Holds Roundtable with Operators, Mentors, and First-Round Selectees
Wide Gap in Successful Applicants’ Capabilities Increases Mentoring Difficulty
Suggestions Raised for Support Measures for First-Round Dropouts
Selectees Request Additional "Expert Consulting" Support

"We should avoid abrupt supplier-centric matching and instead establish timelines and processes that allow for more sophisticated matching tailored to the needs of prospective entrepreneurs." (Lee Younggeun, CEO of Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center)

"Since 90% of applicants are eliminated in the first round, follow-up support is also needed." (Kim Haneul, Deputy CEO of iStartupLab)

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups held an on-site meeting on the 15th at the Seoul Creative Economy and Innovation Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul with operators and mentoring institutions of Everyone's Startup Metropolitan Area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Gangwon) and the first-round selected candidates. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The incubators participating in the first cohort of Everyone's Startup emphasized the need to strengthen basic training and provide tailored mentor matching, given the diverse backgrounds and skill levels of those who passed. There were also suggestions to offer regional first-round dropouts another opportunity to try again.

On July 15, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held an on-site meeting at the Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, with the operators and mentors of Everyone's Startup Metropolitan Area program (covering Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, and Gangwon) and the first-round selectees.

The ministry is conducting a nationwide series of on-site meetings to review program implementation and hear about the challenges faced by successful applicants. The Everyone's Startup program plans to select the final winner by the end of the year through regional and nationwide auditions among the first-round qualifiers.

Noh Yongseok, First Vice Minister and Acting Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Everyone's Startup is a core policy to revitalize the startup ecosystem by supporting the challenges of prospective entrepreneurs. We will reflect any areas for improvement in the program operations. Your close support is crucial for aspiring entrepreneurs to refine their ideas and turn them into competitive startups."

As Everyone's Startup is a program focused on nurturing prospective entrepreneurs based on their ideas, incubator organizations agreed that there are significant differences in capabilities among the selectees. Suggestions were made to set up preparatory training programs for entrepreneurs to acquire necessary fundamental skills.

Particularly in the local track, the wide gap in applicants' abilities has made mentoring more challenging, and there were concerns about difficulties in matching mentors to the specific business fields prospective entrepreneurs are preparing for.

Lee Younggeun, CEO of Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center, said, "During mentoring, we often find deficiencies in writing business plans, investor relations (IR) presentations, and pitching skills, so we have implemented step-by-step training such as basic IR education. For the local track, I believe lead organizations should develop preparatory training programs. It's our role to help bridge the capability gap on the ground, but it would be better if detailed matching with senior mentors was based on applicants' needs assessments."

Oh Junghee, CEO of Local Delight and a participating mentor, said, "Because mentees have such varying abilities, sometimes we have to commit more time than originally planned. This may raise fairness concerns for participants and makes it difficult to keep mentoring at a consistent level. Since it's hard to assess expertise from the application alone, it would be helpful to include sections to evaluate technical skills and capabilities during the application process."

On the 15th, at the Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Noh Yongseok, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is giving a greeting speech at the on-site meeting for the first round selectees of the 'Startup Hub for All in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Gangwon) operation and mentoring institutions.' Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The incubators also noted that the evaluation process places more emphasis on the potential for commercialization than the novelty of the idea. They explained that, in order to nurture prospective entrepreneurs and enable them to advance to the next round, it is difficult to overlook commercial viability. There were calls for a separate track for aspiring entrepreneurs with no previous startup experience.

CNT Tech, which manages the technology track, is implementing a six-stage mentoring process: idea diagnosis, business model refinement, business plan development, final review, and also MVP (minimum viable product) validation and practical mentoring. Jeon Hwaseong, CEO of CNT Tech, said, "Whether an MVP is feasible was a key criterion in selection. Since it is hard to complete verification in a short period, we guide our mentoring to include hypothesis validation. Even though time is tight, we believe each incubator should establish its own standards, and our standard is hypothesis validation."

A representative from Inha University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation said, "Because the process is tournament-style, we inevitably select companies that appear commercially viable, partly because we want our incubated startups to move to the next round. Since students often lack experience, we are considering separate tracks for undergraduate students or more systematic education options for prospective entrepreneurs with promising ideas."

Kang Hyunjung, Youth Policy Director at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, explained, "Incubators have been requesting evaluation guidelines and indicators, but I believe each organization should set its own criteria for what areas to focus on and nurture their mentees. Because the project's intent is for not just the challengers but also the mentors and operators to be evaluated and grow together, we've designed the system to grant as much autonomy as possible. For the second cohort, we will supplement any deficiencies as we launch."

There were also proposals to grant opportunities for second attempts to prospective entrepreneurs who are eliminated in the regional rounds, even if they have novel ideas. Kim Haneul, Deputy CEO of iStartupLab, said, "Since idea evaluation is often based on a handful of business plans, it can be disappointing for those who are truly dedicated. I believe there is a need to provide business support and create a re-challenge track for the 90% who are eliminated."

Song Hogeun, head of Seongnam Industrial Promotion Agency, commented, "Because the number of available spots is limited, some strong candidates narrowly miss out. There have even been complaints that mentors were less knowledgeable than the applicants they eliminated. It would be helpful to maintain a pool of alternates at 1.5 times the capacity, or to create a separate track for second-chance opportunities in the second cohort or later rounds." The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to support first-round dropouts by offering senior entrepreneurs' lectures and community activities to encourage new attempts at founding startups.

The first-round qualifiers attending the meeting suggested that, beyond mentoring, they would benefit from additional expert consulting support as they further develop their ideas. Prospective entrepreneur Park Hokyun said, "In the local track, it would be very helpful if expert consulting could be available for brand planning, surveys, and prototype preparation." Hong Junmo added, "If channels existed to receive feedback from expert groups in the intended field or core customer segments, aside from just the evaluation panel and center, that would also facilitate focused development and improve ideas."

Meanwhile, at the same meeting, Vice Minister Noh offered another public apology for the recent incidents involving leaks of Everyone’s Startup applicants’ personal information and ideas. Noh said, "To strengthen idea protection for first-round qualifiers, idea consulting is underway in 17 provinces and cities. To address legal and technical challenges during commercialization, we are providing 1:1 tailored consultations with intellectual property experts. I offer my sincere apologies again for the concerns and inconvenience caused by personal data breaches and idea leaks; we will continue to monitor operations and make improvements wherever necessary."

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