The document summarizes notes from meetings with five Silicon Valley venture capitalists on issues Korean startup companies should consider when seeking investment. Key points included: having a concise executive summary and credible presentation; ensuring strong intellectual property protection and openness to change; developing valuable connections; clearly demonstrating the problem being solved and product-market fit through a video. Investors want to easily understand what makes a company distinctive and worth their limited time and attention.

1. Ryan Huddleston (Analyst)
February 23rd, 2012
Mentor’s Capital
Seoul, Republic of Korea
A Tale of Five Investors
After meeting personally with five Silicon Valley based venture capitalists, I took notes
on some key issues startup companies, and especially Korean startup companies, need
to be aware of before seeking investment. I have compiled the most important
information from each investor below:
Moon Kim (Harbor Pacific Capital)
1) VC’s want to see executive summary, presentation, charts and numbers, etc…
2) Team-the people running the company
IP (Patents)- US patents are important (Korean patents are too lose) because
if the company fails, the investors can keep the patents (very, very
important)
3) You just get one chance; you have to be credible; if you’re not credible, you will
die in this industry (be honest)
4) The problem with Korean companies is that many times their record keeping is
very messy compared with U.S. companies
-Korean companies need to fix their books (accounting), make sure
everything is very neat and easily presentable
5) Korean companies tend to be very stubborn, they don’t want to change (they
have to be open to change)-unlike Chinese, Japanese companies who will change
6)Connections in Silicon Valley are very important; you have to have someone in
your company who is reputable or known, or know somebody who has these
qualities and use them for connections, find an advisor, someone you can use
7) Silicon Valley investors never invest alone; if they like you, they will take you to
their friend’s offices and try to get them to invest in you also-you must be ready to
present to several different companies
8) Talking to portfolio companies these firms have invested in is very important;
they almost always listen to their portfolio companies
Tae HeaNahm (Storm Ventures)
1) -What is Space?

2. He is interested in Space-how close entrepreneurs are to him, if someone he knows
introduces entrepreneurs (what is their relationship to Tae Hea or Storm Ventures)
OR
If their companies are close to Storm Venture’s portfolio companies, if their
portfolio companies are interested in them
Synergy with Storm Ventures portfolio or KT
2) They have a filter-this idea of space is their filter.
Due diligence-My time-investment stage (If a portfolio company or a relation to Tae
Hea knows the startup company, it means it is easier to do due diligence on the
company)
Space-------> IT (very broad)
3) Wants to do due diligence on the people he meets, can do that through LinkedIn.
-Wants to find a mutual link (LinkedIn, other VC, etc). People can easily find
information out about him, people know about him before a meeting, he
wants to know about people, he wants to be able to find their information
easily.
Jay Eum (Translink Capital)
1) Angry, many companies come from Korea, and organizations give them tours, but
almost all investing companies don’t invest in them
-There are only a few companies in Silicon Valley that have a history of
investing in Korean companies
2) Korean companies come over here, hire marketing people, schedule meetings,
and work very hard, but they don’t seem to get anything out of it, they are not
successful
-He says Korean companies have to be very cautious when entering the U.S.
3)Companies that have Korean Americans or Americans coming from Korea have a
better chance to succeed, because they are more cautious and prepared. Companies
must be prepared and understand the market they are trying to enter.
Perry Ha (DFJ Athena)
1) Koreans provide too much information during their presentations; too much

3. information on the presentation slides
2) The biggest thing is marketing; they are marketing themselves every second of
their meeting, they have to understand VCs are not interested in reading about their
company history or company timeline.
3) They only have about 30 minutes to make a successful relationship; they have
about 30 minutes to get another meeting with the investor.
David Lee (XG Ventures)
1) Sees so many ideas and startup business plans and presentations every single
day; how can your presentation be different?
2) Don’t worry as much about the market and how much money you’re going to
make in the future, just create something cool, something interesting
-People can look at and say ‘wow, huh, this is interesting’
3) A lot of times, companies will just send a video of someone using their product, or
an introduction video to investors.
-Don’t need to go in there with a huge presentation and business plan, just
get them a video of someone using their product/service.