Techstars’ Korea accelerator program starts application process; Eunse Lee joins as Managing Director

Techstars’ first-ever accelerator program in Korea gets BEYOND STARTUP’s Eunse Lee on board as the Managing Director as the application process begins. Techstars Korea Accelerator, which is in partnership with Hillstone Partners, is focused on supporting and nourishing the local startup ecosystem in Pangyo, S. Korea.

Eunse Lee is an enterprising person with a significant interest in empowering extraordinary startup founders to achieve their dreams. He has headed BEYOND STARTUP since 2018- an incubator sponsored by Seoul Business Agency (SBA) in Seoul Startup Hub as Managing Director and worked with very early-stage companies in their 0 to 1. Before BEYOND STARTUP, Lee spent nearly three years in Los Angeles serving as a Founding Managing Partner at ELEVEN:ZULU Capital.

Eunse Lee has been a three-time founder and has successfully run his businesses. With the Techstars program, Lee wants to share his knowledge with other entrepreneurs as they pursue their mission to create new and influential solutions.

Before becoming an investor, Eunse was a strategy and management consultant and was recognized for the proprietary business strategy framework called the Fan-oriented Strategy. “In the creation of my first venture – EICG, a boutique strategy and consultancy agency – we developed a strategic framework called the ‘Fan-Oriented Strategy’ that elaborates on how a company can win a market over competitors with superior capabilities. This venture was the beginning of my love of being a founder,” Lee said. As a consultant, Eunse led multiple domestic and cross-border projects in the industries such as ICT, Service, Automotive and FMCG. He also served as an advisor to several Korean government agencies. Specialties: Management, Strategy, Investment, Venture Capital, Management Excellence, Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Finance. He also taught business strategy and entrepreneurship at Yonsei University and Yonsei School of Business Global MBA in Seoul, Korea.

“Applying my expertise in growing successful businesses, both through EICG and as a venture capitalist, I am confident that the first class of Techstars Korea will have the right tools to create cutting-edge and innovative solutions,” Lee said.

Techstars Korea accelerator program is open to startups in any tech vertical and the application process starts in December 2019. As per Lee, his primary interest for startups will be for three categories during the application process (though it is not necessarily required):

● Enterprise Tech: The tech companies that’s into I’m in enterprise software because of its global scale. There’s no such thing as Korean-only enterprise software yet and if a startup can create the right solution, it has the potential for mass adoption.

● Human-Device Interaction: Companies that are focused on human-device interfaces as tech solutions.

● Lifestyle Tech: Companies that have a vision for changing the way humans perform daily life tasks. This is a very broad category and can fall in many tech verticals. The key aspect is that technology changes the way things have historically been accomplished.

As per Lee, the other factors which will contribute to the accelerator program’s success are the fact that the Korean startup ecosystem is firmly supported by the Government of Korea, a major benefit as they provide investment and resources to founders building solutions within the country. Korea also has a large pool of talent that is expanding, as well as a culture that has moved on from valuing working for large institutions, now wanting to work for the “next Google” or create the next big tech company.

The accelerator program will be hosted at the Pangyo Techno Valley campus (PTV), a business and innovation hub, known locally as the Silicon Valley of Korea. Techstars Korea is accepting applications through March 1st, and the program will run June 2020 through September 2020. Please visit the Techstars Korea program page to learn more and apply.

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