Sales & Distribution lessons at the 2021 SGSC Global Bootcamp for Korean startups

Korean startups that are participating in the Seoul Global Startup Center (SGSC) learned importance of sales & distribution strategies to enable global expansion on third day of the program. Seoul Global Startup Centre (SGSC) ‘Global Bootcamp’ 2021 started on June 7th, with seven Korean startups participating to explore opportunities in the international market.

SGSC 2021 Global Bootcamp has been organized to help enterprising Korean startups connect with accelerators, mentors, businesses, etc., for consultation regarding venturing to the overseas market. The program, which is being held virtually this year, has been scheduled for six days, spread over two weeks from June 7th to June 18th.

Day 3 about making the sales channel work correctly

The seven startups participating in the Bootcamp this year have been divided into two groups – three being for USA market expansion and four being in for South East Asia (SEA) market expansion. Day one of the 2021 SGSC Global Bootcamp was about building communities; day two, held on June 9th, focussed on branding and marketing and day three on June 11^th was about sales and distribution.

The first session focusing on the USA market expansion was led by Vinnie Lauria, Managing Partner at Golden Gate Ventures. Vinnie explored a lot of topics under sales that included pitching, team building, incentives, sales follow-up, KPIs, leverage sales tools, etc. Vinnie emphasized about importance of getting into a new market and understanding the difference in the sales culture. The startup founders interacted with Vinnie about methods to increase sales that work for their verticals. The startup founders that participated in the USA round were Steve Yang, CEO & founder of Apollo EduTech, Rachel Chung, CEO & founder of BeAptive; and Amy Chu, CEO & Creative Director of Kaesa,.

The second session was led by David Kim, Partnerships Manager for Mobility and IoT program at Plug and Play Tech Centre, USA. David had analysed each startup’s needs and answered questions regarding sales strategies and global expansion. There were discussions about B2B approach, unicorns, successful startups like DropBox & Riiid, technology innovators, AI in sales, etc. David also offered the startups to get them connected to some relevant companies and startups in South Korea and outside. The day three session had warmed up the startup founders and mentors enough to have in-depth discussions regarding various subjects.

The SEA Market session started with Amit Sharma, founder and Mentor partner at an early stage investment company XL ventures. Amit showed some interesting video ad clips and discussed the importance of knowing the end-consumer. He discussed the sales channel significance as he gave example of how even in times of pandemic restrictions companies are ensuring safe and secure deliveries of sales. Amit also covered the subject of viral coefficient in sales. The day three ended with SEA Market session talk from Victor Chua, Founding & Managing Partner of Vynn Capital, a Southeast Asia VC firm. Victor talked about sales in brief and gave feedback to startups regarding their sales & distribution strategies. The SEA market session had Chloe Eu, CEO of StyleupK, Cyrus Chow, CEO & co-founder oneCharge, Kyung Dong Kyle Kim, co-founder of Wcoding, and Seungwoo Huh, CEO and founder of SD Networks as participants.

Established in 2016 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Global Startup Center is jointly operated by startup accelerator N15 and WeWorkLabs Korea. Based in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, the organization offers various kinds of supports for global startups ranging from office spaces and funding vouchers to mentoring services. Seoul GSC is established to serve as the foreigner-friendly startup hub to ease the challenges foreign entrepreneurs face as they start and run their businesses in Korea.

The SGSC 2021 ‘Global Bootcamp’ sessions are scheduled in two weeks, from June 7th to June 18th. Follow SGSC at https://seoulgsc.com/ about different startup programs.

beSuccess Media group, a leading global startup media company in South Korea, designed the accelerator program in partnership with SGSC. KoreaTechDesk will be bringing you details of each session of the 2021 SGSC Global Boot Camp.

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