Current and former chairs of the Korea Startup Forum gathered to mark the group's 10th anniversary and agreed that "we are still talking about regulation, even after 10 years." What startups need is not protection but a level playing field, they said, calling for regulatory reform while also urging founders to examine what they have given back to society.
The forum held a press conference on the 9th at TIPS Town in Seoul's Gangnam district. Launched on September 26, 2016, the group is a startup association that operates independently on corporate sponsorship rather than under any government ministry. Its main activities include proposing startup policy, pressing for looser rules on early-stage companies, arranging exchanges among member firms and connecting them to overseas business. Membership has grown from about 50 at the founding to more than 3,000 this year, including 17 unicorns.
The event featured a special panel with past and present chairs, including current Chairman Kim Jae-won, chief executive of Elice Group. Also joining were Kim Bong-jin, founder of Woowa Brothers and now chief executive of Grande Clip, who served as the first chair; Park Jae-wook, chief executive of Socar and third chair; and Han Sang-woo, chief executive of Wizdome and fourth chair.
All four said a fair competitive environment must come first if the country wants more innovative companies. "Startups don't simply want to be looked after — they want to win in the market," Han said. "The problem is that the market itself often isn't free and isn't fair."
Their leading example was the so-called Tada case, which effectively shut down a rental-car-based ride-hailing service. "The Tada case left everyone in the industry frustrated," Kim Bong-jin said. "We created the forum because of regulatory problems, and the reality is that 10 years later we are still talking about regulatory problems."
Park, who was directly involved in the Tada case, said social conflict surrounding startups should not be read only as a confrontation. "At the time, we were pressed for time and there wasn't enough dialogue to reach a social consensus," he said. "Similar cases will keep coming, and I hope our society, including the media, will think about finding better options for the future and about how to remedy the damage that arises from conflict."
There was also blunt criticism that founders themselves need to do more to raise the standing of startups. "Founders also need to look back on why our society still does not respect founders," Chairman Kim Jae-won said. "We should reflect on how much we have contributed to society." Park said the voices of startups will be reflected in government policy only when new startup businesses can show they benefit the market and win broad support for that case.
After the panel, Chairman Kim Jae-won unveiled five values as markers for the forum's next decade: challenge, innovation, growth, openness and responsibility. "If the Korea Startup Forum spent the past 10 years demanding change in Korea, over the next 10 years we will point to the direction of that change," he said. "We will share the achievements of startups with society so that corporate growth leads to new industries and jobs." He added that the forum aims to become "the leading private think tank on startup policy, proposing Korea's next growth strategy rather than remaining a community of entrepreneurs."
