Korean startups finally get all the limelight at beGLOBAL event in Silicon Valley

This past Friday, Korean startup blog beSUCCESS inaugurated its first beGLOBAL conference in Silicon Valley, bringing Korean startups together with globally-minded investors, incubators, and seasoned entrepreneurs.

For an overview of the event, I talked with John Nahm, a co-host of beGLOBAL and a founding partner at Strong Ventures. Nahm’s firm initially funded beSUCCESS and its series of startup conferences, starting with beLAUNCH in Seoul’s Gangnam district and Friday’s beGLOBAL conference in the US.

“Korean startups don’t have clout in Silicon Valley, so we wanted to create a high quality event with a top-notch group of startups and speakers,” Nahm said. “We’ve not yet arrived like the Israeli startups have in the Valley, since we don’t have a proven track record.”

A South Korean government agency, KOCCA, recently selected a group of startups to debut in the Valley (at last week’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference), but Nahm had some strong criticisms of the Korean government’s startup selection process.

The Korean government has been very involved with bringing startups to the Valley, but the selection process has been mediocre at best. The founders don’t speak English well and they’re fumbling pitches; it’s an embarrassment and it gives the wrong impression of Korean startups – that they don’t know how to pitch.

Although beGLOBAL does count several Korean government agencies among its sponsors, it was an independent undertaking, “with its own quality control,” Nahm said.

The challenge of localization

Throughout the event, there was a mix of panel discussions, fireside chats, and pitches before notable Valley luminaries, such as Christine Tsai from 500 Startups, and all three generations of the Draper family of VCs. The eldest of the three, Bill Draper, was a Korean War veteran who sparked his family’s interest in what his son, Tim, called the “most advanced country in the world.”

Tsai, however, largely echoed Nahm’s sentiments on Korean startups going global. She explained:

Every single one of the startup teams I met in Korea wanted to be global, but they didn’t know what that meant. With incomplete or nonexistent localization, their products still looked very Korean.

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