After leaving Maryland, I flew out to Palo Alto, California. I had five meetings over a four day period with four venture capital companies and one angel investor.
My objective for the meetings was introducing the companies in our portfolio and learning more about the venture capital scene in Silicon Valley. Two of the companies (Vanilla Breeze [바닐라브리즈-game and entertainment apps] and Apex CNS [아펙스씨앤에스-cloud based web-OS]) were in Silicon Valley at the time, so I set up meetings with them and some of the venture capital companies. The other companies I was introducing included Add2Paper (애드투페이퍼-print based advertising platform), Logicplant (로직플랜트-cloud SaaS mobile service), Studio Gale (스튜디오게일-animation production studio), Whois Holdings (후이즈홀딩스-total web solutions: domain, mail, etc), and Urunai (유런아이-facial recognition software).
My first meeting was with Dr. Moon Kim of Harbor Pacific on Monday, November 7th. Dr. Kim worked at IBM for 28 years, and is an IT expert. For Dr. Kim, two of the most important parts to investing in the company are the team and the number of technology patents. He mentioned that VC companies almost never invest alone; if they like a company, they will bring the members to present at other companies. Dr. Kim also said that Korean companies tend to be very stubborn, and resistant to adapting. This tends to be a problem when marketing themselves in America. Also, Korean companies tend to have messy bookkeeping compared with American companies; this is something that needs to be fixed. Dr. Kim said he would make himself available to give a seminar on
How to Raise VC in the USA at the Magellan/Venture Port office, and was interested in learning more about some of the companies in Magellan's portfolio.
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| Harbor Pacific Office in Palo Alto |
My next meeting was with Mr. Tae Hea Nahm of Storm Ventures, on Tuesday, November 8th. Mr. Nahm focuses on investing in mobile and software as a service companies. He is also a corporate strategy advisor to KT in Korea. Mr. Nahm mentions space as a key component in his investment decisions: i.e., how close is the company to him or Storm Ventures. Is the company close to one of Storm's portfolio companies or were they introduced by someone who has a good relationship with Storm? Do the company founders have readily available information about themselves somewhere? These are important questions when dealing with Storm Ventures/Mr. Nahm. Mr. Nahm was interested in meeting with Vanilla Breeze and Apex CNS.
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| Storm Ventures Office in Menlo Park |
On Wednesday, November 9th, I met with Jay Eum of Translink Capital. Mr. Eum was the head of Samsung Ventures America, and he is responsibly for a number of Translink's investments. Mr. Eum mentioned that very few venture companies in Silicon Valley actively invest in Korean companies. He mentioned how difficult it is for many Korean startups seeking U.S. investment: often times, they will spend too much money and accomplish nothing in Silicon Valley. He stressed caution before entering the U.S. market for Korean companies. Translink is an expansion stage venture company. Mr. Eum was interested in meeting with Vanilla Breeze, Apex CNS, and Logicplant, and possibly visiting the Magellan/Venture Port office in Korea.
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| Translink Capital Office in Palo Alto |
On Thursday, November 10th, I had two meetings. The first was with Mr. Young Song of Booga Ventures. Mr. Song is the CEO and founder of Booga Ventures, a 'super angel' investing company. As an angel investing company, Booga Ventures invests for 5% share: any more, Mr. Song says, and they become too hands on in the day to day affairs of their portfolio companies. Mr. Song had great advice on how to act as a go-between for businesses in the U.S. and Korea.
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| Booga Ventures Company Logo |
My last meeting was with Perry Ha of DFJ Athena. Mr. Ha has been an active investor since 1998, and has served as interim CEO at two different companies. During the meeting, he mentioned that Korean companies have trouble marketing themselves well. This starts at the presentation level (they provide too much unimportant information on the slides) and goes all the way through to other aspects, such as how they carry a conversation. Mr. Ha says that companies have to remember they are marketing themselves the whole time they meet with someone; they have about 30 minutes to create a lasting relationship. Mr. Ha was interested in meeting with Apex CNS, and possibly visiting the Magellan/Venture Port office in Korea.
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| DFJ Athena Office in Menlo Park |
Overall, I had a great trip and learned so much more about the venture capital community in Silicon Valley. Some other notable places I visited during my stay include:
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| Apple Headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino |
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| Stanford Graduate School of Business |
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| Google Headquarters in Mountain View |
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| Paris Baquette in Palo Alto |
