Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley Sungmoon Cho, Product Manager at Sun Microsystems Personal Background Electrical Engineering at SNU Gamevil MBA at UCLA Anderson Sun Microsystems Four Factors of Entrepreneurship People (Smart, Motivated, Risk-taking) Top Engineering Schools: Stanford University, Berkeley University, UCLA, UCSD, Cal-Tech, Cal-Poly Majority of those pursuing advanced degree at Stanford are from China, India, Korea, and eastern Europe As shown in TechCrunch50 (http://www.techcrunch50.com), a lot of entrepreneurs are actually from outside of the U.S. Engineers at top technology companies in Silicon Valley - Google, Apple – are mostly from other countries Culture [1] (Engineers thrive) Engineers are valued United States favor engineers – OPT (Optional Practical Training), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Privilege Engineers are well-off. An well-educated engineer of 5 years of experience (senior software engineer) would earn…* $177,878 at Google, Inc. $137,263 at Yahoo, Inc. $100,000 at Apple, Inc. $106,228 at Cisco $115,670 at Microsoft Culture [2] Eric Schmitz (CEO of Google, Inc.) said at I/O conference, “You came here to talk about, which I liked the most, programming. It is time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity ahead.” It is not a shame to fail. (A friend of mine from business school…) Entrepreneurship is ingrained in the society System Business Schools for Entrepreneurship UCLA Anderson - Knapp Competition UC Berkeley Haas – Business Plan Competition Stanford GSB & Stanford Entrepreneurship Network Conferences for Entrepreneurs TechCrunch50 School – Industry The professors of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in Stanford University have their own companies, or sponsor entrepreneurs. Mendel Rosenblum founded VMWare ($15.85B) HP Story “My professor also is preparing to start a company during his sabbatical.” – Ji Young Park, Ph.D. candidate at Stanford EE Money (Plentiful and circulating) Plentiful $10B venture investment in North California in 2007* (compared to 0.8B in Korea in 2007**) Circulate Housing price are expensive here, too ($1M~$10M in Palo Alto) However, there is plenty of money to be invested in the companies. (Retired people actively invest) Once the company goes IPO or is sold, a big amount of money circulates back to the investment. High liquidity (IPO is not the only exit strategy) Market Cap. – Silicon Valley vs. Korea* Silicon Valley Premium? Jamdat Mobile Founded in 2000 In 2005, the revenue was $30M, net income was $4.6M, and the number of employees was 350. Acquired by EA Mobile at $680 million in 2005 Gamevil Founded in 2000 In 2008, the revenue was $13M, and net income was 5.2M, and the number of employee was 120. Listed on KOSDAQ, and the market cap is $75M Case Study (Korea): Gamevil Founded by Byungjoon Song (25), along with people from Seoul National University Angel investments from the students and professors of SNU Got two rounds of institution investments from Hyundai and Samsung securities in 2000, 2001 ($1.1M in total. Valuation: $) Declared itself as a ‘mobile game company’ Listed on KOSDAQ in August, 2008 Case Study (U.S.): Viikii.net Founded by Jiwon Moon (Harvard MS), Changseong Ho (Stanford MBA) in 2007 1 engineer in Korea, 1 engineer in the U.S. Secured investments from friends and venture capital Monthly Unique Visitors reached 1.8M Conclusion

1. Sungmoon Cho, Product Manager at Sun Microsystems

2.  Electrical Engineering at SNU
 Gamevil
 MBA at UCLA Anderson
 Sun Microsystems

3. People
Culture
System
Money

4.  Top Engineering Schools: Stanford University,
Berkeley University, UCLA, UCSD, Cal-Tech, Cal-Poly
 Majority of those pursuing advanced degree at Stanfor
d are from China, India, Korea, and eastern Europe
 As shown in TechCrunch50
(http://www.techcrunch50.com), a lot of
entrepreneurs are actually from outside of the U.S.
 Engineers at top technology companies in Silicon
Valley - Google, Apple – are mostly from other
countries People
Cul
ture
System
Mo
ney

5.  Engineers are valued
 United States favor engineers – OPT (Optional Practical
Training), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics) Privilege
 Engineers are well-off. An well-educated engineer of 5
years of experience (senior software engineer) would
earn…*
 $177,878 at Google, Inc.
 $137,263 at Yahoo, Inc.
 $100,000 at Apple, Inc.
 $106,228 at Cisco
 $115,670 at Microsoft
* Source: glassdoor.com
People
Cul
ture
System
Mo
ney

6.  Eric Schmitz (CEO of Google, Inc.) said at I/O
conference, “You came here to talk about, which I liked
the most, programming. It is time for us to take
advantage of the amazing opportunity ahead.”
 It is not a shame to fail. (A friend of mine from
business school…)
 Entrepreneurship is ingrained in the society
People
Cul
ture
System
Mo
ney

7.  Business Schools for Entrepreneurship
 UCLA Anderson - Knapp Competition
 UC Berkeley Haas – Business Plan Competition
 Stanford GSB & Stanford Entrepreneurship Network
 Conferences for Entrepreneurs
 TechCrunch50
 School – Industry
 The professors of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science in Stanford University have their own companies, or
sponsor entrepreneurs.
 Mendel Rosenblum founded VMWare ($15.85B)
 HP Story
 “My professor also is preparing to start a company during his
sabbatical.” – Ji Young Park, Ph.D. candidate at Stanford EE
People
Cul
ture
System
Mo
ney

8.  Plentiful
 $10B venture investment in North California in 2007*
(compared to 0.8B in Korea in 2007**)
 Circulate
 Housing price are expensive here, too ($1M~$10M in Palo
Alto)
 However, there is plenty of money to be invested in the
companies. (Retired people actively invest)
 Once the company goes IPO or is sold, a big amount of
money circulates back to the investment.
 High liquidity (IPO is not the only exit strategy)
* Dow Jones (http://www.fis.dowjones.com/products/venturesource.html)
** Korea Venture Capital Association (http://www.kvca.or.kr/)
People
Cul
ture
System
Mo
ney

9. $0.00
$20.00
$40.00
$60.00
$80.00
$100.00
$120.00
$140.00
$160.00
$180.00
Google Apple HP Adobe VMWare Intuit Salesforce Samsung
E.
NHN NCSoft Neowiz Daum SK
Comms
Source: Google Finance (www.google.com/finance), Naver Stock (stock.naver.com)
Google $151.18
Apple $156.91
HP $108.22
Adobe $18.70
VMWare $15.85
Intuit $9
Salesforce $7.03
Samsung Elec $97.5
NHN $6.60
NCSoft $2.70
Neowiz $0.70
Daum $0.55
SK Comms $0.33

10. Jamdat Mobile
 Founded in 2000
 In 2005, the revenue was
$30M, net income was
$4.6M, and the number
of employees was 350.
 Acquired by EA Mobile
at $680 million in 2005
 Founded in 2000
 In 2008, the revenue was
$13M, and net income
was 5.2M, and the
number of employee was
120.
 Listed on KOSDAQ, and
the market cap is $75M
Gamevil

11.  Founded by Byungjoon Song (25), along with people
from Seoul National University
 Angel investments from the students and professors of
SNU
 Got two rounds of institution investments from
Hyundai and Samsung securities in 2000, 2001 ($1.1M
in total. Valuation: $)
 Declared itself as a ‘mobile game company’
 Listed on KOSDAQ in August, 2008

12.  Founded by Jiwon Moon (Harvard MS), Changseong
Ho (Stanford MBA) in 2007
 1 engineer in Korea, 1 engineer in the U.S.
 Secured investments from friends and venture capital
 Monthly Unique Visitors reached 1.8M
-
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1,800,000
2,000,000
Monthly Unique Visitors

13. Silicon Valley
offers perfect
place for those
who aspire to be
entrepreneurs.
Innovations
happening
every day