Growing startups in Asia, winning locally and scaling beyond the region. We take a look at how South Korean startups disrupt the incumbents in Asia and what kind of strategies they take to scale beyond their local market.

1. GROWING IN ASIA
How to survive local disruption while going global
Alex Barrera
alex@thealeph.com

2. HELLO MY NAME IS...

3. My Blended Experience

4. FACE TO FACE
FORUMS (WhatsApp)
WOW Room

5. Growing in Asia Group
http://bit.ly/GrowingInAsia

6. Entrepreneurial Region by nature

7. Historically entrepreneurial

8. Later Silla sea dominion
Trade Control

9. China Silk Road control
Trade Control

10. Despite Europe… Asia trade was central

11. Gunpowder

12. Compass

16. First Movable Type

17. Horticulture & use of grafts

18. Horticulture & use of grafts

19. Taoism

20. Buddhism

21. Confucianism

22. 4 books and 5 classics (四書五經)

23. Major peace in the region (Tang Dynasty)

24. Rise of the Startups

26. “As fish can’t live out of water,
companies should think of society
they belong to and make
contributions.”
Koo In-hwoi - Founder LG Corp.

28. Number of internet users in selected countries in the Asia-Pacific region as of
January 2019, by country (in millions)
Source: Statista 2019

29. Source: The Mobile Economy Asia-Pacific 2018 Report.GSM Association.

30. Source: The Mobile Economy Asia-Pacific 2018 Report.GSM Association.

31. Percentage of population using the internet in South Korea from 2000 to 2017

32. Source: CBInsights Data.The Aleph Report elaboration.

33. Source: CBInsights Data.The Aleph Report elaboration.

35. Sectors

36. Gaming

37. eSports

38. eSports

39. Communications

42. Online Retail

46. FinTech

47. Cryptocurrencies
Source: http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20190715000597

48. Source: KimChi Premium.The hidden history of cryptocurrency in Korea
Cryptocurrencies

49. Incumbent Disruption

50. Very conservative
and
inward looking
Koo Bon-moo,LG Chairman

51. CEO Tenures too short
Source: CEO Tenure Rates,Harvard 2018.(https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2018/02/12/ceo-tenure-rates/)

52. “
CEO Tenures too short
Source: http://www.theinvestor.co.kr/view.php?ud=20190707000190
According to 2016 data from Seoul-based research firm
CEO Score, the top 30 Korean companies’ CEOs served an
average of about 2.5 years.

53. Preference for close innovation

54. General disregard for small startups

55. General disregard for small startups

56. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)

57. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself

58. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself
Focus on new business models, not self improvement

59. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself
Focus on new business models, not self improvement
CVC isn’t just about ROI

60. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself
Focus on new business models, not self improvement
CVC isn’t just about ROI
Begin working with Venture Builders

61. Scaling beyond the region

62. Local still complicated

63. "Under the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act,
startups are banned from receiving additional investments
from CVC firms once the startups became a CVC affiliate
after receiving an investment. This means CVC firms
cannot really keep track of startups’ growth.”

65. The Trade Wars

71. HUAWEI
NVIDIA / QUALCOMM

73. Natural scaling regions

75. Cross border investments

76. Avoided markets

77. Avoided markets

78. 660 M
vs
743 M

80. Average annual spending per capita for online shopping in Europe from 2015 to 2018,
by country (in euros**)
Source: Statista 2019

81. 28 countries
23 official languages

82. Northern Europe
Southern Europe
4000 KM

83. Western Europe
Eastern Europe

86. Source: Dealroom.co.Excludes buyouts,secondary transactions,debt,ICOs,lending capital,grants.

87. Distributed Startups

88. Global Scope
Most SEA too regional
Some players undervalued

89. Europe - Asia opportunities

90. Market Saturation

91. Local Corporates (CVC)
Who funds the region?

92. Increased competition

93. Organic growth

94. Breaking the regional lock

95. Excel at scale
Apply to Europe

96. Logistics (Forward Freighter)
Operations (massive retail operations)
Automation (autonomous vehicle China roads)
Recommendation (Dynamic Yield)
Semiconductors – AI chipsets (Xiaomi)
5G (Huawei)
Cryptocurrencies
eSports
Cybersecurity & Privacy technology

97. http://www.slideshare.net/thealeph Alex Barrera (@abarrera)
THANK YOU
Alex Barrera
alex@thealeph.com