"Let your company be the seed,” is the motto of Be the Seed, a business consulting firm co-founded by Yoowhan Lee (‘07, Business Administration) that finds potential in business ideas and helps startups get off the ground. Today’s society is a place of constant change and innovation, and it can be difficult to put even a small business strategy into motion. Be the Seed guides business owners through this everchanging world as they plan out their marketing strategies, branding, and finances.“

About Youwhan Lee

After working as an employee at a company and attempting to open his own businesses a few times, Lee co-founded Be the Seed, where he discovers aspiring business ideas and nourishes them into independent companies. Lee still keeps in contact with Korea University (KU) as a registered mentor in KU’s Startup π-Portal, and he has participated in lectures hosted by the Korea University Business School (KUBS) Startup Station. As a mentor, he offers consultation on business model development, investment and finance, promotion and marketing, as well as business management and planning.

GT: How did you start Be the Seed? How did your experiences at KU or your previous attempts at founding a company contribute to this?

Lee: Right after graduating in 2014, I joined the planning division of Lotte Chemical Corporation. In my second year, I started thinking, “What will I be doing at this company 20 to 30 years from now?” The answer was right in front of me, in the form of my office manager and co-workers. However, they did not seem to have enough freedom, whether it be with money or time. That was when I decided to start my own business.

Yet, I could not just quit my job and start a company without any preparation. So, I formed a team with friends from my time in the army and began a startup while I was still at my previous company. We worked towards our dream – day and night, after work and during the weekends. On busy days, we would work until five in the morning and go to work with less than two hours of sleep.

After a year and a half, we launched two products, but we had to shut down both applications due to dispute with the development teams. It was devastating to see all our hard work become nothing, but we were too disheartened to create something entirely new. So, instead, we started a voluntary startup consulting group called Team Turbine, and this experience became the spark behind Be the Seed. In 2017, during the Bitcoin craze, I helped set up a blockchain consulting firm called FLICK PARTNERS that consulted businesses implementing blockchains. I ran this firm for about a year, and thanks to the money I saved during that time, I was able to quit my job at Lotte Chemical and immerse myself in starting my own company.

I do not think my business degree was very useful while working at Lotte Chemical, because all employees had such different and specific jobs. However, when running my own business, macro studies such as accounting, finance, strategic management, and market analysis are of much use, especially when I provide my clients with logical and theoretical business advice. Having a degree in business does not make me a good businessman, but it certainly helps because I learned crucial information for running a company.

GT: What are your future plans for Be the Seed?

Lee: Be the Seed is not only a startup accelerator, but it is also a “company builder.” Every year, we launch one or two new businesses. It is, of course, one of our main goals to build companies that will earn more revenue, but we also work towards employee development. Unlike my fellow co-founders and I, our employees can only earn a limited salary, which can be discouraging for them. Therefore, we offer certain qualified employees a chance to be executives in the companies we develop and try to distribute more profit to those with good performances. Through this method, we strive to help our employees grow as business leaders.

Also, rather than repeatedly using our employees in their regular positions, we try to sustainably develop them into human resources that will help our company grow in the long run. Our goal is for Be the Seed to be seen as more than a mere job opportunity, but as a brand that works as a “startup school,” where employees can learn how to be prominent business leaders.

GT: Is there any advice you have for aspiring business leaders at KU?

Lee: Many prospective founders make the same mistake: they think their products and services will innovate society and make the world a better place. Of course, these are all goals to work towards, and many companies actually do achieve them. However, the key word when starting a business is survival. The reality is that more than 70 percent of startups go bankrupt in less than five years. In its early years, it is more crucial that a business earns money to survive the coming month, rather than plan out its big visions for the future.

There are business items that require high-tech and a lot of time, such as the deep tech or bio fields. In these cases, it is impossible to create revenue in a short time, so you must receive investments somehow and learn to live on that. Otherwise, a company must earn much profit in a short amount of time and move on to the next stage based on that profit. Many aspiring business owners tend to work with just the potential of their ideas in mind – most of these cases end up in bankruptcy. Therefore, you must create a short-term sales structure that will gain you profit in less than six months after founding the company, and you must check if customers will actually be willing to buy your products.