Kevin Kwak’s Blog

EDIT: If you know where I can watch the past episodes of “Idea How Much,” please send me a message. Thank you in advance!

A late night television show I watch is a Korean “pitch your entrepreneurial idea to the CEO” show on a Directv channel. For those that have the Korean channel package, the show is broadcast by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and is on channel 2081 Thursday at around 10:20pm PST.

An inventor is invited to the show “Idea How Much” with their new invention and the goal is to pitch their idea at the highest market price to a group of corporate Chief Executive Officers (CEO). There are exactly 20 CEO sitting on the assigned section awaiting for the live auction. Did you just say auction? The inventor briefly introduces and demonstrates their invention, and the auction begins with the help of a female auctioneer. The CEOs decide beforehand whether they want to participate in the bidding and will compete with each other to claim the rights to the acquired idea. Eventually two CEO are engaged in a bidding war.

Three hours prior to the auction broadcast, the group of CEO gets a chance to listen and watch a demonstration by the inventor. Questions are asked as well as feedback provided to the inventor, and then the CEOs decide whether they will bid on the idea and what their maximum bid amount would be. The last point is crucial because when you are in one of the 20 hot seats engaged on a bidding war, they can get carried away. But I doubt that would ever happen.

Qualifications
In popular Korean shows, the program director (PD) carefully selects the participants to come to their show to increase the show ratings by making it more enjoyable to watch. But in “Idea How Much,” there are three product analysts that calculates the estimated market value of the given invention and determine if there is a potential market to sell the product(s) to. Meeting this few requirement would qualify the inventor into the show. Surely there will be hundreds of applications to get on the show but only the selected few with excellent ideas will get accepted. And many of these ideas fetch into the six to seven digits category because of the potential marketability of the idea. We’re talking worldwide sales and not only in South Korea.

In a recent episode I watched, an inventor introduced a bed pillow that produced relaxing music to help the user get a better sleep. The pillow was unique as only the user themselves can hear the sound and the person next to it won’t hear a thing. A small controller was attached to the pillow so that the user can control the volume and change the music being played. An experiment took place using the invention with six subjects that had difficulty sleeping either from a nightmare, insomnia, or other sleeping disorder. Four of the subjects went into a deep sleep, one had a good light sleep, and only one could not get a good sleep. The fascinating part of the experiment is that the pillow actually helped young students improve their memorization skill after getting a quick nap using the pillow. There are scientific studies that daytime nap do improve mental sharpness and this pillow is like the ultimate tool to restore it. The results impressed several of the CEO.

I returned from the Overseas Korean Traders Association’s (OKTA) two-nights three-days trade workshop and the program was well planned and executed despite it being only in its fifth year. Former OKTAJR’s graduates, staffs, and the directors worked long hours six months ahead of the program for the trade shows’ preparation. The guest speakers, import/export trade workshops, business plan case studies, and activities were well incorporated into the program layout. I greatly appreciate the founders, directors, staffs, sponsors, and all the contributors that have made this program a success for the Korean-American entrepreneurs.

The trade workshop took place in the Wilshire Plaza Hotel (Koreatown’s central business district) as mentioned in the previous OKTASC entry. Each year, OKTAJR accepts a maximum of 50 participants to the program. OKTA could invite more participants but then there would be issues with overcrowding and lessening the effectiveness of networking and the workshops. Perhaps OKTA’s annual budget could not accommodate additional participants.

Speaking of budget, OKTA fortunately attracts successful businesses for the program’s sponsorship. Without their sponsorships and support, OKTA would face many challenges coming up with the funds necessary for the program’s expenses; hotel accommodations, meals, program materials, great speakers, field trips, and lot more. To show my appreciation for the numerous sponsors, here is the list of OKTAJR’s sponsors:

GOLD Sponsors
Royal Imex Inc., Everest (Bags), Wilshire State Bank, Dura Coat Products Inc., Group Win (Golf)

SILVER Sponsors
Center Bank, KNA Memorial Hall, ENS Tradings Inc., Hite Jinro, Wilshire Plaza Hotel Los Angeles, Lotte Hotel LA Office

BRONZE Sponsors
Hanmi Bank, Nara Bank, Flexfit LLC, Asiana Airline, KCC Transport Systems Inc., J 2 Group Inc., Commonwealth Bank, eWaste Center Inc., Sunrise Distribution USA Inc., Mantis Technologies, Contempo Inc., Ameriko Inc., Da Se In America Inc., UPS, Woo Ri Sool, Khan Soju, Boo Chang Do Tofu House, Best Western Palm Resort, DreamLife, SinJin America, Kyungmin Trading Corp., Damo Clothing Inc., DNH Management Co., Aries Trading, S&S Inc., Has Been Limited, Summit Wholesale, Leeway Global, WooJin Trading Inc., Elite Golf, Hannam Market, Nanowell, Uniti Bank, TaeYang Airline

OKTA 2007 Trade Workshop DVD Part 1/2

OKTA 2007 Trade Workshop DVD Part 2/2

Networking
OKTAJR emphasized heavily on networking, and after all this was a business workshop where communications between a buyer and a seller (importer/exporter, company/end-user, etc.) is the principle of trading. Since this was run by the Overseas Korean Traders Association of ‘Southern California’ (OKTASC), the majority of the participants worked and lived in the Los Angeles County and a very few were from a different county and state. Like all other networking events I attended, I was very impressed at the different backgrounds of the participants. Within my own team were outstanding people with interesting backgrounds from different walks of life. Through this trade workshop, I had the privilege to work with them for three days.

The age range was wider than I expected. The youngest member was 18 years old (sophomore in college) and the oldest member may have been in her/his late 30s. Overseas Korean Traders Association Junior (OKTAJR) of course do not discriminate against age; accepting applicants both young and mature, the age differences only encouraged a diverse networking opportunity combining fresh ideas from all participants.

The diversity was present not only in the age range but also in cultural views. The English language was not as prominent as I thought it would be. For instance, my group used Korean most of the times and though I am fluent in Korean conversations, my Korean vocabularies were limited compared to my team mates. One of the member lived and worked in South Korea most of his life but immigrated to the United States for his Masters of Business Administration studies at UCLA. He is in consulting and by listening in to his conversations, you knew he was an expert in his field. A young man learning about the Korean-American lifestyles and cultural point of views had many inputs and opinions on the cultural differences. I was fortunate enough to pick his brain and learn more about the Korean business culture. Did I mention that I really want to improve on my Korean?

Field Trips
Our class got a chance to see a full-scale apparel manufacturing company in Los Angeles (South Gate). Koos Manufacturing, Inc. is a successful jean manufacturer that employs around 700 employees as of year 2007. Koos not only manufactures high-end denim jeans, the company also has the entire business operation working under one roof: fashion designing, payroll, marketing and sales, and distributions. Excellent operation management if you ask me because not many apparel manufacturers have the entire operations working under one location. After the assembly line tour, we asked lot of questions on its success. For your information, competition is very fierce in Los Angeles and the profit margin is very thin in the textile industry but Koos Manufacturing, Inc. continues to thrive and do very well annually.

Koos Manufacturing, Inc.
2741 Seminole Ave.,South Gate, CA 90280
323-564-2100
www.koos.com

The next tour site was the Korean National Association Memorial Hall located near the University of Southern California (USC) campus. I encourage all Korean-Americans to visit the KNA Memorial Hall and spend a good hour or two reading the articles and exhibits beautifully displayed, and also check out their website to learn about the non-profit organization in details. Admission is free. Operating hours are Monday through Saturday 10AM to 4PM and Sunday is closed.

Korean National Association Memorial Hall
1368 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007
323-733-7350
www.knahall.org

I highly recommend this trade workshop. Visit OKTAJr’s website for more information.

The Unique Entrepreneurs’ Competition & Networking Event of the Year
TCVN “8th Annual Fast Pitch Competition”

Monday - May 19, 2008
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Anaheim Marriott
70 West Convention Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Meet, greet, and see - the art of the pitch through the eyes of the Tech Coast Angels, the nation’s largest and most active network of angel investors.

Network with hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs.
Enjoy a sumptuous walk-around dinner and wine.

Register Now @ www.PitchTheAngels.com
Registration

$85 by May 15th
($115 after)

At Fast Pitch you will -
Watch the finalists in the competition pitch a panel of expert judges.
Learn about exciting new startup investment opportunities.
Learn how Tech Coast Angels has funded 142 ventures, investing $94 million coupled with $994 million from co-investors.
Since 2006, two of the Fast Pitch winners have each received multiple funding rounds from TCA.

Scoring System and Judges
Fourteen finalists have been selected from previous Coaching sessions.
Judges are prominent VCs, Angels and Business Executives, who will score funding opportunity and presentation on scale of 1-10
4 Winners: Best Overall; Best Funding Opportunity; Best Presentation; People’s Choice/Audience Pick.
Best Overall - based on the combined score — weighted with 60% for funding opportunity and 40% for presentation.
Best Funding Opportunity - based on who best attracts the investors to take the next step and visit in depth with the entrepreneur.
Best Presentation - based on the best and most effective delivery, the most enthusiastically persuasive, and the most exciting.

Associated with the May 19th all-day event:
Harvard Business School “24th Annual Entrepreneurs Conference”
Win Fun Door Prizes from TCA Companies
Conference Overview

The annual Entrepreneurs Conference is an exceptional opportunity to capitalize on the successful experiences of others in starting, funding, growing, and managing a new business.

Who should attend?
Entrepreneurs, investors, and executives of rapidly growing companies will definitely want to be at this event. If you are contemplating a start-up, looking to accelerate your sales growth, or want to connect with other business owners or investors, this conference is for you.

What will I get out of it?
You can:
* Learn how to get funding for your business,
* Acquire valuable marketing ideas to accelerate your sales growth, and
* Find out what worked and didn’t work from successful entrepreneurs.
http://www.hbsaoc.org/conference/index.htm