On October 16, SoftBank Ventures Korea held their second annual forum which presents their portfolio companies and vision to invited guests and the press. Our friends at Buzzvil, also a portfolio company of Softbank, were there to record the action.
SoftBank Ventures Korea, a subsidiary of Softbank Corp. in Japan, is one of the most established early stage investment companies in Korea and their annual Forum showcased their portfolio companies for press and the public.
SoftBank Ventures Korea’s CEO, Greg Moon kicked off proceedings, with their Chairman, Masayoshi Son, greeting the crowd through a video message. Mr. Son is truly a future-oriented visionary, and he shared his investment philosophy which at its root, employs thinking at least 10 years, or even 30 years into the future. This forward thinking is key to Softbank's success and is one of the key reasons why Softbank and Softbank Ventures are continuing to lead the digital revolution in Asia, through their own services and investment portfolio.
While Son admitted that he couldn't pinpoint the stock price of a company three months from now he has demonstrated that he has an excellent sense of predicting what will be the range in 10 years. “If there is only one thing that I am good at it’s seeing the big picture and big direction in the industry in ten years, because I am always thinking about this.” Rather than a short-term view, Son looks for the potential of a 10x return in 10 years, another 10x in the next 10 years, and so on.
Son believes that in 30 years the “exponential curve of progress,” we've seen in technology will have resulted in massive changes to every aspect of our daily lives. That is where SoftBank sees opportunity. Not in small incremental growth, but in revolutionary new ways of doing things. Son called on what he called the “the hero of tomorrow” to continue building crazy ideas, with passion, promising that Softbank will be the supporters of entrepreneurship long into the future.
At the heart of Softbank Ventures' success is their ability to pick many of the top startups in the market, and convince them to become part of the Softbank family. In this vein Softbank's “Best Portfolios of the Year” showcased presentations from Jake Park (CEO of VCNC), Yong Jae Kim (CEO of KnowRe), and Dong Pil Kim (CEO of Systran International), who shared their company vision, explained their products, and outlined their next steps.
Afternoon sessions consisted of presentations, including a hacking demonstration by Min Pyo Hong of SEWORKS and a panel; “Overseas Asian Tigers,” featuring William Tanuwijaya of Tokopedia (Indonesia), Roger Egan of Redmart (Singapore), Pattera Apithanakoon of ini3 (Thailand), and Jack Feng of Wandoujia (China). Softbank Ventures also introduced their new portfolio companies (including Buzzvil) that joined SoftBank since their last Forum. The final panel, “K-Tech Startup” featured DK Moon of iFunFactory, Jeong Won Ryu of Healcerion, and Jin Ho Park of TeraSquare.
At the Forum, SoftBank also facilitated private meetings and portfolio companies were also provided with booths, providing opportunities to meet with investors and partners, as well as other Softbank portfolio companies.
Original post on Buzzvil blog
