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| Roee Adler, global head of WeWork Labs / Courtesy of WeWork |
WeWork Labs' global head have high hopes for Korean startups
By Yun Suh-young
"Korea is one of the most exciting places in the world right now to be an entrepreneur," said Roee Adler, global head of WeWork Labs.
"I'm by no means an expert on Korean culture, but to share a few observations, Korea has an amazing legacy of innovative technology. Korea is a country that invests so much on education and constant improvement and constant desire to do more. Most recently, there's a newfound focus to encourage entrepreneurship and startups."
For these reasons, WeWork is bringing in its startup accelerator and incubator program called "WeWork Labs" to Korea, which will be the first in Asia. The WeWork Labs launched in Korea June 1 in its Yeoksam, Euljiro and Yeouido locations to be followed by Seolleung, July 1.
"Those are the ingredients, we believe when we bring in the global WeWork platform, that allows not only Korean entrepreneurs to connect to entrepreneurs and customers all over the world but also for the entire world to learn how startups are being done in Korea. (It's an) amazing opportunity that can really help entrepreneurs in Korea fulfill their destiny," he said, introducing the new program to the media Thursday.
Co-founded in 2011 in New York by current WeWork Korea General Manager Matthew Shampine and WeWork founders, WeWork Labs has served as a springboard for early stage startups, supporting members with educational resources such as courses, lecture series, and one-on-one meetings ranging from accounting, marketing to hiring and pitching. It hopes to help Korean startups accelerate their businesses globally.
In the eyes of the Israeli entrepreneur, Korea has an advantage of having a younger startup ecosystem than Silicon Valley and an established ecosystem of technological innovation which will be an advantage for the growth of Korean startups.
"If I compare it with the Israeli ecosystem, what we didn't have was an established world of tech innovation that has impacted the world. But Korea has that in an extreme way. This country is an expert in technology innovation than the entire world which is a huge benefit when it comes to getting faster into a sustainable startup ecosystem," said Adler.
"I think we're going to be seeing amazing revolutions coming from startups that started here in Korea recently and in the next couple of years."
He expects Korea to succeed in becoming one of the global top 10 markets in the world.
"The quality of engineering and invention that has come out of this country in the past 40 years is beating per capita almost any country in the world. Ten years ago, there were almost no startups, now there are quite a lot. Korea represents an incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs, which is why WeWork Labs is coming with such magnitude and relevant individuals. I am absolutely optimistic about the Korean startup ecosystem," he said.
