Founders, Foreign Markets, and Going Global from Korea with The Ventures' Ethan Cho 18VC Podcast · Episode 10 · June 29, 2026 Guests: Ethan Cho Source: https://www.18-vc.com/podcast/the-ventures-ethan-cho Host: For today's episode, we have Ethan Choe, CIO at The Ventures. Ethan Cho: Cool. Host: Thank you for coming to our podcast today, Ethan. Ethan Cho: Thank you for having me. Delighted to talk on the show. Host: Well, I am more excited still because this will be our official first recording in Korea. And even more so because I am here at the office of The Ventures, which is one of the earliest accelerators in Korea, right? Ethan Cho: A accelerator and a venture capital. I'm just drawing a line because, in Korea, AC and VCs have different regulations. We are different legal entities. So we are actually-- We have both licenses, so we are an accelerator and a venture capital. Host: And then we might touch on that topic later on. But before we delve deeper onto the company itself, I would like to learn more about you as a person. So venture capital space is where a lot of different backgrounds, people from all over the country come and converge together. And I've taken a look at your professional path, and it's very interesting. So I just wanted to ask first, what excites you about working in VC space? Ethan Cho: I think by far the most interesting part and what gives me energy in working in VC is talking to entrepreneurs on a daily basis. In all the other professions that I had, I've never had the chance to talk to people who constantly think that they can change the world. So I think that kind of positive energy is something that is contagious in a good way. And I think that kind of drives me towards working, and trying to be more helpful to the ecosystem altogether. Host: I resonate with what you're saying because I founded a startup- for a short time period- and I've felt practically everything you've said. But I just have another question- Ethan Cho: Sure Host: regarding your professional path. As a fellow Big Four auditor- what drove you to VC space? Was it in your long-term vision from the beginning, or is it something that you came up with during your time at Columbia? Tell me more about it. Ethan Cho: Yeah. So, it was a step-by-step decision. So my first job, as you mentioned, was at PwC, at an accounting firm. I was an auditor for LG Group. And after that, I went into M&A advisory. It was a great training ground for me. Learned how to deal with numbers, how to crunch numbers, how to analyze them. But to me, the limitation personally was that financial accounting and auditing basically looks at historical numbers. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: You look at what happened in the past and try to make an assessment whether this is a fair translation into numbers of the past. Whereas investment is more about forward-looking. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: So that was more interesting to me. Actually, my first step towards investment was not going straight to venture capital. I went to a hedge fund in New York. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: Hedge fund was exciting, was very dynamic, but at the end of the day, I quickly kind of found out that I'm more interested in finding good companies rather than good stocks. As you know, good stocks means cheap stocks. And good company is very different from good stocks. So that's what made me gravitate towards venture capital. Host: Touching a bit more on your personal side- you've also had quite a variety in places you've lived, right? Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: You've lived in Hungary and England when you were younger, and then you studied in Columbia, which is US. So do you think living abroad in so many different places and being exposed to so many different thoughts has given you an edge or a different advantage in spotting investment opportunities, specifically in startup companies compared to maybe others who have stayed more domestically? Ethan Cho: That's a great question. I think there's twofolds to that. First of all is, so to me, because I've lived abroad here and there- local challenges don't really feel like challenges to me. I know they're big, but switching market is not such of a big deal, in terms of from a conceptual standpoint to me, versus other people who have stayed most of their life just in one country. That's one thing. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: The other thing is, I think it's better to think about the status quo as something that's constantly changing. Because, if you look at just one country, let's say Korea, some things just never change for decades. But if you look at it in parallel with other countries, it's just a part of this huge evolving dynamic or this picture. So because of that, I think most of things in an evolving way. So that helps me kind of look or frame the startup ecosystem in a certain way. Host: You've described the skill that you kind of articulated on as founder intelligence- in some of the Substack reports that you write, which I think is very valuable. Tell me, do you think it's replicable/trainable for somebody who may not be able to afford to go to so many places? Ethan Cho: That's a very great question. I think absolutely. The short answer is yes. So the big question is going to be how. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: I think it's a big part of the mindset. Don't think of things as constants. You are not Korean just because you were born in Korea. you can be somebody else. I'm not just talking about nationality, because for Koreans especially, there's this certain limitations that the society wants you to accept as a Korean citizen. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: But actually, if you go to another country, not just physically, I'm talking about in terms of business or study or whatnot, you can always change that mindset. So just thinking that most of the things can be changed is a good opportunity for most people. And to achieve that, I think you just need more exposure to non-Korean or non something, something that you are actually exposed to throughout most of your life. One kind of small hint that I give to my friends and my younger people from my college is that get exposure to not just contents, but in terms of how people think and act in different cultures. I think the best way to actually achieve that is to talk to people who actually come from that culture. The second-best way is, yes, through YouTube and contents. But, just interacting with people will show that some things that you think of as problems are not problems at all when you talk to them. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So, I think that's very valuable. Host: Also, especially, I've actually visited Korea University- earlier this year, or earlier this week- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: to talk to a senior manager of their startup center. And when I went onto the campus, there were so many international students. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: So, I think now is a very good time for students in Korea to be exposed to these ideas. Ethan Cho: Absolutely. Host: So, thank you for sharing your thoughts on your philosophy related to investment and how you look through, what lens you look through. What was going through your mind when you joined The Ventures specifically? Ethan Cho: The Ventures is a very early-stage-focused VC with international exposure. So, I thought of two things. Horizontally, I wanted to expand the international coverage of The Ventures into a wider market. Right now, we do have portfolios in about 14 countries over the world, including the States, Canada, Singapore, India, Pakistan, et cetera. But at the same time, I think we do need to cover even more areas and have conversations with international startups as much as we can. So, that was my horizontal landscape. On the vertical side, because I had been doing later-stage investments at larger firms, I thought and discussed with other partners that although The Ventures right now is really focused on early-stage investments, we also have to expand that into later stages, because startups will eventually grow. The market will eventually grow. So, there will be many more opportunities down the way, both in terms of size and also strategy. So, I just wanted to give more diversification to the strategy. Host: When you joined Ventures- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: do you think The Ventures, obviously it started out as an accelerator with arguably the first-generation venture capitalists- of Korea. Do you think they had any specific advantages compared to other accelerators- or VC companies in Korean ecosystem? Ethan Cho: I think two things definitely stood out. First of all is, I've never been to a firm, like this is a personal experience, but I've never been to a VC firm where they basically accept all applications. So, we basically have- Host: Oh Ethan Cho: an open door policy. Anybody who wants to apply can apply. Like my previous firms, basically, we went out hunting. We went out for the good startups, whereas for The Ventures, they come to us. So, I think that was very new to me. The second part was definitely the part that two of our three partners, the third one is me. The other two partners are actually from entrepreneurship. They built this company called Sellit, which later become Eungae, and which is one of the largest secondhand marketplaces in Korea. And at the end of their cycle, they sold their shares to a private equity firm. So, there are only a handful of people in Korea who have actually done that A to Z experience and who are also in VC. So, I think because of that, The Ventures has the capacity to give very practical advice to entrepreneurs, not like other VCs, who sometimes give more theoretical advice than practical advice. So, I thought that was a very big competitive advantage. Host: You mentioned an open door policy- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: in terms of accepting applications. And I would assume the volume is much higher compared to other VCs then. How do you guys manage- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: the workload? Ethan Cho: So, we accept anywhere to 2,000 to 3,000 applications a year. Host: Wow. Ethan Cho: That's a lot. So, that's about 40 applications per week. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So, we ended up-- or we wanted to and succeeded in building our own AI agent. Host: Vicky. Ethan Cho: Vicky. V-I-C-K-Y. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So, Vicky actually basically does our first filtering. She's our first line of defense. She filters out the outliers that seem to be less prepared. And because of that, we can focus on the ones that can be more engaged with us in a deeper kind of engagement. We are constantly evolving Vicky to understand more about on one hand, how we think, and on the other hand, what we might miss. So, we're evolving her into both axes, and trying to figure out a way to become a more AI-native VC. Host: I'd love to actually talk about Viki- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: but let's push that on for later for now. Ethan Cho: Sure. Host: And then talk more about the company itself. Ethan Cho: Sure. Host: So, retracting our conversation a little- bit back. So The Ventures began as an accelerator- Ethan Cho: Yep Host: but obtained its VC license in 2021. So where does the firm pay more focus today? VC side or the accelerator side? Ethan Cho: We are much more focused on the VC side right now. I think there's about two reasons for that. One is that there used to be not many ACs back in the days. Host: No. Ethan Cho: So we had a lot of work to do in the AC area. Now there's a great bunch of ACs working in the AC area, so we're leaving it to those great masterminds who are really good at doing accelerator work. On the VC side, I think, we personally think that there needs to be more liquidity pumped into especially the early stage of the startup cycle. In Korea, there's a tendency that the capital flows more towards the latter stages. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: So we're trying to be that liquidity provider in the earlier stages right now. Host: Do you think there's any advantages that Ventures has for its early-stage companies as a hybrid firm- that has both? Ethan Cho: Oh, yeah. So, hm, that's a good question. But these days, I think even the larger VCs, like Altos, for instance- Host: Oh Ethan Cho: or SoftBank, they all have some kind of AC kind of function. They didn't really used to have those recruiting or team-building functions- Host: Yeah Ethan Cho: or even PR for their portfolio companies. That's a very AC-ish kind of function. But starting with A16Z, all these larger VCs also have these very AC-ish features in their teams now. So I think it's not just us, but I think we're much more on the ground versus the larger VCs. We tend to be more scrappy, as you can see from all of our contents. We write more frequently, very bluntly, on how we think about certain topics. So I think that kind of helps people or portfolio companies actually think that, or basically kind of make their voices heard. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: The larger VCs, I think, tend to be more, I wouldn't say conservative, but they're a little bit more... How, what should I call it? They clear their messages a bit better than us. We tend to be more blunt. So there's that. Host: I think that directness actually feels more genuine to me- and goes along with the company's- Ethan Cho: Yeah. Yeah Host: origins, founders backing founders, right? Now tell me about the portfolio companies- that The Ventures invests in. When Doc approached us about this opportunity, he told us that you guys only invest in Korean startup founders. Ethan Cho: No, that's wrong. Host: Could you clarify? Ethan Cho: Well- Host: Yeah Ethan Cho: so there could be people who think that we do only invest in Korean founders. The reason of that is because... Well, let me explain. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: So, our interviews, as I mentioned, is first filtered by Viki. We go through all the candidates, and we decide whom to interview. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: The interesting part is we do a 20-minute interview only composed of Q&A. We don't ask for a deck pitch. And because of that, we strongly prefer meeting the people in person. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: Because we need to read their body language. We want to see how they talk, how they think, et cetera, in the same physical location. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: And because of that, it's hard for people living outside of Korea to come into Korea just to have that interview. And because of that, it could look like we only invest in Korean startups. That's not true. If you look at our portfolios, actually, we do have startup companies outside of Korea. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: And in that case, most of them actually do come on site to have their interview. But that's challenging, obviously. Host: Yeah. And it also serves as a filtering- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: criteria. Ethan Cho: But we're also thinking about, as we become more global, whether we should or when we should actually start making trips to certain areas like San Francisco, LA, New York, or Vietnam, or Hong Kong, or Singapore to actually have that on-site interviews more frequently. So that's another evolution that we're thinking about these days. Host: Would you say, so with the interviews evolving to be held on-site, I mean, overseas and such- do you also see evolution in your portfolio companies where they are trying to globalize their product, per se? Ethan Cho: Yes. For sure. So we definitely ask that question a lot. I think, in the last five to 10 years, we have learned it kind of the hard way. We, as in the whole Korean ecosystem, has learned it the hard way that Korean market is not large enough for any successful startup to actually be a sustainable business. So everybody wants to go global in a certain way. So, when we look at companies, we definitely look for that repeatable kind of formula that they can succeed even outside of Korea. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: Right now, these days, because our main fund is a consumer fund, we look at the K-beauty products and K-content, K-food products that actually can copy their playbook and go outside of Korea and do the same thing or similar things successful. That's one thing that we really focus on. But honestly, it's not the easiest things to do. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So, it's hard to find those unique companies. So we challenge entrepreneurs, we debate with them, and we try to find out whether this could be actually successful outside of Korea or not through those dialogues. Host: I was actually talking with more senior professionals when I was building my startup- and that's a message that I've gotten from the mentor, too, that Korean market might not be sustainably large. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: So, but- When you try to market your domestic product, Korean products- outside, I think it's important to define what it is first, right? Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: Especially when you're trying to market to overseas audience where there might be more mixed in culture and ethnicity. So how does The Ventures, and especially you, Ethan, how would you define Korea in context of these diversity- outside of Korea? Ethan Cho: How would I define Korea? Well, I know what Korea used to mean, because when people thought of Korea back in the '90s- or I wouldn't say early 2000s, but mostly '90s, they thought about Hyundai cars, for instance. They were cheap, affordable, pretty good for their price, but not at the level of Japanese cars or far from being German cars. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: After that, in the 2000s, came the Samsung era, where Samsung Galaxy started to proliferate the market. And then it started to catch up with iPhones, but actually never got there, to be honest. I think in that way. Sorry, Samsung. I love you. I still love you, but never got there. But these days, I think Korea has a very different meaning. If you look at K-pop, "Demon Hunter," if you look at "Squid Games," BTS, yes, it's all content, but we definitely have a footprint that nobody can call this similar to Japan or smaller than China. This is something totally different. Very global, very Korean, and I think people just think of it as one of the options. Nobody goes to Chipotle and asks, "What kind of Mexican is this?" "Is this close to Texas or is this California?" It's just Mexican, Chipotle. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: I think Korea's becoming something like that. It's something that everybody accepts as is. I think that's very big leap forward. And yes, it has identified itself much better and clearer in contents, but I think that's also spreading into all the other industry sectors. So there's a lot more to come, and I think there's a lot more globalizations to go as well. Because I think K-pop, "Demon Hunter" is still one of the best examples, and BTS too. Everybody knows it's Korean, but people don't think of it as Korean-Korean. It's there on Netflix. It's K-pop, "Demon Hunter." It's not something that comes from this country in the Far East Asia, right? Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So, I think that's kind of happening right now. Host: Since we've talked a lot about how Korea is establishing its country identity- per se, outside, let's talk about another region that The Ventures has been actively investing- which is Southeast Asia, right? Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: When I was doing my research, I was surprised to see that The Ventures ventured out to Vietnam to set up a subsidiary office, and has had successful record of investment activities. So when you think about globalization for Korea, so marketing outside of the domestic region, would you say that Korean startup companies have advantages in Southeast Asian countries compared to Western/Europe because of similarities in- appearance, culture, et cetera? Ethan Cho: You mean Korean companies going to SEA versus Korean companies going to Europe? Host: Yes. Ethan Cho: Okay. Short answer is yes. I think not just because of similarities. We just have so much more history trying to go into the market. For instance, Vietnam and Singapore both have quite a few Korean expats living there. Korean conglomerates are also operating there. So we have influence there. That's one thing. The other thing is, personally, I think one thing that I always experience on my travels is that we have a similar palate, in terms of taste, in terms of colors, in terms of what beauty means in the eye of the beholder. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: So, I think it's an easier kind of market for a lot of Korean companies to penetrate. But at the same time, that's also the exact reason why it's easier to fail, too. Because I've seen quite a few examples, not at The Ventures, but at other companies, where they thought SEA as just a larger market than Korea, or just an easier market than Korea, and just didn't really prepare that localization and jumped in and just failed miserably. So it's kind of something that we look forward to, and also have to be very careful about at the same time. Host: When you advise your portfolio companies when they're trying to look into international market- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: is there a criteria where you decide they'd be more fit toward the Western region versus SEA region? Ethan Cho: This is, again, a very personal thing. I personally think it's easier to go to SEA versus the States. I'll just say that bluntly. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: Because there's so much difference in culture in the States versus Korea. I always use this analogy a lot. I think the brightest people in the world include Koreans and Jewish people. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: But one of them are very good at PR. One of them have taught relentlessly to be humble. So because of that, their social status turns out to be quite different in the States. Koreans have the tendency to be very humble, to speak less than you think. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So because of that, I think in US cultures, if you are very Korean-Korean or an Asian-Asian, you tend to be translated into a more- a careful person than a proactive person. And because of that, it takes time for you to actually match that kind of aggressiveness locally. Whereas, Asia in general, I think we have a better gauge of expecting what's going to happen in terms of talking to people, connecting to people. And because of that, I think if you have no plans yet and you're just starting to think about going abroad, I think closer markets will be a little bit easier than further away markets in general. It's just a rule of thumb that I think of. Host: Let's hold our thought on the market, but just bring it back to Korea. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: In a repeating observation that I'm seeing in your SoftBank reports- is that Korean startups are failing to see opportunities in aging population- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: in Korea market, because they are demographically the biggest spenders- at least in Korea. So why do you think these startups are not seeing these opportunities? Ethan Cho: I think they're seeing it. Host: Oh, okay. Ethan Cho: It's just hard for them to actually make the customers spend. It's a tricky thing, honestly. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: Because, first of all, the aging population, for instance, in Korea, if you're over 55 to 60 year old, most of the time your income is either finished or you're getting income from your savings. So because of that, people become very conservative when they spend on something. But at the same time, as an entrepreneur or a service provider, you always have to basically give something that's better value for dollar. And because of that, the margin tends to be very thin. So people easily, or entrepreneurs or startups easily gravitate towards younger generations who spend more easily or on- Host: Yes Ethan Cho: depending on what events happen. It's an event-driven consumption- Host: Correct Ethan Cho: versus the aging populations tend to be very hard to persuade. And as a startup, it's hard to actually bear those costs, because... Let me continue on this. Because once you lock in the aging populations- the switching cost is much higher for them. You get really locked in customers, which never happens in your teenager customers, right? They always switch overnight. But because you have to wait that long, it's really hard for startups to actually do that. So I think if you look at the refrigerator makers, the robot cleaning machine startup, not startups, but companies like Samsung and LG and all these guys, they're really good at engaging with elder customers. Whereas startups, it's just a very long game for them, so it's going to take a lot of time. Host: You talked about spending viscosity- with elderly generation. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: And I would imagine, maybe this is a presumption take, and please correct me- if you think it's wrong. But I would imagine elderly population would have less affinity to AI products, right? I just cannot imagine my parents subscribing to, say, cloud. So would you say in these type of markets, AI startups have more challenges to face than- Ethan Cho: For now, yes. But at the same time, if we think about AI as just this conversational bot, yes, it's going to be challenging. But I think, the elderly... So, in that case, I think, the use case that comes to mind for me is that, a kind of surveillance system for them- Host: Okay Ethan Cho: which basically detects body movement or sudden falling down. In that case, the payer is going to be not the elderly themselves, but their children. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So in that case, it's an elderly business, but not exactly an elderly business, because the willingness to pay of their children is going to matter. And that's going to be more of a, what do you call it, the atmosphere. What else? Ambient business. So it's going to be more of a background kind of business rather than sticking out. So in that case, I think it's going to be fine. And it's very necessary. One interesting startup that we invested when I was back in Samsung, which is like, whoa, 13 years ago- became Ring Doorbell for Amazon. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: So that was, I think, a very interesting kind of approach. And I think something that looks inside into the house would be something very interesting for, and useful for Korean elderly. Kind of friendly surveillance. I'm not sure whether friendly surveillance is a word, but still, yeah. Host: So you just have to look at it from a different angle. Ethan Cho: Yeah. If the son or daughter can see, watch her- parents or if they can get an alarm- if something, just emergency happens, I think that would be something that people would subscribe for, quite eagerly. Host: Take notes. Okay, so we were just talking about SEA countries just now. And I'm seeing similar population trends in some of these countries like Singapore and Thailand- with their aging population. Do you see similar opportunities there? Ethan Cho: Singapore and Thailand. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: Huh. Host: Not just those two- but just going outward, any countries that have similar population trend, would you think this viscosity problem, et cetera, is unique to Korean products or- Ethan Cho: It's not unique, no. I don't think it's unique to Korea, but I think... So I'm thinking about a negative example, that it's only because it has so much exposure because there's so many car accidents by the elderly. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: That's a very sad and expensive social expense. But I think if that starts to happen as, for instance, China and the US becomes older and older, they will develop a solution at scale. Right now in Korea, because yes, we have about 40 to 50 million people, but the percentage of people who make those accidents are very small yet. So it's kind of confined in this, the police work and just the courts. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: But when it becomes tens of thousands of people getting hurt because of that, then I think there's going to be a solution coming to market. I do know that we already have cameras that record at the brake pedal level instead of the overhead, and I think that's helpful, too. But, I think there's more solutions that we have to start building because the China and the US and Japan market are coming very soon. Japanese market is already here, but the other two are also coming soon. So I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities. And that's going to be more of a B2G market, and I think that's going to be huge. Because right now, because honestly, Korea is not that massive of a market, it's more of a B2B, B2C market, and the willingness to pay is still low. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: But if something happens in China and US, there's going to be huge B2G opportunity. Host: Since you have a strong conviction in this observation, have you implement this strategy into the ventures investment strategy? So is the ventures positioned well- to be ready for the silver economy- boom in startup ecosystem? Ethan Cho: Right now, we're not too active on that, to be honest. Right now, we are, as I mentioned, because our main fund is the CPG fund or consumer fund right now. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: Our cosmetics thesis and strategy is definitely geared towards silver consumers as well, but silver economy or silver AI is something that is approaching quick, but we do need a lot more work on. I think we'll reach tipping point in one way or another, because until now, we all speak of this opportunity, but nobody has actually made too big of a bet on this, not just us, but in terms of the overall economy and the global economy. But I think a tipping point will come very soon, so that there's going to be a hero that's born from this new evolution. So looking forward to it and trying to figure out what will be the best way to tackle this. Host: Very well. Since we've talked so much about the markets- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: let's shift our gear and talk about fundraising. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: Guests in one of our previous episodes- has given us a glimpse on how different venture capitalist ecosystems behave a bit differently. For example, startups in US pay more attention to angel investors and private institutional investors, so they behave to cater towards those investors, right? But for startups in Europe, they flop around where the next big capital injection from the government's going to be. So being aware of the policies and where the government is focusing on is important. How is Korea different or similar to these regions? Ethan Cho: It's mixed, I think, right now. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: Yeah, that's something that I want to talk to you over dinner. But-... I think there's definitely the startups want to talk to a lot of VCs, for sure. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: But one thing at the same time, as we all know, is because the overall VC investments in Korea are a lot of times influenced by the government- Host: Oh Ethan Cho: they also keep their eye on how the government policies change. There's so much liquidity injection by the government, and also the tax exemption changes year on year. So that's something that they're always looking at. And the ultimate exit for all the investments in Korea, sadly, is mostly limited to IPOs. Not many M&As happening year over year. So because of that, I think when a entrepreneur starts his or her company, the most advice that a lot of people give or one of the factors that a lot of wannabe entrepreneurs spend a lot of time on analyzing is, "Can this company go public in Korea?" Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: Because some of the companies, it's just hard for them to go public in Korea in certain sectors. So that's one thing they always are very serious about. Host: So despite Korea establishing a bigger country IP brand- outside, these complications may not be as known to foreign investors. So when you introduce your portfolio companies to say, foreign LPs or other venture capital funds, do you still incorporate the infamous "Do you know?" question- to kind of lean on s- A popular IP for credibility, or is there any other factors that you highlight? Is it going to be more just introducing them to domestic LPs? Ethan Cho: As you mentioned, I don't use those "Do you know" things anymore. I think, the opening sentence for me these days to people who I talk to the first time about our portfolio companies or any Korean startup is that think about the smart guy or smart guys that you know. There must be a Korean among them. Because Koreans, we work our asses off. We are very serious about work. Yes, we are serious drinkers, but at the same time, we work hard, we play hard. That's all our portfolio companies. I can guarantee that they will do their best to succeed. And I think because, especially in the early stage, the only thing that we can be sure of is how diligent and dedicated our entrepreneurs are. That's kind of my opening sentence, and the core value that we can get, besides the actual business model and everything, because that will always continuously evolve. So, that's my kind of conviction that I try to deliver. Host: While we are on a bit lighter note- Ethan Cho: Sure Host: is it okay to ask a bit selfish question? Ethan Cho: Of course. Host: And I am so keen on hearing your thoughts on it, because it directly connects to me and my co-founders are building at 18VC. That is, for student fund managers and prospective investors eventually trying to raise their first fund, what are some signals or credibility markers that they should be aware of so that LPs take them seriously? Ethan Cho: Yeah, that's a good question and also a tricky question, because honestly, the first proof that most investors always look for is track record, but because you don't have one, by definition, I think that one would be definitely... One is going to be your thesis for sure. How differentiated of a thesis do you have, and how timely is this thesis? Because, for instance, right now everybody's going to say, "I'm going to raise a AI fund." That's not good enough anymore. Or actually, you should go the other way around or the reverse way and say, "I'm going to ditch anything that's AI." That would be actually more attractive. Also, I think recently, I was talking to Doc over lunch today, and talking about Paul Logan's anti-VC fund. That's a very interesting and clever move, because I do think that attention is getting more and more valuable, especially as we get more and more AI slop. The people will just follow familiar faces, and faces that you can actually believe in. So if you have even a small kind of network that you can say, "These guys will follow me no matter what," I think that kind of influence could be something that would act as an early signal that, okay, maybe this guy can become an opinion leader and make a bet that's actually audacious enough to attract young talent that could follow him. I think that's something that a lot of investors would be interested in. Host: They actually pose a very interesting question in the "20VC" episode saying, can the influencer become the VC first, or can VCs become influencers first? Does Ventures invest in GPs, early GPs? Ethan Cho: I think we do, but occasionally. It's nothing that we do on a regular basis, but we do look at them, and we do evaluate such investment opportunities for sure. Host: Would the metrics to evaluate such GPs be different from evaluating startups? Ethan Cho: No. I think people comes first. My framework is always three questions. Why this? Why now? Why you? If you can answer really good questions on all three, then definitely we have to talk more. If you're not prepared enough, then we have to go back to the drawing board. Host: I think we've talked enough about raising money- so I'll move our conversation onto deployment- of these capital. Ethan Cho: Yeah, the fun part. Host: Yeah. So I'll start with the deal sourcing, because you need something to invest in and- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: first, right? So, D Ventures, where do you guys source deals? Ethan Cho: I think the first one, as I mentioned, is we have an open door policy. People come towards us. It's inbound, a ton of inbound. Second is because the other two partners are from entrepreneurship, they have a lot of networks that are in existing entrepreneurs, so they get founder referrals a lot. And actually, to be honest, our favorite type is the serial entrepreneur, who knows how hard this is. It's regardless of whether they have succeeded with the last trial. If you have tried this and you have either succeeded or failed, please come to us. We want to talk to you. That's one of our definitely hot criteria for us. Host: And what would you say is the defining core value in D Ventures' investment thesis? Ethan Cho: So what are we looking for basically, right? I think- Two things. One is how significantly different are you from existing solutions? Second is this repeatable? Can you quantify this? The reason on the second part, the first one is pretty obvious. It's the "Zero to One," Peter Thiel loves, basically. The second one is because there's a high chance that you will pivot, and even if you do pivot, we want to see that you actually know how to accumulate that data and actually evolve from the former version of you. Because we've seen many cases where people just go in circles and do the same things over and over and over again without actually growing. So we want to see that you know how to handle data. It doesn't have to be in an Excel spreadsheet. It can be any way. It can be in a back of the envelope, kind of like scripts. But basically, can you actually learn from your mistakes and move on? That's one thing that we closely follow. Host: Checking on these components, I would like to talk about the due diligence process- that you guys do. Of course, there's Viki, but I am sure there are human judgment- on it, too. So when you guys are performing due diligence on a deep tech, wet tech company where you need a very prolonged education or experience, how do you guys perform due diligence? Ethan Cho: Actually, we don't do deep tech or wet tech investments. Host: Oh, okay. Ethan Cho: So yeah, we'll pass on this one. Host: Okay. So you guys are implementing Viki- from the investor side. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: I'd like to bring your attention to usage of AI from founder side. So it seems to be a newly emerging concerns among investors, possibly. So there's this term called ideological fraud- where the founders use AI to kind of make a comprehensive report of what the LPs or the VC fund they're about to pitch are looking for- and kind of frame their- Ethan Cho: Yeah, I can imagine Host: narrative to align. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: What is your take on it? Ethan Cho: You mean whether it's good or bad, or? Host: Would you think this is an authentic way of preparing for a pitch? Ethan Cho: You can use it, but I think most skilled or seasoned investors will quickly disarm you from that clean sentence because first of all, yes, we will notice if something has been built by AI. I don't know, maybe I'm going to be proven wrong in a week or two, but still until now, we know whether this is actually, I wouldn't say fabricated, but built from AI or written by human beings. I think there's still a difference. And even if the sentence is clean and glitters, when we start talking to you, we will find out whether you actually understand the sentence or not. Or we can easily, I think, break it down for now. So, making that sentence from AI, I don't think is a vice. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: But you have to know what it means. If you don't, I would rather see a sentence that is not grammatically correct, but at least it's from your mouth. That's much more valuable for me. Host: On the topic of discerning- so this is about knowledge, too, right? But when you see startup founders that approach you or The Ventures for funding, how do you distinguish, say, tourists or a bit less committed founders from actually committed founders who invest all their effort into what they're building? Ethan Cho: Yeah. Well, for us, for our existing process, I think we easily see through that through the memorandums that they submit. The deck can be perfect, the deck can be outsourced by a professional outside of the firm. But we ask certain questions like, what was your motivation to actually build this? Give me more explanation of how you met your teammates, et cetera. I think those things, unless they're really honest and original, it sounds awkward or empty. So in that cases, we can see that this is something that either they haven't thought through this very much or they're not serious about this. So in that case, we give it a pass. Host: Has there ever been a startup that approached you with a problem or solution that seemed perfect on their decks, and pitches, too, but once you started Q&A session, didn't seem so much? Ethan Cho: We do see them quite frequently, actually. Host: I see. Ethan Cho: So yeah. I think certain things, we kind of think them as unnecessary, I wouldn't say evil, but some necessary experiences because there are people who say that, not per se, but they say basically something along the lines of, "We've cured cancer." We do want to meet them if they seem at least remotely reliable. But we definitely look at them in a more skeptical lens, try to figure out what's true or not. So, giving a bold statement is great, but we will be more picky in that case. Host: Moving on to a different section of questions. Ethan Cho: Sure, yeah. Host: Does The Ventures have a ideal market size that you guys want your portfolio companies to target? Ethan Cho: No, we don't have a sweet spot. I think, there's always a trade-off. If you're looking at a smaller space, you should be trying to get larger market share. If you're looking at a larger space, lesser market share is fine, but you have to admit that everybody wants a piece of that cake. So, you have to be very clear about how you're going to approach that. Host: Let's move on to the people that's behind the startups. Ethan Cho: Sure. Host: Right. And it's also covered in your website that you guys look at the people first. Well, products too, but people first. And since early-stage investment is about the people- do you have an ideal founder background/skill set? Ethan Cho: No. The short answer is no. But for instance, we don't want people... Well, we don't-- a strong sentence. But we are careful when we look at people who come straight out from, let's say, Samsung, because he or she does not know what they're getting themselves into. So we want to see if he or she actually has some experience in the startup world. The second part that I personally am more careful about is for Korean men, the men who haven't fulfilled their military duty yet. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: I do kind of put that as a yellow flag, only because they have to be absent for 18 months. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: And 18 months for an early-stage startup is quite critical. If you're in stage C or D, yeah, you can have the other partners run the show. But seed or Series A, 18 months is very bumpy, so I'm more careful about that too. Host: Okay. So I would like to bring a question that was for later earlier on- Ethan Cho: Yeah, sure Host: because I think it's relevant. Would you think that educational background is not a deciding factor on whether a founder would be successful? Ethan Cho: I don't think it's a critical factor. It's not about the diploma that you got, but your footsteps that arriving here, what kind of footsteps have you actually made through this journey? I'm not looking for a diploma, but if you are somebody that has proven that you are worthy of adding value to the world or building something that's meaningful for mankind without a diploma, that's even better. Host: Let's move on to the team composition. Ethan Cho: Sure. Host: So I was doing research on the company too, and I read an interview that Kim Daehun- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: another partner and the representative of the Vietnam office at The Ventures, has said that he only invests in startup team that is two and up. So no solo VC, which-- Or startup team, which could be considered contrarian, right? Because I'm seeing a lot of discourse nowadays- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: that with advancement of technology, especially in AI, it enables a lot of solo developers- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: to build- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: startups- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: by themselves. So do you follow the same principle? Ethan Cho: No. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: I think solopreneurs will-- There's going to be more and more. So I think it's fine to be -- Excuse me. It's fine to be a solopreneur. I think the reason that Chris Daehun actually said this is because Chris and Sean, who's our CEO- Host: Right Ethan Cho: they co-founded Sellit. Host: Yeah. Ethan Cho: The sector that they were in was secondhand marketplace. Right? And that's a very manual and labor-heavy sector, and because of that, I can easily imagine they had their lonely nights, they had their kind of vicious ups and downs. So I think as comrades, they're very close, and I do understand that they were emotionally supporting each other, which is obviously critical. In the AI era, I think there's going to be a difference. I think that there's still going to be a lot of people out there that need teammates and need comrades to plow through the challenges. But in AI, I think there will be more solopreneurs who also excel at their jobs. So I'm not limiting myself to two and above. Host: If you were to look at multiple teams, however- would you say there is an ideal co-founder relationship that you are looking for? Like for example, they were friends since high school, or they are just work friends. Ethan Cho: Yeah. I think a longer relationship is more favorable to me at least, because you will fight. You will fight with your co-founder one way or another. It's only a matter of when, not a matter of whether. So, if you had a decade-plus long relationship, for instance, with your co-founder, you already have a protocol to actually kind of put out the steam. Whereas if you just met a month ago at a mixer, chances are your first fight could be quite vicious, and you kind of break up. So we do tend to be a little bit more favorable towards the longer relationships. Host: I think you kind of answered my next question, but just for the sake of visiting it- Ethan Cho: Sure Host: would you prefer a harmonious team where each team member seems to know what the other is thinking ahead and they work like a cog in a machine, versus, say, a team that is constantly in disagreement, but these disagreements are very high and intense and intellectual discourse that there's a lot of innovations coming out of that? Ethan Cho: Both are great as long as you're successful. But if I had to choose, I would choose the former because fighting and disagreeing, although sometimes it can be very productive, most times it's not as productive. It's counterproductive, and it just drains a lot of your energy. So, if they achieve the same results, for instance, I would prefer a more harmonious team. Yeah. Host: And this is going to be a question that a lot of student founders should take notes of. So what mistakes do student founders, especially when they come to The Ventures What kind of mistakes do they make when they pitch? Ethan Cho: It's not just student founders. I think it's more about first-time founders. Host: Okay. Ethan Cho: Being more generic, I think they know their script by heart, but they do not expect what questions they'll get. Someday, I can give some kind of overview of what questions you should expect, because a certain founder or team image gives away or invites a certain set of questions. For instance, if you're in AI and you're doing, let's say, image generation, the first question is going to be, "What's your differentiation versus Sora?" There's going to be a bunch of questions that are pretty standard, and if you don't digest them very well- just people will think that you're less prepared or less confident. So, I think one way to tackle this, in a very practical standpoint is, start with your least favorite VCs, if there is such, or even VCs that said that clearly they won't invest in you. Just ask them, "Can I then at least do a kind of pitch in front of you as a practice?" And then move towards the ones that actually matter more to you or most to you. In that case, you will learn along the way and when you arrive at your most desirable pitch, you'll be prepared. Host: And these type of practices kind of show you how much the founders are committed to- Ethan Cho: Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. Host: Let's see. Okay. So we are seeing a lot of founders in San Francisco and Korea. And a trend that we've been seeing is that there are more and more student founders in Silicon Valley that's backed by bigger venture capital firms. So is this some kind of a trend that's going on everywhere? Is it a thing in Korea, too? Are there more student founders backed by VCs based in Pangyo? Ethan Cho: Honest-- Well, I think that's the right direction, for sure. Also, I think the military thing is an issue, really. Host: I see. Ethan Cho: Honestly, I think it's just too easy of a reason to say no as an investor. If I go into a meeting knowing that I have one option to very easily say no, then the investor tilts towards that option. That's kind of the brutal reality on the ground. After military service, I think is the prime time. The one regret that I have about my personal career is that I never went into entrepreneurship when I was a much younger kid. If I went back in time, I would've given a shot. So I do definitely encourage a lot of people out there to try it out in their 20s if possible, even in their early 30s. I wouldn't say it's failure-proof. But there are ways to try and not make it and just come back to the normal job-seeking or job-hunting world if you want to. I can't vouch for this, but there's another route that a lot of people pursue, which is try to do entrepreneurship and come back into venture capital. That's an option that a lot of people do as well. So, I think there are options out there. So, it's not an easy route. Talk to people as much as you can. Get advice. So I think that it's an option that we should definitely put more and more interest into. Host: You talked about rejection a bit earlier. And I am interested in hearing your advice for saying no. So at 18VCs, and you talked about track record being a metric that you guys might see if you invest in new GPs. So what we are doing at 18VC is when we invite guests and do an episode recording with them, me and two of my co-founders do an internal meeting to decide whether we should invest or not- depending on how we think about the company. And I occasionally worry that I give wrong signals to these companies by saying no- because there might be signals that I might be missing, but they actually do have. So what would you say is a good way to go about making these kind of decisions without hurting the long-term relationship with the- Ethan Cho: Yeah, that's a super tricky one. My personal pattern is that, I think you're just not prepared yet. But I am personally interested in your ideas. I do want to give more advice. I do want to make you more connections, so please do reach out. I do try to keep the network alive because not only did I see a lot of deals that I passed become successful later on, but especially in Korea, we're living in a small world. So, I try to keep the connections positive, keep the relationships positive, alive, and try to give out as much help as possible. A lot of those founders that I passed on now are public company CEOs. We do still talk a lot, and I think keeping everything positive is definitely important for both sides. Don't be too sour about the fact that you got rejected, because c'est la vie. That happens. I think at the same time, that kind of shows your maturity on handling rejection, and you have to get used to that. Life is composed of endless rejections, so- you're growing through that. Host: As we move toward closing, I would like to talk more about the exit strategies- Ethan Cho: Yeah, sure Host: Venture 準 備 s prepares for its portfolio companies. So when you invest at seed, how much do you think about exit paths? Ethan Cho: Oh, a lot. I think we try not to be too optimistic. We don't think that your company's going to go public in five years- after the first capital injection. We do think about whether there's a chance for acquisition for this company. As I mentioned earlier, if this is a sector, let's say for instance, one thing that a lot of Korean students are interested in that, but is not happening in Korea, is Polymarket or Kalshi. Everybody wants to do that. Not happening. Nobody's going to let you do that unless you become on the other side of the fence. So, those kind of things are, yes, it's exciting. We think it's fun too, but there's zero chance that you're going to get listed. So, we just can't invest in them. So that's kind of the pattern that we think about. Host: Regarding your relationship with the portfolio companies- do you guys take secondaries off? Ethan Cho: We do. We do secondaries. We buy secondaries. We sell secondaries. I think that's another very underserved market in Korea. Host: Oh. Ethan Cho: Personally, I think it needs to be much larger, hopefully with the help of non-Korean capital, because the Korean capital right now, especially the government money, is much more geared towards making fresh capital injections rather than secondary transactions. Host: Oh, okay. Ethan Cho: So I think there's huge potential there, and I'm trying to invite a lot more LPs into that secondary market as well. Host: On the topic of secondary- you also noted this in your Substack report. Again, this is very important, so you guys should all read it. You think this is a possible exit strategy for the founders to introduce foreign investors. When you connect these startup founders in Korea to these foreign investors, how do you differentiate between sharks and those who are actually interested in working with them? Ethan Cho: To be honest, the Korean waters are still so clear that there's not enough sharks there. I would even want to see a shark. Right now, not enough sharks or anything there. But, that's a good question. I think that's one of the reasons that a lot of Korean VCs, including us, start with the more prominent firms, that are well discovered or noted in the industry, is that we just don't want to hand our flock of sheeps to wolves. Host: Wow. Ethan Cho: So that, we do be careful about. But until now, I think we haven't seen a lot of that predatory kind of transactions yet. So I'm less worried than maybe five years down the road. Host: So, for another challenges that founders should look out for, and it might be a little sensitive topic- so you can steer away if you're uncomfortable. It's regarding geopolitics. Ethan Cho: Yeah, sure. Host: In another one of your Substack reports, you talked about Meta's acquisition by Meta. And you kind of pointed out that there is this risk regarding what kind of companies are investing into it. And in fact, the acquisition- Ethan Cho: Yeah Host: got canceled in April, right, because of concerns regarding tech link. Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: Do you think Korean startups should be wary of such a predicament? So when they are planning or when they are in operation/building their business, should they plan ahead on what kind of regional investments they want to receive? Ethan Cho: Yes and no. First of all, you can't really predict or steer which kind of investments you can get at the end of the day. But, as an entrepreneur in your own sector, let's say if you were an AI startup, you should know that there's going to be some sensitivity in terms of data. For instance, EU is the most sensitive region right now. Host: Right. Ethan Cho: So you should know what is going to affect the other decisions that you make down the road. So you should know the basics, but you shouldn't be too confined in which kind of investors you will engage with because down the road, that decision may not ultimately be yours anyway. So don't be too strapped down by that. Host: Moving on towards closing- Ethan Cho: Yeah. Host: Okay. I'll be very quick. Ethan Cho: Sure. Host: So just as a closing out advice for the audience that is watching this video, what advice would you give to students that's paving their own way into this VC space? Ethan Cho: Students. Wow. I'm always very careful when I'm giving advice to younger people. I talk random shit when I talk to older people. But, first of all, if you can, definitely try something on your own. Build a startup if you can. If you have something. And I think the goal of building your own startup should not be building a unicorn. That's just the side product from it. It should be on testing your idea against the market. If the market says yes, congratulations, you can be the next Elon Musk. If not, that's a big lesson. You have learned it the very hard way, and there's just not enough people in the world who have had that experience of getting rejected. So definitely do that. Second thing is, as you develop the idea, definitely talk to as many people as possible, because more than you think, there are people who want to give you advice and talk about your idea. So do that. The third thing is, stay positive, because the world will always evolve. You may fail on this step, but the next step is always heading upwards. So, the time will come when you actually have a much better idea, and give it another shot. So, keep your heads up high. Keep building, keep trying, even if you come back into the normal job world and you work eight to six hours. Keep that builder's spirit alive on your weekends, on your late nights. And as long as you keep on doing that, one thing, as a final footnote, is that that kind of spirit is one thing that AI can never copy. Because AI will, yes, copy your daily workflow and your repeated habits- but your instinct of trying something new cannot be mass-produced by AI. So I think you should definitely follow that route. Host: Thank you, Ethan- Ethan Cho: Thank you, David Host: for your philosophies and thoughts today. Ethan Cho: Thank you. Host: Okay. That's it.