(image: KobizMedia/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) — About a half of corporate spin-off founders have master’s or doctorate degrees or a background in technical and research departments, a local think tank said.
The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade recently conducted a survey with the founders of 202 spin-off startups.
On average, the founders started thinking about establishing their own business when they were 40.4 years old and set up the startups when they were 43.4 years old.
By corporation size, the age of the founders averaged 45.1 years old for large companies, 44.8 years old for mid-sized companies and 40.9 years old for small and venture startups.
Among the founders, the share of those who had master’s or doctorate degrees stood at 41.6 percent, followed by those with bachelor’s degrees at 53.5 percent and those with less than university education at 4.9 percent.
Before establishing their own business, 58.4 percent of the founders worked in technical and research departments, far higher than those who worked in marketing, general affairs and management departments.
The preparation period stood at 21.9 months on average.
The primary motive for establishing their own business was self-realization at 44.6 percent, followed by a higher level of independence and freedom at 22.8 percent.
In other words, non-economic motives played a more important role than economic motives.
The seed money consisted of government support funds (35 percent), bank loans (21.4 percent) and parent company funds (20.1 percent). The share of angel and venture capital funds remained low at 8.9 percent.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
