(image: KobizMedia/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, April 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Most senior tech entrepreneurs established their own businesses on the basis of their experience at previous jobs, a survey showed Monday.
The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade conducted a survey of 222 tech founders older than 40 years old, who established their own businesses in the areas of manufacturing, manufacturing-related services and knowledge services.
On average, they started thinking about establishing their own business at the age of 47.3 and actually set up their own business at the age of 50.8.
Before establishing their own business, 43.2 percent of the entrepreneurs were engaged in manufacturing, followed by 41.4 percent in non-manufacturing industries.
At 84.6 percent, the vast majority of the founders were from private companies, while 15.3 percent worked for public institutions, universities or research centers or were unemployed.
Classified by the department they worked in before establishing their own business, technical and research departments came on top at 30.6 percent, followed by marketing at 25 percent and management and administration at 25 percent.
The motive behind their decision to start their own business was the desire to run their own business after retirement (40.1 percent), the use of techniques and knowledge acquired at previous jobs (29.7 percent), and the expectation of economic success (22.5 percent).
Most of the founders (46.1 percent) used their own money, including severance pay, as the seed fund for their business, followed by the government’s new business support funds (29 percent), bank loans (19.4 percent) and venture funds, including angel and venture capital (2 percent).
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
