The Startup Alliance (Director Lee Ki-dae) hosted the "Koreans in Silicon Valley 2025" event at Korea University on the 11th. "Koreans in Silicon Valley" is a conference that provides a platform to hear directly from Korean entrepreneurs and practitioners active across the United States, and is now in its 13th year.
This year's event was co-hosted with the Korea University Smart Media Service Research Center (Director: Professor Kim Seong-cheol of the Department of Media and Communication at Korea University). Unlike previous years, the panel of speakers was primarily non-developers, aiming to broadly share the experiences of Koreans working in the United States with students and practitioners from various fields.
The first session, "Designing Your Career on the Global Stage," featured three speakers building their careers in American companies. Business Insider reporter Kim Eui-jun, Google Gemini senior product marketing manager Lee Hye-jin, and Figma product designer Kim Jun-sik shared survival strategies and growth strategies for the US market. The panel discussion was moderated by Hankook Ilbo reporter Lee Seo-hee, who organically connected the experiences of all three speakers.
The second session, which followed, featured an entrepreneurship session titled "Startups, Why Silicon Valley?" Cladis CEO Ahn Sung-ho, EO Studio CEO Kim Tae-yong, and Twelve Labs PM Yoon Eun-kyung participated, sharing their vivid local experiences on business opportunities, market culture, and the investment ecosystem in Silicon Valley. The panel discussion, moderated by SparkLabs Managing Director Lee Hee-yoon, provided a platform for startups to share their struggles and practical tips for expanding into the US market.
Lee Ki-dae, director of the Startup Alliance, said, “With the law revised last year to allow foreign startups to receive domestic VC investment, major changes are expected in the startup ecosystem,” adding, “The word ‘Silicon Valley’ may sound a bit cliché, but it is still an important subject for us to learn from even in the AI era.”
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