My interest in startup accelerators and my eyes were opened not while working in Silicon Valley, but when I was invited by a Palestinian startup accelerator and met with startups. In fact, when I worked at a large corporation, I perceived startups as simply small companies striving to survive in the market with innovative core products or services. Among them, if we judged that a product or service was proven and the company could sustain itself, we sometimes formed partnerships with them, becoming early customers and establishing business partnerships. I was primarily interested in startups offering solutions for game marketing, using them as new marketing channels to analyze marketing data or conduct sales promotions. However, becoming an instructor for an accelerator program in Palestine and advising founders on business matters gave me a completely different perspective on startups. Then, by chance, I made an angel investment in a startup accelerator in the gaming field I was interested in. Attending a conference in Hawaii, I witnessed a game studio I had recommended win the pitching competition. This experience gave me an investor’s perspective.

After leaving the Gyeonggi Creative Economy Innovation Center, my interest in startups only grew. Joining a specialized game startup accelerator as a co-CEO to leverage the experience and network I built while planning and running government startup support programs felt like a natural next step. Whereas I had previously sought out viable games from a game publisher’s standpoint, at the startup accelerator, I invested in game studios with that potential and supported them in getting picked up by game publishers or launching their own publishing ventures. Meeting numerous startup founders who pitched their game business ideas—explaining the market potential and uniqueness of their content, along with their launch strategies, operational plans, and marketing roadmaps—and collaborating to create hit games was an exciting process. Moreover, since a foreign colleague I had recommended a year prior was already working at the game accelerator, the team chemistry was good, and the initial start seemed promising.

However, during the process of investing in game studios, conflicts of interest arose, leading to doubts about the investment business. I felt it wasn’t the right fit for me, so I considered it a valuable experience and resigned a few months later. Then, I realized that the company where I was a minority shareholder was increasing labor costs while assigning me tasks far removed from my business development expertise. This seemed inefficient. Reflecting on it, I felt like I was essentially volunteering for free at the company while getting paid with my own money. Instead, I thought it would be more efficient to act as an external advisor to the company. This way, I could continue building my career while receiving a proper salary from another company. My brief experience at the startup accelerator allowed me to gain insights into the revenue structure of the accelerator business and industry practices – know-how only accessible from within the company. Ultimately, it was a valuable learning opportunity that reinforced how, since a startup accelerator is also a business, the core of the accelerator business lies in building a sustainable revenue model and establishing funds capable of seed investment.