A home in East Asia for a week!
Kimchi, chopsticks, karaoke and tons of video games: what do all this stuff remind you? Good answer! Thanks to Google For Entrepreneurs Exchange Program (GfeExchange), Mash&Co team was hosted by Campus Seoul in South Korea from 8th to 16th November.
As first post, we decided to tell you about our experience in South Korea, as one of the selected startups participating in the GfeExchange, at the newly opened Campus Seoul, dedicated to gaming.
The program
GfeExchange is a week-long immersion program that bridges the gap between a limited number of start-ups from around the world and experts and new markets.
Start-ups spend seven days at the various Google campuses, dedicated to different domains. This year the program is held in Seoul, London, Dubai and San Francisco, respectively oriented towards gaming, tech fashion, travel start-ups, and for those eager to scale up.
Mash&Co is a start-up and namesake trans-media app, aimed at teaching preschoolers social values and eco awareness.
The selected start-ups at Campus Seoul along with Mash&Co were: Gamerlink (Canada), Kongdoo Company (South Korea), Pandascore (France), Rockitt (United Kingdom), SixMinute (Ireland).
The program took place in the district of Gangnam, the financial heart of Seoul. Then in Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. There, we had the opportunity to participate in the G-Star, one of the biggest events in the world of gaming in Asia, where we found out a large presence of university projects as well.
Also we participated in the Google Play Connect, a networking event with different realities from throughout East Asia and beyond.
Moreover, mentors and partners of 500 Startups have followed us during the week, giving us precious advice and feedbacks about our start-up, our pitches and business models.
It was definitely a considerable learning experience. In fact, the world of gaming in South Korea and Asia is well integrated in the context of everyday life. Just think about of the popular PC Bangs!
We had the opportunity to understand the differences compared to Europe. That will surely become an inspiration for new ideas, from all points of view.
We miss those delicious Korean lunches and dinners, the karaoke evening, the times when the official photographer followed us everywhere, making us feeling like celebrities 🙂
Most of all we miss the people: the Google team represented by Jeffrey, Yoonmin, Jeff helped by Jason and Josh from mplanners. Also the guys of 500 Startups Matt, Min, Edith, and all the new friends and colleagues whom we shared this experience with: Joyce, Andrew, John, Flavien, Jonathan, Ryan, Deion, Josh and Kyungjong.
Gomabseubnida!
Thank you!