Jin Young Kim, the CEO, was in charge of strategic planning at Softbank Media, a media affiliate of Softbank Korea in 1997, and served as Managing Director of Softbank Research & Consulting. In 2003, Kim established the Roa Group, a consulting firm specialized in the IT market such as wired and wireless communication / device, in Tokyo, Japan (Co-Founder). Kim then established Roa Consulting Korea corporation in 2004, and has led BM development and new business strategy consulting for 14 years for domestic leading mobile operators and device makers. Kim resigned as CEO of Roa Consulting in February 2017, and then founded his second founding, a separate independent corporation, Roa Invetion Lab (company name will be changed to The Invention Lab). He is currently sole CEO of Roa Invention Lab (accelerating brand is The Invention Lab), which fosters and discovers innovative technology-based startups and venture companies.

He has been interested in innovating business models since 2012. He designed and developed a business model game methodology based on gamification techniques, and has run business model planning / development / evaluation programs for large business executives and start-ups / venture companies. He intuited that the boundaries of industry were collapsing due to platform business models, and that traditional business models were being dismantled or the boundaries between industries are crumbling down with the advent of innovative technology startups, and has developed and operated a platform strategy research and workshop programs. The Invention Lab is a company established to directly carry out these efforts and ideas.

The Invention Lab was established to discover- foster -invest in platform startups pursuing technological innovation, and has developed a new start-up accelerating program from the Open Innovation strategic point of view, securing its position as an operating partner, along with large companies in the manufacturing, finance and telecommunications sectors (SK Telecom, KB Kookmin Card, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor Group, CJ Olive Networks, Samsung Fire, Kyobo Life Insurance, Welcome Financial group, etc. Establishment of purposeful angel investment association and joint seed investment with large companies, plan – develop – operate – result measurement- follow-up management of joint Open Innovation Program).

Kim received a Ph.D. with a research on the formation and evolution of two-sided market of mobile service platform (Ph.D., Business Administration, Kyung Hee University). Kim’s books include ‘Interrobang, the Innovation Icon that Changes the World (2011)’, ‘Vertical Platform Revolution (2012)’, ‘Business Model Game (2013)’, ‘Digital Transformation, how will you do it? (2017)’.
Graduated from Korea University, HSE (Helsinki School of Economics) MBA(E-Business major)

Vice President/partner, Jae-min Kang, started his career as an engineer at GM Daewoo. He has broadened his understanding of technology, markets and users based on his experience in a variety of industries, from digital products and contents creation, distribution, clothing and to advertising agencies

Based on his career, he focuses on developing BM and service that can maximize differentiated user experience and emotional value, and excels at creating growth indicators for early start-ups, including customer development and refinement of MVP tests. Moreover, he participates in Open Innovation Project of major corporations and leads PoC (Proof Of Concept) tests with the innovation team, start-up team, and the internal business team of the corporations.

He and Jin Young Kim jointly participated in the planning/ development of the ‘business model game’ methodology. He recently developed the lean startup package program, Invention Kit, for in-house ventures and start-up teams’ agile transformation and is expanding its application to large corporate in-house ventures, in-house startup teams, and in-house innovation organizations.

He led large corporate accelerating programs such as Hyundai Mobis M.Start Program and KB Kookmin Card Future9. Kang’s books include ‘Steve Jobs Story Graphics’ (2012, Co-authored by Seok gi Kim) and ‘Business Model Games’ (2013, Co-authored by Jin young Kim).

Graduated from Sungkyunkwan University (Industrial Engineering), SKK GSB (MIT Sloan School) MBA.

Seunghee Han, the team leader, is an expert who understands design, planning and start-ups best.
Han has worked on a number of branding consulting and design projects at branding agencies and UX design start-ups, based on her interest in branding and design thinking. Since then, she has participated in the start-up ecosystem and participated in the discovery and coaching of start-ups, opening of a start-up center, program planning operation and managed domestic start-up investment and Chinese IT trend report at Platum, the largest start-up media in Korea.

Her works include <Domestic Startup Investment Trend Report(2015, 2016, 2017)>, <China BAT Investment Trend Report(2014-5, 2016, 2017)>, <Platum China Report(New distribution, smart car, VR, etc.)>.

After joining The Invention Lab, Han leads the designing of Open Innovation Process and developing communication tools, as well as the design and operation of design thinking programs.

Bachelor of Visual Design, Hongik University

Yemi Yoo, PD, supports management in OI Advisory Group of The Invention Lab. Yoo became interested in startup ecosystem getting to know entrepreneurs and people from the ecosystem while covering KOICA’s ‘CTS (Creative Technology Solution)’ as an intern journalist of KOICA PR Department. Afterwards, Yoo worked as a manager of Hobbyful, managing ordering, production, and CS and experiencing growth of an early stage startup. With these experiences, Yoo is supporting OI Projects and management at The Invention Lab.

Bachelor of Journalism and Broadcasting, Donga University