Press

STAKEOUT FOOD TRUCK\n\n'10,000 Won Hourly Wage' Part-Time Job Recruitment... CEO Baek Sang-hoon of 'Stakeout'\n\n'We are recruiting young part-time workers at 10,000 won per hour.'\n\nA part-time job posting that appeared on social media in April last year heated up online discussions. This year's minimum wage is 6,470 won per hour, which was lower at 6,030 won last year. Yet the proposal was even more striking—work while eating delicious steak whenever you want. It was natural that applications poured in like clouds.\n\nBehind this posting was 'Stakeout,' a food truck business with the motto of selling high-quality steaks available only at luxury restaurants at affordable prices. What was even more surprising was that Stakeout was a startup created by young entrepreneurs.\n\nStakeout still maintains an hourly wage of 10,000 won for part-time workers. This is the consistent determination of CEO Baek Sang-hoon (26), who co-founded Stakeout with two friends. The reason is his desire to address youth challenges from the perspective of a fellow youth. CEO Baek said, "I wanted to play a role in solving young people's concerns, and I believed that those working hard together deserved fair compensation. When we set a good hourly wage, our part-time worker friends worked harder, which increased work efficiency."\n\nHis motivation to start Stakeout came from a simple experience. After going to a delicious steakhouse and turning back due to a long line, he ate hotteok sold from a truck and came up with the business idea. By diligently saving ROTC training allowances to secure 2 million won and receiving help from two friends, Stakeout, which began as a reckless challenge, has now transformed into a 'big success' business, generating nearly 50 million won in monthly sales at its peak.\n\nBehind this success was CEO Baek's unwavering management philosophy. It is his principle to use only top-grade refrigerated beef, and by prioritizing taste and price, the business quickly gained word-of-mouth reputation. Now it has become a regular favorite at university festivals, night markets, and various other events, drawing sensational popularity.\n\nCEO Baek did not stop there. In October last year, he visited the United States, the birthplace of steak, to explore the possibility of Stakeout's expansion. He recalled, "It was a reckless decision to turn my vague dream of expanding globally into reality, and while there were many difficulties, I had a precious experience like no other."\n\nStakeout will expand its business to offline stores in March. CEO Baek said, "We will present a differentiated concept that has never been seen in Korea before."\n\nInnovation Born from Questions About Phone Bills... CEO Min Jae-myung of 'AdRing'\n\n15 patent technology transfers from large corporations, selection as a promising ICT company by the Ministry of Future Creation and Science 'K-Global 300,' the highest award in smart advertising at the Next Generation Media Awards, 400 million won in angel investment, and registration on the Korea Exchange's Startup Market (KSM), the first for a startup. All of these achievements were made in just two years since founding.\n\n'AdRing,' a voice advertising reward app developed and released by CEO Min Jae-myung of AdRing (29) in September 2014, has surpassed 120,000 downloads on Google Play Store. It is a revolutionary app that accumulates points when listening to voice ads while making calls, allowing users to receive discounts on communication fees.\n\nAdRing's development began with a fundamental question about the 'communication fees' we pay without much thought. CEO Min said, "A friend once couldn't pay their phone bill and the service was cut off, and I was so worried I couldn't reach them that I felt somewhat uneasy. Now that communication itself has become a means of survival, it can be considered a 'public good,' yet communication fees themselves are too expensive. That's why I jumped into app development."\n\nBased on such outstanding technological capabilities, AdRing received proposals from large corporations and achieved outstanding results at various awards ceremonies. However, a crisis hit AdRing last year. While the number of app users grew rapidly, advertisers and content were not secured. Voice ads increasingly came to be viewed as spam, and the market size shrank. Companies competing with AdRing had all closed or switched to other businesses.\n\nHowever, CEO Min views this crisis as a new opportunity. He has already succeeded in developing a new smart advertising platform called 'AdRing Touch.' Instead of voice ads, the system uses small pop-up windows with speech bubbles to deliver advertisements when the app is installed. This not only relieves the inconvenience of voice but also allows points to be accumulated with just one touch, earning praise as a groundbreaking idea. Even before official launch, he is already achieving results by signing contracts with advertisers.\n\nDespite this, CEO Min still does not receive a salary. His bold aspiration is to produce better results and confidently receive a salary in front of employees and investors. CEO Min said, "While doing business, there is no set method for success, but I've learned there is a set method for failure. As I enter my last year of my 20s, I want to create a good example as a young entrepreneur, so I will not give up and face the future with confidence."\n\nYouth Social Enterprise 'Underdogs'\n\nCultivating 'Innovators' to Change the World, Not Just Young Entrepreneurs\n\nThe dictionary definition of 'Underdog' refers to the weak who have little chance of winning or succeeding. Korea's 'social ventures' are the same. Social ventures, commonly known as social enterprises, must pursue two rabbits at once—social values represented by public interest and business values represented by profit—making success rates inevitably low. However, the passion of young people dreaming of a better world is becoming an unstoppable driving force pushing into the social venture market.\n\n'Underdogs,' which opened in April 2015, is a social enterprise established to provide young people dreaming of social ventures with the right direction. Rather than simply cultivating young entrepreneurs, it aims to fundamentally identify social problems, discover innovations never seen before in the world, and nurture talent that can lead substantive change.\n\nThe six-week 'Underdogs Military School' run by Underdogs...