Podcast: Embed

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I was honored to be asked by Aving News to not only cover, but also judge the startups in South Korea. For the week, I was treated to sights and sounds, then treated to companies with neat ideas and cool products.

Along with other bloggers from around the world, I learned about culture, history, and how a company in Korea grows. Reality is: it’s no different than here in the U.S.

Best part is some of these companies that participated will be coming to the states and showing their products at CES 2019.

MIK 2018 was a day of pitches from new companies, and old. Technical products, to clothing, toys, and everything in-between. We scored each pitch with a possible 20 points – marketability, price, global marketability, and competitiveness. So each company needed to have their A-game on to get me interested in their product.

It got a little harder, as many of these companies did not speak english. I had an interpreter with me for each of the companies that spoke only Korean. I learned a little bit of the language, but not enough to understand.

During the breaks, we were treated to a magic show using drones and QR codes, and a high-end Korean fashion show. The lunch also brought new tastes to my palette, as much of the week in South Korea did.

After listening to 16 different companies pitch, we finally got to award winners. I chose Piva as my winner – a company with a device for phones to make recording public speakers and vloggers easier with your phone. The device is going through a major Kickstarter campaign right now.

An amazing trip, with a great event to boot. Thanks to Aving for hosting!