Korea, Asia #1 market for e-scooter.

Flashback, 1yr ago

"Why are you launching Korea?" Toby and Wayne literally asked me that very same question. I replied, Well because it's harder to find someone who can launch than those who can speak the language : > I've done Launches many times before. for Projects, Research and Business. I know for sure, Korea will be the best and biggest market in Asia. Better than Japan or Hongkong (and Malaysia or Singapore). This is Why (no disclosure on unit economics and such)

Regulatory Landscape

Korean Gov is very pragmatic, pro business and supportive towards advancement. We got 100% buy-ins from the Gov officials to launch in any major cities. Seoul is very supportive, Jeju want to be the only city for us to sandbox with, Busan planning to commence study and run a sandbox program for us. Meeting all those Gov officials, basically I had the same meeting because All of them practically told me the same thing. Korea don't have any regulation or dedicated regulatory body for eScooter sharing. As long as the local entity is registered and the paperwork is complete, we could start our operation anytime.

Out of luck, I met a senior exec Gov Relation from one of the biggest and most respectable company who introduced me to a Mayor. As a result, Hwaseong wants to be the first city to partner with us. Feel very blessed when we make friends who went above and beyond. I'd mentioned the name if I was allowed : )

Market Research

It's a given, that Launcher need to take the role of Strategic Planner which requires diligence to get relevant data. So that we can Deduce, Infer and Extrapolate those findings to create action plans. The good news is, those data available for free, going back to 5-10 years. This is really important because when every major cities want to work with us, Where do we start?

My 2 assistants got their hands on Metro transaction data, Population density and Mapped out the competition (i.e. Product, Pricing, Placement and Promotion). From those data points, it's super clear that we need to launch in Seoul because it is the most populated city. We should start from the 3 busiest (adjacent) districts with high purchasing power (Gangnam, Songpa, Seocho). This is where we can truthfully solve their pain points by providing first and last mile solution. Although Lime would be operator #14 and priced 3.5x more expensive, we have the best "Leverage" which is our Supply. We have more scooters available than all of our competitors combined. Boom.

Partnership

Legendary Uber launchers always try to network with every living being (even when we don't speak the same language : D) More friends just means more opportunity : ) Through introduction and cold calls, we had great meetings from Hyundai, Hanhwa, GS, LG, KT, SK, CU, Lotte etc... The meeting with GS was very special, it led to 2 potential collaborations for multimillion dollar investment and partnership with largest network of gas station + convenience store. GS Caltex CEO is one of the first who rode our latest generation scooter - in his office!

Paperwork

Easy peasy. Registering local entity, Importation, Safety certification for the electric vehicles, etc... are pretty straight forward. The administration process is very simple like Singapore, it just that we need local assistant to translate the forms. Especially when working with Third Parties, all documents will be in local language. Therefore, it's best to work with a law firm that can sort the contracts. For example, contracts for Facilities, Manpower, etc... I met with 3 largest Law firm and i'd recommend you to get Lee & Koo. I had great impression because they came to the meeting well prepared, generous to share info and willing to work with startup.

Labour Law

Korean Government is very protective to the local labour. Furthermore, there are 3 type for outsource workers with specific sub classification that define their scope of work. The part that is not so straightforward, we cannot manage our contingent workers directly. Imagine that we need to hire a manager (also contingent worker) to convey our directions on our behalf. We can be in the same room but cannot work under the same roof with the contingent workers. So when we want to provide directions, the correct way to do so is by using questions (instead of instructing). For example, "Would it be better if it's done like this?" The most experienced agency for recruitment and managing these contingent worker, i'd recommend Michael Page or Manpower.

Trucking

The most efficient and affordable vehicle for trucking our scooters is the pickup model. From my math the economics is cheaper if we purchase the trucks ourselves. Alternatively there are few trucking partners who provide collection service with slightly more expensive cost and less flexibility, but more convenient on the management and less on risk. The way I look at this trucking part is a Hedge for Juicer program. and Juicer is a bigger story if we want to deep dive (i.e. Cohort, Performance Metric, SOP, etc...), probably in a different post.

In summary,

Korea is truly the best market for eScooter sharing in Asia. we can launch sooner than any other country in the region, because Gov is supportive and paperwork is straightforward. Operationally speaking, Korea has Large user base, Utilisation rate is high and unit economics work. Logistic is cheap. Not that big on gig economy but people are super eager to work. Strategic partnerships in Gov and Private sector could easily started from Cold Calls. and so many more reasons. Super strong and resilient market with One indisputable evidence: when Covid closed 99.99% Lime markets, Korea is the only 1 in the world that was still operating). I have no doubt that Korea Team will be the biggest and the most performing market in APAC (prior immediately after launch, Seoul was in top 10 Global market). Wish I could post our photo with Korea team, but some were in my office laptop -already returned ;__(

Credits

Thank you to all the colleagues and friends who helped and involved. Especially my 2 local assistants. Really helpful, as I was the first booth on the ground who never been there before, didn't know anybody, and cannot speak the language. We got most of our meetings for partnership in Private and Gov sectors through Cold Calls!

Also thanks to WeWork Samseong where we start our first office. Samseong team is very friendly and patient to accommodate our massive irregular walk-in guests.