ST.

MARY’S COLLEGE BAGANGA, INC

Conception Street, Baganga
Davao Oriental

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
HRELE 104

TASK SHEET 1

START- UP
DRAMA ANALYSIS

SUBMITTED TO:
DR: RALPH H. CELESTE

SUBMITTED BY:
ARNOLD M. MASUGOD
BSBA-3 HRMD
 Episode 1 “START-UP”

The show starts off with two sisters who have to choose between their soon-to-be-divorced
parents. Their parents were at odds with each other because their father wanted to start his own
business, whereas their mother wanted a stable life and didn’t believe in her husband’s business.
Bae Suzy who plays Seo Dal-mi, chooses her father whereas Kang Han-na who plays Seo In-jae,
choses her mother.

Pursuing profits in the early stage of a business is like drinking sea water. Over time, their
choices led to very different lives from one another. Their father successfully pitched his
business idea, which was a food delivery app like Grab, and secured investors but died in an
accident. So, Dal-mi ended up living with her grandmother who sells corn dog for a living
pushing her to take up all kinds of part-time jobs to feed themselves. They later meet in their
twenties at Sandbox, a place for techpreneurs to run their startup with mentor, an office and
staff for 6 months.

What I liked about the show is about learning terms that are relevant to the startup life. If you’re
a newbie in the startup and techpreneur world just what like in the show the Sandbox is a good
place to start and get entertain while you’re learning. Throughout the show, they would provide
definitions of words like venture capitalist (VC), accelerators, key man, angel investor, funding
round and more. These definitions would also relate to the scene that’s currently happening,
which makes it easier to process what these means and what they do.

The series does portray accurate facts on how startups work and software development, at least
at a high level. Startups are fast-growing businesses that aim to meet the demands of the
marketplace by developing innovative products, services, or platforms. As a startup, your
resources are limited. You can’t afford to waste time or money. A good project management
strategy saves both by making it possible to get more done in less time. A good project
management system makes it more likely that the startup will succeed. Communications
improves too. This is a major benefit for startups because communication issues are so
expensive.

Episode 1 of startup just spurs a realization that every experience learned and every feat
achieved in career building; flourish not just with passion and dream. It incidentally prospers
through commitment and tenacity by translating opportunities and ideas into action.

Episode 2 “FAMILY, FRIENDS, FOOLS”

The second episode is all about the struggles of mid-to-late 20s trying to survive in their careers
is very well portrayed in that beautiful train scene. Do-san trying not to let Ji-pyeongs harsh
assessment gets to him while others around him discuss about investment and buying houses and
cars; Dalmi browsing through Injaes seemingly perfect life after being basically trampled all
over by her company. The real Do-san is a struggling entrepreneur working on an image-
recognition technology for his start-up Samsan Tech.

Do-san and his partners in Samsan Tech are berated by Dos-san’s parents for failing to make a
return on their investment. But Do-san’s partners cling to the miniscule hope that they will win
the grand prize in the CODA competition for their image-recognition technology.

Startups need friends, family and fools, most entrepreneurs have learned that it’s almost always
quicker and easier to get cash from someone you know, rather than angel investors or
professional venture capitalists. In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some
investment from friends and family before they will even set up to the plate. Investors invest in
people, before they invest in ideas or products.

Friends and family members may want to support your business venture by lending or gifting
funds to you. In some cases friends or family may want to invest or purchase an ownership
interest in the business venture. This is the most basic form of crowdsourcing the business
venture. Each year between 35 - 40% of startup ventures receive capital from friends and family.
This group is commonly called friends, family, and fools. The reason fools are grouped into this
category relates to the risk associated with lending or investing in a seed venture. Generally,
these individuals are not sophisticated investors; rather, they invest in a foolish manner.

The portrayal of startup investments is very accurate. Firstly, VCs don’t invest in early stage
startups. Firstly, VC’s don’t invest in the first round of money to build prototypes etc. and VCs
get it only when they need to put in a minimum of 3-5mn after a full-fledged product is ready. I
like how Ji-pyeong didn’t invest in an early stage Samsan. That’s how it would be in real life.

Episode 3 “ANGEL”

At the party, Dal-mi pretends before her mother and In-jae that she’s romantically involved with
Do-san, her business partner. Grandma Choi tells Ji-pyeong that she will reveal everything to
Dal-mi, so as to keep her from relying on false hopes and dreams. Dal-mi resigns from her job
and tells Do-san that she will establish her own company. Meanwhile, In-jae’s stepfather tells
her that she must give away for her stepbrother, Sang-su, who will now become the CEO of the
Morning Group.

Do-san assures Ji-pyeong that they can make things work for Dal-mi’s sake. Ji-pyeong says,
however, that Samsan Tech has no business model that can attract investors and that Sand Box
will not accept Samsan Tech into its residency program, but then, they get the news that Samsan
Tech has won the CODA competition.
“An investor who invests in budding start-ups and provides mentorship” An angel investor is
usually a high-net – worth individual who funds startups at the early stages, often with their own
money. The support that angel investors provide startups fosters innovation which translates
into economic growth. It is normal for budding startups to seek the help of investors that would
help them. Angel investors are those who put their money in small startups or new
entrepreneurs. This is the most famous type of investors that most people may have heard about
before.

An angel investor might even be close to the startup owner, like friends or family. Angel
investment is normally either a one time-off funding for the business to propel, or an on-going
investment to support and take the company ahead in the initial stage. The reason is that angel
investors invest in the entrepreneur opening a business, and not the viability of the company.

In short, angel investors are always focused on helping the startups to grow in the initial stages
instead of obtaining a profit from it. As a matter of fact, angel investors are also referred to as
business angels, seed investors, private investors, angel funders, or information investors.

Episode 4 “Sandbox”

As investors begin showing their interest in Samsan Tech, Ji –pyeong warns Do-san and his
partners that they do not have the expertise in running a company or dealing with investors.
They we’re interested on their business model.

“A business model” conveys how a technology is to be commercialized by linking its technical

potential to the creation of economic value, often in the face of technical and market uncertainty.
Formulation of the business model involves assessment of customers, competitive product
offerings, and technological risks and opportunities.

VC (Venture Capital)- investor that provides capital to ventures.

 supporting current startup investment portfolio and venture team

 Focused on sourcing or directly entrepreneur-facing. Rather you will work to help
review, analyze, and prioritize existing deal flow.

Accelerating Center: Organization that invests in and trains start-ups

They built a general purpose computer vision algorithm which has applications for autonomous
vehicles, security, social applications like filters for Snapchat, and etc. In this episode they show
how unbelievable it is that their product is an extremely advanced computer vision algorithm.

Episode 5 “Hackathon”
In this episode they present their team’s ideas on the hackathon stage. The teams at the
hackathon are given 48 hours to come up with a product or service and present it to the Sandbox
panel

(A sprint-like event where participants team up to create a software business models)

Project Execution Stage- in this stage, a major portion of the project is works takes place. The
physical product is produced (for example, software, program, report and etc.) Time, cost and
specification measures are used for control.

The goal of a hackathon is to create functioning software or hardware by the end of the event.
Hackathons tend to have a specific focus, which can include the programming language used,
the operating system, an application, an API, or the subject and demographic group of the
programmers. Welcoming new comers is the hackathons organizer’s job to help them realize
they have something to contribute.

Episode 6 “Key Man”

A person who plays a key role in decision-making in an organization

The Samsan Tech team move into their assigned office in Sand Box. When they inquire about
their start-up fund of 100 million won, they immediately face a problem because Do-san and his
friends don’t know what “due diligence” is all about. (A due diligence is a risk management
process designed to enable you to decide if you should proceed with a project and, if so, how to
do so in a way that enables you to manage the social, economic and environmental risks).

Later, when they meet their mentor, the team members begin fighting with each other over the
number of shares for each member because their mentor says that 80% of the shares.

Episode 7” Burn Rate”

A burn rate is the rate at which a company is losing money. It is typically expressed in monthly
terms. Burn rate is used in project management to determine the rate at which hours (allocated
to a project) are being used to identify when work is going out of scope, or when efficiencies are
being lost.

Burn rate indicated how long-generally in months- a new company could stay in business with
no revenue and no additional funding events. The burn rate provided a time measure to the point
when the next funding event would have to occur, or when the company would run out of money.
Dal-mi discusses with her team how they should allocate their start-up fund so that it could
cover their expenses for the next six months. For their fund-raising projects, Do-san discusses
an app that fits with their image-recognition technology. But Dal-mi decides instead to submit
an AI (artificial intelligence) solution for the downsizing plan of The Morning Group.

Episode 8 “Backup”

A copy of data stored elsewhere to prepare for when the original is lost. This episode presents a
funding issue for Samsan Tech. At the start of episode 8, The Morning Group are preparing a
legal challenge due to Do-san’s outburst. Jung Sa-ha tells the team what she expects from the
solution. Do-san agrees, explaining that apps that are assistive need to be differential. And Dal-
mi then looks at a dog and lightly suggests that it would be great to understand what the dog is
looking and doing and that’s where Do-san suggest using image recognition and combining it
with voice recognition to help those with visual impairments.

The team are all excited about the prospects of merging their image-recognition app with voice
processing technology to help the visually impaired. But Ji-pyeong warns her that the higher the
DAU (Daily Average of Users), the higher the operating costs would be and that would scare the
investor away. With a new solution getting developed Dal-mi arranges various meetings with
potential investors to try and secure funding. Back at the office the developers are working hard
to get the solution right- it’s called NoonGil- It works as the guide dog’s eyes. When they test it
out with a blind user it works. With the success of the NoonGil app the team decided to upload
it. The solution has 97% success rate They want to upload it on the app store.

Episode 9 “Risk”

Identifying project risks and creating and implementing mitigation strategies in order to
minimize the impact of the project

CAN BE A GOOD OR BAD DEPENDING ON RISK FACTORS THAT COME WITH AN

INVESTMENT

When you start the planning process for a project, one of the first things you need to think about
is: what can go wrong? Issues will inevitably come up, and you need a mitigation strategy in
place to know how to manage risks on your project. A project risk management is the process of
identifying, analyzing and responding to any risk that arises over the life cycle of a project to
help the project remain on track and meet its goal.

Risk management isn’t reactive only; it should be part of the planning process to figure out risk
that might happen in the project and how to control that risk if it in fact occurs. A risk is
anything that could potentially impact the project’s timeline, performance or budget. Risks are
potentiality, and in a project management context, if they become realities they then become
classified as issues that must be addressed. So risk management, then, is the process of
identifying, categorizing, prioritizing and planning if risks before they become issues.

DEMO DAY: When Start-Ups can present their products and business models to investors.
Demo day it’s a common phrase for those in the startup or venture capital industry. It’s an event
organized by an incubator, accelerator, or in our case, a VC firm, whereby the founders of
startups formed with the help of that particular organization pitch their business to a room full
of investors, in the hope to secure investment. This usually represents the company’s sees round
and first external validation to our initial investment.

Episode 10 “Demo Day”

Regrets always come too late. When it comes to Ji-pyoeng that much is especially true as
episode 10 of Start-Up begins with Dal-mi telling him to be honest and explain everything. She
doesn’t want to be fooled anymore and asks exactly who wrote the letters all those years ago.

Demo day is coming up and as Dal-Mi leaves in the morning, Do-San happens to be there
waiting for her too. It is demo day and the team are left anxious about their company’s survival.
While Da-mi sits with the other teams she overhears In-jae taking ownership of her memory.
Upset at this, she confronted In-jae about her lie but In-jae tells her that she is a failure.
Hearing this, Do-san suddenly cuts in and tells In-jae to apologize.

(An Event Where Start-Ups Demonstrate their Products and Business Models to Investors).
Demo day is a 60 minute long session where product leaders and project managers demonstrate
new features that are currently in production. The owner of the project takes the stage to
introduce the new addition to our product and shows us how it works, live on the screen.

Episode 11 “Exit”

Episode 11 presents a tense period for Samsan Tech after they seem to land a proposition that’s
difficult to reject. The consequences of their new agreement will cause ramification. And demo
day is the core story of episode 11 and proves to be a turning point in the story. It’s a must win,
and the company that convinces investors secures funding. In-Jae present first and introduces
her Guardian AI solution that acts as a security system and detects suspicious activity.

Before the Samsan Tech’s presentation, they decide to tweak the accuracy rate and then fix it
later. Dal-mi presents the NoonGil application and how it benefits the lives of the visually
impaired.

Episode 12 “Acquire”

The act of buying out a company primarily to recruit its talent

Episode 12 of Start-Up begins with Ji-pyeong breaking the bad news to the rest of the team. Now
they realize with horror that Do-San and Dal-mi are signing away their company. Do-san
claims its fraud but he’s the one who signed the contract and agreed to these terms so he doesn’t
exactly have a leg to stand on. Even worse, NoonGil is now going to be disbanded.

Talent acquisitions can provide a relatively favorable exit strategy for employees, with prestige
of being bought by a larger company, combined with the typical process of hiring. Acqui-hiring
had become increasingly common in venture capital-backed startup companies, especially
within the competitive technology sector where skilled software engineers working for startups
were considered lucrative.

Typically, a company that performs a talent acquisition does not show an interest in the products
and services of the target, which results in them being discontinued upon the purchase. When
one company buys out the other one specifically to take the employees, it’s a popular strategy
with tech startups

Episode 13 “Comfort Zone”

Dal-mi and In-jae’s self-driving car is hit by a ransomware attack. Samsan Tech founders return
after a successful three-year stint in San Francisco.

Episode 14 “Elevator Speech”

Tasked with recruiting top developers into her company, Dal-mi pitches her idea at Samsan
Tech. The project manager and project team have one shared goal: to carry out the work of the
project for the purpose of meeting the project’s objectives. Every project has a beginning, a
middle period during which activities move the project toward completion, and an ending (either
successful or unsuccessful). A standard project typically has the following four major phases
(each with its own agenda of tasks and issues): initiation, planning, implementation and closure.
Taken together, these phases represent the path a project tasks from the beginning to its end and
are generally referred to as the project “life cycle”

Episode 15 “MVP Minimum Viable Product”

A product with enough features to attract early adopters and validate a product idea

A minimum viable product, or MVP, is a product with enough features to attract early-adopter
customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle. In industries such
as software, the MVP can help the product team receive user feedback as quickly as possible to
iterate and improve the product.
 Episode 16 “Scale Up”

The team envision new goals for their future.

The recruiting tactics of a successful company

HR is key

Episode 16 shows a mature, natural ending that involves success and closure, and brings an
aspect of realism to a show that bases itself on entrepreneurial flair and relationships.

During this phase the final closure or completion phase, the emphasis is on releasing the final
deliverables to the customer, handling over projects resources, and communicating the closure
of the project to all stakeholders. The last remaining step is to conduct lessons-learned studies to
examine what went well and what didn’t. Through this type of analysis, the wisdom of
experience is transferred back to the project organization, which will help future project teams.