Finishing Round 1 of a Government Startup Program — It Ended Right When It Got Interesting

I got into this almost by accident.

There was no grand plan behind applying to Korea's "Modoo Startup Project," a government-backed early-stage program. I saw the announcement and put something in thinking it'd be nice if it worked out. Then it did. I finished round 1 and didn't advance to round 2.

Honestly, it was a lot at first

Once I was in, the work kept coming. Things to submit, things to prepare, dates to hit. I already had a business to run, and this landed on top of it. It was heavy, it was tiring, and honestly it was a chore.

I'd say this plainly to anyone considering a program like this: support programs don't only give you things — they come with things you have to do. I didn't think that part through before starting.

Then the mentoring changed it

I met one-on-one with a VC investment associate four times. At first it was just another obligation on the calendar. But as the sessions stacked up, I started enjoying it.

Each round exposed something I didn't know I didn't know, and filling those gaps one at a time was genuinely interesting. It gave me confidence, too. When you work alone there's nobody to check your judgment against. For two months, there was. That mattered more than I expected.

I wrote up what I took from those sessions separately.

And then it ended, right when it got good

It ended right when it got interesting.

The feeling that lingers isn't disappointment about not advancing — it's disappointment about the length. I keep thinking it should have run longer. I had just figured out what questions to ask, and the place to ask them went away.

I can't apply to the second cohort either

The second cohort is open now, and the rules changed in a way that matters for anyone in my position.

The catch is for people who have already registered a business. Per the announcement, an existing founder qualifies only as someone "within 7 years of business registration who intends to start a business in a different industry than their existing one."

That's where I'm stuck. Continuing in my current field doesn't qualify. Qualifying would mean shutting down what I'm doing and re-founding in a different industry.

I think that part is backwards

Closing a functioning business and switching industries in order to qualify for a support program — that doesn't make sense. The order is inverted. You take support to run your business; you don't rebuild your business to take support.

I understand why the condition exists. It's a government program, so it has to stop funds from going where they shouldn't, and stop established operators from double-dipping. The problems those rules guard against are real.

But the tighter the safeguards get, the more they catch the people the program set out to help. I applied to the first cohort as a pre-founder because I hadn't registered yet. I registered during the program. So doing exactly what the program exists to encourage is what disqualified me from the next round.

That won't be unique to me. If you applied to the first cohort as a pre-founder and registered a business since, you'll hit the same wall. If you're preparing to reapply, read the original announcement rather than a summary, and ask the operator if anything is ambiguous. Getting disqualified on eligibility erases all the preparation time.

I'm keeping it as a good experience

So I'm letting the second cohort go. I'm not closing a business to re-found one, and that's where this ends for me.

It's a shame, but it wasn't wasted time. For two months I had someone to ask, I learned what I didn't know, and I got some confidence back. If that's what these programs are for, then I got what was on offer.

If you're deciding whether to apply, I'd say do it. The overhead is real, but explaining work you've only done alone — and being questioned on it — earns its keep. Just read the eligibility rules all the way through before you start. You might hit the same wall I did on the next round.

If you'd rather start with minimum cost and no public funding, I wrote that up separately: You can build an MVP without government funding.