Podium & Company CEO Wonchae Yi: "Leading startups to global expansion with AI solutions"
Interview with Yi Won-chae, CEO of Podium & Company
"We need a partner who can run together in the field for export practice"
CEO Wonchae Yi, who has nearly 30 years of global sales experience at major domestic companies such as Daewoo and POSCO International, now calls himself a ‘startup’s overseas expansion partner.’
Podium & Company aims to be an executable platform for startups to advance overseas, and recently signed a strategic MOU with Connect AI, an AI buyer discovery platform company .
The CEO says this has enabled “the combination of data-driven strategy and field experience.” We met with CEO Yi Won-chae to hear his vision for a new trade ecosystem.
Q. What was the biggest reason for founding Podium & Company?
A. As a Daewoo man with export DNA , I wanted to contribute through the second act of my life. As a Daewoo employee during the Kim Woo-choong era, I had pride in exports, and I wanted to use my experience of receiving the Minister’s Award on Trade Day to serve as a bridge for startups to go global. I was motivated by the desire to be a “playing coach” who runs together, not just a simple advisor.
Q. What was the reason for signing the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Connect AI recently?
A. The meeting of AI- based platforms and export execution experience was mutually complementary. I first saw Connect AI at a forum last September and thought, 'This is it.' We had a lot of practical experience, but we didn't have a tool to systematically analyze data. On the other hand, Connect AI had been building an AI- based market diagnosis and buyer DB (database) for over 5 years. They provide market reports and buyer lists, and we work together on contracts, negotiations, and sales.
Q. How does your service differ from existing consulting or export support models?
A. We go 'together' until the actual export contract, not just simple matching. Most existing institutions only support matching and do not intervene in private transactions. However, for startups, what happens after matching is more important. We directly execute the entire process, from negotiations, contract writing, quotation response, to buyer communication.
Q. What is the most difficult part for startups when expanding overseas?
A. They have no network, no direction, and little information. Most of them don't even know which countries to go to or who to meet. We strategically plan this part together and coordinate the 'real needs' of the target buyers with the approach strategy.
Q. How are you applying your sales experience from a large company to a startup?
A. My role is to diagnose the market, verify buyers, establish strategies, and reduce trial and error. Startups are easily tempted by even the slightest suggestion, and sometimes, if they ‘marry wrongly once’, they can completely lose the country (or relationship with it). I adjust these risks, directly train personnel, and help with internalization.
Q. A word of advice to early-stage startups dreaming of expanding overseas
A. Don't rush. And the path that everyone takes is not the right one. It is important to strategically find a market that fits your product, rather than focusing only on large markets such as the US and Europe. Project-based solutions in particular are prone to fraud. If you want to reduce trial and error, work with an execution-oriented partner like us.
Podium & Company aims to be an executable platform for startups to advance overseas, and recently signed a strategic MOU with Connect AI, an AI buyer discovery platform company .
The CEO says this has enabled “the combination of data-driven strategy and field experience.” We met with CEO Yi Won-chae to hear his vision for a new trade ecosystem.
Q. What was the biggest reason for founding Podium & Company?
A. As a Daewoo man with export DNA , I wanted to contribute through the second act of my life. As a Daewoo employee during the Kim Woo-choong era, I had pride in exports, and I wanted to use my experience of receiving the Minister’s Award on Trade Day to serve as a bridge for startups to go global. I was motivated by the desire to be a “playing coach” who runs together, not just a simple advisor.
Q. What was the reason for signing the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Connect AI recently?
A. The meeting of AI- based platforms and export execution experience was mutually complementary. I first saw Connect AI at a forum last September and thought, 'This is it.' We had a lot of practical experience, but we didn't have a tool to systematically analyze data. On the other hand, Connect AI had been building an AI- based market diagnosis and buyer DB (database) for over 5 years. They provide market reports and buyer lists, and we work together on contracts, negotiations, and sales.
Q. How does your service differ from existing consulting or export support models?
A. We go 'together' until the actual export contract, not just simple matching. Most existing institutions only support matching and do not intervene in private transactions. However, for startups, what happens after matching is more important. We directly execute the entire process, from negotiations, contract writing, quotation response, to buyer communication.
Q. What is the most difficult part for startups when expanding overseas?
A. They have no network, no direction, and little information. Most of them don't even know which countries to go to or who to meet. We strategically plan this part together and coordinate the 'real needs' of the target buyers with the approach strategy.
Q. How are you applying your sales experience from a large company to a startup?
A. My role is to diagnose the market, verify buyers, establish strategies, and reduce trial and error. Startups are easily tempted by even the slightest suggestion, and sometimes, if they ‘marry wrongly once’, they can completely lose the country (or relationship with it). I adjust these risks, directly train personnel, and help with internalization.
Q. A word of advice to early-stage startups dreaming of expanding overseas
A. Don't rush. And the path that everyone takes is not the right one. It is important to strategically find a market that fits your product, rather than focusing only on large markets such as the US and Europe. Project-based solutions in particular are prone to fraud. If you want to reduce trial and error, work with an execution-oriented partner like us.