A Seminar by Steve Ahn from KAIST to NTU MBA students:
My Journey from an Engineer to an Entrepreneur
Source : GMBA Chandan KUMAR 、 Philip CHANG
The NTU Garage, an earliest stage student startup incubator in NTU, hosted Prof. Steve Ahn from Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) to give an open speech to NTU GMBA and other MBA students. Steve Ahn, joined KAIST in 2014 as a professor and was also the Director for Global Promotion, Institute for Startup’s. He designed a new academic program called K School for Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation which is a one-year program.
Steve mentioned that entrepreneurship mostly focuses on identifying opportunities for creating value for customers, ultimately yielding a profit for founders and investors. He shares his experience on a master class speech where he began his journey between September 1988 and November 1989 as a research staff, and from 1989 to 1992 as a senior engineer for Sharp Corp. Japan. From 1992 until founding Leadis Technology, Steve held several senior positions at Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in Korea. He was the senior manager of the process technology during which his team played a major role in the successful development of the first 256MBit DRAM in 1994. For which he received a Grand Prize Samsung Technical Achievement Award for his contribution to the next generation of DRAM. Also he was the Vice President and the General Manager of the LCD Driver Division and the Flash Memory Division both of which have eventually grown into a multi-dollar Businesses.
In the year of 2000, Leadis Technology was established which is a fabless semiconductor company based on Sunnyvale California. Steven Ahn was the founder/CEO of Leadis Technology and their first core product was color display drivers for mobile devices. He explained the challenges which he faced on his new position when Leadis Technology was listed on IPO in Nasdaq stock market. Being a leader, he was always committed on taking quick decisions as the window for opportunities to get more money may close quickly. In stock market share prices are always changing and your decisions will show the company’s performance in NASDAQ IPO which will secure your Investors.
Steve Ahn sounds the most interesting man once you know how he spent his time after selling his stakes in Leadis Technology.
- Climbed Mt. Fuji 20 times
- Moved to Beijing to learn Chinese at Tsinghua University
- Learned cooking in Spain and France
- Spent a year as a winemaker in Melbourne, Australia
- Built his own home on Jeju Island
- Walked the Camino del Santiago in Spain
- Returned to Europe to learn how to make his own furniture
After completing his EMBA from INSEAD – Tsinghua University and joining as a professor in business school, he shares his joy on following his dream and his attitude of quick learning and well executing in a changing environment has transformed his path successfully from being an engineer to entrepreneur. Steve, as the Director for global promotions, Institute for Startup Companies and the founder of K School, he likes to help students thinking outside the box and being creative by interacting with the professors who are the real time practitioners. This allows the students to build up their future. And it is a huge asset for any school that claims to be the best on innovation and entrepreneurship.
從工程師到企業家的旅程: 南韓KAIST大學的Steve Ahn教授之演說
英文: GMBA 一年級Chandan KUMAR賈謙丹、二年級Philip CHANG張上緒
中文: GMBA二年級Claire WANG王筱珺
台大車庫為台灣大學校內學生新創輔導及創業育成單位，特邀南韓KAIST大學(Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, KAIST) 的Steve Ahn教授蒞臨演講，以豐富經歷和實務經驗與台灣大學GMBA同學們及其他教職員暢談新創事業的經驗與創新。Steve Ahn教授現任韓國KAIST大學教授且身兼KAIST 校內新創機構全球行銷總監。另外，亦為該校一年制學程-創業與創新碩士學程(K School)的創辦人。
Steve Ahn教授提及，創業者專注於能為客戶創造價值，最終將能為投資者和創辦人帶來獲利。他由自身生涯經驗談起，早期他擔任研究人員及高階工程師工作；後來轉至韓國三星(Samsung)公司擔任高階管理職；特別是擔任資深經理期間，領導其團隊成功於1994年開發出256MBit DRAM，由於其對於新一代DRAM的卓越貢獻，獲得三星技術研發大獎(Grand Prize Samsung Technical Achievement Award )。另外，在三星任職期間，他曾任LCD Driver 和Flash Memory事業部副總與總經理且為此事業部帶來上億元的成長。
Steve Ahn教授在2000年於美國加州(Sunnyvale California) 創立Leadis Technology，此為無廠半導體公司，身任公司的創辦人兼任CEO。該公司主要產品是行動裝置之色彩顯示驅動 (color display driver)。該公司在那斯達克市場初次公開發行時曾遇到許多關卡，也因此Steve Ahn教授提及市場瞬息萬變，身為決策者，每一個決策都與投資者的獲利息息相關，否則獲利機會將稍縱即逝。
儘管在事業上有著不凡的成就，Steve Ahn教授在持股釋出後，展開一連串體驗人生的多采多姿經歷：
- 攀爬富士山20次
- 至北京在清華大學學習中文
- 至法國及西班牙精進廚藝
- 以釀酒者身分在澳洲墨爾本地區生活一年
- 在濟州島建造自己的房子
- 徒步完成西班牙的朝聖者之路
- 赴歐洲學習家具製作的工藝並自行製作家具
在取得歐洲工商管理學院與中國清華大學合授之EMBA學位後，他進入商學院擔任教職，作育英才，在學校的場域內持續分享築夢踏實和有效決策的法則。另外，他之所以能成功地從工程師蛻變為企業家，最大的關鍵在於他能於瞬息萬變的商業環境下快速且準確地決策並執行。Steve Ahn教授以身為新創機構全球行銷總監且兼任K School的創辦人來鼓舞學生跳脫框架思考，同時協助學生藉由與業界人士頻繁互動而更產出更多的創意。這些思維皆有助於學生們建立未來的人生模式，也成為學院能給予學生們最寶貴的資源之一。
