Entrepreneurs must be ready to stay ahead of the game through market foresight, and every five years they should try to create something new that can potentially disrupt existing technologies and markets, Chester Roh, one of Korea’s very few serial entrepreneurs, said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“We are living in an era that demands creative solutions and less complexity as we are seeing a shift in the economic paradigm where tedious traditional labor is being replaced by intelligent and convergent technologies,” Roh explained.

“This requires us to create something new every five years by seeking an ‘n’ number of jobs.”

Roh’s “n” refers to the mathematical variable that represents the unknown.

Entrepreneurs must challenge themselves to find the unknown by navigating and exploring the world of software.

Roh said that all sorts of venture start-ups have tried to create a new business or market, but in the end they all continued to focus on developing better software for consumers. Risks will always be high for entrepreneurs trying to discover or invent the next big thing, which can ultimately end up becoming the next big flop. But Roh said young entrepreneurs should not forget that without risk, there is no possibility for reward.

“They are equal. It would be mathematically incorrect to even assume that you can gain more rewards by risking less,” he emphasized.

Entrepreneurs may certainly lose their money and reputation in the process of launching start-ups.

But being a venture entrepreneur is more about seeking “endless opportunities even after failure, getting in the habit of making risky choices outside of our comfort zone,” he added.

Roh, cofounder of 5Rocks, a data analyzer for mobile game makers, also founded Tatter and Company, a software company for blog platforms that was acquired by Google in 2008.

5Rocks is Roh’s fourth start-up. He has also invested in start-ups such as Ticket Monster and TAPAS Media. Roh said that his second start-up was a total failure.

By Kim Joo-hyun (jhk@heraldcorp.com)