A startup is a project that involves the development or improvement of a product that caters to a specific need for a community. Typically, a person or a small group of people has an idea that potentially makes the lives of a community more efficient or more aesthetically pleasing. Once an idea is created, those most passionate are tasked with executing the idea (“How to Start a Startup” 2). In South Korea, for example, multiple ideas were conjured up before deciding to how to improve a person’s experience in a bathroom (“Birth of Korean Cool” 13). Going to the bathroom in South Korea changed from standing or squatting over an unsightly, unclean toilet that may not have a flush function to comfortably sitting on a self-cleaning, self-flushing toilet in a stall that could play music to cover the sounds of defecating or urinating (“Birth of Korean Cool” 13). Thus, South Korea remade itself on a small scale by incorporating automatic functions to make bathrooms more aesthetically pleasing and more comfortable to use. The bathroom enhancement also contributed to South Korea’s national aesthetics, creating the appearance of bathrooms similar to First World countries rather than Third World countries. South Korea can further increase national aesthetics by continuously recreating mundane areas of space like the bathroom.
South Korea could also constantly recreate seemingly simple objects. Apple, for example, transformed the idea of earphones. Several years before the Apple EarPods began to sell, a startup had developed the idea of completely wireless earphones. When Apple released the EarPods, many people found that wireless earphones eliminated the problem of tangled wires and became preferred over wired earphones. By improving simple objects, South Korea can maintain their national aesthetic of "Korean cool," as more people around the world would gravitate towards products made in South Korea.
South Korea could also constantly recreate seemingly simple objects. Apple, for example, transformed the idea of earphones. Several years before the Apple EarPods began to sell, a startup had developed the idea of completely wireless earphones. When Apple released the EarPods, many people found that wireless earphones eliminated the problem of tangled wires and became preferred over wired earphones. By improving simple objects, South Korea can maintain their national aesthetic of "Korean cool," as more people around the world would gravitate towards products made in South Korea.
Question: Using the idea of combining small-scale improvements to achieve maximum national aesthetics, what kinds of startups can South Korea execute to incrementally change its image?
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