PM-ing in Korea

You’ve probably heard of FAANG — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google — the tech giants of the West. But in Korea, there’s our own version quietly (and not so quietly) shaping the digital ecosystem. It doesn’t spell as neatly, but it has just as much presence. Welcome to the Korean FAANG : Ne (Naver), Ka (Kakao), Ra (Line), Cou (Coupang), and Bae (Baemin). Let’s take a look at how these companies started, how far they’ve come, and why they’ve become tech powerhouses in Korea. 1. NE – Naver Founded: 1999 Started as: Korea’s first homegrown search engine Now: A digital giant in search, payments, commerce, cloud, and AI Naver certainly wasn’t the first or only portal—there were Yahoo, Lycos, and Daum—but it was Knowledge iN that caught fire. The concept of “ask anything, get answers from real people” was ahead of its time, like a human-powered AI long before ChatGPT. Then came Naver Blog , which became the go-to platform for everyday information, restaura...

Some of the words used in the Korean tech scene aren’t quite English—and they aren’t quite Korean either. In fact, even native Korean speakers who’ve never worked in tech often say, “What are they talking about?” This quirky blend of borrowed English terms, misused phrases, and startup-specific buzzwords is fondly (and sometimes sarcastically) referred to as  Pangyo Dialect  ( 판교 사투리 ) . 1. So… what is Pangyo Dialect(판교 사투리)? Pangyo is a district in Seongnam just outside of Seoul, and home to Korea’s major tech companies— Naver, Kakao, NCSoft , and dozens of startups. It’s essentially Korea’s version of Silicon Valley . And just like how tech workers in Silicon Valley have their own lingo, Korean tech employees developed one too—only theirs sounds like English... but isn’t. These words are used so naturally and frequently , they feel like actual Korean. So if you're new to the Korean tech scene and want to “sound native,” knowing this Pangyo Dialect is practical...