Smilegate Orange Planet Foundation has conducted financial mentoring for early-stage startups in partnership with Samil PwC.
Orange Planet Foundation announced Wednesday that it had successfully completed "Office Hours," a hands-on mentoring program with Samil PwC aimed at strengthening the financial capabilities of early-stage startups. The Office Hours program focused on providing the role of a chief financial officer (CFO) — a position early-stage startups typically struggle to hire — through mentoring. Moving beyond conventional consultation, the mentoring was designed as a three-stage in-depth process covering business diagnosis, simulation modeling, and decision-making support. The aim is to identify potential financial and tax risks in advance and help guide strategic decisions.
Participating teams included Orange Planet family companies such as Jeongri習慣 (Jeongri Seupgwan), Plan B Technologies, Pulse Ad, and iPin Labs, all at the seed to Series A stage. Kim Jin-kook, a partner at Samil PwC, visited each company in person to provide on-site, tailored consulting.
The participating teams chose one of three core packages and received customized solutions: "Burn Rate Diet and Survival Budget Setting" to control cash burn and extend runway; "Number Weaponization," which translates business models into numerical formulas to win investment and pass government support programs; and "Founder Equity Defense and C-Level Stock Options," which builds scenarios for recruiting key talent while defending against equity dilution. Each team also received practical Excel deliverables for immediate use, including a 12-month rolling cash flow statement, a break-even point (BEP) scenario model based on unit economics, and a cap table change simulator.
"What early-stage startups need is not simple financial advice, but a partner who thinks alongside them through the eyes of a CFO," Kim, the Samil PwC partner, said. "Samil PwC will continue to provide practical support as an on-site strategic partner — from diagnosis to execution — so that CEOs can fully focus on their business." Suh Sang-bong, head of Orange Planet, said, "For early-stage startups, objective financial data is a powerful weapon for survival and investment. We will continue to spare no effort in providing top-tier expert networks and practical support so that Orange Planet family companies can scale up steadily."
