Validate before the 모집공고 closes: what the printed calendar actually gives you
A Korean call is a dated evaluation window — the 2026 예비 plan prints weeks between application and selection, and pays from June. Validation that happens before writing the 사업계획서 is the only kind the window rewards.
Korean programme calendars look generous on a wall and short in practice. The printed plan gives roughly a month of application window and then a selection period in which the plan is scored — by people reading what you wrote about a company that does not exist yet.
What the calendar actually gives you
The 2026 예비 plan, as printed: the 공고 in late February, applications February to March, selection and agreement April to May, funding from June.
Working backward from that: the plan must be written, evidenced and internally consistent before the application window opens. The window is for submitting and correcting — not for finding out whether the idea works.
Validate against the printed categories
The funding categories are not administrative detail; they are the shape of the evidence the system wants.
시제품 제작 (prototype production) asks: can the thing be built, by whom, at what cost? The marketing line asks: who is the customer, and can a channel reach them? The IP line asks: is there something here worth filing?
An idea validated against those three questions is a plan. An idea validated by enthusiasm is a draft with a deadline.
The December map, and the backward plan
Each December the K-Startup portal publishes the integrated announcement (통합공고) mapping the year's programmes — the 2026 edition posted 19 December 2025, reception running to the end of the year.
That is the planning moment. From the map, pick the rung whose eligibility you actually meet, then schedule validation to finish before its window opens — not inside it.
Frequently asked questions
- How long is the application window in practice?
- The printed 2026 예비 plan gives roughly a month: applications February to March, selection and agreement April to May. That is the window in which the 사업계획서 must already be good — validation that starts when the window opens is validation that finishes after it closes.
- When does the year's calendar become known?
- Each December the K-Startup portal publishes the integrated announcement (통합공고) mapping the year's central-government and local-government programmes. The 2026 edition was posted 19 December 2025 — that is the moment to plan validation backward from.
- What should validation actually test?
- The printed funding categories are the test list: can the prototype be built (시제품 제작), is there a customer the marketing line can reach, is the IP worth filing (지식재산권 출원·등록). A validation that answers those three is a plan; one that does not is a mood.
- Does incorporating to look credible help validation?
- It disqualifies you from the pre-startup rung — KISED's criterion is no business registration as of the announcement date (공고일 기준). Validate without the corporate shell, or validate on the 초기 rung after registering.
- What happens after selection?
- Agreement (협약), then staged funding from June in the printed plan — gated by the interim evaluation (중간평가), which measures progress against the plan you submitted. The plan is the contract the money later reads.
- Is spending money before selection covered?
- The printed schedule pays from June, after agreement. Anything spent before that date sits outside what these pages promise — treat pre-selection spending as your own risk budget, not programme money.
Sources
- KISED, 예비창업패키지 programme page — 2026 cycle steps, 사업계획서, funding categories, 중간평가, registration boundary — read 2026-09-01
- KISED, 초기창업패키지 programme page — winter cycle, tenure window — read 2026-09-01
- 2026년 중앙부처 및 지자체 창업지원사업 통합공고, 공고 제2025-648호 — the December map of the year's programmes — read 2026-09-01
- Hero photograph: planning session on a wooden desk, by Shixart1985, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 — read 2026-09-01
Everything above is the rule as published. See how it applies to your case.