Checking and Counterchecking
Jang Minjin had, in the truest sense of the word, become the laughingstock of the entire industry.
More precisely, he had become the joke of a chairman, but once everyone is laughing at you, how much does the distinction really matter?
“Our company’s reputation in the medical field has been completely trashed.”
“Why? Didn’t Chairman Jang Minjin make a huge fuss about entering healthcare?”
“You didn’t hear? The story about Jang Minjin failing to snatch even a single share from a startup run by a bunch of kids.”
“What? Seriously?”
What Jang Minjin had wanted was a clean, impressive headline: a mid-sized enterprise chairman personally initiating a merger and acquisition of a promising startup.
He would identify a valuable company with his sharp eye, engineer a takeover, and then grow it into something greater.
A perfect story.
But instead of a success myth, Jang Minjin had simply handed his shareholders a fat carcass to tear into.
“They say Chairman Jang Minjin built that company on nothing but luck.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to have someone smarter running the company than a chairman like that?”
“There is someone who looks better, at least.”
In the end, his greed had thrown him headfirst into a war with shareholders who had no loyalty left to give.
A useless chairman who had even lost a political fight against college students.
As that image hardened, the shareholders’ movement to force Jang Minjin out only grew stronger.
At this rate, it was already hard enough just to cling to the company he had built with both hands.
“Chairman. The shareholders’ movement is getting ugly.”
“Why? What? You came here to nag me because I couldn’t handle a bunch of brats properly?!”
But Jang Minjin refused to accept it.
This was his company, the one he had lucked into growing into a mid-sized enterprise.
He could not believe that it would turn on him so savagely over one small mistake.
Because all the major shareholders were his own people, he assumed these blunt warnings came from factions trying to undermine him.
“At this point, more than fifty percent of the shareholders agree, right?”
“That’s right. Let’s convene as soon as possible and carry out a formal generational transition.”
To Jang Minjin’s supposed inner circle, the plan to drive him out was already in motion, carried out more aggressively than anyone else.
They had finished their discussions among the shareholders and even tentatively decided who the next chairman would be.
“Huh? Why are they suddenly gathering everyone?”
Jang Minjin had missed the entire current of events, so when the shareholders were suddenly summoned, he was thrown off balance.
It was a gathering that even the company executives were being called to.
He could not understand why such a meeting had been arranged without his knowledge.
Or rather, he pretended not to know until the very end.
“We have determined that Chairman Jang Minjin should hand over the chairmanship to President Seo Jinsu.”
“Please don’t joke around.”
“Chairman.”
“There wasn’t even the slightest sign. This is my company. What is wrong with all of you? Don’t you care what happens to the stock price if you do this?!”
And just like that, Jang Minjin was forced to relinquish the chairmanship by the very people closest to him.
What he had once framed as a challenge for the company’s growth had become a complete misplay.
Only after it was far too late did Jang Minjin start scrambling to win the shareholders back, but by then, his efforts had no chance of reaching them.
“Oh. You mean the chairman who sent you that merger-and-acquisition proposal?”
“That was me. I turned it down.”
“Oh, me too. Director Lim said he refused as well.”
“Oh? Me too.”
Of course, TA Medical knew nothing about Jang Minjin’s downfall.
They would not even hear that he had been driven out of the chairmanship until much later.
Only then did everyone start sharing the M&A stories over drinks at the company dinner.
“Wait. All of you got contact from an M&A proposal?”
“Yes. But we all turned it down.”
“Siwon, you really were blessed.”
Kim Siwon was moved by his team only after the fact, and his teammates simply laughed the whole thing off.
For Jang Minjin, it had been the trigger for losing the company he had worked so hard to build. For TA Medical, it was nothing more than a moment that strengthened the team’s trust and sense of belonging.
＊＊＊
TA Medical went on quietly, keeping to everyone’s routine as though nothing had happened.
If there was any new variable at all, it was that the research teams who had published papers were now busily beginning seminar preparations.
“Thank you for carrying out such good research with our product.”
“For us, it was fun to be able to study such a blue-ocean field.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
A paper being published on our product.
I did not know about every industry, but for a medical startup like ours, each of those papers was precious.
If a paper appeared at a well-known institution, we could get a significant number of product inquiries, and on top of that, we could build marketing messages around those results for our promotional materials.
“So, about that, could you support the seminar we’re holding this time? The main topics will be TA Medical’s product and the paper we just presented.”
That was how a seminar came to exist in the first place.
“What sort of support do you need?”
“Haha. Nothing too fancy. Just what you did for Professor Shin Dongjin would be fine. We’ll be holding it on campus anyway.”
“Ah, thank you. Then could you send over the schedule and the lunch box menu you want?”
“Yes, yes. Ah, and President Siwon will need to handle the product introduction.”
“Understood.”
The papers released this time had all been written by professors at Korea University.
Both veterinary medicine and general medicine.
They were introduced at some fairly prestigious venues, and the seminars were held in connection with those papers.
The seminar support would have cost quite a bit, but perhaps because Professor Shin Dongjin had handled the first one so generously on our behalf, the medical school side was considerate of our position as well.
“There was even a professor who said it was admirable that a company like this came out of Korea University. Is that the seminar he’s running?”
“No. He’s from another department. He’s still researching with our product.”
Thanks to a number of considerate arrangements, we were able to prepare for the seminars with support for the venue, a five-minute product introduction, and lunch boxes.
“Everyone except Yeonghun and Hyunwoo is coming this time too, right? I’ll reserve lunch boxes based on that number.”
“Yep.”
The seminar was not just a place to promote our company.
It was a chance to hear the basic information behind the paper and to ask experts about frequently asked questions directly.
So the team members who wanted to attend gathered and set up an on-site booth.
Then, except for two people, everyone ended up coming.
“At the first veterinary medicine seminar, it was comforting because Professor Shin Dongjin was running it, but this time the feeling is completely different, right?”
“It may not be completely different, but it is a little different.”
In truth, there had been almost nothing for us to do at the first seminar.
That was because Professor Shin Dongjin had really done everything himself.
We had only set up a small booth at the back.
But this time, I was in charge of the product introduction, so I knew the questions and criticisms would come in sharper and more directly.
“Don’t get cold feet, Siwon.”
“Right.”
This was our chance to introduce our product before a room full of doctors gathered in an academic spirit.
I had to enjoy that trembling opportunity, not shrink from it.
＊＊＊
“Did you put up all the promotional materials?”
“Yes.”
“Siwon! Is it okay to set up the booth like this?”
“If you did it with Seonghun, then it should be fine.”
Everyone was a little clumsy on the day of the seminar.
Still, I was glad we had already attended one academic conference; otherwise I would have been a lot more nervous.
“When do you think the professors and doctors will arrive?”
“Wouldn’t they come at least thirty minutes early to do a rehearsal?”
“Then the speaker should be here pretty soon.”
We arrived an hour before the seminar was scheduled to start.
We set out promotional materials and business cards at each professor’s seat, set up the booth, and waited to greet the professors who came early.
“Oh, quite a crowd already, huh?”
“Yes. Hello, Professor.”
“Haha. When you gather them all like this, they really do look like college students. Ha!”
At the professor’s joking remark, I tensed slightly on my own.
From a business perspective, being told I looked like a college student was never a compliment.
It could easily be a sign that people would underestimate us, so I had to show them I would not make mistakes.
“Well, President Siwon, you must have prepared a lot too. You’re the one who has to explain the product directly, after all. I can’t do that for you, can I?”
“Yes. I prepared the cases with the Korea University Hospital examples you shared, Professor.”
“Good. There are plenty of picky people here, so make sure you’re ready.”
Even the professor who was friendly toward us seemed a little doubtful about whether I could really give a proper presentation to doctors.
He was probably worried about the Q&A on the product.
It was understandable that he would be anxious about whether ordinary computer science undergraduates could answer doctors’ questions properly.
“Yes. I’ll handle it well.”
Fortunately, I was not an ordinary computer science undergraduate. I was someone who had already spent years in this arena in my previous life.
I had taken plenty of aggressive questions before, and even if that was not the case, everyone on our team was now fairly familiar with the terms doctors used.
Well, at least at times like this, a college-student face might even be an advantage.
“Oh, the other professors are coming. Be sure to greet them, and I’ll see you when the seminar starts later.”
“Yes, sir.”
We moved into staff mode, greeting professors as they stepped off the elevator and checking names off the list.
We did it so we could handle questions like, “But what exactly does this AI company actually do?” without fumbling.
“We make AI that automatically checks for lung-related lesions when a chest X-ray is taken.”
“So the company only does exactly what the paper covered? Wouldn’t it be better to do more?”
“What sort of additions do you think would be good?”
“Well, you should do things that make more money in practice.”
It was also useful for hearing those casual, offhand opinions.
“What was it again? We applied for a demo at our health screening center. Can we request a demo for other places too?”
“Could you tell me a bit more about the specific situation?”
“Siwon, a professor said he wanted to say hello to you.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
“Oh, all right. Then I’ll ask over here. You get back to work.”
About fifteen minutes before the seminar began, doctors started gathering in earnest.
Professors from university hospitals, clinic directors, even fellows were showing up in considerable numbers.
It was clear that the Korea University medical school professor had truly published in a place with name recognition.
“Siwon. The seminar’s starting soon. Go inside.”
“Yes.”
After I’d been frantically talking with doctors, I hurried into the seminar hall, which was, as expected, packed.
We had not been flailing around for no reason.
So this professor really was the president of some association, huh.
“Hoo.”
That meant this was a room full of people who were the real deal. I needed to keep my head clear.
“Good afternoon, and thank you for attending the regular seminar at Korea University Hospital.”
While I stood tensely at the side of the stage, the professor took the microphone and introduced himself in a languid voice.
The credentials listed casually on the PPT screen explained why so many people had packed the hall for a single seminar.
“Before I introduce my own research, there will be a brief product introduction by Kim Siwon, the CEO of TA Medical, who will present the AI software used in this study. Please come up.”
Thunderous applause filled the seminar room, and after taking a small breath, I stepped onto the stage.
“Hello. I am Kim Siwon of TA Medical. Most of the details are in the brochures at your seats, so please take your time and look through them.”
As soon as I finished speaking, everyone began flipping through the brochures and checking the contents.
The atmosphere turned busy in an instant.
I suppose I should not mention the brochure next time.
“I’ll briefly show you how our product works. First, let’s take a look at this X-ray image together.”
The product introduction method I chose was simple.
I would show an X-ray image that was difficult to diagnose and then show our AI diagnosing it in three seconds.
When I showed X-rays of pneumonia patients that were difficult for doctors to catch, or cases where something looked like cancer but was not cancer at all, everyone in the seminar room focused on my presentation.
There were a few people full of skepticism, of course, but for them, we could simply let them try the product demo themselves.
“You probably already have a rough grasp of the product, but let me explain it in a bit more detail.”
At least I had succeeded in catching their curiosity.
And for doctors with a strong competitive streak, my presentation drew even more attention.
That meant overall engagement with the product presentation had to stay high.
When I introduced the product’s strengths with data, I could even see doctors making notes on the brochures.
“That concludes the product introduction from Kim Siwon of TA Medical. For product inquiries, please use the Q&A session at the final part of today’s seminar, or the business cards we handed out.”
I bowed and was about to step down.
Since, because of the schedule, the Q&A had been agreed to take place only after the professor finished his presentation.
“You’re not taking questions publicly right now?”
But the doctor who asked the question in a flat voice had a cold expression.
I had the feeling another villain was about to show up.
Better answer carefully.