Shows Like Start-Up

An ex-convict opens a bar in Itaewon to take down the food conglomerate that destroyed his family.

Like Start-Up, it leans hard into rags to riches. The emotional territory — entrepreneurship — is the same. Same inspirational and dramatic energy throughout.

An orphaned girl rises from kitchen servant to become the first female royal physician in the Joseon court.

Both are built around ambition that starts as a virtue and reveals itself as something else entirely. Same inspirational and romantic energy throughout.

A poor girl attends an elite school and clashes with the leader of the school's most powerful group of boys.

If you loved Start-Up's love triangle where every choice breaks someone's heart, Boys Over Flowers delivers exactly that. The pacing is romantically charged — the tension is everywhere, even when nothing's happening.

A group of privileged high school heirs navigate love, rivalry, and family pressure when a humble girl enters their world.

If you loved Start-Up's love triangle where every choice breaks someone's heart, The Heirs (Inheritors) delivers exactly that. The pacing is romantically charged — the tension is everywhere, even when nothing's happening.

A delinquent girl transformed by a dedicated teacher's belief in her becomes a top neurosurgeon — then faces her former mentor again as a colleague, reopening every wound and possi…

Like Start-Up, it leans hard into rags to riches. The pacing is romantically charged — the tension is everywhere, even when nothing's happening.

A poor but ambitious young man rises in the fashion industry while navigating love and rivalry.

Like Start-Up, it leans hard into rags to riches. At its core, it's about ambition that starts as a virtue and reveals itself as something else entirely. The pacing is commits fully to every emotional beat — no half-measures.

Se-jin claws her way up from nothing — brilliant, ruthless, and absolutely clear-eyed about how the world works. Sul-hee is a young woman who worships her and follows her into the …

Like Start-Up, it leans hard into rags to riches. At its core, it's about ambition that starts as a virtue and reveals itself as something else entirely. The pacing is commits fully to every emotional beat — no half-measures.

A brilliant but eccentric surgeon mentors two young doctors at a small countryside hospital.

Both are built around ambition that starts as a virtue and reveals itself as something else entirely. The pacing is romantically charged — the tension is everywhere, even when nothing's happening.

A woman with prosopagnosia (face-blindness) who struggles to connect with people finds herself falling for a kind, attentive AI hologram — not realizing the human designer behind h…

If you loved Start-Up's love triangle where every choice breaks someone's heart, My Holo Love delivers exactly that. The pacing is romantically charged — the tension is everywhere, even when nothing's happening.

A Korean woman and a Czech prince meet in Prague and fall in love, navigating cultural differences and family opposition.

The pacing is romantically charged — the tension is everywhere, even when nothing's happening.