Disrupting Japan: Startups and Venture Capital in Japan

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Why Japan is looking to France for startup inspiration Dec 09, 2024

While the rest of the world is copying Silicon Valley, Tokyo is looking at Paris. Today we sit down with Mark Bivens and Matt Romaine, the co-founders of Shizen Capital to talk about Japan's new startup policies, the changing role of M&A, the main force behind the changing attitudes about startups in Japan. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why Japanese startups need to start buying other startups The root of Japan's odd attitudes towards M&A and the forces changing it Structuring investments into foreign startups making a Japan market entry Why the Japan's angel investing tax-break is not really about taxes What Japan plans to import from the French startup ecosystem The best way to win the hearts and minds to change startup culture What's driving the recent explosion in startup events, and will it last? The best Japanese startup ecosystems outside of Tokyo Can authenticity scale? Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about Shizen Capital Connect on LinkedIn Follow Shizen Capital on X @shizencapital I highly recommend Mark's blog Rude VC Follow Mark on X @markbivens Follow Matt on X @quanza Check out Mark's Nostr https://rude.vc/nostr Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Everybody wants to be Silicon Valley. Regional and local governments the world over proudly announced that they will be the Silicon Valley of, you know, whatever. We've seen Silicon Glen, Silicon Beach, Silicon Harbor, and countless other less publicized variations. Now, politicians calling out to Silicon Valley works fine as a metaphor, but you know, it's not really a plan. Well, the Japanese government has a plan and they are not looking to San Francisco, but to Paris. And today we're going to talk about that plan and so many other things as well. When we sit down with Mark Bivens and Matt Romaine, the co-founders of Shizen Capital, an early stage fund focused exclusively on Japanese startups. Now, Matt and Mark are both startup founders who became VCs, and that's still pretty rare in Japan. These VCs tend to be overrepresented on disrupting Japan because I don't know, it's a small group and I'm friends with a lot of them. But founders turned, investors are critical to the success of any startup ecosystem, and they're playing an outsized role in shaping what's happening in Japan right now. Mark, Matt and I talk about what's driving the changing attitude around M&A in Japan, which part of the government efforts to support startups are actually working and Japan's potential advantage in becoming a startup powerhouse in the coming years. But you know, Matt and Mark tell that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: We're sitting here with Mark Bivens and Matt Romaine, the two founding partners of Shizen Capital. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Matt: Delighted to be here. Mark: Yeah, pleasure. Tim. I think I mentioned this privately to you before, but I'm pretty still relatively new in Japan. Seven years ago I moved here and you were my first source as I wanted to learn about the Japanese startup ecosystem. Tim: Well, thank you. Mark: Somebody introducing me to your podcast, so thank you. Tim: Well, no, thank you. It's been a great project and I'm glad this has kind of come full circle and I get a chance to sit here and interview you on it. Mark: I also have to say, in a past life I was a radio DJ. You have a great radio voice, Tim. Tim: Thank you. It's funny, people tell me that all the time, but this is just the way I talk, like normally. Well, thank you. So, let's get into it. So, tell me about Shizen Capital. Who are you investing in and why? Matt: Yeah, well, so I first met Mark in 2015 at a conference in Fukuoka. It was the B dash conference.

A game plan for working artists to beat AI in the marketplace Nov 11, 2024

Today, we are going to talk about AI, but not in the way you expect. Today, I’m going to give creatives a solid three-point plan to beat AI in the marketplace. I’m going to explain how musicians, podcasters, authors and other artists can survive and even thrive amidst the unstoppable flood of AI generated slop we will all be forced to wade though for the foreseeable future, And to maybe do some good in the process. It’s taken me over a year to write the script for this episode, and like so many of my solo episodes, I originally planned on it being very different from how it turned out. But sometimes the scripts takes on a life of its own, and I have to follow it to what always ends up being a far more interesting place. Those episodes tend to be my most popular I hope you enjoy it Introduction This is a solid three-point plan for beating AI in the marketplace. I’m going to explain how musicians, podcasters, authors and other artists can survive and even thrive amidst the unstoppable flood of AI we will be forced to wade though for the foreseeable future. Artists, don’t kid yourself, generative AI is here to stay. There is no going back. But there is a way forward. This is a personal topic for me. I used to be a professional musician. I put myself though college playing in bars and clubs. I was Japan’s first professional podcaster. I also love generative AI and am excited about the amazing creative potential it promises. I want to see all of these things thrive. AI will be fine, of course. It’s supported with practically unlimited funds and by lawmakers and industry leaders around the world. Artists, however, could use a little help. What exactly does AI create? People asking if AI can create real art are asking the wrong question. Artists who need to put food on the table need to be asking what artistic needs AI meets in our economy. With those parameters, let’s look at what exactly AI is creating, using podcasts as an example. Google NotebookLM can take any textual input (your website’s FAQs, a press release, last quarter’s sales reports, anything) and create a convincing podcast from that input. A male and a female voice will smoothly and professionally banter about the topic and tease the listener that they won’t believe what’s coming up, and they express broadcast-caliber levels of surprise and admiration over the most trivial bits of information. It’s really good. NotebookLM has very high production standards. But there is nothing really inside. After a minute or two, it’s just not that interesting to listen to — even when the input information was interesting. This is because NotebookLM is incredibly good at imitating the structure and affect of a quality podcast. This is how all LLMs generate art, music, and video. They imitate a particular structure and affect, but the quality of the content is irrelevant. Structure and affect are the logical and emotional cues that let us classify a work as a particular type of art. The structure is the logical parameters; a pop song should be about three minutes long, it should have an identifiable melody. An image should be rectangular. An email should start with a greeting and end with a signature. Those kinds of things. The affect is the emotional parameters. It refers to the emotional reaction we have to a given work. It’s the vibe. Rock and country covers of the same song will have a different affect. They will feel different. Generative AI is successful today in those areas where structure and affect are important but quality is irrelevant. Saying “quality is irrelevant” is not an insult or a backhanded way of saying that quality is poor. The key fact is that AI-generated art (whether it is of high or low quality) excels in situations where quality is irrelevant, and human-generated art (whether it is of high or low quality) excels in situations where quality is relevant.

Inside the government program to invest $1B into Japanese startups Oct 14, 2024

The Japanese government is taking a very hands-on approach to funding startups. Yuka Hata, Senior Managing Director of the Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) explains the kinds of startups and funds they invest in, and why. We also talk about the two biggest challenges new Japanese VCs face, and what it’s really like for women in VC in Japan It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why JIC runs private equity and venture capital funds. Why Japanese companies struggle with secondary offerings How Japan's low-valuation IPS hurt deep tech startups in Japan How JIC's makes investment decisions Why JIC is investing in foreign VC funds The two big challenges that new Japanese VCs struggle with How JIC is using LP investments to change Japanese VC culture The changing role of women in Japanese VC and how JIC is supporting that change Two reasons it’s important to attract foreign investors into Japan What foreigners most misunderstand about Japan's startup ecosystem A new way for Japanese founders to Go Global Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) JIC's award for their work on female empowerment Connect with Yuka on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and investors. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. There is a lot of debate over the role that government should play in fostering innovation. From American founders loudly demanding that the government just get the hell out of their way, while quietly bidding on government contracts and accepting millions in subsidies, to Chinese entrepreneurs double and triple checking that their business plans and public postures are well aligned with the expectations of the central government. Japan, of course, is taking her own path. Today we sit down with Yuka Hata, Senior Managing Director of the Japan Investment Corporation, or JIC. Now Yuka will explain all of the details in just a few minutes. But briefly JIC is a government-capitalized organization that invests in VC funds, private equity funds, and also creates its own venture funds in order to make direct startup investments. Furthermore, JIC's mission is not just changing the economics of Japan's startup ecosystem, but changing the culture of Japan's startup ecosystem as well. And looking around, they seem to be having a real impact. Yuka and I talk about the kinds of startups and funds that JIC invests in, the two biggest challenges that new Japanese VCs struggle with, and what it's really like for female VCs in Japan right now. But you know, Yuka tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Yuka Hata, the Senior Managing Director of Japan Investment Corp, or JIC. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Yuka: Thank you. Well, thank you so much for inviting me. Such a great opportunity. Tim: I'm delighted to finally get you on the show. We've been talking about this for a long time. Yuka: Thank you. Tim: Well, let's start by talking a bit about JIC. So JIC, you make a lot of investments, but JIC is not really a traditional VC fund. So briefly, what is JIC? What's your mission? What do you do? Yuka: So, JIC has been created as a government-backed investment fund in 2018, to strengthen global competitiveness of Japan's industry. JIC has a kind of strong mission to support the next generation industry in two ways. One, we have created JIC Capitals, which is a private equity fund to pursue industry consolidation and restructuring. That's more private equity play. And the other side is obviously more venture capital play to create the next strong industry out of our country. For that reason, we created a subsidiary called Venture Growth Investment, and they are providing mainly growth-stage risk capitals.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Fintech in Japan Sep 16, 2024

We live in a global financial system, but fintech innovation is surprisingly local. Makoto Shibata, the head of FinoLab, has been leading financial innovation Japan for over 20 years, long before the term fintech existed. We talk about the evolution of Japan's fintech landscape, and which fintech sectors are facing consolidation and which are facing growth. And we also explore Japan's rapid transition from a cash-based society to a cashless one and the startup opportunities that opens up. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The critical role of a dedication fintech community Why corporate support is still needed to succeeded in fintech in Japan The government's push to move society away from cash The likely fate of today's e-payment startups Opportunities for fintech startups in the next five years How AI is being used in Japanese banks (you won’t like it) Advice for how startups can successfully collaborate with large financial institutions What is preventing Japanese fintech startups from going global? The kinds of foreign fintech startups with the best chance for success in Japan How to know when you are at the peak of the fintech investing cycle? What foreigners most misunderstand about Japan’s fintech markets Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about FinoLab The FinoLab startup community Connect with Makoto on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook An interview with Makoto on Xtech Ergomania article on the rise of fintech in Japan Fortune innovation Forum on fintech in Japan [Video] Japan FinTech Topics YouTube playlist [Japanese] Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. FinTech is a broad and confusing startup sector. It's a sweeping category that encompasses everything from pragmatic and meticulous applications, like the optimization and risk management of consumer loan portfolios to the most hype driven and outrageously transparent crypto scams. Of course, at Disrupting Japan, we focus on Japan. And so today we'll be sitting down with Makoto Shibata, the head of FinoLab and the FinoLab Fund. Now, FinoLab has been central to Japan's FinTech community for a long time, and today we're going to take a sober look at FinTech in Japan. What's working, what's not, and what's likely to blow up in the near future. Equally important, before running FinoLab, Makoto spent 23 years at a Japanese mega bank and was in charge of their innovation activities. So, he offers some very practical advice on how FinTech startups can partner with financial institutions in Japan. He explains why such partnerships are needed and where they can go wrong. Makoto and I dig into how Japan is rapidly becoming a cashless society, the opportunities that trend presents for FinTech startups in Japan, and the importance and challenges of Japanese FinTech startups trying to go global and oh, yes, we also talk about what is perhaps the worst possible business use of generative AI ever to be deployed. But, you know, Makoto tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Makoto Shibata of FinoLab. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Makoto: Thank you for having me. Tim: So, FinoLab is a community. It's much more than just the fund, but to start things out, tell me about the fund and its thesis. Who are you investing in and why? Makoto: We started from a business community, we realized that one of the top priority startup is to raise fund. And in their early stages, they may have difficulty, and we thought that it would be good to have our own fund to support these startups. So, basically we would focus on the early stage startup in FinTech related areas. These days FinTech has become quite wide. The territory of FinTech is expanding.

Hey Hey, It’s my birthday! Sep 01, 2024

Disrupting Japan is 10 years old today! This is a simple thank you rather than a full episode. Thanks for listening! Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. This is a very short and very special episode. It's not an episode really, more of a personal message. You see, ten years ago today. I released the very first episode of Disrupting Japan. And I just wanted to say thank you. I really mean that. Independent podcasting is an incredibly personal medium and it depends on there being a real connection between the host, and the guests, and the listeners. Commercial talk shows spend a fortune creating the illusion of that connection. And being in the center of that in real life is an honor and it’s amazing. It’s become a cliche when the host thanks their audience and reminds them that the show would not be possible without them, but it’s different at Disrupting Japan. You really do create a big part of the show’s value. Let me explain. It’s not about download numbers or affiliate link-clicks. I don’t sell anything and my guests aren’t selling anything on Disrupting Japan, so those metrics don’t matter much to me. However, my guests often comment on the surprisingly high quality of inbound contracts they receive after appearing on the show. These connections have resulted in a lot of new hires, and a handful of investments have been made as well. That community, the engagement and overall quality of the listeners is a big part of the show’s value. In fact, over the years, four Japanese startup founders have told me that listening to our guests’ tell their stories on Disrupting Japan gave them the confidence to start their own startup, and that’s pretty awesome. So, thank you! Ten years ago I never imagined how big Disrupting Japan would become. Honestly, it kind of freaks me out sometimes. But here we are. Ten years and well over 200 episodes later, and we have over 9,000 listers in more than 150 countries around the world — including one listener from Vatican City. Now, I have no way of knowing for sure exactly who that listener is. I mean, it could be anybody. But I like to think of it as a testament to the influential nature of Disrupting Japan’s listeners. Building Disrupting Japan is an honor and a joy. I love putting the show together, and despite having a fairly demanding day job, I always make sure Disrupting Japan is released on schedule and is a quality show that woth the time you put into listening to it. The show takes up a lot of weekends and evenings. I’ve done pre-interview research while in the hospital for a minor surgery. I’ve done post production editing in so many different airport lounges, and twice I’ve made a little pillow-fort in my hotel room so I would have decent acoustics to record the intro and outtro. So, whether you are a new lister or have been a part of Disrupting Japan ever since episode 1 was released 10 years ago, thank you for taking this journey with me. Startup innovation is really starting to flourish in Japan, and we have exciting times ahead. And most of all, thanks for listening and thank you for letting people interested in Japanese startups and VCs know about the show. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening to Disrupting Japan.

Why SaaS is growing so much faster in Japan Shinji Asada – One Capital Aug 19, 2024

SaaS startup valuations and growth rates have dropped sharply in most of the world, but not in Japan. SaaS startups are growing fast in Japan, and that trend is set to accelerate even more over the next five years. Today Shinji Asada of One Capital explains Japan's still-untapped SaaS potential, his unique SMB and product-focused investment thesis, and the big changes that are happening in Japan's startup ecosystem. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The untapped potential of SMB SaaS Unique requirements for product collaboration software in Japan What is will take for Japanese SaaS startups to go global How One Capital helps its investors with digital transformation Japanese CVCs play a different role than in the US, and that's a good thing Why Japan SaaS valuations will continue to climb What makes a great SaaS company How Japanese founders have changed over the past 20 years How they will change in the next five How Japanese VC will (and will not) change in the next five years What Shinji learned from doing inside sales as a VC Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about One Capital The SaaS metrics tool, Projection AI Follow Shinji on Twitter @asada23 Friend him on Facebook Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I have always been a fan of Enterprise SaaS. In fact, all of the startups I founded have been enterprise SaaS companies, and some of those were back when SaaS was called ASP. But these days it seems that SaaS has lost a lot of its former shine and sparkle, at least in the US market. Multiples are way down for both public and private SaaS companies. We're seeing a lot of flat and even down rounds. For the first time in a very long time, American VCs just aren't that excited about SaaS startups. But things are very different in Japan. Today we sit down with Shinji Asada, co-founder and general partner of One Capital. Shinji explains how SaaS in Japan has had a very different history and why it's likely going to have a very different future than it will in the West. And he brings the numbers to back that up. We also talk about why SaaS valuations continue to climb in Japan, how Japanese VCs are changing, and why Shinji spends his spare time doing inside sales for SaaS products. But you know, Shinji tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Shinji Asada, the founder of One Capital. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Shinji: Appreciate it. Tim: So, Shinji, first of all, let me just congratulate you on your recently closed Fund two, which was just last month, right? Shinji: Yeah. It was a great adventure too, because Fund two is different from Fund one. Fund one is totally, totally new, where you have to talk a lot, about track record and your strategy. And Fund two, you have a little bit of an easier life because you've started your Fund one and you've deployed most of the capital. So, you have a story to tell in a concrete manner. Tim: I'm going to dig into that whole journey in a bit later. But right now, tell me a bit about One Capital. What's your thesis? Who are you investing in and why? Shinji: We are a sector focused early stage Fund, focused on enterprise software. The reason is, I think Japan has a huge problem with the adoption of technology in the workforce. And I've been working at Itochu, which is a great company in a profitable large market cap growing. But the systems that I had to use was very, very old. It's on-prem customized software. You know, even under those IT system circumstances, I think corporate Japan is doing pretty well. And people didn't actually use digital workflows pre-covid because we had this thing called the Hanko, which is stamps.

How to build a startup in Japan Aug 05, 2024

If you have ever wondered what it really takes to start and grow a startup as a foreigner in Japan. Well, I have a treat for you today. Earlier this year, at the Japan FinTech Festival, I had the privilege of sitting down with four fantastic foreign FinTech founders and talking about what you need to succeed in Japan. There are some great insights here from Jeff Wentworth of Curvegrid, Paul Chapman of Moneytree, Sam Pemberton-Ahmed of SmartPay, and Samantha Ghiotti of Habitto. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Transcript I think in every startup ecosystem, foreigners play an outsized role in promoting that ecosystem, whether it's in San Francisco, whether it's London. And the reasons for that might be a desire, a people who are willing to uproot themselves and move halfway across the world, maybe are just bigger risk takers. Maybe it's new perspective. But today, we're gonna dig into what it takes to grow a startup, a Fintech startup in particular as a foreigner here in Japan. And to start out, we're gonna do really brief, really brief introductions. So I'm Tim Romero. I'm a partner at Jira Ventures. We invest in green tech energy, sustainability, next generation energy. Before that, I founded 4 startups here in Japan. I ran Google for startups Japan for a number of years. I helped Tapco spin out their CVC, and I run a podcast called Disrupting Japan, which is interviews with Japanese founders about what it's like to be a founder in a culture that prizes conformity. Samantha? Hi, everyone. My name is Sam, and I'm the cofounder of Habito. Habits is Japan's first connected financial experience helping people save, invest, and protect what they love the most. As my surname suggests, I'm Italian and I'm a mother of 2. And, I've been living and working across 4 different continents, London, New York, Dubai, Singapore, and now Tokyo. I spent about 20 years at the intersection of tech and finance, about 10 years as an operator, both in large financial institutions. And I ran the Singlife franchise in Singapore prior to its exit in 2021. And I spent 10 years as an investor sitting on the other side, predominantly in venture and also private equity, with a company called Anthemis Group, which is pioneer fintech investors in Europe and North America. And, that's where I met a lot of people there today is in this room. So it's great to see you all again. Excellent. Sam? Hi. My name's Sam. I'm from SmartPay. SmartPay is an embedded finance company. What does that mean? We provide installment loans to consumers at the point of purchase to help merchants, to grow their revenue. And then as of today as well, we just announced insurance as well. So we've partnered with Chubb, and we're providing product insurance and travel insurance with Chubb, at the point of purchase as well. We've signed over 20 banks and 201 credit unions. What does that mean? It means that you can pay directly from your bank account digitally. So we've connected with the 20 banks and 201 Credit Unions through APIs. So through our app, you can access your bank account. Me, personally, I've been working in Japan since 2010. Very lucky I was with Starbucks, where we rolled out in app payment, and loyalty card and obviously grew Japan to to be the 2nd largest market at Starbucks, moved to Mastercard, worked with Japan, as well with the banks, and then I was at Facebook, and WhatsApp, and Instagram in Japan and learned a lot from Zuck about success in Japan and decided to to go on my own. Good morning, everyone. My name is Paul Chapman. I'm the, the founder and and CEO at Moneytree. We're a financial data platform, based in Tokyo. We work with some of the largest banks such as SMBC, one of the sponsors, Mitsubishi OFJ, Japan Post Bank. We have some of the fastest growing, up and coming start ups in Japan using our data platform to get access to over 2,500 data sources. We we've been at this for a while,

The hidden danger of unicorn counting in JapanJames Riney – Coral Capital Jul 22, 2024

Japan has far fewer unicorns than one expects - or than venture capitalists desire. That fact, however, hides a fascinating story. Today James Riney, founding partner of Coral Capital explains the danger of unicorn counting. We dive deep into which startup sectors Japan is likely to lead in globally in the coming decade, how to identify unique startup value in Japan. We also talk about how Japan has become more like Silicon Valley in the past ten years and why they are about to become very different. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Coral Capital’s portfolio strategy How to find Japanese startups that can make a global impact Three categories of Japanese startups with unique opportunities for growth Sectors where Japan has a global advantage in startups Why “niche” startups in Japan can become hugely profitable What’s in Store for Carpal Capital Fund 4 Proof Japanese investors are long-term patent long-term investors The importance of VC portfolio services is growing in Japan How to get a job at a startup Starting a VC fund as a foreigner in Japan Japan’s “Just who does he think he is?! “ problem The error in the government's plan to attract foreign investors Why foreign VC struggle in Japan This biggest misconceptions foreign VCs have about the Japanese market Japan’s hidden unicorns Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about Coral Capital Get in touch as a startup Get in touch as normal person (lol) Coral Capital on YouTube The Coral Capital podcast Follow James on Twitter @james_riney Connect with him on LinkedIn Japan's Hidden Unicorns James' Article on Japan's 41 Hidden Unicorns My panel discussion on the same topic : Live from Stanford: Where are Japan’s Unicorns? Coral Capital Fund IV announcement Get a job at Coral Capital Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative startups and VCs. I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Venture capital in Japan is changing, but not in the way that most people think it is. Today, we sit down and talk with longtime friend of the show and founding partner of Coral Capital, James Riney. Now, James first came on the show about eight years ago, back when he was at 500 startups and before he even started Coral Capital. Over those eight years, James and Coral has probably done more than anyone to bring Silicon Valley style VC investment and VC founder support to Japan. And we're going to talk about some of those successes and failures. James also shares exactly what he and the team at Coral Capital are looking for in the startups they invest in and how they identify unique startup value in Japan. We also dive into the recent push to attract more foreign VC investment into Japan, what foreigners misunderstand about investing in Japanese startups, the challenges of establishing a VC fund here in Japan, and what Japanese and Silicon Valley VCs still need to learn from each other. But you know, James tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with longtime friend of the show. James Rainey, who's CEO, founder of Coral Capital. So, thanks for sitting down with us again. James: Thank you. I guess it's my third time. Tim: Third time in almost 10 years. James: It's crazy. Time flies. Tim: It does. Man, so much has changed. It's just incredible. But we will go down memory lane some other time. And today let's talk Coral. So, tell me about your fund. Who are you investing in and why? James: Yeah, so we are basically looking for what we call Power Law companies in Japan. So, as you know, venture capital is very much driven by Power Law, which means that there's only a handful of companies in the industry or at a firm level that are really going to drive most of the returns.

The surprising future of Japan’s new robot companions Jun 24, 2024

Japan thinks about robotics and AI differently that the West. In addition to their functional, productive role, a lot of thought is also given to our personal interactions, their social role, and the relationships we build with them. Today we sit down with Shunsuke Aoki, founder of Yukai Engineering and one of the most innovative and creative thinkers on the emotional connection between humans and machines. We talk about the future of robot companionship, how AI will change the definition of "culture", and why the future of Japanese robotics will have a lot more participation by foreigners. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The importance of emotional connection with robots Why children will listen to robots more then parents The importance and future of robot companionship Japanese vs western robot attitudes in culture and fiction How GenZ is is accepting AI boyfriends and girlfriends What a healthy emotional connection with an AI or robot looks like How to keep AI from influencing us into developing bad habits and Why do we keep building human like robots Why it’s easier to form an emotional connection to Qooboo than Abbot How to (maybe) make money on emotional robots Why the Japanese approach to robotics needs more foreigners in Japan now Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about Yukai Engineering Follow Shunsuke on Twitter @aopico Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Yukai's Products Bocco Emo Qoobo Nekkomimi Fufury Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative startups and VCs. I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to talk about robots because I mean, hey, who doesn't love robots? Now, in past episodes, we've talked a lot about how Japan's relationship with robots and automation is fundamentally different from what it is in the West. It's not really about technology. I mean, technology is universal. It's more about the personal and cultural connection to machines in general. Well, today I have a real treat for you. We sit down and talk with Shunsuke Aoki, the founder of Yukai Engineering. Now Shunsuke may not be that well known outside Japan, but he's one of the most innovative and creative thinkers on the topic of how humans and machines can connect on an emotional and a subconscious level. Now, to be fair, an audio podcast can't really do justice to Yukai engineering's creations, but we're going to do our best. You need to see the videos or really you need to interact with Shunsuke's creations in person to fully understand the emotional impact. Shunsuke and I talk about the future of robot and AI companionship, how AI will change the way we think about culture, and why the future of Japanese robotics will involve a lot more participation from foreigners. But, you know, Shunsuke tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Shunsuke Aoki, the founder of Yukai Engineering who's creating lifestyle robots, and thanks for sitting down with us again. It's been a while. Shunsuke: Thank you. It's been a while. Tim: Yukai over the last decade and a half has been making so many cool, interesting things that just to name a few, your first big hit was the Nekomimi wearable cattier that respond to brainwaves. You have the Qoobo sort of companion pillow which has the cat tail on it. The Bocco family robot that seems to be getting a lot of traction and it's hard to describe these on an audio podcast. But we'll put videos and pictures on the site, but it's hard to understand this kind of emotional impact unless you can touch and interact with these robots. With so much robotics research going on, you've been very focused on this sort of emotional connection. Tell me about that. Why is that important? Why do you focus on that?

How VCs drive (and murder) global startup ambition in Japan May 27, 2024

What keeps Japanese startups stuck in Japan? It's not a lack of opportunity or ambition. It's not a lack of knowledge or talent. In fact, one of Japan's most experienced venture capitalists thinks that VCs themselves that are the problem. Today we sit down with Ken Yasunaga, founder and Managing Partner of Global Hands On VC, a fund focused on finding and supporting the Japanese startups with the highest potential to succeed in the global market. Before founding GHOVC, Ken was managing director at INCJ (Japan's public/private $21B venture fund) as well holding multiple leadership positions in the Japan Venture Capital Association. We talk about the unique opportunities for investment in Japan, the trap of going public here, how some VCs are holding startups back, and why this might be a turning point for Japan's new global startups. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The two most pressing needs in Japan's startup ecosystem What's driving the increasing quality of Japanese founders Why we are not seeing Japanese unicorns What's preventing Japanese startups from going global The trap of going pubic in Japan Why Japanese startups struggle to go global The importance of mentors and hands-on support The important role of foreign VCs in Japan The right role government needs to play in supporting innovation in Japan Are Japanese founders becoming more conformist? Links from our Guest Everything you ever wanted to know about GHOVC Check out GHOVC on YouTube Follow Ken on Twitter @ken_yasunaga Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative startups and VCs. I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Talking about how Japanese startups need to go global is like talking about needing to go to the gym to lose those 10 pounds. I mean, everyone agrees it’s a great idea, a necessary one in fact, everyone is incredibly supportive. There are classes, networking opportunities, a wide and encouraging network. We all agree that it needs to be done, but somehow very few actually get off their ass and make it happen. Well, today we sit down with Ken Yasunaga, who is going to explain what he and his team are doing to fix that. The going global part, I mean, getting motivated to go to the gym is a discussion we'll save for a later time. Ken is the founder and the managing partner at Global Hands-on VC a fund. He and his partners put together to focus on finding the Japanese startups with the strongest global potential, and then providing them with the resources and guidance they need to actually do so successfully. Before starting his most recent fund, Ken managed one of the largest Japan government VC funds and has advised both METI and the Cabinet Office on startup policy. So, we also dive deep into the role that government should play in supporting the startup ecosystem here. The IPO trap that many Japanese startups fall into, the unique opportunity for foreign VCs in Japan. And of course just what it's going to take to get Japanese startups to succeed in global markets. But, you know, Ken tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Ken Yasunaga, the founder and managing partner of Global Hands-on VC. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Ken: Well, thank you for having me. Tim: I've really been looking forward to this conversation because we've known each other for quite some time now through several iterations of our career path. So, let's talk about your thesis at Global Hands-on VC because I think you're addressing two really important needs in Japan's startup ecosystem. Ken: Yeah. So, let me first tell you what the Global Hands-on VC. We call it the GHOVC. This is a VC fund that invest to the Japanese technology startup.

Big News from Disrupting Japan! May 13, 2024

There is important news for Disrupting Japan this week. It's a very short episode because I just want to let you know what's coming, and to thank you for all your support over the years. Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan Straight talk from Japan’s most innovative startups and VCs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for listening. Big changes are coming to Disrupting Japan. Our 10th anniversary is coming up this September, and you know, I thought about making this change then, but no. No, there is too much going on right now now to wait for four more months. For the past ten years Disruption Japan has brought you the stories of Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs, and I am going to continue to do that. But starting today, we are going to be hearing from Japan’s leading venture capitalists as well. There are a few reasons for the change. Part of it is that the Japanese venture landscape is changing fast, and in some very different snd important ways than what we see in the US. Understanding innovation and startups in Japan requires understanding how it all gets financed and understanding the changing role that venture capital is playing here. The other reason for the change coming now is that these days as a Partner at JERA Ventures, these are the waters in which I swim. And there are some incredibly interesting trends and changes going on in the ecosystem that I will be sharing with you. Naturally, we’ll also talk about the kinds of startups VCs are investing in now and where they see the market heading in the future. And of course, Disrupting Japan will still be talking with founders — a lot of them! After all, that’s where the change and the innovation really comes from. The founders are the are men and women who are actually in the arena, fighting the good fight, and changing the world. So I’ll see you right back here in just a couple of weeks. And most of all thanks for listening, and thank you for letting people interested in Japanese startups and investors know about the show. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for listening to Disrupting Japan.

How to sell innovation in cut-throat, low-margin industries Apr 29, 2024

Some industries need to be dragged kicking and screaming to innovation. When margins are tight and profits are small, CEOs often don't want to spend a dime on the promise of increased efficiencies or long-term savings, and so external leverage is needed. Today we talk with Shinya Shimizu, founder and CEO of Elephantech, who explains how he found that leverage in his mission to make the global technology supply chain more environmentally friendly. We explore how Elephantech and other startups are helping the world meet net-zero targets, strategies for scaling manufacturing startups, and how you can make money while doing good in the world. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The surprising impact of circuit boards on global CO2 emissions Growing from a kickstarter camping into a multi-million dollar startup How to raise debt financing rather than equity financing How Elephantech is selling eco-friendly solutions in a low-margin commodity industry How they built their first factory, and Shinya never wants to build another one How to scale a manufacturing startup Advice on successfully selling to and collaborating with Japanese enterprise How to take a deep tech startup global without massive amounts of capital Advice for sustainability startups on how to survive and thrive in cost-conscious industries When government regulation is good for startups and when it's damaging The danger of the wrong kinds of founder role models in Japan. Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Elephantech Follow Shinya on Twitter @shinyashimizu_e Connect with Shinya on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Circuit boards are one of those things that are everywhere, but that we really don't think about very much. Personally my only direct experience with circuit boards was years ago and involved a fair amount of cursing and a lot of solder burns. But printed circuit boards or PCBs, or a $90 billion global industry that is highly standardized, tightly controlled, and surprisingly damaging to the environment. Well, Shinya Shimizu and the team at Elephantech are changing that, they've not only developed the technology to re-engineer PCB manufacturer to be more environmentally friendly and less expensive, but they've also built their first factory and are now selling to some of the world's largest manufacturers. Elephantech is a great example of how startups can succeed while making a positive contribution in this world. And Shinya also gives some great practical advice about how to sell to large enterprises as a new startup. How to raise money for capital intensive growth, and how to introduce new innovation into a low margin cutthroat industry. It's really quite an amazing story of their journey from a small Kickstarter project 10 years ago to make a pen that lets you draw working electrical circuits to selling PCB technology to some of the world's largest manufacturers today, to just maybe fundamentally changing the way circuit boards get made tomorrow. But, you know, Shinya tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Shinya Shimizu, the CEO and founder of Elephantech. The first company in the world to mass produce printed circuit boards using an inkjet printing, echo friendly, sustainable manufacturing process. Shinya: Yeah. Sure. Tim: That's longer to say than I thought. But thanks for sitting down with us. Shinya: You're welcome. So, I'm really happy to be here. Tim: Well, I try to explain what you do in that big mouthful of an introduction, but I think you can probably explain it better than me. So, what does Elephantech do? Shinya: So, Elephantech is going to completely change the way of manufacturing electronic circ...

Startups need to think global, but you need to beware of being global Apr 01, 2024

Japanese HR departments are in a bit of a panic right now. The increasing job mobility that startups have unleashed is forcing them to rethink their entire mission. Today we sit down and Takako Ogawa, co-founder and CEO of Panalyt, a startup at the center of this transformation, and we talk about the changing career paths in Japan, when startups need to change CEOs, and the dangers of going global that people don't seem to talk about. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why it's so hard for HR to answer simple questions Google’s approach to people analytics and why that's important in Japan The dangers involved in the freemium model Why a Singapore-based startup started focusing on Japan Why it's better to build a startup today in Japan rather than Singapore How to change a startup CEO The importance and danger of transparency in a startup The problem most enterprise SaaS dashboard startups never overcome The right way for a startup to go global HRs new mission in Japan and its struggles to fufill it Why your next head of HR might come from marketing How Japan punishes failure Takako's near "career-ending" mistake in corporate HR that put her on the path to entrepreneurship Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know Panalyt Friend Takako on Facebook Panalyt's column in HRPro about modern HR in Japan [Japanese] Panalyt's book on modern people analytics [Japanese] Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Japanese HR departments are in crisis right now. Oh, life was simple back in the good old days when the big firms all recruited straight out of university and employees stayed with the company until they retired. But things are changing in Japan. People are starting to switch jobs. Companies are hiring mid-career and startups? Well, startups are a source of employee mobility, that is forcing enterprise HR to completely rethink its entire mission. Today we sit down and talk with someone at the center of this transformation, Takako Ogawa, co-founder and CEO of Panalyt, a startup bringing modern people analytics to Japanese HR departments. But that was not always the case. Takako was not always the CEO and Panalyt, was not always a Japanese startup. So, Takako and I talk about that journey. We'll dive into how you know when a startup needs a new CEO, how to decide on your first overseas market including a few big mistakes that you should be sure to avoid. And the very important difference between having a global mindset from day one and actually being global from day one. But, you know, Takako tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So I'm sitting here with Takako Ogawa, the co-founder and CEO of Panalyt, who's bringing modern people analytics to Japanese enterprise. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Takako: Yeah, thank you. Tim: It's really great to have you on the show. But just for a background, what is people analytics? Takako: So, in a nutshell, how I see people analytics is taking a scientific or data approach to HR, kind of in the same way that when you build a new product, you do AB testing, or when you're building financial models, you test out a lot of things in numbers. And the super exciting thing is in the people space, now we can do this as well. Modern enterprises who uses a payroll system, a time and attendance system, HRIS, they have enough data to make data-driven approaches to people. Tim: So, data-driven is good. We all like data, but what kind of decisions are these companies making? What are they improving? Takako: I can definitely share some of the experiences at Google because back when I was there, we used data in everything. Like everything. I was astonished by how Google approached HR and that's what got me...

What today’s headlines don’t tell you about Fusion Energy Mar 04, 2024

Fusion energy promises almost unlimited, inexpensive, clean energy. That's a pretty big promise. Today we sit down with Satoshi Konishi, co-founder and CEO of Kyoto Fusioneering, and we talk about what it is really going to take to develop commercially viable fusion power and the role that startups have to play in that process. We talk about the emerging public-private research partnerships, who is pulling ahead in the fusion race, and we dig into the long history and near future of fusion energy It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why fusion energy is much older than you think Why fusion energy dropped out of the news and why it’s back How to raise venture capital for moonshot startups The three core components to a fusion power that form Kyoto Fusioneering's business model A strategy for standardizing when technology moves quickly How recent fusion energy headlines have been misleading Why we have a fusion energy startup cluster in Japan The Japanese public attitude towards fusion How the fusion industry will develop over the next five to ten years The biggest misconception about fusion in Japan One way to solve Japan’s deep tech scaling problem Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know Kyoto Fusioneering Connect with them on LinkedIn Check out some videos of the experimental fusion equipment Satoshi's ResearchGate page Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about fusion energy. Now, for the past several decades, fusion has been touted as the best possible solution to the world's energy needs. It's a promise of clean, safe, inexpensive, and virtually limitless energy. So, what's not to love? Of course, making that dream a reality is not exactly a simple matter. Today, we sit down with Satoshi Konishi, founder and CEO of Kyoto Fusioneering, and we talk about the state of fusion energy today, the problems that still need to be solved and the role that startups have to play in making fusion energy a commercial reality. And if during our interview, it sounds like I'm sometimes kind of bubbling over in geeky excitement, well, it's because I am. Fusion energy is something that's fascinated me since I was in high school. It's just such an interesting and important set of technologies, and it's some genuinely cool physics as well. Anyway, Satoshi and I dig into both the history of fusion power and the current challenges being faced by both universities and startups alike in bringing it to commercialization. Why the most viral headlines about fusion energy tend to be really misleading, what’s needed for more effective public private partnerships and fusion, and of course, we also dive into how Satoshi sees fusion energy developing over the next 10 years and the real trigger that will determine when and if we will see a world powered by fusion. But, you know, Satoshi tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I am sitting here with Satoshi Konishi of Kyoto Fusioneering, who's working with researchers and startups around the world to make fusion energy a reality. So, thanks so much for sitting down with us. Satoshi: I'm very happy to just talk with you. Thank you very much. Tim: Well, it's my pleasure. And before we get deep into the fusion technology, my understanding is that Kyoto Fusion hearing's focus is on the materials and the precision engineering that are needed for fusion research. Satoshi: Yeah, that is partially true, but what we intend to do ultimately is that to make the anti-fusion plant to make fusion energy. But what makes fusion energy well is not resource, but small amount hydrogen, but big machines very precisely made. So, when need special materials,

One soil startup’s unusual and risky scaling secret Feb 05, 2024

Most sustainability startups struggle to find sustainable business models Towing, however, has found their solution, and their customers are seeing 20% to 70% increases crop yields. Today we sit down with Towing co-founder Teppei Okamura and he explains why even such a drastic yield improvement required an innovative production and distribution model to achieve scale. We also talk about the advantages (and the challenges) of working with university research teams, how environment policy and carbon credits affect innovation in sustainable agriculture, and Towing's joint research project with JAXA, Japan's space agency, on developing farming in space. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How Towing is revitalizing depleted agricultural soil Achieving and verifying 20 to 70 % yield improvements The pros and cons of research collaboration with Japanese universities The high-tech business model behind dirt How to develop the economic incentives needed to make sustainable agriculture profitable Towing's distributed business model that reduces storage and distribution costs Farming in space and the most important part of getting it to work Why Japan is a good market for Agtech startups How carbon offset pricing influences sustainable agriculture The advantages of starting a startup when the economy is good vs when times are bad. Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Towing Follow Towing on Twitter @TOWING_0227 Friend Teppei on Facebook Government's take on space farming [pdf] Interesting information in Japanese Founder interview at Nagoya University Towing's recent TV appearance Agricultural carbon credits Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Cheaper Than Dirt. Well, anyone who works in modern agriculture will tell you that's not necessarily very cheap these days. Maintaining soil quality is hard and soil revitalization is expensive. Well, today we sit down and talk with Teppei Okamura, co-founder of Towing, a startup that has developed a sustainable and affordable soil additive that is resulting in a 20 to 70% increase in crop yield and is now being sold to farmers throughout Japan. And Towing addresses the common scalability challenge that these kinds of agricultural tech startups inevitably face by using an innovative production and distribution model that should allow them to achieve meaningful and perhaps even global scale. We talk about the challenges of launching a university spin out using licensed IP, why so many genuinely innovative agTech startups never managed to reach sustainable commercial scale, and about Towing's ongoing collaboration with Japan's space agency to develop the technologies and protocols to make agriculture and space a reality. But, you know, Teppei tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Teppei Okamura of Towing, who's using microorganisms and bio charcoal to revitalize agricultural soil. And thanks for sitting down with us today. Teppei: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Tim: I gave just a very, very high level explanation of what Towing does, and I'm sure you can explain it much better than I can. Teppei: What we produce is artificial soil. Basically we make soil from bio-char, which is made from any like organic materials and like waste from rice industry or like chicken industry or any waste. The organic waste can be used and we grow our basic microbes in the bio-char. And we make that into very good soil or good soil additives, especially good for organic farming. Tim: And from what I understand, while it can usually take up to five years to revitalize agricultural soil Towing’s process can do it in in one month. Teppei: Yes.

What you need to know to sell to schools in Japan Jan 08, 2024

Everyone agrees that the Japanese education system needs to be modernized, but EdTech startups still face an uphill battle in Japan. Of course, academia and governments are not known for being particularly innovative or forward-thinking, and that's why Kohei Kuboyama left a fast-track career at Japan's Ministry of Finance to launch an EdTech startup. Kohei lays out his blueprint for getting new technology and new products adopted in Japan's schools, explains the challenges of leaving government service to start a startup, and talks about a few optimistic long-term trends he sees in Japan's eduction system. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why it’s so hard to leave the government to start a startup The three waves of "founder acceptance" in Japan Why EdTech startups sell to cram schools instead of regular schools The key to turning teachers into product advocates The biggest challenge in selling to high-schools in Japan. How to create life-long learners in Japan The appropriate role of the Japanese government in supporting startups The biggest risk with government funded startups Getting over the fear of failure in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about okke Friend Kohei on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Edtech Startups in Japan need to overcome some significant barriers in order to succeed. Oh, it's not that people really want those barriers there. There's a huge desire for change in innovation. In fact, there is an almost universal agreement that the way Japanese children are taught needs to be modernized and reformed. The hard part, however, is getting people to actually agree on what concrete changes need to be made. Well, today we sit down with Kohei Kuboyama, the founder of okke. And Kohei lays out his strategy for getting EdTech startup products approved by and used in Japanese schools. He also tells the story of how okke evolved from a simple YouTube curation site into an integrated testing and tutoring platform. We also talk about Kohei’s surprising decision to leave his fast track career at the Ministry of Finance to start a startup, the key steps to selling to Japanese high schools and cram schools. And we dive deep into the Japanese philosophy of education and instruction, how it differs from that in the West, and exactly how Japanese high schools and even cram schools are starting to change. But, you know, Kohei tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: We're sitting here with Kohei Kuboyama, the founder of okke and maker of Dr. okke. Who's helping high school students learn. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Kohei: Thanks for having me. Tim: I talked really briefly about what okke does but I'm sure you can explain it much better than I can. Kohei: Yeah. So, our mission is to make a world where every person learns actively and every person can make their lives fulfilled. We are providing two products. One is for high school students and one is for schools. One product is called okke, this is actually an app for high school students and they can use our app for free. So, the basic concept of okke, is to let high school students learn wherever they want to, whenever they want to, and wherever they live. The basic concept is the search engine. So, there are a lot of useful and helpful learning information and contents on Google and YouTube, for example. But there are many kinds of information there. Game and contents of music and so on. We are making the search engine under the platform focusing on learning. Tim: So, how does it work? So, I think like at first you originally started just curating videos. And recommending educational videos,

AI’s new game-changing role in decoding mountains of EKGs Dec 11, 2023

The medical industry is one of the most challenging areas for startups to succeed in. "Move fast and break things" just doesn't work in medicine. So you might be surprised to learn that right now there are quite a few innovative medical startups coming out of Japan. Today we talk with Yuichi Tamura, founder of Cardio Intelligence, who has developed Smart Robin, an AI platform that reads EKGs, has been certified as a diagnostic device, and is being used in clinics and hospitals all over Japan. We talk about the challenges of bringing medical AI to market, their plans for global expansion, and the most important thing that venture capital can offer medTech startups. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The importance and challenge of the current EKG-reading workflow Why is is so hard to bring a new medical innovations to market Yuichi's transition from medicine to business. A go-to-market strategy for medical startups How Cardio Intelligence acquired enough EKG training data Why automatic EKG diagnostic innovation stopped in the 1970s The importance of explainable AI for medical devices and diagnostics The role startups need to play in medical innovation in Japan What venture capital firms can really contribute to medTech startups (besides the capital) Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Cardio Intelligence Follow them on Twitter @cardio_int Follow Yuichi on Twitter @TamCardio Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Genuinely new medical technology is one of the most difficult things for a startup to bring to market. Regulations are complex and capital needs are high, and yet Japan has a surprisingly large cluster of innovative medical startups who have new technology both approved for and actually in use in clinical practice. There are a number of reasons for this, and today we sit down with Yuichi Tamura, MD and founder of Cardio Intelligence, a startup using AI to read EKGs and detect atrial fibrillation. It's a technology that not only makes work faster, but it opens up a whole new range of important inexpensive diagnostic tests that were simply impractical before. It's AI technology that is doing genuine good. Yuichi and I dive deeply into that, and we also talk about how AI is going to change the face of telemedicine and rural hospitals. Why EKG innovation stopped in the seventies and exactly when technical founders need to step out of the CEO role. But, you know, Yuichi tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Yuichi Tamura, the founder and CEO of Cardio Intelligence and maker of Smart Robin, who's using AI to detect atrial fibrillations from EKGs. Thanks for sitting down with me today. Yuichi: Sure, my pleasure. Tim: Well, I gave a really brief introduction to what Cardio Intelligence does, and I'm sure you can explain it much better than I can. So, what do you guys do? Yuichi: So, Cardio Intelligence provides the AI medical software, which enables physicians and the technicians to lead the long-term electrocardiogram more easily. Tim: And you're focused on detecting atrial fibrillation. So, what exactly is atrial fibrillation and why is it bad? Yuichi: Atrial fibrillation is a very, very big problem for cardiac health. It brings not only heart failure, but also brain stroke because an atrial fibrillation make a paralyzing the atrium, the upper chamber in the heart, which brings some very, very small thrombin. And finally, it drives into the brain arteries which brings a brain stroke. So, in such a case, the patient suffer from very severe symptom, half of the body paralyzing and sometimes make sudden death. Tim: And from what I understand it,

What it takes to teach Japan Inc how to code Nov 13, 2023

Japan wants to learn how to code. Over the past 15 years software development in Japan has changed from low-level clerical work to a mission-critical skill, and the Japanese government and industry as scrambling to find programmers and develop new talent. Yan Fan came to Japan on a mission to teach everyone how to code. After opening Japan's first coding bootcamp, and she and her co-founder Kani grew Code Chrysalis to profitability and about 50 staff, and continue to grow rapidly. Yan and I talk about digital literacy in Japan, and she also explains her blueprint for making sales in Japan without speaking Japanese, identifying a startup's unique value in Japan, and her experience raising money from both angels and CVCs It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. As promised, here is a picture of "Benesse's pumpkin"a work by Yayoi Kusama. It will all make sense after you listen to the episode. Show Notes Why Japanese enterprise is looking at coding bootcamps Why software development was a dirty job and how that's changing Why come to Japan to start a startup Raising money as a non-digital startup in Japan How angel investors add value and what attracts CVCs Attracting your first customers as a foreign startup in Japan Why Japan needs a community-learners mindset where people learn from each other Yan's networking and marketing strategy for foreign founders in Japan Why Japan Inc and METI want Japan to learn to code How to improve mobility in Japan's labor market Links from the Founders Everything you wanted to know about Code Chrysalis Check out their enterprise classes Follow them on Twitter @codechrysalis Send them an email at hello@codechrysalis.io Connect with Yan on LinkedIn Follow her on Twitter @yanarchy Read her blog about teaching Toyota staff to code Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. There are a surprising number of entrepreneurs who dream of coming to Japan to start a startup. And recently the Japanese government is working hard to make Japan as attractive as possible to foreign founders by relaxing visa requirements, creating tax breaks, simplifying the incorporation process, and even setting up dedicated teams to attract foreign founders and provide them support in English. You might think that all this would make it easy to build a startup as a foreigner in Japan, but it's not. Of course, part of it is just that growing a startup anywhere is really hard. But the culture and linguistic challenges in Japan are very real, and yet a lot of people are doing it. Today we sit down with Yan Fan, an old friend and co-founder of Code Chrysalis, who's on a mission to teach Japan how to code. Yan came to Japan with the goal of founding and growing a startup, and that's just what she's done. And in our conversation, she lays out her blueprint, how she built a network when she didn't speak the language, how she identified her startups unique value add in Japan, and her experience raising money here from both Angels and from CVCs. Its advice that every aspiring foreign founder or active foreign founder for that matter in Japan really should know about. We also talk about how the image of software engineers, especially foreign software engineers, is changing some of the ways METI and the Japanese government are trying to teach Japan how to code, and why they now consider that skill to be so important for the future of Japan. And also why there is now a picture of Benesse's Pumpkin on the Disrupting Japan website. But, you know, Yan tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Yan Fan, the co-founder of Code Chrysalis, who's teaching Japan how to code. So thanks for sitting down with me. Yan: Thanks for having me today,

The innovative age of Shadow IT is coming to an end Oct 16, 2023

Shadow IT has been responsible for more enterprise SaaS deployments and workflow innovation than any growth strategy of the last 15 years. And that 's all about to end. Today we sit down with Yasu Matsumoto, who stepped down as CEO of Raksul after leading the startup from founding to post-IPO success, to start Josys, a new startup helping enterprises put an end to shadow IT once and for all. Yasu explains why that the end of shadow IT is actually a good thing for everyone, why he decided to step down from his high-profile CEO role, and the future of SaaS sales and marketing. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The problem with shadow IT and why it's coming to an end The Raksul startup to IPO story The Josys spinout and fundraising as a spinout Why there are so few serial founders in Japan The public's reaction to Yasu's decision to resign as CEO of Raksul Why CIOs are fighting back against shadow IT Josys's global expansion plans and being global from day 1 Two two reasons Japanese startups need to enter the US market quickly The important difference between enterprise SaaS and SMB SaaS services The one thing that would lead to a dynamic, mobile workforce in Japan Links from the Founders Everything you wanted to know about Josys Connect with Yasu on LinkedIn Jobs at Josys Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Salesforce was the first major SaaS Company. They redefined how software was used in and sold to enterprise companies all over the world. And in the two and a half decades since their founding, new SaaS software has pushed into every corner of the enterprise. But recently, the enterprise has started pushing back, and the bedrock go-to-market strategy that so many enterprise SaaS startups depend on might be about to disappear. Today we sit down with Yasu Matsumoto, founder of Raksul, and now founder and CEO of Josys, which provides SaaS management tools to the enterprise. We not only talk about SaaS marketing strategies, but we dive into the important differences between the enterprise and SMB SaaS markets, how to raise VC finance for corporate spinouts, and why we might be about to start seeing a lot more serial founders in Japan. But, you know, Yasu tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Yasu Matsumoto, the founder and CEO of Josys, who's providing companies with comprehensive IT device and SaaS management. So, thanks for sitting down with me today. Yasu: Thanks, Tim. Tim: So, I gave a really high level overview of what Josys is, but I think you can explain it much better than I can. Yasu: Josys is our IT operation platform. You can integrate all of the SaaS, what your company use and all of devices your employee use. Integrate all hardware and software into Josys by APIs and you can figure out what kind of a software your company use, what kind of a hardware your company use. And also you can provide account like Slack or Google or Notions Microsoft account for the new employees with a single click. And once they are employee resign the company, you can delete these accounts and device with just a single click. Tim: So, it's centralized SaaS license management, centralized account provisioning. Yasu: Exactly. Tim: And so you mentioned its API integration, so it's not that individuals are inputting this information. Yasu: Yes. Our product is based on the API economy. So, the company use tons of apps after the COVID, but these apps are not controlled by central IT operations. So, each of the department install the new apps by their decision making or sometimes individual, but they're from the point of a corporate IT or cybersecurity view. That is very dangerous. Tim: It is, but it's interesting because that is one of th...

So you want to disrupt finance? This is what it’s going to take Sep 18, 2023

For decades (centuries, really) lending in Japan has relied on personal guarantors and introductions rather than objective credit scoring. This startup is changing that. Before starting Credit Engine, which provides credit scoring, automated approvals, and other services to mega-banks and other financial institutions, Sei Uchiyama founded an online lending startup to ensure he understand this market from the bottom up. Credit Engine currently automates everything from loan approvals to the collection of delinquent and non-performing loans, and its already starting to change finance in Japan. Sei and I talk about the future of finance in Japan and the surprising way competition between FinTech startups and the banks is likely to play out. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How much of the loan process can a startup be involved in How the mega-banks are experimenting with this technology The post-tsunami rescue micro-finance fund Why pivot from direct lending to financial services Why lending fintechs startups have trouble raising funds in Japan How real-time credit scoring will change consumer behavior in Japan Is Japan really "over-banked" and what that means for innovation Japanese mega-banks' reactions to financial innovation How automated debt collection improved results by more than 1000% Are the biggest FinTech opportunities in developing or developed markets? Mega-banks' secret weapon in competing with startups How easing labor protections would help Japanese employees Links from the Founders Everything you wanted to know about Credit Engine About LENDY the loan company they operate Connect with Sei on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Japan has always had a, well, let's call it a “conservative” attitude, towards consumer borrowing. Credit card balances are generally paid in full at the end of the month. Most household purchases are saved for rather than financed and outside of a mortgage, debt is generally seen as a bad thing. In fact, rather than using consumer credit scores, most Japanese lending still relies on introductions and personal guarantees. But Sei Uchiyama, the founder of Credit Engine, is changing that. Over the past few years, Sei, has both started a new lending company and partnered with some of Japan's largest banks to streamline and automate loan approvals and issuance. And he and the team have even developed an automated system for collecting non-performing loans that outperforms traditional methods. Now Sei and I talk about how faster and simpler access to credit in Japan might change things for both good and for bad, what it's going to take to truly disrupt financial markets and whether that will turn out to be a good thing and the differences between Fintech's startup strategy in developed and developing markets. But, you know, Sei tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we are sitting here with Sei Uchiyama, the founder and CEO of Credit Engine who's providing turnkey lending solutions to financial institutions. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Sei: Thank you very much for the opportunity talking here. Tim: So, I explained really briefly what Credit Engine does, but I'm sure you can explain it much better than I can. So, what is Credit Engine? Sei: So, Credit Engine is the online lending platform providing the loan origination system and also the collection system for financial institutions, including banks and non-banking financial institutions. Tim: I understand it's a full service system. You provide scoring automated approvals all the way through processing and collections, right? So, that's quite a lot. So, tell me about what types of loans are you originating? Sei: So,

Legal AI will shatter your perspective on legal advice Jul 24, 2023

The legal system is complex, hard to understand, expensive to navigate, and ripe for disruption. In the future, we will still need lawyers to help us understand the law, but it look like we are going to need far fewer of them than we have today. Nozo Tsunoda is an attorney who walked away from a promising legal career to start LegalOn, an AI startup focused on making the practice of law more efficient, transparent, and easy to navigate. We talk about why corporate legal departments are the early adopters, but why AI technology is forcing its way even into the most traditional law firms, and how it might someday be used by consumers as well. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why it's hard to sell AI technology to law firms How AI is starting to change the way law firms compete Why Nozo left the law to start a legal startup The contract review workflow and why it's perfect for AI disruption How many lawyers will AI replace in the next five years? Differences in how US and Japanese staff view working from home A $100M investment in US market entry Differences between Japanese and American legal systems Can today's AI understand contracts better than a junior associate? The big changes AI will force on the legal industry The need for more immigration in Japan Links from the Founders Everything you wanted to know LegalOn Their US website Learn about LegalOn's Products Japan Products LegalForce LegalForce Cabinet US Products Read about LegalOn's US market expansion Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Of all the industries that are going to be impacted by artificial intelligence, the legal profession is going to be one of the most profoundly transformed. And today we sit down and talk with Nozo Tsunoda, a licensed attorney and the founder of LegalOn a rapidly growing startup using AI to review and manage contracts. And while their initial clients have been mostly corporate legal departments, Nozo explains how AI is beginning to force changes to the behavior of even traditional legal firms. Now if you're in the US you might not have heard of LegalOn yet, but you'll be hearing a lot about them soon. Nozo and the team recently raised over a hundred million in large part to fuel their recent US market entry. Nozo and I talk about the challenges of selling increased efficiency to lawyers who bill by the hour LegalOn’s US expansion plans, and how AI is going to change the entire legal industry. But, you know, Nozo tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Nozo Tsunoda of LegalOn, who's using artificial intelligence to simplify and improve contract review and management. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Nozo: Thank you. Tim: Well, listen, I gave a really brief description of what LegalOn does, but I'm sure you can explain it much better than I did. So, what does LegalOn do? Nozo: LegalOn technology is legal tech companies. I found it seven years ago, and now we have three solutions. And globally we have four solutions and globally we have 3,700 customers. Tim: Well, but to get to the basics for some listeners who might not understand anything about the legal process, so what is the service that LegalOn provides? Nozo: For contract area we have three product for pre-ex execution process of contract drafting or review. And second product is for contract management. Tim: So, contracts is a very, very broad subject. So, LegalOn focus is mostly on things like NDAs and purchase agreements and things like that. Nozo: Yes, of course we can support NDA, purchase agreement or service agreement, but we can review 50 types of contracts for the market. Tim: Tell me a bit about your customers. So,

How one innovative startup is selling true bionic legs Jun 26, 2023

Startups solve real problems. During the boom times, the media focuses on the multi-billion-dollar valuations and the mega-IPOs. But even in those times, founders are innovating in the background and using technology to just make the world a better place. Today we talk with Sun Xiaojun, who started BionicM in 2015 as a way to replace the limb that he lost when he was a child. And since then, he has built the startup into much more. We talk about the challenges he had to overcome to bring innovative medical technology to market, why Japanese universities still struggle to productize their impressive deep-tech, and why the world has been thinking about prosthetic limbs all wrong for thousands of years. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why powered prosthetics are a game-changer The challenges of being your own first beta-tester How coming to Japan changed Sunny's life How prosthetics are fitted and sold Go to market strategy and discovering the true customer Total addressable market size User feedback, human variation, and future changes How people are using the bionic leg as a fashion statement How Japanese professors make product development difficult Why it is often so hard for Japanese startups to sell to Japanese consumers Links from the Founders Everything you wanted to know BionicM Follow Sunny on Twitter @Bio_Leg Friend him on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn A great article about BionicM Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about bionic legs, the real deal, a battery powered below the knee powered prosthetic leg that is already being used by amputees all over the world, and it looks pretty good too. We're going to sit down with Xiaojun Sun or Sunny, as he likes to be called. The founder, and CEO of BionicM who lost his leg when he was nine and spent the next 15 years determined to do something about that, and he did. BionicM is a Japanese startup creating artificial limbs that are not just functional or practical or good enough, but are different and innovative and well, to be honest, kind of cool. We're going to talk a lot about Sunny's journey and the BionicM prosthetic leg, but we also talk about why it's easier to launch this kind of product in America, despite the stricter certification requirements. The challenges in figuring out who the actual customers for artificial limbs really are and why Japanese universities have so much trouble getting their deep tech startups out of the labs and into the market. But, you know, Sunny tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: We're sitting here with Sunny Xoajun, the founder and CEO of BionicM who makes a robotic prosthetic leg, and thanks for sitting down with us. Sunny: Ah, thank you. I'm very glad to be here. Tim: So, I've given a brief description of what you do, but I'm sure you can explain what BionicM does much better than I can. So, what does BionicM do? Sunny: Yeah, we are a startup company, spin of the Tokyo University. We are building a powered prosthetic leg to have the handicap improve their mobility. Tim: Why is the powered prosthetic leg important? What's the important part of having the active? Sunny: Currently, most of the prosthetic is unpowered. We're developing something different from the current products which has a power to have user walk more easily. Perhaps do something which they couldn't do with current products. Tim: It's battery powered electric motors. What does this leg do for users that passive prosthetic legs cannot do? Sunny: For example, it's very difficult for some elderly amputee to stand up because when they stand up with the passive prosthetic, there is low power to help them, so they have to rely on their sound leg.

What happened when one Japanese startup talked about women’s sexual health May 29, 2023

Some things are supposed to be only whispered about in Japan. But startups are about breaking taboos and pushing boundaries, and making the world a bit better when they do it. Today's we sit down with Amina Sugimoto of Fermata, and we talk about how quickly and radically the FemTech movement is changing Japan's conversations, attitudes, and even public policy around women's health. It turns out things are both much worse and much better than you probably imagine. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why VCs have been hesitant to invest in FemTech How FemTech is defined in Japan, and what makes a "FemTech product" FemTech as a B2B business in Japan Japanese enterprise's, hesitant moves into FemTech Discussing sexual pleasure with Isetan's conservative management and customers How the FemTech label is opening up a new conversation about women's health in Japan FemTech as a national movement Why it is hard to get FemTech devices approved in Japan The future of FemTech in Japan What we need in addition to FemTech to really make a difference #WereNotSalmon Links from the Founders Everything you wanted to know about Fermata Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I love it when a conversation takes me by surprise. I usually already know the guests I'm interviewing and I do my research ahead of time. So, I generally know what to expect from these conversations. But every once in a while things head off in a completely different direction and the facts on the ground take me by surprise. Today is one of those conversations. Today we sit down with an Amina Sugimoto, the founder of Japanese FemTech powerhouse Fermata, and we talk about how Japanese attitudes towards women's health are changing and how the FemTech movement is a driving force behind that change. Fermata speaks directly and candidly about topics that Japanese society has always preferred to whisper about. She's worked with industry, government, and consumers to change laws and attitudes and is seeing real progress. Amina and I talk about how to get laws changed in Japan, what happens when women start frank conversations about their health and sexual needs. And what she learned by selling vibrators to Isetan department stores super conservative shoppers. But you know, Amina tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Amina Sugimoto of Fermata, one of the leaders of consumer FemTech in Japan. Amina: Thank you. Tim: And thanks for sitting down with me. Amina: Of course, of course. It's my pleasure. Tim: I gave a really brief explanation of what Fermata is and I’m sure you can do a much better job than I can. So, what is Fermata? Amina: So, we initially started as a research group within the Venture Capital. Tim: Mistletoe, right? Amina: Yeah. Ran by [inaudible 00:02:16]. There is this one company that came across two things that I found out. One is not many venture capitalists were interested in this emerging new technology, our women's health. And then two, there are not many companies that instead of actually focusing on how to actually create industry brand a product, Tim: So, at Mistletoe were you trying to get them to invest in these FemTech companies? And Amina: So initially, yes. I still remember today that we were sitting around in the table and there's one company from the US that's actually called Modern Fertility. Now, what they did is they brought in existing technology of measuring AMA's hormone, which basically we can measure how much eggs we've got left. This technology is available at clinics in the name of marriage checks in Japan. So, basically before you get married, you get the test. And if you can't get pregnant anymore, oftentimes that marriage just no longer.

How Japanese graffiti Is sneaking onto the blockchain May 01, 2023

Graffiti is impermanent. Normally, thats a good thing, but as the global art world has begun to recognize graffiti and street art as a legitimate art form, the short-term and public nature of street art has presented challenges around sales and ownership. The team at Totomo has found a solution. They have been working with street artists around the world and galleries across Tokyo to create a platform to prove digital ownership of street art. We talk about the challenges of bringing digital tools and provenance into the spray-can world of street art, why this international team decided to launch in Japan first, and how to take advantage of the new startup support programs offered by the Shibuya government. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The challenges involved in monetizing street art Is street art "legitimate", and how world opinion is changing Why Japan views street art differently Why Totomo is not using the standard NFT marketing strategy The importance of real-world gallery events Why most Totomo NFTs are not bought using crypto Do NFTs really pay artists on resale? Bailing an artist out of jail How attitudes to street art are changing in Japan The real reason Totomo launched in Japan first How a foreign-run startups can raise money from the Japanese government Links from the Founders Totemo Street Art NFT Gallery Street Art Collector podcast Follow Totemo on Twitter @totemoart See some great street art Check it out on Instagram Street art on YouTube Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about NFTs and no, no, it's not what you think. Regular listeners know that I'm an NFT skeptic, but being an honest skeptic means keeping an open mind. And in that spirit, I'd like to introduce you to the team at Totemo because they're doing some genuinely interesting things with graffiti, street art and the block chain. They're helping artists get paid and as far as I'm concerned, that's always a worthy activity. So, today we sit down for a four-way conversation with the Totemo team of Marty Roberts, Elena Calderon Alvarez and Minami Kobayashi. We talk about why Totemo decided to target their business much more tightly on the art community than on the crypto community. and also why this international team who represents international artists, decided to launch their startup in Japan. We talk about how graffiti and street art are becoming accepted as mainstream art around the world and the amazing level of support that the Shibuya government is providing startups these days and whether bailing your clients out of jail is a good use of investor capital. But you know, the Totemo team tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with the founders of Totemo. Marty, thanks for joining us. Marty: Thanks so much Tim for having us. Tim: It’s good to have you back. And Elena. Elena: Hi. Thank you for having us. Tim: It's good to have you on and Minami. Minami: Hi.. Thank you for having us. Tim: It's great to have you on. I don't usually have three people on the show, but making an exception this time because what you guys are doing is really interesting. You're bringing street art and graffiti art to the blockchain, but I think you can probably explain it a little better than I just did. So, what exactly does Totemo do? Marty: Yeah, yeah, I think you summed it up quite well already, but the point that we're trying to work on is that right now graffiti and street art, while it's loved by many around the world, it's impermanent and eventually it will be destroyed by the elements, by the government, by other graffiti writers. So, if there was a way to make this permanent and also collectable and tradable,

What it really takes to get your product approved by NASA Apr 03, 2023

Not many startups land their tech on the moon. Dymon has designed an autonomous lunar rover that will land near the lunar south pole later this year as part of NASA's Artemis program. Today, we sit down and talk with founder Shin Nakajima who explains what it takes for a startup to become part of a NASA mission, the role YouTube had to play, what startups can contribute to space exploration, and how NASA and JAXA are changing to be more startup-friendly. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How Yaoki became part of NASA's Artemis program How Yaoki got its name Why Dymon focused on lunar rather than terrestrial problems How to (not) make money building autonomous lunar rovers How the Artemis program is driving innovation Why we expect a lot of water at the lunar South Pole How a YouTube video got the attention of NASA What's involved in getting technology approved by NASA Possible Earth-bound use cases and long-term business model How to raise money for a literal moonshot The future of lunar exploration and settlement The role startups have to play in space exportation Why Japanese aerospace startups want to work with NASA rather than JAXA Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Yaoki Follow Yaoki on Twitter @yaoki_space_g or in Japanese The official Yaoki Facebook page Follow Shin on Twitter @Shin_Nakajima Friend him on Facebook Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about moonshots, and I don't mean moonshots in the sense of wildly ambitious dreams, although come to think of it, yeah, yeah. We're also going to talk a lot about wildly ambitious dreams. But today's focus is on actually going to the moon. Shin Nakajima's startup Dymon has built a lunar rover called Yaoki that later this year we'll be traveling to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis project. Now, the name Yaoki comes from the Japanese expression nanakorobi-yaoki, which means falling down seven times and getting up eight. It means persisting in the face of repeated failures. It means never giving up. And both that word and that outlook on life feature prominently in today's conversation. We have an interesting debate on the role startups have to play in space exploration. And I don't mean just the SpaceX scale startups. SpaceX is doing awesome things, but most aspiring founders don't have access to the level of capital needed to play at that scale. We're talking about how small teams of innovators can make a difference and how NASA and maybe even JAXA are changing in order to give them the chance to make that difference. Shin and I talk about the design of the Yaoki Rover itself, how we raised money for a project that almost no one believed in, and what it really takes to get your technology approved for a NASA mission. But, you know, Shin tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So we're sitting here with Shin Nakajima of Dymon, so thanks for sitting down with us. Shin: Thank you. Me too. Tim: You make this amazing lunar rover Yaoki, which is just amazingly cool. Tell us a little about the rover. Shin: This is what I am developing for 10 years, and now it's finished, and now it is contract with NASA Moon Rover project, which is called an Artemis. We are joining for commercial [inaudible 00:02:45]. Tim: Right. And for our listeners who can't see this, this looks nothing like you would imagine a lunar rover would look like. It's like, can I hold it? Shin: Yes, you can. Tim: Okay. That's so cool. I don't even know how to describe it. It looks like a little barbell with treads on it. Shin: Yes. Tim: I mean, this is really tiny, right? Shin: So very, very tiny. And it's just on the hand.

The lies, myths, and secrets of Japanese UI design Mar 06, 2023

There is a lot of hate directed at Japanese UI design. To Western eyes, it's just too busy, too dense, too confusing, too outdated, and just plain wrong. And sometimes that's true, but usually there are very good, and highly profitable, reasons Japanese websites and Japanese software looks the way it does. Today I sit down and talk (and argue a bit) with Brandon Hill about how Japanese design got this way, and the new direction it's currently heading. It's an amazing conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why people think Japanese UI design is broken The real reason Japanese sites never seem to get updated Why young Japanese sometimes prefer old-fashioned design How high-information density builds trust in Japan The social trigger that caused Japan to (almost) abandon minimalist design Why Japanese core design metaphors differ from those in the West Answering the top Western criticisms of Japanese design How Japanese labor law affects web and app design Why Western logo design is changing (and not for the better) The impact of smartphones on online and brick-and-mortar design What it's like for foreign designers at Japanese companies Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about btrax The amazing btrax blog A recommended in-depth article on American and Japanese UI/UX design Follow Brandon on Twitter @BrandonKHill Friend him on Facebook Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about Japanese UI/UX design. For the last 20 years, there's been this steady stream of Western designers explaining how Japanese web design is “broken”. Now, those critics often make some good points, but they usually completely misunderstand the underlying reasons that Japanese design is the way it is. Today we're going to address these criticisms once and for all as we sit down over a beer with my old friend Brandon Hill. Now Brandon runs btrax, a design and market entry consultancy based in San Francisco. And for the past 10 years, Brandon's been working with Japanese firms to get their design and UI ready for the American markets and with American firms to get their design and UI ready for the Japanese markets. In terms of practical hands-on experience, Brandon probably knows more than anyone in the world about the reasons Japanese and Western UX design are so different. And that's what we're going to dig deep into today. This episode's a little long, but I assure you it's worth it. There was simply nothing more I could have edited out. We explore the common criticisms of Japanese design, we talk about the psychology of e-commerce, and we dive deep into Japan's commercial culture. But you know, Brandon tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, cheers! So, I'm sitting here with Brandon Hill, the CEO and founder of btrax. So, welcome back. Brandon: Thank you so much. It's my pleasure to be back here. Tim: Now I've given everyone a really detailed description of you and your expertise during the intro. But just to make sure, why don't you tell us a little bit about what btrax does. Brandon: I started this company btrax long time ago. It's a long time that I don't even remember when that was, but started as a web design agency in San Francisco, and then we started specializing in US and Japanese localization and cross-border, cross-cultural marketing and branding. We now do a lot of work for Japanese corporations to create a new businesses as well as promoting them, branding them, and expanding them into the global market. Likewise, we work with many US companies coming to the Japanese market, taking care of their marketing and branding and localization. So, that's what we do, Tim: And that is why I'm so glad to have you here,

One way to unlock Japan’s broken e-commerce Feb 06, 2023

Sometimes it seems like Japan is almost invisible in global e-commerce. Despite a dynamic domestic e-commerce market and a long tradition of global exports, Japan just doesn't seem that interested in selling to the outside world. But things are changing, and Kazuyoshi Nakazato of Zig Zag is working to make sure they change even faster. We talk about why Japan is unrepresented in global e-commerce, why that's changing, some things you should never try to sell online. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why even small e-commerce is global The bowling ball export experiment What are Japan's biggest export markets for e-commerce How acquire overseas e-commerce customers How to select overseas markets to target How fast are Japanese e-commerce exports growing? How to grow and thrive as a small e-commerce site How to get Japanese founders to think more globally Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Zig Zag and their World Shopping international or domestic in Japanese Check out a good video intro to World Shopping Shop in Japan from the rest of the world Follow Kazuyoshi on Twitter @nakazaty Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Japan is missing out on the global e-commerce boom. Well, there is plenty of e-commerce going on in Japan, but it's almost all domestic and Japan is really missing out on the growing global market. However, Kazu Nakazato, founder of Zig Zag is changing that. Japan's e-commerce exports are still relatively small, but growing at 140% a year. And Kazu is looking to increase that even more. But as you'll hear, that's not easy. Kazu and the team at Zigzag are up against strong entrenched interests, language barriers, and one particularly frustrating aspect of Japanese business culture that we'll talk about in a few minutes. Kazu and I also discuss what COVID taught us about the resilience of global e-commerce. Some things you should never try to sell online. And Kazu also shares some really great advice about how to survive and grow as an independent e-commerce site. But you know, Kashi tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Kazu Nakazato of Zig Zag. Kazu: Yeah, Zig Zag. Tim: Who's helping Japanese e-commerce sites sell globally. So, thanks for sitting down with us. So, I explain really simply what you do, but I think you can explain Zig Zag much better than I can. So, what does Zig Zag do? Kazu: We offer a service called global base. Our eCommerce site can quickly transform into share site. It's very simple. All it takes is a single line JavaScript tag. It's provide marketing input forms, marketing our customer support and payments support. Tim: That's a lot for one line of JavaScript to do. So, it covers the translation, payments, logistics? Kazu: Yes. Shipping. Tim: Okay. Wow. And do you handle like returns? Kazu: Returns, yes. And there are 200 countries. Tim: So, tell me about your customers. Who's using Zig Zag? What kind of e-commerce sites? Kazu: Fashion, cosmetics, Anime and entertainment type. For example, Japanese apparel is Beams and Tower records about 2,500 website. Tim: So, that's quite a range. So, is it mostly the bigger sites like Tower Records and Beams or small independent sites also using it? Kazu: Yeah, for example in Fukuoka, very, very small apparel shop. And in Chiba, bowling maker site. Tim: Like bowling ball maker? Kazu: Yeah, bowling ball. Very, very heavy. Tim: I was going to say that’s really expensive to ship. Kazu: Yeah. FedEx or DHL, air or by ship. Tim: Exporting bowling balls. Are like Japanese bowling balls, like really high quality or something?

The forgotten mistake that killed Japan’s software industry Jan 09, 2023

This is our 200th episode, so I wanted to do something special. Everyone loves to complain about the poor quality of Japanese software, but today I’m going to explain exactly what went wrong. You'll get the whole story, and I'll also pinpoint the specific moment Japan lost its way. By the end, I think you'll have a new perspective on Japanese software and understand why everything might be about to change. You see, the story of Japanese software is not really the story of software. It's the story of Japanese innovation itself. Intro Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening Shakespeare only wrote 37 plays, Orson Wells only made 64 films, Mozart wrote 41 symphonies, but Disrupting Japan? Well, as of today, Disrupting Japan has 200 episodes. So, what to talk about on this special occasion? Well, I’ll be giving an in-depth answer to the one question I get asked most about Japanese software and Japanese software startups. This is a piece I’ve been working on (on and off) for over three years. I know that seems like a long time, but a lot of my solo podcasts come together like that. I know what I want to say, and will let it will bounce around in my head for months or years before I figure out how to turn it into an interesting story that you will find worth listening to. Some ideas are too short to develop into full-length shows, some I end up talking myself out of before a finish, and some -- like this one -- just take me a long time to craft in a way that I’m happy putting it out into the world. I have about 30 of these article in progress, and that’s far more than I’ll ever develop into podcasts. I’ve been thinking of starting a Substack newsletter to publish some of these in a much shorter form. Let me know what you think. Is that a good idea? Anyway, on our 200th episode, I want to thank you for listening, and making this show possible. I realize that “thank you the listener” has become cliche in and podcasting, but I don’t know what other words to use here. I feel incredibly honored to be able to sit down and have these deep conversions with some of the most creative and visionary people in Japan, and to have thousands of people around the world care enough about my thoughts and options to listen, and to get in touch, and to tell people about it. So thank you for listening, and thank you for coming on this journey with me. Let see where it takes us. And now, on with the show! The Elephant in the Room Japanese software has problems. By international standards, it’s just embarrassingly bad. We all know this, but what’s interesting is that there are perfectly rational, if somewhat frustrating, reasons that things turned out this way. Today I’m going to lay it all that out for you in a way that will help you understand how we got here, and show you why I am optimistic about the future. And no, this is not going to be just another rant about all the things I dislike about Japanese software. I am not going to waste your time or mine cataloging and complaining about the many, many bad practices, user-hostile design decisions, mind-boggling complex workflows, and poor development process that afflict Japanese software. If you want details and debate about exactly how Japanese software falls short, or if you just in the mood for some good old-fashioned venting about being forced to use it, check out Reddit or maybe Hacker News. This topic comes up pretty often there. No, for the sake of this podcast I’m going to assume that we are all in agreement that on average, Japanese software. is just … awful. That way we can spend our time talking about something far more interesting. We are going to walk though the economic events and the political forces that made today’s poor quality of Japanese software almost inventible, And by the end, I think it will give you a completely new way of looking at the Japanese sof...

The Ultimate Guide to Raising Money in Japan [Updated] Jan 06, 2023

There has never been a better time to be raising money in Japan than right now. Founders ask me about fundraising more than any other topic, so this guide is long overdue. There are links that cover the basics in the Show Notes, and I will be keeping this page updated as new information becomes available and members of the community create new resources. Calling something "The Ultimate Guide" to anything is a pretty big claim, and I'll do my best to make sure this page lives up to it. Please enjoy. Show Notes Results of the "Why Meet a Founder?" survey Directories of Japanese VC firms Japan Venture Capital Membership Crunchbase's list of Japanese VCs The Bridge: not a directory, but a good source of Japanese funding announcements Kei Furukawa's master list of Japanese VCs Tyson Batino's list of foreign-founder-friendly VCs in Japan. How to pitch like a Pro Dave McClure's original guide to pitching VCs - Very much substance over style The same information in a more readable format Dave's deck redesigned by people who do care about style What you need to put in your pitch deck - an infographic Design advice for pitch decks - more geared towards pitch contents Advice from Japanese VCs James Riney talks about the VC business model and gives pitching advice Disrupting Japan's live show on fundraising in Japan Hiro Maeda on fundraising in Japan Ikuo Hirasishi provides an overview of Japan's VC landscape More from James Riney back when he was with 500 startups Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, I am going to answer the question that everyone seems to be asking. Or at least the question that everyone seems to be asking me. I am going to explain how to raise money as a new startup founder in Japan. You know, it’s funny how things work out. I originally planned to write this episode a few months ago as a short-take on a focused topic while I fished up my episode about the history of software engineering in Japan, but the topic kind of got away from me. My first draft and notes for the show came in at over 24,000 words, which by the time I fleshed it all out would have ended up as a four -hour podcast, and even I can’t stand to listen to me for four hours. So I’ve had to make some cuts, some painful ones. This episode should be under an hour, but it requires that I speak in generalities and make a few over-broad statements. There are a few really important topics that I will just mention briefly before moving on. So, if while you are listening to this episode, particularly my VC listeners, and you find yourself thinking that I would explain a particular point in more detail and with more nuance, or wishing that I would dive deeper into specific strategies and scenarios … Yeah. Me too. But we’ll save that for another podcast or maybe a conversation over a beer. Now, there are a few very important questions you need to ask before you even decide to seek VC money. Things like “How do you plan on using those funds?” and “Are you sure you understand the growth-driven management style you are signing up for here?” But, from my experience, relatively few founders really want to dive into those topics. No, what founders in Japan really want to know is how to raise money. So that’s what we are going to talk about. I’m going to give you a clear and actionable plan so that: You can decide which VCs you should approach You can set up meetings with partners at reputable Japanese VC firms You will know how to pitch in the most effective way possible You will have some strategies to help you actually close the round, and get the money in the bank. And you’ll be able to do it all in a reasonable amount of time without going absolutely crazy. Now, I’ll warn you.

How the police use proven AI to predict future crime Dec 05, 2022

Police departments around the world are using this startup's AI to predict future crime. Mami Kajita, founder of Singular Perturbations, explains the success of their models, the public reaction to the technology, and how the physics models of glass transition lead to a crime prediction AI. We debate the future impact of crime prediction technology, and we also talk about how researchers and entrepreneurs can better connect and collaborate. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Telling police what future crime is likely to occur Who else, besides the police, can use these tools How the physics of glass transition lead to crime prediction How to sell software to the police (and other government agencies) Real world trials led to a 68% decrease in crime What data go into Crime Nabi's models The public reaction to future crime prediction Unintended consequences and and the future of crime prediction How founders can find mentors and advisors How researchers and entrepreneurs can better connect and collaborate Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Singular Perturbations Check out Mami's published research Connect with Mami on LinkedIn Friend her on Facebook Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about predicting future crime, and not in terms of 1950s science fiction, but in terms of real software being used right now by police departments all over the world. We talk with Mami Kajita of Singular Perturbations about their Crime Nabi AI, and how this technology is starting to change policing. In real world use Crime Nabi has already resulted in crime reductions of over 50% in areas where it's been tested around the world. In our conversation, Mami and I dig into these numbers and we talk about the somewhat surprising inputs that go into training the Crime Nabi AI. And of course, we also talk about the very real potential dangers for misuse and what Singular Perturbations is doing to make sure this technology is a force for good. Along the way, we talk about how founders can find good mentors and advisors, the proper balance between research and sales, and some really good advice about how to sell to national governments as a startup. But, you know, Mami tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, cheers. Mami: Okay, cheers. Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Mami Kajita, the founder and CEO of Singular Perturbations, the AI for Crime Prediction. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Mami: Yeah, thank you so much. I'm very honored to be here, and thank you so much for this opportunity. Tim: I'm glad to have you here. In the intro, I explained a little bit about what Singular Perturbations does. But I think you can explain it much better than me. So, what does Singular Perturbations do? Mami: We predict future crimes in using AI technology and we provide operation management services for police departments and local governments. And the name of our product is Crime Nabi. Tim: So, you are telling police departments where future crime is likely to occur? Mami: Yes. Using this technology we can provide the area where the risk is higher than the other area. Tim: Okay. And how do they use this information? What do they do with it? Mami: We provide operational management services in the police department, and there is a team who patrols outside and in Japan, and many police departments doesn't use crime prediction technology before patrols. They have not so much established plan. Tim: So, the police departments are using this predictive technology to decide where to send patrols? Mami: Yes, yes. Tim: Okay. What kind of predictions does it make? Does it predict the type of crime or just the level or…?

Why medical AI is taking off in SE Asia Nov 07, 2022

Today's episode is about trust; trust in technology and trust in each other. Very few startups experience what LPixel went through and far fewer survive it. Today we welcome Yuki Shimahara, founder of LPixel, back to the show. The last few years have been a roller-coster for LPixel, and despite the chaos LPixel managed to created Japan's first certified medical AI device and roll it out into hospitals around the country. And despite his success in Japan, Yuki also explains why smart medical AI startups are all looking to Southeast Asia. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How LPixel was certified as Japan's first AI medical device The transition from diagnostic support to full medical diagnosis Why it's not technology holding back medical AI The nature of trust in Japanese business Japanese health insurance is now paying for AI diagnosis What happens when an employee steals all your funds? The advantages (and disadvantages) of full transparency How investors reacted and their new demands Why more doctors are founding startups Why research is easier at startups than at universities Why developing countries will see more advances in medical AI than the developed world Going global does not mean going to the US (yet) How the Japanese government should (and should not) foster Japanese innovation Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about LPixel LPixel's medical diagnostic support system Eirl Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Japan is often described as a high trust society, but it's hard to explain exactly what that means and why it matters. Well, today we sit down to talk about trust and about medical AI with Yuki Shimahara, CEO of LPixel. Now, a lot has changed since Yuki was on the show four years ago. And by all metrics, LPixel is a stronger and more successful startup today. But one unfortunate event really put that level of trust to the test. Well, Yuki will give you the details, but the level of trust that existed between investors and clients and employees resulted in saving a startup that no one could reasonably expect to be saved. And we also talk about why medical AI is going to be adopted so much faster in Southeast Asia, why more and more doctors are starting startups in Japan and why Yuki thinks it's more productive to do deep research at a startup than at a university. But you know, Yuki tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: I'm sitting here with Yuki Shimahara, the CEO of LPixel. So, welcome back to the show. Yuki: Yeah, thank you for having me. Tim: LPixel a cloud-based AI image analysis for life sciences and medical research. And well, you can probably explain it much better than I can. Yuki: I'm very honored to be back here. LPixel is a startup company from Research Lab of Tokyo University, which is a pioneer bio image informatics. We combine life science and imagine analysis including AI, but also we do are the two main business. So, we developed the AI for medical misdiagnosis and then developing AI for accelerating the pharma research. Tim: And wow. Last time we talked, I think you were still a PhD candidate at that point. Yuki: Probably. Tim: Yeah. Because I do remember we were running around into different rooms at the University of Tokyo campus at Hongo trying to find a room that didn't like echo. So, much has changed since then. You're a lot bigger and more successful than before. So, how many people do you have working at LPixel now? Yuki: Now, 60 or 70. Tim: Tell me about your customers. So, last time most of your customers were research institutions, people working on medical research and it seems like you've expanded a lot since then. Yuki: I think the last time is just developing the AI but ...

The secret of humble food from expensive tech Oct 10, 2022

The way we get our food is changing. Many are discussing how to make modern farming more sustainable, but this startup working to end it entirely. Ikuo Hiraishi is a serial entrepreneur and the Japan head of Infarm Japan, an urban-farming startup growing food at supermarkets. In fact, as Ikuo explains, a lot more of your food is grown indoors than you probably imagine. The future of food will look nothing like its past. t's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes What is Urban framing, and why do it? Why Japanese consumer's first resisted urban farming The true value proposition for the supermarkets. The biggest costs in indoor farming are not what you think. Why, after 40-years. urban farming is finally taking off in Japan The two challenges to scaling indoor agriculture Three reasons Japan might be the perfect market for urban farming and one reason it may not be Why it's better to grow cheep veggies with expensive tech Is it better to be a founder or a VC? Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Infarm METI visiting the Infarm Growing Center in Berlin Follow Ikuo on Twitter @ikuoch Friend him on Facebook Check out Ikuo's article about the Japan startup & VC landscape More about Ikuo Ikuo's consulting company Dreamvision and blog He's also a Professor at Entrepreneurship Department, Musashino University ... and an AsiaBerlin ambassador Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Food is complicated. That's why successful food related startups are so rare and so important when we do find them. Today, we sit down with an old friend after almost eight years. Ikuo Hiraishi is running Infarm Japan, an urban farming startup that is actually growing vegetables in supermarkets. Now, indoor farming or hydroponics has been fairly common since the 1980s, but the combination of rising global cost of food and the plummeting cost of technology and some innovative machine learning has resulted in urban farming not only becoming commercially viable today, but providing a very interesting value proposition for the supermarkets. And a pretty interesting value proposition for you and me as well. We talk about the future of food, why you need expensive technology to grow inexpensive vegetables, and whether it's better to be a founder or VC in today's world. But, you know, Ikuo tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Ikuo: Cheers. Very nice to see you. Tim: I'm sitting here with Ikuo Hiraishi, a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and new urban farmer. Ikuo: Thank you. Tim: So, thanks for sitting down with us. Ikuo: It's honor to be back here, to have a chat with you. Tim: It's been a while. It's been around eight years. Ikuo: Yes. I was kind of like test interviewee of Disrupting Japan. That was eight years ago. Tim: I think you were episode number four. Ikuo: Yes. A very early episode. Tim: Very early. And we're closing in on episode 200 now. Ikuo: Oh, cool. Congrats. Tim: But yeah, we're here to talk about urban farming. So, just so I can make sure I understand it correctly. So, the types of farming we have, like rural farming, which is just vegetables out in the field, like just farming. Ikuo: Yes. Soiled based farming. Tim: And then we have indoor farming, which is like plants and warehouses and things that are usually in the suburbs or in the outskirts of cities. And then we have what you and Infarm are doing, which is urban farming, where the veggies are grown like in the supermarkets themselves. So, what's the big advantage of urban farming overall, the other types of farming? Ikuo: So, of course there are lots of advantages, but so we can minimize the food mileage meaning delivery distance. So,

The surprising things AI wants to know about your health Sep 12, 2022

We need to get the health care revolution right. Artificial Intelligence promises to reduce bottlenecks, improve quality of care, and allow our over-stretched healthcare systems to scale to meet the needs of the aging global population. But it's not going to be easy. Today we talk with Kota Kubo, founder of Ubie about the opportunities and challenges involved in the coming wave of healthcare innovation. And since Ubie just raised $27 million to fund their global expansion, you'll be hearing a lot more about them in the future. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The right way to use and AI symptom checker Is founding a 50/50 startup with an old friend a good idea? How you can manage 150 employees without managers Why the team designed Ubie's UI in Hibiya Park The "karaoke interface" for medical data Why you should ignore your customers and listen to your users about design Why it's so hard to sell to doctors (and how to do it right) How to better support orphaned diseases Ubie's strategy for going global. Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Ubie Check your symptoms with Ubie's AI Symptom Checker AN overview of Teal Management Follow Kota on Twitter @quvo_ubie Connect on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Even if AI can't give us the right answer, sometimes it can help us to ask the right questions. It turns out, that's a lot more important than you might think. Today, we sit down with Kota Kubo, the co-founder of Ubie, an AI based symptom checker and hospital check-in tool that is being used at over a thousand hospitals and clinics across Japan. And as you'll see in this case, the questions, the AI raises are more important than those it answers. And since Ubie just raised 27 million to fund their global expansion, you'll be hearing a lot more about them soon. We also talk about how Ubie manages 150 staff with no managers, why it's so hard to sell to doctors and how to do it right. How to bring attention to orphan diseases and why you really need to ignore your customer’s ideas about UI and listen to your users. But, you know, Kota tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: Cheers. Kota: Cheers. Tim: So, we're sitting here with Kota Kubo of Ubie, who is disrupting digital health here in Japan. So, thanks so much for sitting down with me. Health tech is so important in Japan. And so you've got two different products you offer. Kota: Yes. Tim: So, let's do just a real quick introduction to what those products are and then we'll dive deep. Kota: Yes, we have the two side of product. First, is for the patient product. It's our AI symptom checker Ubie and the users input their symptoms like headache or stomach ache or something. So AI asked some of the sort of questions. And after that AI suggest a disease name so their users can get to know their symptom, condition and disease. And after that, we also suggested the clinics or hospitals. Tim: Okay. You know, one thing I'm curious about that, because I've used it. It's really interesting, but so like some sites like WebMD, for example, they have a really famous problem where someone will go on with like, I don't know, a runny nose and they'll start searching and asking questions. And 10 minutes later they're convinced they have like rabies or some brain eating parasite or some horrible disease. How do you stop that kind of unhealthy interaction at Ubie? Kota: Yeah, it's very difficult. I think so our end the point of the suggestions guide people to the appropriate clinics and hospitals and we suggest a specialist created to their symptom. So, I think their users feel they're safe. Tim: So, and again, you're really focusing on providing information,

The $290 billion e-commerce trend you’ve never heard of Aug 15, 2022

World-changing trends can start anywhere in the world today. Because the social media platforms evolved differently in Northeast Asia, e-commerce developed differently as well. And because of recent shifts in regulation and social attitudes, Western social media is going to start to look a lot more like it does in Aisa, and e-commerce trends will follow. Today Masa Shimizu, founder of Zeals, explains the origins and structure of chat-commerce and how it might lead to a friendlier, more enjoyable, and more profitable internet. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes An introduction to chat commerce How to teach a support chatbot to sell What the death or retargeting means for chat commerce Why some university startups get support, mentoring, and funding but and others do not $39 M fundraise in equity and debt, and why that's becoming a popular model Why Asian social media evolved differently Why Facebook and Instagram are about to become more chat-like How Japanese VC discourage startups from going global Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Zeals Zeals on LinkedIn Coverage of Zeal's $39 M fundraise Follow Masa on Twitter @masa_zeals Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we are going to talk about a 290 billion eCommerce trend that is sweeping through Northeast Asia, but hasn't taken off in the US or Europe. Well, at least not yet. You and I are going to sit down with Masa Shimizu, founder and CEO of Zeals. And we're going to talk about Chat Commerce. Now Masa will explain this structural reasons that this has been so popular in Japan, China, and Korea, and why it's about to take off in the West. And it's not just Masa and me saying so, Zeals just raised 39 million to fund their US expansion. So, this is a trend you need to know about. We also talk a lot about the Japanese concept of Omotenashi, which is usually translated as hospitality and yeah, kind of, I mean, that's probably the closest word we have for it in English, but there's more to it than that. It's kind of obsession and a giving of yourself honestly and wholeheartedly to make your guests comfortable and satisfied. It's kind of a satisfaction and happiness that you get from making your guests happy. So, Masa and I talk about Omotenashi, about a structural change coming to global social network platforms. How we can get more Japanese startups to go global and why the third party cookie ban means the death of retargeting and the birth of the Chat Commerce boom. But Masa tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: I'm sitting here with Masa Shimizu the founder and CEO of Zeals, who is a driving force behind Chat Commerce. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Masa: Thank you for reaching out. Tim: To start out with, what is Chat Commerce? Masa: Chat Commerce is next eCommerce innovations. So, on eCommerce website many people feel concerned to purchase online, especially expensive items or complex items. We can support through communication experience and we believe this is Omotenashi experience. Omotenashi is Japanese word which means hospitality. It's very exciting and helpful experience I think. Tim: So, when you're talking about Chat Commerce is this interaction over social media? Is this interaction over like chat at corporate websites? What's the main channel where this conversation is taking place? Masa: Mainly is SNS. In Japan case, line platform is most important because many people use this platform. And as a country, other channel is very important. The example, WhatsApp, Facebook Messengers, WeChat and Instagram and so on. Tim: Okay. That makes -- and its funny people coming into the Japanese market o...

The dangerous defect in most SaaS startups Jul 11, 2022

You never hear the names of some of the world's best SaaS startups. Why waste money building awareness among consumers when you can quickly and steadily grow your B2B business across Japan then across Asia? Today Yu Taniguchi founder of TableCheck returns to the show and answers that question. TableCheck is rapidly expanding their table-management system business by throwing out a lot of the traditional SaaS playbook, and Yu lays out a model for sustainable, scalable SaaS startups. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How the TMS market has changed in the last five years Why the first mover advantage is not really an advantage Maintaining differentiation in an increasingly competitive market The huge flaw in the current generation of SaaS "best practices" Demand-side vs supply-side startups Why you should only take the VC investment that you actually (desperately) need Why Japanese (and otter) startups need to be thinking about global markets from day 1 Concrete (and sad) examples of what's wrong with Japan's education system Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about TableCheck TableCheck Twitter @tablecheck LinkedIn Page TableCheck on Facebook Follow Yu on Instagram Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Some of the most important and successful B2B startups fly under the radar. And that makes sense when you think about it. When success depends on dominating a specific business niche, who really cares if most consumers have never heard of you? In fact, as we'll see, that can actually put your whole startup at risk. Today, Yu Taniguchi, old friend and founder of TableCheck joins us again on Disrupting Japan. Now, TableCheck makes a table management solution for restaurants, and Yu and the team have taken a very different approach than most of the competition in this space. The last time Yu came on the show, we talked about his business model and how to expand globally with very little capital. There's a link to the episode in the show notes, and I strongly recommend you listen to it because it was really a good one and we'll be covering a hundred percent new ground today. Today, as we catch up with Yu, we find his strategy has worked with some refinements, and TableCheck is expanding rapidly across APAC. This is a great real world case study of how Japanese startups can go global. Yu and I also talk about how the current generation of SaaS business models is broken, how to protect your startup from market downturns, and some really good advice about the two kinds of fundraising plans you need to have to survive. But you know, Yu tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: We're sitting here with Yu Taniguchi of TableCheck, who is making integrated reservations, CRM billing and more for restaurants. Yu, it is so good to have you back again. Thanks for sitting down with us. Yu: Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm very honored and excited to be here. Tim: It's been four and a half years since you were last on the show and so much has changed since then. You were growing fast then, you've continued to, so tell me about your customers today. Who's using TableCheck and how many are there now? Yu: We have roughly 7,000 restaurants using our solution both in Japan and overseas. Back then when we did the interview, I think it was around 2,000 restaurants. Roughly we've more than tripled since then and taking in consideration that out of the four years, two years have been during the COVID. Tim: Let's talk about what's changed in the market. Four and a half years ago, you were saying that your biggest competition was paper and pencil. Most of your customers were using these manual processes,

Will Japan’s Manga industry ever really change? Jun 13, 2022

Manga is one of Japan's best known exports, but it's surprisingly hard to make money here. Today we dig into exactly why this is. We sit down with Sho Ishiwatari, founder of Mantra, who explains how is company is trying to expand the global market by streamlining the translation and global marketing processes. We also talk about why manga is so much harder than books for AI to understand and a few ways Japanese universities are trying to develop and inspire the next generation of Japanese founders. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The surprisingly complex manga translation process The real problem with fan-translated manga How to think about getting a 10x( or 100x!) improvement How the University of Tokyo supports startups and what other schools can learn from them Why translating manga is so different from translating novels The downside using contextual hinting wit AI/ML How to expand the global manga market What every Japanese university should be doing to encourage startups Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Mantra Connect with Sho on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @mantra_ja (Japanese) Sho's published academic research on machine translation of manga Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Manga and Anime have been two of Japan's most visible and influential exports. Japanese manga has earned its own section in US bookstores. And in the movie industry today, many of the world's most successful directors and cinematographers cite Japanese manga and anime artists as some of their biggest inspirations and influences. But surprisingly, despite manga's global popularity and influence, the global market is pretty small. There's not a lot of money in manga. A And today, we're going to dig into that. We're going to sit down and talk with Sho Ishiwatari, CEO of Mantra. And we're going to find out if a startup can disrupt or even survive in the manga industry. Mantra has created an AI that can translate manga. But, as is the case with so many startup stories, the journey is far more interesting than the destination. You see, before the AI could translate manga, Sho when the team had to teach it to understand manga. Not just read the words but understand the context and the layers of implied meaning. Sho and I talk about the nature of human understanding, how Japanese universities can better inspire the next generation of startup founders, and AI's role in helping people understand each other. But you know, Sho tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So we're sitting here with Sho Ishiwatari of Mantra, who's bringing Japanese manga to the world. So thanks for sitting down with us, Sho. Sho: Yeah, thank you for having me, Tim. Tim: In the introduction, I give a really high-level description of what you guys do. But can you explain what Mantra is? Sho: Yeah, sure. So what we are doing is to deliver comics, deliver manga, across language barriers. So we are building two products. The first one is a manga translation tool that is based on our machine translation technology. And another product we're making is Langagku, which is a language learning tool based on manga. Tim: That's two really different lines of business. Sho: Yeah. Tim: Let's dive into both separately later on. But the core tool, do you just translate Japanese into English or do you support other languages as well? Sho: We currently support for language peers, Japanese to English, and English to Japanese, and Japanese to Chinese, and Chinese to Japanese. Tim: Well, that's interesting. So far, most of your business has been Japanese to other languages. But do you also have companies bringing in English or Chinese language manga to Japan?

How Snack Smuggling led to millions in VC funding May 16, 2022

Subscription boxes can be a tough business. Most of these startups shine brightly as they burn through investor capital and flame out well before becoming profitable. But there are exceptions. So today we sit down with Danny Taing, the founder of Bokksu, to learn what he and the team did differently, how they obtained substantial VC funding, and where they are going from here. We also talk about Japan's unique snack culture and the surprising insight is has to offer about Japanese culture in general. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why the world needed one more subscription box startup What Japanese snacks (and food in general) are different Strategic storytelling: aka "When you are talking about snacks, you are not really talking about snacks." Meet the world's happiest QA team Why Bokkusu could succeed when so many subscription-box startups ad failed Growing from zero to 1,000 and then 1,000 to 10,000 What really goes into the box Which Japanese snacks are most loved overseas The strategic expansion to Bokksu Market and Bokksu Grocery How a food startup can raise real money in a world of software-focused VCs Why "Japanese culture" startups almost always fail Links from the Founder Everything you evert wanted to know about Bokksu Check out some amazing snack pictures Follow Danny on Twitter @dannytaing Bokksu's amazing Maker Videos (seriously, these are great) Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Now, I'm going to warn you in advance. This episode is going to make you hungry. Danny Taing founded Bokksu to sell unique Japanese snacks to the world. And we spent a lot of time talking about sweet and savory snacks and all of the unique cakes and the baked goods so be ready for it. Now, both subscription boxes and e-commerce from regional foods are both very hard business models for startups. They're popular but almost all of them fail and fail fast. Danny explains that when he started, almost everyone was highly skeptical. And by the way, that includes your humble narrator as well. I knew Danny when he was just starting. Well today, Danny explains what he did differently. How he evolved from skirting the law as a snack smuggler to growing a trusted consumer base to receiving $22 million in investment to building $100 million dollar company. This episode is a masterclass on how you need to change not only your strategy, but also change who you are at every step of your journey. But you know, Danny tells that story a lot better than I can so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So we're sitting here with Danny Taing Bokksu, who is delivering tasty Japanese snacks to the entire world. So thanks for sitting down with us, Danny. Danny: Thanks for having me, Tim. It's a pleasure to be here. Tim: That was a really simple introduction of Bokksu. I'm sure you can explain it much better than I can. So what exactly is it that Bokksu does? Danny: Yeah. So our mission is to kind of bridge cultures through authentic Japanese food and snacks and products. We do this by, as you just mentioned, delivering these delicious Japanese snacks worldwide in our monthly curated snack subscription box. We have a whole lot of products from there but I'm happy to get into that later. Tim: Yeah, and I do want to dive into it. You guys have come a long way. It expanded a lot since you started, and you've delivered over a million boxes of snacks, which is awesome. So what exactly is a subscription box? Danny: Many people already know about subscription boxes out there. But what makes box really special is that we directly partner with the centuries old family snack bigger businesses throughout Japan, everything from Hokkaido red bean buns to Kyoto matcha cakes and Okinawa chinsukos.

The secret edge of Japan’s best SaaS startups Apr 18, 2022

There is a very good reason B2B SaaS is huge in Japan right now. Today we sit down with Chiemi Kamakura, co-founder and CEO of Agatha, and she explains why. Agatha is a Japanese SaaS company that has been global from Day 1, but is leveraging some unique strengths developed in Japan. We talk about how Japanese SIs have responded to SaaS, why Japan is likely to see a lot more female founders soon, and the fact that Japanese managers and regulators actually hate paper just as much as the rest of us, but there is one thing that keeps them from going digital. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The real reason Japanese hospitals can't get away from paper Why it's hard to innovate from inside a company Can Japanese SIs survive in the SaaS era Agatha's commitment to being global from Day 1 How global and Japan SaaS markets are different (and how they're not) How SaaS can thrive in highly regulated industries. The importance of a personal network in high-trust products How to develop more female founders in Japan Some good advice on going global with a SaaS product Links from the Founder Everything you evert wanted to know about Agatha Connect with Chiemi on LinkedIn Friend her on Facebook A good Forbes article about Agatha Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Today, I'd like to introduce you to Chiemi and to Agatha. Actually, Agatha is the startup created by Chiemi Kamakura and her co-founders to solve a global problem in the record-keeping required for clinical trials that are run by pharmaceutical companies. Chiemi tells a great story, and one that illustrates why SaaS is slowly taking over the business world. We talk about the challenges of launching a SaaS startup in a highly regulated industry, the advantages of thinking global from day one, and selling to Japanese customers who always seem to want customization. And Chiemi also explains that contrary to the stereotype, most Japanese workers and regulators don't really like having to rely on mountains of paper. For the most part, they hate it just as much as the rest of us. And today, we'll explain the two things that are actually keeping them from going digital. But you know, Chiemi tells this story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So we're sitting here with Chiemi Kamakura of Agatha, who makes clinical and regulatory document management for small early stage clinics and life sciences companies. And Chiemi, thank you so much for sitting down with us today. Chiemi: Of course, thank you for inviting me to this opportunity, that's a great honor for me. Tim: The honor is all ours. So I gave just like a really brief explanation of what Agatha does, but can you flesh that out a little bit? Can you explain in more detail, what is it Agatha does? Chiemi: We are offering Document Management Cloud Service for clinical trial for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Tim: So is it just for the research stage, just for the trials themselves, or is it more for operational support as well? Tim: Yeah. So main target is clinical trial business, but not only that, it's from research and also marketing and manufacturing. So we are covering all stages. What we do, especially in clinical trial, for clinical trial is operated between pharmaceutical company and hospitals. There are many, many communications on trial, those communication still paper is used. Tim: Okay. Well, let's get into some specifics. So maybe tell me about your customers. If you're improving the communication between the hospitals and the laboratories doing the trials, walk me through an example. How does that work? Chiemi: Yeah. In hospitals, that people who are managing clinical trials, so that's our user, and in pharmaceutical company side,

How do you know if your startup idea is bad? Mar 21, 2022

Coming up with ideas is easy. Spotting the bad one early is a rare skill. Today we talk with Yo Shibata serial entrepreneur an investor about how you know if you really have a great startup idea. We chat about what it was like being acquired by Rakuten, and what can be done to improve M&A in Japan. Yo also talks publicly for the first time about is new startup and why the current B2B SaaS trend in Japan might have peaked and might be about to completely reverse itself. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The advantage of launching early on a new platform The reason for Japanese consumers' love for points systems What it's like to be acquired by Rakuten The birth of the Tokyo Founders Fund The weakness almost all Japanese VC Funds have How to know when you ave a good startup idea Te importance of "Founder-Market Fit" Is this new "anti-SaaS" platform the way forward Why most Japanese enterprises are bad at M&A The most important difference between Japanese and US startup culture Why the ecosystem is more important than the startups themselves Links from the Founder Check out Tailor Yo's big bet against the SaaS trend. ... and they are hiring Follow Yo on Twitter @yoyoshibata Be sure to give a listen to Yo's podcast START/FM Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. So, how do you know if your startup idea is any good? After all, coming up with ideas is easy, knowing how to evaluate them before spending a lot of time and money, well, that's that' a real skill, and we're going to get to that. Today we sit down with Yo Shibata, serial entrepreneur, investor, and well-known figure in Japan startup ecosystem. We talk about where Japanese startups are heading and the big bet Yo is making on his next startup. A big bet based on the idea that the current B2B SaaS boom in Japan has got it all wrong. Now, Yo's theory flies in the face of all common knowledge about the Japanese market, but as long-time fans of disrupting Japan know, I am a hopeless contrarian. Anyone who can make a compelling case about why conventional wisdom is wrong always has my full attention. I just love those stories and ideas, and I love bringing them to you. So Yo and I dive deep into why Japan's current SaaS trend might be about to reverse itself, and what might take its place. We talk about what it's like to be acquired by Rakuten, how corporate Japan is getting better at M&A, and of course, how to know if you actually have a good startup idea. But you know, Yo tells that story much better than I can so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So we're sitting here with Yo Shibata, serial entrepreneur and investor. So thanks for sitting down with us, I really appreciate it. Yo: Thank you for having me. Pretty excited. Tim: I'm excited to have you here. And I mean, Yo, you've done so much here. You've started a number of companies, you've started your own fund, you even have your own podcast. It's a great opportunity to really dig in. Yo: Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Tim: Just for background, let's talk about your startups. There's been a lot of them. Yo: Right. Tim: Your first one you started in college, right? Yo: Yes, that was when I was 19 or 20 years old. I started a small company with my friend. It was SEO consulting firm. That was back in 2005 or something like that. Tim: Was that something you planned on like scaling into a big company or was that just beer money for you and your friend? Yo: Back in 2005, in Japan, there was no venture capital, especially like seed stage, very rarely saw angel investors. They usually took majority stakes with like, $50,000 or something like that. Tim: Yeah. And back then, angel investors, they were all doctors or lawyers, they weren't startup people at all.

Can Japan’s “Anti-Uber” disrupt global airport transport? Feb 14, 2022

Once the disruptors become the incumbents they are ripe for disruption. Uber, Grab and rest of the ride-sharing startups have clearly disrupted the global taxi industry, but that doesn't mean they got it right. That doesn't mean their market position, or even their business model, is secure. Today we sit down with Sota Kimura, founder of SmartRyde, a Japanese startup focused on getting airport ground transfers right. We talk about building a business based on quality and brand in a traditionally price-sensitive, low-margin market, what Japanese universities are doing to support startups, and how getting ripped off at the airport inspired Sota to start a startup. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why airport transfers are ripe for disruption & what Uber is missing Pivoting from B2C to B2B during the pandemic How getting ripped off at the airport inspired a startup Japan's University startup support outside the majors Entrepreneurship share-houses How to compete on quality in a low-margin business Can ridesharing work in Japan Why Hiroshima was an ideal launch market How to create more university startups in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about SmartRyde The SmartRyde video Coverage of recent fundraising Follow Sota on Twitter @kimura5008 Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn The Entrepreneurial Sharehouse Fespa Kyoto Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to talk about how to disrupt a fragmented market. I mean, that's a startup founder's dream, right? You find a market with low quality, confusing products, and no global coverage, and then disrupt it with an innovative business model and establish a trusted global brand. That's the dream. But as you'll see today, sometimes markets are fragmented for a reason. Today we sit down with Sota Kimura, founder of SmartRyde, who's trying to solve the problem of airport transfers and of foreign travelers being ripped off at local airports, and Sota's up against some strong competition, not only from business challengers but from human nature itself. Let's face it, ripping off travelers has been a popular custom for a long time. Herodotus was complaining about it 2,500 years ago. We talk about why Uber is not a threat, the new entrepreneurship share houses popping up in Japan, and how Japanese universities can better support founders. But most of all, we look into the question of whether quality can win if quality can act as a differentiator in a market traditionally focused on price competition. But you know, Sota tells that story much better than I can so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So I'm sitting here with Sota Kimura, who is the founder of SmartRyde, who is changing the nature of airport transfer and ground transport service. So thanks for sitting down with us. I really appreciate it. Sota: Yeah, I appreciate too. Tim: So that's a really brief explanation of your company. But can you tell us a bit more about what SmartRyde does? Sota: We are operating airport transfer service around the world, mainly business-to-business sectors. For example, we integrated with online travel agency OTA, such as booking.com, and Expedia. And also, we are connected directly local transportation company like taxi and limousine and buses. Tim: So fundamentally, this is the airport transfer when you get off a plane and you need to get into a cab. Sota: Yes. So we focus on the airport transfer. So from airport to hotel, or hotel to airport. Tim: I agree, like, airport transfers, the ground transport, it's a messy process right now. But is your main competition rideshare companies like Uber and Grab? Sota: Similar business model. Transfers are a very fragment of business. And also,

What three-card monte can teach you about NFTs Jan 17, 2022

NFTs are easy to understand if you examine their core utility. Unfortunately, there are thousands of NFT promoters spending millions of dollars to make sure you never look at that. This episode is a departure from our standard format, but it's an important topic. I want to explain what NFTs actually are and how you can best make money with them -- if you really want to. Our Japanese founders will be back next episode. So let’s get right to it. Transcript This is it, gentlemen. This Queen of Hearts is the winning card. Watch it closely. Follow her with your eye as she moves. Here she is, and now here, now here, and now—where? The Queen of Hearts. My hand is quicker than your eye. If you find the lady, you win, and I pay; if not, I win and take your money. Who will go me twenty dollars? Yes, this is in fact, Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs, but today we are going to be talking about Three-Card Monte, or more specifically what Three-Card Monte teaches us about NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. You all know three-card-monte. Even if you don’t know it by that name. The dealer places three cards on the table, flips over one to reveal the queen. He flips the queen back over and begins shuffling the three cards around the table. He does this quickly, but not too quickly. You can just follow his movements. You confidently point to your card, and the dealer flips over a seven. You lose your money! Of course, you never really had a chance. The dealer slipped the queen up his sleeve when he started the shuffle. All that patter and shuffling is just there to distract you. The three cards you see on the table are all decoys. The important card had already been taken off the table. And you see, just like in three-card-monte, the key to understanding NFTs is looking at what’s missing. In this podcast we are going to grab the dealer by the wrist, dispose of the distracting patter and decoy cards, and take a hard look at exactly what’s been taken off the table. And to be clear, I have absolutely no opinion as to whether you should invest in NFTs or if you personally will make money from them. Today we’ll just be talking about what they are; their reason for existence. In startup terms, we’ll be defining NFT’s true value proposition. However, by the end of this episode it will make perfect sense to you why a jpg of a robot with a green mustache is worth $2 million, while the same robot with a red mustache is only worth $50. In fact, you’ll understand why NFTs could not possibly work any other way. And before we dive in, I want to let you know that although I spent a lot of time checking my facts and making sure what I am about to explain to you is accurate. I am most emphatically not a lawyer or a financial advisor. I am a founder, podcaster, author, hacker, picker, grinner, lover, sinner, and if you are even thinking of taking legal or financial advice from me, you are being an idiot. Stop it! OK, with that out of the way, let’s flip over these decoy cards. Misdirection & the NFT Decoy Cards Card #1: NFTs Prove Ownership NFTs are usually described as something like “digital certificate of ownership” or “a digital receipt” or “virtual goods with the blockchain providing proof of provenance and authenticity.” NFT promoters love to claim that they are a “permanent, distributed, publicly-auditable, tamper-proof record” of ownership. But no. They are not any of that. That’s misdirection, that’s one of the decoy cards. NFTs absolutely provide a “permanent, distributed, publicly-auditable, tamper-proof record” that you gave your money to a crypto promoter, but purchasing an NFT gives you absolutely no copyrights, usage rights, or ownership rights to the artwork. It’s not a receipt because you haven't actually bought anything but the receipt itself. The terms of service a some NFT marketplaces hint at such rights,

Passion alone can’t make cars fly Dec 20, 2021

We have been dreaming about flying cars (and startups have been promising them!) for over 70 years, and it looks like we might almost be there. Orders have been placed, and delivery schedules set. Today we sit down with Tom Fukuzawa of SkyDrive, and we talk about the development of their flying car and their recent contract with the city of Osaka for air-taxi services. However, we also talk about the real difficulties of turning a group of passionate volunteers into a passionate startup. I don't want to spoil anything for you, but it did not turn out like it was supposed to. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why the word is experiencing a boom in flying car research and prototypes The cool concept vehicles of the Carivator project How to bing young innovators in an industry together Why driven, committed people rarely "volunteer" Why just asking for money can be easier than getting investment. Why aircraft innovation is slow and why aircraft startups are rare The size of the future flying car market How we will integrate flying cars and traditional infrastructure Why the enterprise to startup revolving door is so important Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about SkyDrive Friend them on Facebook Follow them on Twitter @Skydrive_Global Check out SkyDrive's LandCare Robot SkyDrive's Vision Video Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, we seem to be in a bit of a flying car startup boom right now. Of course, the flying car has been a symbol of the future for over 70 years now. And for that whole time, we've always been just 10 years away from saying goodbye to traffic and taking to the skies. Well, today we sit down with Tomo Fukuzawa, founder of SkyDrive. And he explains how he plans to have his flying cars on the road or rather in the skies in three years. And while there are many startups making such claims today, SkyDrive recently signed contracts with the City of Osaka to deliver an air taxi service. And last month SkyDrive began the final stage of government certification for their vehicle. So yeah, there's something here that deserves a closer look. Oh, and by the way, Tomo was at their testing facility so there's some background noise in this interview. The drones and flying cars themselves weren't flying around so just some cars passing by. It's not too bad. But at one point, it sounds like a tractor trailer drives between us and knocks over our table. You'll know it when you hear it, trust me. Anyway, Tomo shares some really important lessons about running a moonshot startup, how partners and collaborators and people you've known for years begin to treat you differently. Many of these lessons apply to anyone following their dreams, but the startup experience makes everything so much more intense. But you know, Tomo tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So we're sitting here with Tomo Fukuzawa of SkyDrive, who is making flying cars and cargo drones. And thanks for meeting with us today. Tomo: Thank you very much for inviting me. Tim: It's my pleasure. I love the whole aerospace and aviation sector. I love what startups are doing in here. I want flying cars to be real so badly. Tomo: Thank you. Tim: So tell us a bit about your current prototype. It's currently a one-seater model, right? Tomo: We started SkyDrive three years ago. And last summer, we studied manned test flight of a flying car or eVTOL. And this was the first time in Japan to show manned flying car, and we have one-seater and eight propellers. And now we are flying 5 to 10 minutes by one charge. Tim: I want to get into the details of the technology in the future in just a minute. But it seems like in the last, let's say,

But what if your data is too big for the Cloud? Nov 22, 2021

Cloud visionaries promised us unlimited scalability, but they greatly underestimated the amount of data we would start producing. Today we sit down with Michael Tso, the co-founder of Cloudian, and he explains why some systems are just too big for the cloud, and how the industry is adapting. Mike also shares his advice for selling via channel partners, and we talk about the competitive advantages and disadvantages of being a Japanese startup on the global stage. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The real reason we are "drowning in data" The missing link in connecting cloud and local storage What kind of apps really need 100's of petabytes of storage How to pivot successfully in Japan, and why it's so hard to do so Using Japanese culture as a competitive advantage The most important difference between Japan and US startup culture Why US companies hesitate to buy from Japanese software companies How to expand globally using channel partners and systems integrators What everyone gets wrong about failure Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Cloudian Friend Mike on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @MichaelTso Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. As a society, as a species, we have way too much data on our hands. A decade ago, our data got too big for our local systems and so we moved it into the cloud. And now, well, our data has gotten too big for the cloud and we're moving it back on premises. Now, I promise this will make a lot more sense in a few minutes, when we sit down with Michael Tso, co-founder of Cloudian. Cloudian makes massive scale storage systems, massive as an hundreds of petabytes of storage that can run on site and seamlessly integrate with Cloud Storage. Cloudian is also interesting, because they're one of only a handful of Japanese startups that have really succeeded in the US and European markets. And Mike and I talk a lot about how they made that happen. We talk about the challenges and the necessity of pivoting in a Japanese startup, how Cloudian's Japanese identity and culture both helped them and hurt them in their global expansion. And Mike gives some really great advice about how to sell software through channel partners and what you should really expect from those relationships. But you know, Mike tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: I'm sitting here with Michael Tso, the co-founder of Cloudian, which provides object storage for the enterprise. And Mike, thanks for sitting down with us. Mike Tso: Yes, happy to be here, Tim. Tim: Now, object storage for the enterprise is something that gets talked about a lot. But what does that mean exactly? Mike: Yeah. So I think I need to just rewind a little bit and just kind of talk about why are we drowning in data? Why is there so much data? Well, because actually, if you think about the process of innovation and the process of invention, it's data-based, right? You need to have data to know where you're at, and you can draw inspiration from analyzing your data. And then you go try some invention, and then you have to measure the outcome. And then you go back and kind of either fix it or improve it. So it's a continuous process. Tim: But, I mean, if you look at kind of like human history, we humans will fill up as much data, well, we've always had data, it's a question of how much we can store. And the easier it is to store, the more of this information we will. So it used to have to be engraving on cuneiform, clay tablets and creating vellum now it's just, oh, we'll automatically just save everything. Mike: Well, I think about this a lot, right? It starts with how easy it is to create the data. So if you have to chisel away on a rock,

DJ Selects: How Government Money is Hurting Japanese Startups Oct 25, 2021

Japanese university and government venture funds play a much larger role in Japan than in the West. I've always considered this difference to be, on balance, neutral, today's guest makes a convincing case that these funds are actually hurting the startup ecosystem here. Today we sit down and talk with Hiroaki Suga, co-founder of PeptiDream. PeptiDream is now a $7 billion biotech company, but it started out as a couple of university faculty members funding operations out of their own pockets. PeptiDream succeeded by using a very different model than that used by either the current generation of university spin-outs or biotech startups in the West. It's an interesting blueprint that other biotech firms might want to copy, but only if they are really sure that their technology will actually work. It's a great conversation, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes Japanese Univstities' problems with applied research The challenge in moving from academia to startup operations How to hire a CEO What most professors don't know they don't know about business How to land large sales contracts as a small startup How to sell new technology to Japanese pharmaceutical companies Why biotech investment is so hard in Japan Why you want to step away while you are on top Japan's next biotech unicorn Why most Japanese government startup money is misused Links from the Founder Dr. Suga's Lab Everything you ever wanted to know about PeptiDream Hiroaki's new project MiraBiologics Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, I'd like to share some amazing insights about the startups being spun out of Japan's universities, because what's going on here is very different than what's happening in e US or the EU. This is a special selects show, and I first spoke with Hiroaki Suga co-founder of PeptiDream a few years ago. The points he made in that conversation, however, have only become more important since then, and I'll be back with an update after we talk. So here we go! --- We’ve talked a lot before about how there are not many life sciences startups in Japan and what can be done to change that. But there are, of course, some and some incredibly successful ones. PeptiDream is one of those startups. Founded by a small team at a university lab, PeptiDream has grown from nothing to a $6 billion company. Today, we sit down with the founder of PeptiDream and fellow guitarist, Hiroaki Suga, and he’ll explain how they’re working with pharmaceutical companies all over the world to discover new drugs and new treatments. We also talk about the rather unusual business strategy that allow them to scale up with relatively little financing and to land deals with global drug companies a lot sooner than most biotech startups can. And I’ve got to say, my conversation with Dr. Suga really changed my mind about the role the Japanese universities and the government should play in fostering startups and innovation here. It’s a fascinating and unique perspective from inside the system, and I guarantee you, it’s not what you think it is. But you know, Hiroaki tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. Interview Tim: I’m sitting here with Hiroaki Suga, the cofounder of PeptiDream. So, thanks for sitting down with me today. Hiroaki Suga: Sure. Very welcome. Tim: PeptiDream is a peptide discovery platform but what is that exactly? Hiroaki: So, the technology started from over 25 years ago. I had idea. Is that okay? I want to develop RNA catalyst. The so-called ribozymes. I did a post doc with Professor Jack Szostak in Harvard Medical School. I run the techniques for the in vitro selections but I didn’t really get major success, but I was fortunate enough that I get an academic position in State Univer...

This disruptive tech started with a dance move Sep 27, 2021

It's hard to get paid to do what you love. Perhaps no one understands this better than dancers, but Taku Kodaira and his team at Mikro Entertainment are on a mission to fix that. But this conversation, and Mikro Entertainment itself, is about much more than dance. Mikro's marketplace for dance moves is just the first application of Mikro's new motion-capture technology, and things are just getting started. Today, Taku and I talk about the surprising economics of dance moves, the adoption curve of disruptive technology, dance-move lawsuits. and one very important law that looks like it is about to change. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How you sell a dance move Making a market - who is buying dance moves Why growing up international made it easier to start a startup How copyright law needs to expand One danger in allowing dance moves to be copyrighted Lawsuits against Epic Games over Fortnight dances How big is the motion capture industry The adoption curve for disruptive technology Why it is impossible for any startup ecosystem to have enough engineers Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know Mikro and GesRec Friend Taku on Facebook Mikro coverage in Wired (in Japanese) How to use GesRec models in Unity Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Truly disruptive technology is usually hard to spot when it first shows up. Sure, after the IPOs and the mass market success, everyone claims that they knew it all along. But in the early days, disruptive technology is usually shrugged off as being too simplistic or unprofitable or most often, just a solution looking for a problem. When Kodak invented the digital camera, they dismissed it as a toy with no real commercial applications. LED light bulbs were first written off as impractical. And in 1911, the military brass dismissed the airplane as, quote, "a scientific toy with no military value." All of these seemed like, well, solutions looking for problems. We'll pick up that thread later. But I want you to keep it in mind as we sit down today and we talk with Taku Kodaira, the founder of Mikro Entertainment, who's developed technology that can create full 3D motion capture models for mobile phone videos. Now, Taku's initial and current application of this technology is the world's first global marketplace in dance moves, and he has some of the world's most famous dancers signed up on the platform. But this is a conversation that will take us on a journey of how digital dancing is already being monetized in gaming and social media, about copyrights in dance and plagiarism and choreography. And we'll also explore the new uses and new markets that this technology will open up in the future. But you know, Taku tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So I'm sitting here with Taku Kodaira, the founder of Mikro Entertainment and GesRec motion capture marketplace. And thanks for sitting down with us. Taku: Thank you very much, Tim. Tim: Now, what you guys are doing, it's really amazing tech, but you know, you can probably explain it a lot better than I can. So what does it do and what are you selling? Taku: Right. So just starting about the name GesRec, we tried to combine two words gesture and recognition and tried to create like a one word. My wife is a dancer, and I've been talking to her and she told me all the difficulty dancers are facing, and we just realized, okay, these people are doing so much stuff out there. Is there any way we can try to support them? Right now we are utilizing our technology to capture 3D motion and turn it into the data from the 2D video. And we are creating a marketplace that we sell and trade those 3D motions that's actually coming from a lot of people,

The Future of Disrupting Japan Aug 30, 2021

Disrupting Japan turns seven years old this week! Unfortunately, because of current conditions in Japan, we won't be able to sit down over a beer and talk about startups live as we usually do. Today, I'd like to share a story in three acts. We'll talk about the podcasting industry, what Disrupting Japan really is, and the likely future of Japanese startup founders. Please enjoy. Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. This week is Disrupting Japan’s seventh anniversary. Normally we mark each anniversary with the Disrupting Japan live show. We invite a few guests on stage. We gather a few hundred of our biggest fans and our closest friends. And we spend the evening talking about Japanese startups and innovation over a few beers. Well, because of the pandemic, like so many other things, that’s not happening this year. I was hoping to do something creative, and I talked with some friends about maybe doing some kind of online gathering, but it just would not have been the same. So next year. Next year for sure. It’s hard to believe how much things have changed in the past seven years. This podcast, Japanese startups, the podcasting industry, and, well, even me as a person, have all gone through some pretty radical changes in recent years. And a strong case can be made that these have all been changes for the better. Every episode of Disrupting Japan is focused on a new aspect of Japanese startups and innovation, but today we are going to talk about Disrupting Japan itself and how it fits into the future of podcasting and Japan. Because, well, it’s our birthday, and we get to do that on our birthday. And I promise, that by the end, you’ll see how this all gives you a unique insight into the future of Japanese founders themselves. 1. The Future of Podcasting So first, let’s talk about podcasting. Podcasting has changed a lot in the past few years. And from the perspective of a startup founder, it’s been amazing to be a part of it and the future looks incredibly bright. Podcasting is growing up. Podcasting is becoming a real media business with large buyers and big rewards for the creators of the most popular shows. Of course, this rocket-like growth is enabled by the fact that the podcast industry is streamlining. It’s consolidating. And that brings other changes as well. Long-time listeners know that Disrupting Japan has had several monetization strategies over the years. At one point we were in negotiations to become an official Nikki podcast. We didn’t quite come to terms, but we’re still good friends with the Nikki’s podcast team. For about a year, Disrupting Japan was independent, ad-supported and my primary source of income, and about four years ago I was putting together a podcast advertising network startup, which I then decided to spin down in order to join TEPCO and then Google. So as you see, as a startup founder, I’m a big fan of monetizing podcasts. Now, it was right after I shut down my podcast advertising project and returned Disrupting Japan to being ad-free that the podcasting industry really began its explosive growth phase. Because of this, a number of my startup and podcasting friends have told me “Tim, you got out too early! You missed your big chance!” Well, no. I mean, I understand why it might look that way, but I knew what I was doing. Let me explain. It was clear back then that podcasting was becoming a serious media business, but I knew enough about the media business to know that’s not what I wanted to do — at least not as talent — at least not for this show. Disrupting Japan is something special. I don’t particularly want to attend meetings to see if the show is hitting this quarter’s growth objectives. I never want to be put in a situation where I’m being told “Interest in robotics is down now. You need to do more gaming content.

The new era of Evocative Machines. Why you’re going to love it. Jul 26, 2021

We speculate a lot about our future "robot servants" or "robot masters", but that whole metaphor is wrong. It's not going to happen that way. This is a very personal and rather speculative episode. No guests this time. It's just the two of us. In past episodes, you have already met some of the founders at the center of an amazing cluster of startups that have the potential to redefine the way humanity interacts with machines. Evocative Machines is a uniquely Japanese approach that has universal appeal, and I guarantee you that it's not what you expect. So let’s get right to it. Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know Evocative Machines Some evocative machines mentioned in this episode The GrooveX Lovot and Kaname's interview Yukai's Bocco and Shunsuke's interview Gatebox's Hikari (We'll have to get these guys on the show!) Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Once again, I’ve got a special show for you today. There will be no guests no playful banter with someone speaking English as a second language. Today, it’s just you and me. Today we’ll be diving deep into a specific and unique area of Japanese innovation. There is something interesting happening in Japan, a cluster of startups working on something new. You’ve heard parts of it on past episodes, but today we are going into new and unknown territory, and I for one *love* being in new and unknown territory. It’s a trend I first talked about on Disrupting Japan a few years ago as Evocative Machines. Evocative Machines is a unique Japanese technology emerging from the nexus of artificial intelligence, robotics, and healthcare, and it is something that could utterly transform our world. It’s a technology that could birth a dozen Japanese unicorns, but we are at such an early stage and this is such a moonshot, it might not result in any at all. But a lot has changed since I first talked with you about Evocative Machines, so today I’ll explain the technology and its importance, bring you fully up to date, and then we’ll pull out our crystal balls and predict how evocative machines might actually change the world. Now, at the end of this podcast, I predict that 50% of our listeners will find what I am about to explain as interesting, but not important, another 40% will consider it important, but unlikely and impractical. And maybe 10% of you will understand that this is going to change the world and will want to be a part of it. And for those10% of you, I’ll provide a way for you to get in touch. There are amazing things about to happen. Building an Evocative Machine So what exactly is an “evocative machine”? Machines are unquestionably becoming smarter, and recently there is a lot of good work being done on creating empathetic machines. But an “evocative machine” is quite different from an empathetic machine. The distinction is that empathetic machines are those that can understand our emotions and empathize with us. Evocative machines, on the other hand, are those which evoke emotions in us. Evocative machines are machines that cause us to empathize with them. So why is this useful, let alone disruptive or transformative? The whole point of automation is to get things done more simply. I don’t want to feel sorry for my refrigerator when it breaks down. I don’t want to sympathize with my microwave about how hard it’s working when it heats my dinner. Life is stressful enough. Why waste our emotional energy on inanimate objects? Well, when you focus on a single task, that line of thinking is absolutely correct. But you know something? The Western approach to automation, AI, and robotics is hurting society. It’s grinding us down without us even realizing it, and Japan’s newly emerging evocative machines are the solution to this problem that we haven’t completely realized we have...

Why the robot uprising will give us Robot Pets, not Robot Masters Jun 28, 2021

Japan has a very different approach to robotics. Japan leads the world in industrial robots, but there is also a growing movement that is reinventing the way we share our world with machines. Kaname Hayashi was one of the creators of Softbank's Pepper robot. His latest startup, GrooveX, has raised over $100 million to develop the Lovot; a companion robot, or perhaps more accurately, a robot pet unlike any other. We talk about the Lovot itself, of course, but we also cover GrooveX's unique business model and talk about the very different ways that people of different sexes, ages, and nationalities interact with the Lovot. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why the Lovot is as much a pet as a dog or cat Data that proves how our interaction with robots is changing Why the Lovot's form factor is so important Why GrooveX invested so much in getting the Lovot's eyes right How the Lovot makes friends The Lovot's business model. Will this scale? The biggest surprise from the Lovot Cafe Why Western men don't love the Lovot Japan's anxiety trap and how to fix it Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about the GrooveX Follow Kaname on Twitter @HayashiKaname Friend him on Facebook See the Lovot in action The Lovot on Instagram - this is way too cute The Evocative Machines Project Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I've never really fully embraced the Japanese concept of cute or kawaii. I mean, it's fine and all, all the mascots and characters are nice but it gets a bit odd sometimes. For example, my bankbook is covered with pictures of Mickey Mouse and Goofy which are images Western financial institutions would probably not want to be associated with their product but hey, it works in Japan but there's actually something deeply fascinating and important underlying the idea of kawaii. Today, we sit down with Kaname Hayashi who was formerly part of SoftBank’s Pepper Project and then went out on his own to start Groove X and create the Lovot. Now, the Lovot is a companion robot or a pet robot and we talk about the robot itself, of course and please check out the links on the site for pictures and videos. It's very cute and you really have to see the Lovot in action to appreciate it but more important than the robot itself is how people are interacting with it. Now, we've talked about social robots on disrupting Japan before but people are interacting with the Lovot differently and far more socially than anything that's come before it. It's the first robot I've seen that not only could be fully accepted as a pet but is being fully accepted as a pet. Kaname and I also dive into the business model. Groove X has raised a lot of investment and as you'll hear during the interview, this is a startup that could go either way, it could fizzle out into nothing or it could change global society. In fact, in post-production, when I was editing down the interview, I kept thinking of more and deeper questions I wanted to ask Kaname, so we'll have to get him back on the show in the future but for now, you're about to hear a story about the difference in the way children and adults and Westerners interact with robots, the intersection of toxic masculinity and robotics and why science fiction usually gets human-robot interaction all wrong but Kaname tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Kaname Hayashi of Groove X, the maker of Lovot, so thanks for sitting down with me today. Kaname: Thank you very much. Tim: So, Lovot is a cute and I mean really, really cute companion robot but you can probably describe it much better than I can. So, what is Lovot? Kaname: Yeah, good question. Lovot takes a role as a pet.

One way that AI is transforming family farms May 31, 2021

Some of Japan's innovations are going to have a much bigger impact outside of Japan. Like most startups, most AgTech startups sensibly tend to focus on their own markets. While this makes things easier at first, it tends to overlook the huge challenges -- and potentially huge profits -- that exist in the developing world. Today we talk with Shunsuke Tsuboi of Sagri, and he explains how Sagri started life as a satellite -imaging startup focused on incremental innovation in Japan, but then quickly transformed itself into a disruptive FinTech startup serving India and Southeast Asia. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The truth about university startup support in Japan Why India is a better target for this Japanese startup Why selling to family farms is harder than selling to industrial farms Why sustainable business models are hard for agriculture startups The challenges for market entry in any agriculture startup Three reasons there are so few agriculture startups in Japan Why most Japanese VCs don't invest in AgTech What Japanese universities can do to improve creativity Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Sagri Friend Shun on Facebook TV Interview about Sagri. (Japanese) Nikkei interview with Shun (Japanese) Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to about agricultural startups in Japan. You know, it's interesting, with Japan's high food prices, the financial support for farmers, and the strong system of university agricultural research, I've always been a bit surprised that we don't see more AgTech startups in Japan. Well, today's conversation goes a long way to explaining exactly why that is, it's both fascinating and a little frustrating. Today we sit down with Shunsuke Tsuboi of Sagri, who is using satellite imaging and AI to help small-scale farmers, some in Japan but mostly in the developing world. Shunsuke explains the challenges of launching a startup from universities without specific startup support, why going global often has nothing to do with the US or Europe, and why the world is a better place when there are tens of millions of small family farms in it and why those are worth preserving. But you know, Shunsuke tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: I'm sitting here with Shun Tsuboi of Sagri, who is using satellites and artificial intelligence to solve agricultural problems. Thanks for joining us today. Shun: Yeah, thank you very much. Thank you for this time. Tim: It's great to have you, and I mean, agriculture tech, AgTech is something that's it's interesting in Japan, and people don't talk about it enough, so I'm really glad you're on the show. So can you explain a little bit more about what Sagri does, what is the service you're offering? Shun: Sagri company is based in Japan and India. So we are using satellite data to checking the each of the farmland and also the food of farmers we get using satellite data for smartphone, such as when is the best harvesting time and also which is a good soil situation, we can check it. Tim: The soil analysis, is that done by satellite or do you have people on the ground checking? Shun: They're using satellite, yes. Tim: Really? Shun: Yeah, along the 1,000 farmland, checking just 10 farmland detail, we can spreading the satellite information. Tim: So from satellite imaging, you can tell soil composition, you can tell farmers when the ideal time to apply pesticides, when to harvest. How do your customers interact with this? Is there a smartphone app? How does it work? Shun: So using satellite data checking through the application, they can connect it that mechanical, so this machine is automatically do that.

What you can learn from this “PoopTech” startup May 03, 2021

The bacteria in our gut affect our lives and our health in ways we are just starting to fully realize, and mapping this biome is expected to advance medical science and pharmacology as mapping the human genome. However, our gut biota is not a mappable sequence, but a complex ecosystem, and one that may be unique to each individual. In our conversation, Shinji Fukuda, founder of Metabologenomic (aka Metagen), explains how the science is advancing, what kinds of consumer devices we are likely to see first, the importance of global expansion, and the challenges of being a deep-tech startup in Japan. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes What Metagen is really trying to do Fecal transplants in Japan Japan's Gut design project - a database of poop The biggest business model challenge for Japan's deep-tech startuups Smart toilets and other consumer products Why Metagen has been turning down VC money Why global expansion is critical for both business and scientific reasons Some advice for Japanese deep-tech startups Why academics need startup founders Why Japanese startups need to stop playing defense Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Metagen Metagen on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to talk about the future of poop, and I promise you that it is both a lot more interesting and also a lot less, well, strange than you might think. Shinji Fukuda is the founder and CEO of Metabologenomics, a startup which is usually, and thankfully, referred to as Metagen. Shinji and Metagen are mapping out the complex biome of the human digestive tract. Our gut biome is an incredibly complex ecosystem that exists within all of us, and it is an ecosystem. These bacteria don't share our DNA and they're not simply along for the ride. We couldn't function without them, and there's a lot of variation between cultures and between individuals. Metagen is now working with some of Japan's largest healthcare, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies to commercialize this research. Of course, Metagen is not the only startup in this space, and Shinji and I talk a lot about when and how this tech is going to roll out to consumers, some of the scam startups that are already trying to get into this bandwagon, and we dive deep into one of the biggest problems facing deep tech startups in Japan. But you know, Shinji tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Shinji Fukuda of Metabologenomic who's researching and monetizing the gut biota, so thanks for sitting down with us. Shinji: Hi. Tim: And by the way, is it okay if we call the company Metagen the way people tend to do in Japanese? Shinji: Yeah, Metagen. Tim: Okay, good. So, listen, I think you can explain this much better than I can, so what exactly does Metagen do? Shinji: Our goal is to create the digital society, so we have a huge number of microbes in the gut and the gut microbiota has a lot of function, and maybe you know it's very important that the imbalance in the gut microbiota are related to some disorders like colon cancer, inflammatory bio-disorders, and also, the microbiota induce some systemic disorders like metabolic disorders and also meta-disease. That's why gut microbiota is really important to keep our health. Tim: It's amazing the amount of research that's being done on this right now and it's still a relatively new field. So, for Metagen, what is the main goal of the company? Are you trying to develop more targeted medicine? Is it better food? Is it a healthier population? What is it that the company is focused on? Shinji: Here, actually, everything, but we have a priority. Our goal is healthcare, to develop the technology to keep our health,

Instagram for skin disease? Wait, this could work! Apr 05, 2021

A lot of great ideas seem crazy when you first hear about them. Today Ryotaro Ako, founder of Atopiyo, explains not only why this is a great idea that is deeply valued by his users, but he also frankly talked about the difficulties in bringing it to market. We talk about the challenges of forming a long-term, core team and of developing a steady cash flow while trying to focus on a social good, and the risks involved in monetizing a community. Ryotaro also explains why extensive press coverage and shelves of startup awards don't make developing a sustainable business model any easier. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why share photos of skin conditions? How to find a technical co-founder, and what to do if you can't The two challenges all MedTech startups face The danger of long-term plans without short-term action How to monetize a community, and why it's risky Possible competitors The myth of Japanese conservatism Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Atopiyo Download the Atopiyo App Friend Ryotaro on Facebook Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today's conversation with Ryotaro Ako, founder of Atopiyo, is going to be a little bit different than usual. I first met Ryotaro several years ago at a Disrupting Japan live event, when he had just launched Atopiyo, an online community in which people with atopy and related skin conditions can support each other and exchange information about treatments and progress. Since its launch, Atopiyo has gone on to build an engaged and growing user base, attract extensive and positive press attention, and win a lot of startup awards from press, government, and industry. This is the kind of startup I really want to succeed; the kind of startup I think everyone really wants to succeed, actually. They're using startup techniques and technology to solve problems and actually make the world a little bit better. At least in theory. You see, Ryotaro and Atopiyo have a bit of a problem, and it's a problem that almost all social entrepreneurs run into, but very few managed to solve. If in this interview, I sound like I'm beating up on my guest a bit (by polite Japanese standards anyway) it's coming from a place of desperately wanting to see him succeed. Everyone who has an idea for a social startup and a passion to change the world can learn a lot from Atopiyo's story and this discussion. But you know, Ryotaro tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So I'm sitting here with Ryotaro Ako of Atopiyo, which helps people with atopy understand the disease and connect with each other, so thanks for sitting down with me. Ryotaro: Thank you very much, Tim. I'm very glad to talk with you. Tim: And we're glad to have you. I gave a really brief description of Atopiyo but I think you can explain it much better than I can. So what exactly does Atopiyo do? How does it work? Ryotaro: Atopiyo is Japan's first visual SNS for atopic dermatitis. It's like Instagram specializing in atopic dermatitis. Tim: Okay, I mean, at first reaction, sharing pictures of atopy and skin conditions does not sound that appealing. Ryotaro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tim: So I mean, tell me about your users. Who uses this? Why do they find it valuable? Ryotaro: Yes, yes, our images can be this. So I think it is not so photogenic or happy images but patients want to know the other patients, their skin disease, how are getting better or how getting worse because of these drugs or other drugs, and they want to know their process of the skin disease. So it's useful for the patients, and what's more, they want to choose their images into their private mode. So if you set it to the private mode, this image is only for users. Tim: Okay,

So, your startup wants to play in Japan’s Regulatory Sandbox? Mar 01, 2021

Disruption comes slowly to medicine. And that's a good thing. Since the ethos of the profession is "First, do no harm", it makes sense that safety and efficacy are prioritized over rapid innovation. But innovation does happen, and the Japanese government is working to make sure it happens faster. Today we sit down with Taro Ueno of Susmed and talk about the challenges and tradeoffs in innovative medicine. We talk about why he left medical research for entrepreneurship, and how iPhone apps and blockchain are being used clinically in Japan. And in both cases, I assure you, it's not what you think. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why leave medical practice to start a startup Why Japan just can't fall asleep Why Japan over-prescribes sleeping pills and other drugs Why it's very hard to get apps approved as medical devices in Japan The reason so few medical apps have been approved in Japan The importance ofJapan's regulatory sandbox How blockchain is actually helpful in clinical trials What kinds of medical apps are we most likely to see first on mobile phones? Why so few apps have been approved and why that might be changing Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Susmed Connect with Taro on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, you're going to learn about how to make money in blockchain. No, no, no, it's not like that, it's not what you think. Today, we're going to sit down with Taro Ueno of Susmed, and we'll talk about how Japan's new regulatory sandbox has enabled his startup to get approval for their blockchain-based platform for clinical trials. The platform prevents trial results from being changed after they've been recorded, which as Taro will explain, has been a real problem in Japan. Taro is also a medical doctor and a PhD, and he's developed an insomnia app that he is in the process of getting approved as a medical device. We talk about the challenges of getting mobile apps approved for clinical use in Japan, why this technology is so frustratingly slowed to come to market, and why people in Japan just can't seem to fall asleep. But you know, Taro tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Taro Ueno of Susmed, and thanks for sitting down with me today. Taro: Thank you. Tim: Now, Susmed is an app-based solution for insomnia and you also make a platform to improve clinical trials, but you can probably explain Susmed much better than I can, so tell me a bit about the company. Taro: Susmed stands for 'Sustainable Medicine.' This is our vision and we are developing digital therapeutics using smartphone apps, and we are now developing several apps for diseases like insomnia and cancer, and so on. Tim: Tell me a bit about your customers, so are these apps designed for doctors to use in a clinical setting? Are they designed for consumers to use on their own? Taro: Doctors prescribe this app for insomnia patients. This is alternative for treating patients Tim: Before we dive into everything that's going on with medical technology in Japan, I want to ask a little bit about you. You got your MD and then your PhD, what drove you to startup after that? I mean, you put a tremendous amount of work into becoming a doctor. Taro: Yeah, I agree. Yes, as you mentioned, I have a background of medical doctor and especially in psychiatry. I got PhD in basic research over sleep medicine. I have seen so many patients with overprescription with sleeping pills. That's why I try to develop DTx for insomnia patients. Tim: I mean, I find that fascinating, the ability to develop software for an app gave you greater ability to help people than practicing medicine or research?

Why people are afraid to trust AI. And how to fix it Feb 01, 2021

Artificial Intelligence makes a lot of people nervous. That's understandable. Today we sit down with Ken Fujiwara of Hacarus to discuss why that is, and what this startup is doing to fix it. As in so many other fields, when comparing AI in Japan and the West, we find that the technology is fundamentally the same, but the social attitudes and business strategies are very different. Ken is a serial entrepreneur, but running an AI startup was never part of his original plan. He had bigger goals in mind, and we talk about how he plans to pivot back to them someday. We also discuss Kyoto's booming startup ecosystem and why one CEO has publically stated he wants to destroy it. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The problem with Deep Learning and how Hacarus is unique The importance of founder's hidden failures Why Ken left Sony to start a startup How to know when you need to pivot Why pivoting is hard in Japan The integrator business model and why it works in Japan Pivoting a startup to back to your dreams The importance of explainable AI Why you need to know about Kyoto startups Why one company wants to destroy Kyoto's startup ecosystem The reason you see so many interesting IoT startups coming out of Japan now Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Hacarus Follow them on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Get in touch by email: inquiry@hacarus.com Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. As you can imagine, I get asked a lot about how the Japanese startup ecosystem is different from others and I love that question. The problem is that people usually aren't really happy with my answers. It seems that everyone wants to hear stories about anime or strange gadgets, or cool trends in gaming, and yeah, there's plenty of that in Japan too, but the things that are really unique and interesting like evocative machines and the integrator model, and the role enterprise has to play in supporting startups, those things take a lot of time to explain to anyone who doesn't already understand Japan, at least a little bit, but they're important. Today, we sit down with Ken Fujiwara of Hacarus and we're going to look at how Hacarus is using the integrator model to jointly develop AI products with large enterprises. Ken also explains how he had to pivot Hacarus away from his original vision and how he might be able to pivot back to it in the future. We talk about the challenges of pivoting and staying true to your mission, cover a few very good reasons why people don't trust AI, and we talk about one CEO who has made it his mission to destroy a startup ecosystem. Oh, and near the end of the show, we have a really interesting discussion about the startup ecosystem in Kyoto. There really are some amazing things going on in Kansai, but you know, Ken tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Ken Fujiwara of Hacarus, and thanks for sitting down with me today. Ken: Thanks for having me. Tim: Hacarus is a collection of AI platforms that's targeted both at medical and industrial use but you can probably explain this a lot better than I can, so what exactly does Hacarus do? Ken: Alright, so Hacarus is basically AI startups and provide AI desk applications for medical, such as AI-enabled diagnosis solutions and for manufacturing industry, we provide digital inspection services, and one of the core differences of our company is that we don't use a mainstream AI technology called deep learning. We use something else. Tim: I've noticed that, so you've talked a lot about your ability to create AI models based on very small data sets. How does that work? I mean, what exactly are you guys doing, if you don't mind me asking what the "secret sauc...

What you can learn from Japan’s seven-minute miracle Jan 04, 2021

Today we are going to look at a different kind of innovation. It's not technology. It's not patentable, and I'm not sure it's scalable. But it is important. It turns out that the story behind a Japanese viral video can teach us a lot about the future of work. It's an example of Japanese innovation at it's best I think you'll enjoy it. Links The Seven-Minute Miracle video Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I have a special story for you today. No guests. No playful banter. Today it’s just you and me and a story about Japanese innovation at its very best. And it’s also the real story behind a famous video about Japan that you’ve probably seen a dozen times on the internet and on western news shows. But like so many stories about Japan, the media gets this one wrong; or at least get it incomplete. They leave out the part of the story that actually teaches us something important about Japan. But there is something pretty amazing going on once you dig into it, and so that’s what we are going to do. The story I’m talking about is the so-called “seven-minute miracle” of the Shinkansen cleaning crew. If you live in Japan, you’ve probably witnessed this personally, and I’ll put a link to the video in the show notes for any listeners who have not already watched it. The Seven Minute Miracle The Shinkansen is both an engineering and an operational marvel. There are times when JR East is running trains three minutes behind each other at 320 kilometers per hour. To make this work requires an insane commitment to schedule. A departure is only considered to be on-time if happens within fifteen seconds of its scheduled time; no earlier, no later than 15 seconds. And most trains arrive within six seconds of their scheduled time. Part of making this work means that at Tokyo station, each train has only a 12-minute turnaround-time. It takes about five minutes to get the current passengers off and the new passengers on, which leaves seven minutes for cleaning. In those seven minutes, a crew of 22 people clean 1,000 seats, wipes down all the tray tables, exchanges seat and headrest covers, turns the seats 180-degrees to face the new direction, cleans the floors and bathrooms, empties all the wastebaskets, collects any forgotten articles from under the seats or in the overhead racks to turn into the lost and found, adjusts the window blinds, and generally makes sure everything on the train is neat and tidy. In seven minutes. And the cleaners do it all with an efficiency and grace that seems more like the mastery of a craft than the execution of a duty. When they are done, usually with time to spare, they assemble on the platform at the front of the train and bow in unison to the passengers who are about to board. Sometimes the passengers even clap. And a few minutes later, a new train arrives, and this is repeated for each of the 120 to 170 Shinkansen trains that depart Tokyo every single day. It’s amazing to watch, and a few years ago CNN picked up the story, and the whole world was, quite rightly. impressed. However, the CNN story focused on how Japanese employees are so efficient and take pride in their work. And that’s not quite true. I mean, these employees clearly are, and Japanese workers certainly can be dedicated and efficient, but anyone who tells you that Japanese employees are just naturally dutiful and efficient has clearly never had to manage Japanese staff. In fact, even in this celebrated case, it was not always so. This is a relatively recent development, and looking at the innovations that began in 2005 can also tell us a bit about where the gig-economy is headed and the kind of innovation that Japan can bring to the world. The Making of a Miracle The company responsible for the seven-minute miracle is Tessei,

This startup built the first open-source driverless car Dec 07, 2020

The automotive industry is closed and proprietary. But Shinpei Kato, founder and CTO of Tier IV, thinks they are going to be forced to change. Teir IV has brought together a global community of programmers and corporate partners to create the Autoware project. Tier IV's goal to develop a completely open-source software platform to drive autonomous vehicles is ambitious, and they have already completed some of the most advanced road-tests of driverless cars in Japan. Today we explore the business bottlenecks in rolling out autonomous vehicles, why open-source makes the automotive industry nervous, and why the first successful driverless car won't be what you think it will. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Introducing Autoware and Tier IV What keeps the auto industry from adopting open source The only way a college professor can actually run a startup The challenges in building an industrial open source community How to road test driverless cars in Japan Japan’s first fully-autonomous taxi service When we will see driverless taxies as part of our everyday life The bottleneck that keeps robot-taxis from going mainstream Which autonomous vehicles we are going to see first. Tier IV's business model How open-source might be Japan's secret weapon in global AI Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Tier IV YouTube Twitter LinkedIn Check out Shinpei's personal home page Friend him on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @ShinpeiKato Connect with him on LinkedIn Learn about the Autoware Foundation The Tier IV safety report Some other media coverage of Tier IV Forbes The Japan Times Valuer Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Open-source software has completely changed how we think about operating systems, networking, and databases. The whole Internet basically runs on open-source software, but can a 100% open-source software power an autonomous car? Well, one Japanese founder not only thinks it can, but he's betting his company on it, and that startup has already conducted some of the most advanced road tests in Japan. Today, we sit down with Shinpei Kato, founder of autonomous driving startup Tier IV, and Shinpei is also the chairman of the Autoware Foundation, Autoware, being the open-source project to develop software for fully autonomous vehicles. With so much driverless car news coming out of the US, you might not know about what's happening in Japan, but it's pretty amazing. We talk about what's involved in road testing driverless cars in Japan some frightening things people are doing to their cars, the challenges of building an open-source platform in an industry that has historically been fiercely secretive and proprietary and why Japan's first driverless cars are not going to look anything like what you think they will. But you know, Shinpei tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview So I'm sitting here with Shinpei Kato of Tier IV who is developing an autonomous driving software, so thanks so much for sitting down with us. Shinpei: Thank you very much for inviting me to this fantastic show. Tim: Oh, it's our pleasure. Listen, before we get into the details, can you explain the relationship between Tier IV and Autoware, because the two different entities are really closely connected and like, together, they form Tier IV's business strategy. Shinpei: So I used to be at Nagoya University and I had led a project of autonomous driving where we started developing software for autonomous vehicles, so I had a lot of attention from industries that made me decide I should do startup rather than the university research. Tier IV was founded to facilitate RND of this open-source...

Why startups should be better than charities at solving social problems Nov 09, 2020

Startups exist to develop new solutions to problems. But many of society's biggest problems fall outside traditional startup business models. Today we explore why that is, and how it might be changed as we sit down with Robin Lewis, co-founder of Mymizu, a startup focused on reducing plastic waste by encouraging reuse. We take a deep dive into possible monetization strategies, why startups should be better at solving social problems than non-profits, and we discuss a possible roadmap for a middle path between startups and non-profits. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The Japanese middle-ground between NGOs and for-profit startups The hidden strategy behind beach cleanup programs Mymizu’s current business model The challenge of mixing environmental and social sustainability When Tim became “The Destroyer of Dreams” The unexpected (positive ) impacts of COVID-19 Why startups should be able to do more social good than NGOs How bottled water breaks economic theory What happened to Japanese water fountains One common recycling scam in Japan A roadmap for the middle path between NGO and startup Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Mymizu Follow Mymizu on Instagram Check out Robin's personal home page Follow his blog on social sustainability Follow him on Twitter @robintlewis Connect with him on LinkedIn More about sustainability in Japan 7 Surprising Facts About Plastic in Japan Sanpo Yoshi: the Japanese business principle of success through responsibility 25 Opportunities For Volunteering and Social Good in Japan Milton Friedman's landmark NYT article on corporate responsibility Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Water, it’s one of the most common molecules in the universe and you personally are made up of about 60% water. There are a number of significant problems today that revolve around water but water is rarely the focus for startups, and today, we’re going to explore why that is and why that might be changing. Today, we sit down in a properly socially distanced matter and talk with Robin Lewis, co-founder of Mymizu. The Mymizu app enables you to find places to refill your water bottles all over Japan, and the company itself exists in a very interesting space between nonprofit and a regular for profit company. Robin and his team are already making an impact in Japan, and we have a deep dive into how startups can be a force to achieve meaningful social change. The challenges of balancing the need for revenues with staying true to your social mission, and we brainstorm about possible monetization strategies that could enable that, and also, you’ll learn something that will probably really piss you off about how recycling is done in Japan. But you know, Robin tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So I’m sitting here with Robin Lewis, the co-founder of Mymizu, a water refilling app. Thanks for sitting down with me. Robin Lewis: Thanks so much for having me, Tim, I’m excited to be here. Tim: Actually, you can explain Mymizu much better than I can, so what is Mymizu exactly? Robin: Mymizu, what we’re doing is we’re on a mission to help people live more sustainably, starting with plastic bottles. We accomplish that in, I’d say, four main ways. First, we have the app which you mentioned and it’s essentially a tool where you can find 200,000 locations around the world where you can take your reusable bottle and refill that for free, and so this includes public water fountains like in train station, in parks, and so on, but also, we have this network of what we call ‘refill partners,’ this is cafes, shops, hotels, and other businesses where you can walk in, you can get your water,

The Dream of Flying Cars meets the Truth of Aviation Startups Oct 12, 2020

Personal aviation is awesome! Aviation has been a source of inspiration and a symbol of innovation since the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, to Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, to today's dreams of colonizing Mars. Unfortunately, it's been very hard for startups to make money in aviation. Even the Wright brothers did not do particularly well in business. But things might be changing. Today we sit down and talk with Tasuku Nakai, co-founder of Tetra Aviation, and we discuss how public research incentives, support from the aerospace giants, and the changing infrastructure needs might have just tipped the balance to startups. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How Tetra's eVTOL aircraft came to be and what it might become The steps needed to bring a new aircraft to market Why it's so difficult to innovate in aviation The main hurdle in expanding the personal aviation market Fundraising strategies and exist options for aviation startups When investing is considered "evil" in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Tetra Aviation Friend Tasuku on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn Follow Tetra on Twitter @Tetra_Aviation Check out a video of their prototype VTOL aircraft Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to talk about flying cars. That’s right, flying cars. We sit down with Tasuku Nakai, co-founder of Tetra Aviation and we talk about what it takes to bring a new aircraft, especially a new personal aircraft to market, and it’s not easy. The Tetra Aircraft is an electric vertical take-off and landing, or VTOL aircraft, which they believe will form the backbone of a new aerial intercity transport system. You know, I have a real soft spot for these kinds of startups. I have a private pilot’s license and I love the idea that the age of affordable personal aircraft might almost be here. But as I mentioned, it’s hard, and as Tasuku explains, these kinds of companies don’t fit the traditional VC model for a number of reasons. We also talk about the possible business models open to aircraft startups, the release of Tetra’s new prototype, and the crazy world of experimental aircraft pilots who fly newly designed aircraft as a hobby. But you know, Tasuku tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Tasuku Nakai of Tetra Aviation who makes personal electric aircraft, so thanks for sitting down with me. Tasuku: Thanks for inviting me, Tim, and this is a really great moment to introduce myself and introduce my business. Tim: No, the pleasure’s all mine. I think what you guys are doing is really interesting and I’ve had a passion for, like, aerospace startups for a long time, so actually, I mean, you can probably explain what Tetra Aviation is and what the product is better than I can. So basically, what are you building? Tasuku: We are building personal electrical VTOL aircraft, so vertical take-off and landing, so wherever you want to come, just simply ride on it and fly to the air and arrive on your destination exactly. Tim: And we’ll talk about the history later. This is kind of like the flying cars that startups have been teasing us about since the 1950s, but what you’ve built, is it considered an airplane or a helicopter, or a drone, or how is it classified? Tasuku: Well, a really difficult question about that. There’s no category anymore. There’s a lot of class, almost 50 or 60 classifications, but basically, you think it’s similar for helicopter and the drone, to combine the helicopter and drone, so I mean, the people can ride on it and also, it has a distributed propulsion system as a drone has. Tim: Actually, just today,

What’s really changed after six years of Disrupting Japan Sep 14, 2020

Disrupting Japan is six years old and ready to party! Unfortunately, we can't. Like so much else in 2020, this year's big, live show has been canceled, but I hope you'll make it next year. It's not all bad news, of course. There are a lot of great things happening for both Disrupting Japan and for Japanese startups. So looking back on these six years, I'd like to share some of the most important changes that are happening in Japan. Please enjoy. Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. This is our sixth-anniversary episode. Over the past six years, it’s been a Disrupting Japan tradition to have our big Disrupting Japan Live and Unleashed show on our anniversary. We get three of Japan’s startup thought-leaders on stage and invite a few hundred of our closest friends over for an evening of drinks, conversation, and just hanging out with a lot of cool people. Unfortunately, this year the coronavirus makes this impossible. So we’ll pick up that tradition again next year. What I had planned for this year’s anniversary episode was to tell you a special story about innovation at it’s best in Japan. The real story behind a video you’ve seen a dozen times on the internet and Western news media. But before that, I wanted to talk briefly about three critical things that have changed for startups in Japan and as those introductory notes became longer and more interesting, I realized I was going to have to split the show, so I’ll tell you all about that video in a future episode. Today, there is something else you should know. But before we get to that, I want to thank you. When I started Disrupting Japan six years ago, I really could not have imagined what it would become. At first, Disrupting Japan was just me sitting down and talking with my founder friends, and I guess in all the important ways, it still is just me sitting down with my friends. But Disrupting Japan has grown with Japan’s startup community. We now have around 10,000 listeners all over the world, and we’ve ranked as Japan’s #1 entrepreneurship podcast and occasionally break into the top five Japanese business podcasts as well. So after six years, I want to thank all the amazing founders who have come on the show to tell us their stories so honestly, the fans who have spread the word about the podcast in a way that online marketing never could, and to thank you, for listening. I appreciate you choosing to spend your time with me, and I work incredibly hard to make sure this show is worth your time. Looking back on six years, I want to share with you the three most important ways that Disrupting Japan has changed, and what that tells us about how things are changing for Japanese startups. Now, these aren’t the big data-driven headline numbers that you already know about. These trends are more personal, more human, and maybe in a way, more important. 1) Origin Stories During the first two years of Disrupting Japan, I would almost always ask founders about how they started their startup. Many had pretty dramatic stories. Many telling of how their wife or parents were opposed and tried to talk them out of it or force them out of it, or how they had to give up their apartment to save money meet payroll. Many founders had a family role model. A non-conformist relative who was maybe an entrepreneur themselves, or perhaps an artist or musician. Someone who believed in them when everyone else doubted. One of our founders even sold his wife’s jewelry to make payroll. Although his parting advice to me on that matter was “Tim, your startup is very important, but there are some things you should just never do.” But as long-time listeners have probably noticed, we don’t hear those kinds of origin stories anymore. When I bother to ask the question these days, the most common reply is something like “Well, I really wanted to do it,

How this silkworm startup is taking on the pandemic Aug 31, 2020

Bio-tech is messy because life is complicated. A lot of attention is given to computers sequencing genomes, but some of the most advanced and important work is done by studying and using other living things to make our own lives better. Kenta Yamato co-founded Kaico to commercialize a technique that uses silkworms to manufacture small-batch custom proteins. And Kico is involved with everything from veterinary medicine to Japan's search for a coronavirus vaccine. We also talk about the challenges or creating startups based on university technology and the one e-commerce model in Japan that just won't go away. I think you'll enjoy the conversation. Show Notes How to get proteins from a silkworm (It's not fun for the silkworm) Why silkworms, in particular, must be used The importance and uses of small-batch, custom proteins The start of a silkworm startup The most common (and least successful) Japanese e-commerce model Why it's so hard for Japanese universities to spin-out startups How Kaico silkworms are part of the fight against covid-19 How to scale a silkworm startup Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Kaico Friend Kenta on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn A Kaico video explainer Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to be talking about worms. No, no, wait, don't go, I promise this is going to be really interesting. Today, we're going to sit down and talk with Kenta Yamato of Kaico, a Kyushu-based startup that is using silkworms to rapidly produce custom small-batch innovative proteins that are used for bio-research, medicine, and they play a part in Japan's search for coronavirus vaccine. It's a fascinating process but admittedly one that's not particularly fun for the silkworms themselves. We also talk about the most popular and most unsuccessful e-commerce business model in Japan, the challenges Japanese universities in spinning out startups, and we even cover some practical solutions to that problem. But you know, Kenta tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So I'm sitting here with Kenta Yamato of Kaico, a company that uses silkworm to produce specific protein used in medical tests and vaccine, and thank you for sitting down with me. Kenta: Yes, thank you for me and I have a very pleasure to explain our company's story. Yeah, thank you very much. Tim: It's great to have you on the show. I tried to explain very briefly what Kaico does, but I think you can explain it a lot better than I can, so at like a high level, what does Kaico do? Kenta: We started Kaico two years ago in 2018. Kaiko means silkworm in English. Maybe you know silkworm can make silk for clothes, but we will use this kaiko silkworm for making proteins. We are a startup company from Kyushu University and our products are many proteins, the protein the other companies cannot make because it is difficult to make it. We make this protein by silkworm. Tim: So if I understand the basic process, you inject the silkworm with a virus containing the target gene, and then it makes the proteins as part of its silk, and then you extract the proteins from the silk? Kenta: No, no. First, we'll incorporate the gene of target protein into baculovirus, so this baculovirus is safe for us humans and animals, but baculovirus damage to only silkworms and we will insert this recombinant baculovirus into silkworm and their body can make the specific protein in their cell, and finally, we'll collect and purify the body liquid from the silkworm. Tim: Okay, so it's not from the silk, it's from the silkworms themselves that you extract the proteins. Kenta: Yes, we don't use silk. Tim: Okay. So why silkworm? Is there something about silkworms that makes it easy to generate protein...

Reinventing online maps to focus on community Aug 17, 2020

We have always loved maps. Maps combine artistry and utility in a way that very few disciplines allow. But of course, it's always been a trade-off. The beautiful, ornate maps from centuries past told you where the major landmasses were, but provided little detail. And today's GPS-based maps provide an unprecedented level of accuracy but uninspiring in their presentation. Machi Takahashi, founder and CEO of Stroly, has a best-of-both world's solution. We also talk in-depth about the unique challenges facing women founders in Japan, and what can be done to make things better for everyone. It's a great discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes Strolling with stories: How Stroly works How to make Google Maps community-oriented How Stroly pivoted to prosperity during Covid-19 How industry will be using VR after Covid-19 ends Why corporate spinouts are so hard in Japan Why Japan has problems commercializing fundamental research The challenges female founders face in Japan How Japanese women are taught they should not really be CEOs Why Japanese startups need to think globally Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Stroly Connect with Machi on LinkedIn Women's Startup Labs Ari Hori on Disrupting Japan Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. One of the most common themes on Disrupting Japan is the intersection of tradition and high technology. Stories about what things that we’ve known and loved for generations can teach us about how we should use technology today. Now, I’m not sure how much of this is due to the fact that I personally find such startups fascinating and important, and how much of it is due to the fact that there’s something about Japanese startups and Japanese culture that encourages and appreciates these kinds of innovations. Well, today, we sit down with Machi Takahashi of Stroly and we discussed that while mobile GPS mapping is awesome, there’s something important that we’ve lost in our rapid adoption of that technology and it’s something that Stroly is bringing back. We also look into how COVID is not only changing things but changing some things for the better and how this is really a time for innovative startups to shine. And we also talk in some detail about the challenges women founders face in Japan and some simple ways to improve the situation. But you know, Machi tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. Interview Tim: I’m sitting here with Machi Takahashi, the CEO of Stroly, so thanks for sitting down with me. Machi: Thank you, Tim, for having me. Tim: Stroly makes custom maps that are overlaid onto Google Maps, but I think you can explain it a lot better than I can, so why don’t you explain briefly what Stroly is, how it works? Machi: Okay, sure. So, Stroly is our company name and also the name of our service and it means to stroll with story, so we came up with this idea to combine illustrated maps with GPS positioning while we were developing a new guide system for a theme park, and instead of choosing Google Maps, we chose to use this beautiful hand-drawn illustrated map of this theme park and we came up with this technology to combine these latitudes and longitudes on top of these illustrated maps. Tim: Okay, so when people are visiting the theme park, instead of looking at Google Maps or Apple Maps as they are wandering around the park, they would look at those kind of cute hand-drawn illustrated maps and they’d navigate on top of that? Machi: Right, exactly. So, we have this technology where we can adapt these GPS positioning on top of any kind of a map in any form so people can actually exaggerate some of the spots in the map, and then actually draw some of the spots in the map.

Selects: Why Japan’s Geisha are disappearing in the social media age Aug 03, 2020

You don’t usually think of Japan’s geisha as being an industry, but it is. In fact, strictly speaking, it’s a cartel. A cartel that is now being disrupted by internet-based booking agencies and low-cost substitutes. It seems that even geisha are not immune to internet-based disintermediation. In this special interview Sayuki, Japan’s only geisha who also holds an MBA, explains the business model behind geisha. We talk about the way things used to be, the current threats that have many geisha concerned that the traditional art form and the lifestyle will not survive, and how some geisha houses are trying to adapt. This is a rare, behind the scenes look at the business of being a geisha and a chance to see how Japan’s geisha might survive and even thrive in the coming digital age. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups How Sayuki broke 100 years of tradition to become a geisha How geisha are being challenged by both the entertainment and tourism industries Changing geisha from a private art to a public one Why geisha might not survive the modern era of tourism The geisha cartel is being challenged, and why that's not good for anyone The challenge modern geisha face on social media The changes in training for the next generation of Japan's geisha Links from the Founder Sayuki's home page Follow her on twitter @sayukiofasakusa Become her patron on Patreon Follow her on Facebook Book a geisha experience Geisha Banquet in Tokyo Private Custom Shopping Tour with a Geisha Private Lunch with Sayuki Kimono Shopping Tokyo Tour [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I’ve got a great Selects show for you today. We sit down and talk with Sayuki a geisha. An actual geisha. and she also holds an actual MBA from Oxford. It’s a great conversation that breaks down the business model of running a geisha house, and it's a lot more complex than you might imagine. A lot of people talk about disrupting traditional business models, but this is a truly traditional business model. And we also talk about how the Internet and social media is threatening to complexly destroy it. There are a lot of people wondering if geisha will survive this. In fact, there are a lot of geisha wondering if geisha will survive this. It’s a story involving centuries-old cartels in new turf wars, counterfeit goods knowingly being sold over the internet, and the challenge of getting maiko off their social media accounts long enough to train them. Although that last one is both a problem and a potential revenue stream. Anyway, please enjoy the conversation, and I’ve got an update for you at the end of the show. Intro Today I’ve got something really special for you. We are going to talk about the kind of business that you’ve probably never heard any details about. Today we’re going to sit down and interview Sayuki, a Geisha. And since this is Disrupting Japan, we’ll be talking about the business side of being a Geisha. We’ll look at the Geisha business model and examine how it’s being disrupted by modern technology. And believe me, it really is. Now, listeners outside Japan might not understand how special this opportunity is. Traditionally, Geisha are not really supposed to talk about their business. Geisha create the illusion of comfort, beauty, and elegance, that is unsoiled by such base things as money. But make no mistake about it; it’s an illusion. Geisha is a very serious business and Sayuki, who also has an MBA from Oxford, has agreed to sit down and walk us through it. In fact, from a business point of view, Geisha are an established cartel that are being disrupted by new technology, the internet, and tourism websites in particular,

Your Japanese textbooks are lying to you Jul 06, 2020

They probably mean well. They are telling you something that is easy to understand and that seems like it's true at first, but it's still a lie. I received an overwhelming response to my recent episode on success via public humiliation, and more than a few people tried to set me straight about how Japanese keigo is supposed to be used, so today I'm going to return the favor. Don't worry, this is not a Japanese lesson, at least not in the pedantic sense, but it might clear up a few of the lies you've been told, and perhaps even repeated about how honorifics are used in Japan and in Japanese business in particular. Please leave a comment because I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Show Notes Feedback on Failure How you are being lied to Why keigo is not about social status or individual respect How to insult by being polite Actually showing respect Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. While the coronavirus lockdown continues to disrupt Disrupting Japan’s production schedule, whatever stage of lockdown or reopening you might be in right now, I hope you're doing well. Today I’m going to point out something that every Japanese language textbook I have ever seen gets completely wrong. Feedback on Failure But before that, I want to thank you for all the emails and messages you sent in response to last month’s episode on how public humiliation has been my secret to success in Japan. It was a hard one to make, but it seems like it really resonated with a lot of listeners, and the feedback was really overwhelming. So, thank you for that. There was also, however, some comments about my difficulties speaking keigo and my description of it as a “mind-boggling complex protocol of honorific and humble forms whose use depends on a non-linear, three-dimensional matrix of formality, in-group out-group status, and the role you are playing in that particular interaction.“ OK. I admit I was a bit overdramatic there, but quite a few people emailed to tell me that keigo was actually quite logical and very straightforward as long as you keep in mind a few simple rules. It is something, they asserted, that can be mastered in a few years of serious study. OK. Yeah, maybe. But it’s interesting to note that all the emails telling me how easy keigo is, came from non-Japanese. Among the emails I got from my Japanese fans, only two mentioned my keigo comments at all, and they both sympathized, saying that they also make mistakes sometimes. In fact, one of them even mentioned that she can’t understand why anyone thinks rakugo is funny either. So hey, maybe it’s my sense of humor, and not my language ability that’s the problem here. But to those non-native speakers claiming keigo is simple and straightforward. Well OK, perhaps you have a gift for it. Perhaps its really clicked for you. You almost certainly have a better command of it that I do, but maybe you should consider, that just perhaps, you don’t understand it as well as you think you do. How you are being lied to In fact, I will go further than that. Every Japanese language textbook I have ever seen completely misrepresents both what keigo is and how it is used. It’s almost always defined as a “means fo showing respect to individuals with higher social status”. And that’s just wrong! It is not about showing respect to individuals and it has nothing to do with social status. Sure, that definition might be useful for people with short attention spans or who know little about Japanese society. But fortunately, Disrupting Japan listeners have proven themselves as having long attention spans and they know a thing or two about Japanese society. So let’s dig into this. If you are a non-native speaker, by the end of this short episode, I promise you’ll have a new way of looking at keigo. OK.

DJ Selects: Why startups lose control of their sales channels, and how to fix it – Allen Miner – Oracle Jun 22, 2020

Oracle first came into Japan more than 25 years ago, but the challenges they faced and overcame then are exactly the same ones firms are facing today in executing their Japan market entry. Allen explains why Oracle needed a unique sales and marketing strategy for Japan, and how he managed to get buy-in from headquarters — even though Oracle already had a sales and marketing program that had proven fantastically successful in other markets. We also talk about how Oracle managed to negotiate a amicable exit out from their exclusive distribution agreements not just once, but twice. That’s an amazing accomplishment considering that many foreign companies have destroyed their Japanese business the first time they attempt it. But Allen, tells the story much better than I do. I think you’ll enjoy the interview. I know I did. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Update Japan is slowly opening up again. The official “unofficial” lockdown ended at the beginning of June. Restaurants, bars, and shops are reopening with a lot if plastic curtains and sheeting separating patrons and proprietors. It’s a long way from normal, but it's better than being stuck in the house. International travel is mostly shut down, but domestic travel is really picking up. It seems most of the hotels and resorts in Okinawa are already booked solid for the summer by Japanese who would normally be flying to Hawaii. And Okinawans, grateful for the business, but still nervous about the virus, have some pretty mixed feeling about that. And of course, with international travel shut down, and all the trade shows canceled, most foreign startups have put their Japan market entry plans on hold. And that’s normally a lot of activity. If you are a B2B startup you need to be looking at Japan. It can be a hard market to crack, but it’’s a lucrative one. So today, I want to re-share what is one of the most amazing Japan market-entry stories of all time. It has ambition, misdirection. drama, serious career-risk, and rock-concerts. It’s an old story, but a good one. The technologies have changed since then, but the challenges and the strategies haven’t. Intro To kick things off today, we’ll get a chance to sit down and talk with my good friend Allen Miner about the challenges Oracle faced, and overcame, when breaking into Japan. I’ll warn you in advance that this episode is longer than most, and believe me, I cut things to the bone. But there is just too much great information about how to overcome both the personal and professional challenges that foreign companies face here. I felt like I would be cheating you if I edited out any more. In fact, Allen explains how Oracle successfully maneuvered out of an exclusive distribution agreement, not only once, but two separate times. This is something that has sunk more than one foreign company here. But Allen tells the story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So I’m sitting down here with Allen Miner and Allen, you’ve been involved with the market entry of a lot of companies into Japan. But today I want to focus on the one that you led personally, which was Oracle Japan. So let’s back up. What was attractive about the Japanese market? What made Oracle decide that they needed to be in this country? Allen: Actually, that happened a few years before I joined Oracle. In, I believe it was 1982, Oracle was about a $5 million a year company worldwide, 5 years old as a company, and just released their first commercial version of the Oracle database software. There was quite a bit of press about, “How interesting is this relation to technology? It doesn’t require traditional programming to do data manipulation...

What makes people pay for new online events Jun 08, 2020

You would expect that event-focused startups would be some of the hardest hit by the global pandemic and lockdown, and for the most part, you would be right. But Peatix is one event startup that adapted fast and is now actually thriving during the lockdown. We've talked with Taku Harada before, and if you have not done so already, you should check it out. It's a great conversation and there is no overlap with today. Today we talk about how startups can pivot and survive during the pandemic, why having too much money can be a curse for startups, and we dive into what's gone wrong with Japanese B2B SaaS startups. It's a great discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes How an evets company pivots during Covid-19 What makes a good online event Will people play for online events What will be the long-term behavioral changes from the lockdown The surprising secret to scaling a social network Tips for Japanese who want to run an international startup The trap of startups having too much funding What's wrong with Japan’s SaaS companies Why Japanese enterprise has too much influence on startups The importance of an ecosystem is not what you think Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Peatix Friend Taku on Facebook Follow him on twitter at @takumeister Petix on YouTube Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we get a chance to sit down with (at a very safe social distance) with Taku Harada the founder of Peatix, and we’ll talk about how this particular event planning and booking company is not only surviving but thriving during this covid crisis. And hey, this is the very first DJ episode I’ve released, where I’ve interviewed someone over video conference. Oh, I’ve recorded a few interviews that way them before, but I’ve always found something lacking. Something impersonal and not fully connected when you talking to an image on a screen rather than a person in the same room. But this time was different. Maybe because Taku and I are old friends, or maybe just because we all, myself included, are getting more used to living our lives online. So we’ll be doing more interviews this way, at least until things return to the way they were in the before times. This is actually the second time we’ve had Taku on the show, but this is all new information, and I strongly encourage you to go listen to the other interview. It’s a great discussion about the things no one ever tells you when you first start your startup. I’ll have a link to that episode up on the site But today we are going to talk about how to build, and expand, your customer base during lockdown, some things you should know about fundraising right now, and what the hell is wrong with Japanese B2B SaaS companies. But you know Taku tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Taku Harada of Peatix, the event ticketing and promotion service. Thanks for sitting down with me. Taku: It’s great to be back, I guess. We talked several years ago. It’s nice to see you again. Tim: Likewise, and we’re being very appropriately socially distanced here, you being in New York. Taku: Very much. Tim: Yeah. Yeah, actually, you were one of my very first guests on the show and that was, man, almost six years ago now. Taku: Was it six years ago? Tim: Yeah, 5 ½, six years. Times change. Taku: When was it, 2013 or so? I’m curious to find out what I had said back then, if it matches up with the way I’m thinking right now. Tim: Yeah. We finished off a bottle of wine at the old engine yard office in Tokyo. Taku: Yeah, an Ebisu, right? Tim: Yeah. Now, it was a really great interview and we’re not going to cover the same ground again today although I mean,

Why public humiliation is the secret to success May 25, 2020

I've never managed to find a direct road to success. My bio reads like a random walk down many different career paths, so I always feel unqualified to answer when people ask me for career advice. Today, however, I'd like to share one insight about doing business in Japan that I learned the hard way. If you've been through something like this, I hope you'll be able to identify with it. If you haven't, I hope you can learn something from it, and avoid it. Please share your experiences in the comments. Show Notes More life lessons from Mark the Dog Japanese fluency is an odd target What's worse than any horror movie plot? Success via humiliating failure How good does your Japanese need to be to do business in Japan? Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today I want to tell you the story about one of the most embarrassing and publicly humiliating events of my life, and something very important it taught me about doing business in Japan. Before we get to that, however, I received a lot of great feedback from the last episode on the Japanese trap of the Glorious Failure, including a number of Japanese listeners who said they really liked Taniguchi-bucho’s explanation of corporate Japan’s negative point system. (More) Advice from Mark the Dog But by far the most popular request was for pictures and more life lessons from Mark the Dog. Well, OK. I’m going to do that, but please understand that this is not a very deep well. There is only so much Mark the Dog can teach us about how we should live our lives, because after all, Mark the Dog, is … well, he’s a dog. So I’ll put a couple of pictures of Mark the Dog on the website, (Yes, he is very cute), and I’ll let you know that there is, in fact, one more thing that Mark the Dog has taught me during the ongoing lockdown. Mark being a good boy. This was my wife's idea. Meet my PA, Mark. You know how dogs get really excited every time they hear a little noise outside or see something move past the window? Or how they become nearly hysterical whenever someone rings the doorbell or comes to the door? Well, I get that now. I totally understand where dogs are coming from on this. The other week two pigeons landed on my window sill, and I got way more excited about that than I probably should have. So hey to all the world’s dogs; we're cool on the doorbell thing. No judgment here. OK, back our main story about my path to success via public humiliation. Japanese fluency is an odd target One of the things people always say when they find out I’ve been living in Japan for almost 30 years is “Wow. How good is your Japanese? You must be fluent!” I never really know how to answer that. I’m definitely not fluent. I mean, I’m not trying to be overly humble here, my Japanese is good. I manage staff in Japanese. I do sales in Japanese. I do presentations in Japanese. So it’s good. But fluent? No. Often when I try to explain a complex or abstract thought, I manage to get lost before I find my way to the verb. I can’t get into a heated argument in Japanese. And I usually don’t understand most of the jokes. My wife loves rakugo, which is a popular Japanese form of comedy storytelling. They are these long shaggy-dog stories that people find hysterical, and I can understand 100% of the story, but I can’t for the life of me see how any of it is funny. And then of course, there is keigo. The mind-boggling complex protocol of honorific and humble forms whose use depends on a complex three-dimensional matrix of formality, in-group out-group status, and the role you are playing in that particular interaction. Frankly, once I get past basic greetings and a few set phrases, I tend to screw it up pretty badly. But, as I mentioned, keigo is hard,

The Japanese Trap of the Glorious Failure Apr 27, 2020

Japanese businessmen famously fear failure. But that understanding is horribly incomplete. In fact, there is one type of failure that is admired, almost sought after, in Japan. Today we take a look at the trap of the Japanese glorious failure, see how it's hurting startups, and examine our options on fixing it. Show Notes Life lessons from Mark the Dog When and why failure is feared in Japan What is a Glorious Failure, and why it is admired How the Glorious Failure is hurting Japanese startups What is (probably) the only way to fix this Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I'm recording this episode for release on April 28, 2020. I usually try to make all Disrupting Japan content evergreen. Most of the insights you hear on Disrupting Japan about starting companies in Japan, or building a customer base, market testing, or doing business here will probably be just as valid in ten years as the day it was recorded. And in some ways, this episode is no exception. The common wisdom is that Japanese. and Japanese founders in particular, are too risk-averse and have too great a fear of failure. Well today, we are going to turn that view on its head. I’m going to explain that, in truth, Japanese founders don’t fear failure enough, and that’s hurting Japanese startups here. You know, actually, maybe I am being too pessimistic. Maybe ten years from now, you and I will listen back on this episode and laugh at how things used to be and smile when we think of how much has improved. Well, maybe. But before we start talking about why Japanese founders need to fear failure more, I want to say something about the coronavirus situation, at least as it stands in late April 2020. The world might have changed a lot since then. Tokyo is currently on official, but actually unofficial, lockdown. There are clusters of idiots in the parks, but most people seem to be taking things seriously. If you go outside, the police won’t arrest you, but they might ask you where you are going, and ask you to consider if you really need to be out. There is no real punishment or anything, but they make you feel kind of guilty, and that seems to be enough to keep most people indoors. The operations of the Disrupting Japan Studios remain largely unaffected by the shutdown, but that mostly because, Disrupting Japan Studios broadcasts from inside of my wife’s walk-in closet. The acoustics are great in here, but it can get a bit cramped. So for the past six weeks or so, I’ve been staying in the house with my wife Ami and my dog Mark. And you know, Mark the dog has taught me perhaps the most important lesson about how to deal with the corona crisis and the lockdown. Mark the dog, he doesn’t really know what’s going on. All he knows is that my wife and I are home all the time, and he’s never alone. There is always someone to lean up against, or play with, or give him some attention. Mark the dog, doesn’t worry about what might happen tomorrow, and I don’t think he really remembers what happened yesterday. But right now, at this particular moment, he knows he is with the people he loves and who care about him. And for right now, that’s pretty awesome. And believe me, Mark the dog is the happiest, most contented creature you could possibly imagine. So day-by-day, right. At this particular moment, I hope you are OK and with people you love. Anyway, let’s put Mark the dog out of the studio. We're going to talk about why Japanese founders need to fear failure more. The Failure that is Feared You’ll often hear that Japanese founders, and Japanese society in general or overly afraid of failure. And in some ways that is true. Attitudes have shifted for the better over the past few decades, but most kinds of failure here in Japan do cary a certain stigma.

DJ Selects: Why Your Startup Accelerator is Going to Disappear Mar 30, 2020

Almost all startup accelerators are going bankrupt and going away. Hiro Maeda, the founder of two of Japan's most successful, and most different startup incubators explains both the brief past and precarious future of startup incubators and accelerators. We talk not only about the mechanics and challenges of what it takes to make an incubator successful, but Hiro has some practical advice on when founders should consider joining an accelerator and how they can avoid the 99% of them that provide no real value. Hiro also explains why so many Japanese VCs today find investing in South East Asia more attractive than Japan, the forces behind Japan's startup boom, and what the next ten years holds for Japanese startups. Show Notes for Startups The motivation behind the founding of Open Network Labs Incubator How to measure the success of an incubator How Japanese VCs will be deploying capital in the next few years The success of Beenos's Inception Program and why they had to shut it down Why public companies have trouble with startups How to tell a good incubator from a bad one Why most incubators provide no value The coming shakeout in the incubator industry What’s driving Japan’s startup boom The future of Japanese entrepreneurship Links from the Founder Beenos Hiro's Blog Follow Hiro on Twitter @djtokyo Friend him on Facebook The SGE Facebook Page [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero. Thanks for listening. I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and staying healthy during this coronavirus crisis. I honestly can’t see too much more than that, because one of the things I learned in releasing our previous episode is that the situation can change dramatically from the time I record to the time I release and then again from the time of release and the time you get a chance to listen. So about the only thing I can say right now that I know will make sense when you listen to this is that I hope you are doing OK and staying healthy; or failing that getting better. Today, I’ve got a great Selects show for, so we can sit down over a beer with Hiro Maeda, one of the most insightful Japanese VCs. This interview was recorded back in 2015. A lot has changed since then, but a surprising amount of things have not. When we first caught up with Hiro he was just about to launch his new fund, and I’ll give you an update on what happened after the show. What might be even more interesting, however, is that the predictions Hiro makes in this interview have not come true as quickly as expected, but many of them are playing themselves out in slow motion right in front of us. Intro Today, we sit down with Hiro Maeda and talk about Start-Up Accelerators. Now, Hiro is the creator of both Digital Garages, Open Network Lab and the Beenos Inception Program. These are two of Japan's best known Start-Up Acceleration Programs. Their approaches are very, very different. Naturally, we talk about both the past and the future of Start-Up Acceleration in Japan, and the critical differences between the good ones and the bad ones. What impressed me most about our conversation was Hiro's commitment to running his Accelerators just like Start-Ups. Now, we dive into the fundamental reasons behind the attraction that Japanese VCs now have for Southeast Asian Markets. As well as the reasons behind what we both see as the coming hard times for Start-Up Accelerators, and the coming good time for Japanese Start-Ups. I will let Hiro explain all of that in his own words. Let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: I am sitting here with Hiro Maeda of Beenos formally. The man who found the Open Network Lab with Digital Garage. Today,

One important lesson startups will forget after the panic Mar 16, 2020

Innovation drives society forward, but everyday competence keeps it on the road. Over the past five years, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the importance of disruptive innovation, but today I’d like to talk about the framework that allows disruptive innovation to be a net positive to society. The coronavirus pandemic has some people looking for innovation and others for stability. However, examining how Japan and the rest of the world are getting though it shows us something very important about innovation. Something that is almost always overlooked. Show Notes Life in Tokyo during the pandemic Why you don't want to cough in Singapore Why we probably can't innovate our way out of this pandemic The very real dark side of disruptive innovation Why innovation depends on everyday competence Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Things are not normal in Japan right now. Japan is one of the countries that is being been hit the hardest by the coronavirus. And the rest of the world is watching Japan because it has a modern health-care system, an active response to the virus, and a government that can be trusted to release .. reasonably accurate information about infection and mortality rates. How things play out for Japan over the next few months is quite likely how they will play out for the rest of the world over the next year. So yeah, everybody is watching Japan; as they should be. People are nervous in Japan, but things are calm and orderly. Of course, Japan tends to do calm and orderly really well. Public gatherings like graduations, business conferences, and sporting events have been canceled. As I record this, no decision has been made about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but it seems likely they’ll be postponed. Two weeks ago Sunday, I was walking back home through nearly deserted streets around Ark Hills and saw a young couple doing their wedding photography in the atrium there. Masks nervously being taken off and put back on between shots. It’s got to be a frustrating time to have had a wedding scheduled. On the business side, most large companies including Dentsu, Panasonic, Mitsubishi and of course Google as well, are either requiring or encouraging their employees to work from home. Which is good. Almost all business travel is canceled, and that’s for the best. In fact, three weeks ago when I was returning to Japan from Singapore, I coughed while walking through the airport on the way to my gate. Not like a big, sick, hacking cough, but just like a, I mean I’m a human being, and sometimes we just cough, right? A few seconds later, someone from security wearing a mask walked up to me with a heat sensor to take my temperature. He was very polite about the whole thing, and I was fine of course. It’s good to know that Singapore is taking things seriously, but FYI, don’t cough in the Singapore airport. In terms of Disrupting Japan, well, I have not been scheduling interviews for the obvious reasons, and honestly, right now most founders are focused on coronavirus countermeasures. If the situation continues, I may try video-conference interviews again, or I may do more commentary episodes. The feedback I received on my last few was overwhelmingly positive, so maybe. Today, however, I want to talk about the nature of innovation itself. You see, the coronavirus has the potential to teach us a valuable lesson about innovation. No, no. It’s not the one you think it is. It’s not the standard fare about innovation and ingenuity will get us through even humanity’s worst problems. No, it’s something a bit less on-message. But it’s an insight that is for more important, and in a way, far more reassuring than the standard trope about innovating our way out of a bad situation. Unfortunately, it’s also a lesson that I think all us innovators ...

Why boring startups are actually the most interesting Mar 02, 2020

Some of the most important startups are ones you never hear about. Some industries are so complex and arcane that its hard for people on the outside to understand the problems that startups are solving or the long-term gain of solving them. Freight forwarding is one of those industries. Today we talk with Taka Sato of Shippio, a startup trying to change the way freight forwarding works in Japan. We talk about the challenges involved in trying to disrupt a low-tech, low-margin industry and also the potential rewards if Shippio succeeds. We also cover some of the bight spots in Japanese entrepreneurship and talk about how one large company, in particular, has had to change their hiring practices to respond to the fact that so many of their best young employees are leaving to found startups. It's a great discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes What is freight forwarding and why is it important? The biggest advantage of moving from corporate life to startups Why so many startups are coming out of Mitsui The challenges of building a platform in a low-margin industry How to decide between a service-based or SaaS-based business model Why there is finally enough pain in Japan to drive change How the logistics industry reacts to new technology Why the global logistics industry is a myth The paradox of Japanese logistics quality Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Shippio Connect with Taka on LinkedIn Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, there is nothing more interesting than startups in boring industries. They are the ones that are taking on entrenched interests and business convention, and because so few outside of their industry really understand what they do and the problems that they solve, they tend to get a lot less funding and a lot less media attention than consumer-facing startups. No, the startups in boring industrial B2B spaces are old school startups. They may not have the party atmosphere or the easy customer adoption, but the truth is that on average, they have the best chance of success. Today, we sit down with Taka Sato, the co-founder of Shippio, a Japanese startup trying to change the nature of the freight forwarding business in Japan, and if you're not exactly sure what freight forwarding is, don't worry, Taka explains it simply and really well at the start of our conversation. We also talk about the challenges of pivoting in a B2B space in Japan and how to balance the very real trade-offs between the scalability of offering B2B SaaS products with the stability of offering a service direct to the customer. And if you're interested in the freight forwarding industry, and by the end of this interview, I think you will be, we also talk about how the global market is likely to play out. Freight forwarding might seem like a winner take all marketplace, but Taka explains that this is probably not going to happen. Oh, the industry is going to be disrupted -- that's already happening, but it's not going to play out quite the way that Silicon Valley thinks it will. But you know, Taka tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Taka Sato of Shippio. Thanks for sitting down with me. Taka: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me today. Tim: No, it's been great. We've been trying to make this happen for a long time now. Taka: Yeah, I know, I know. Tim: I'm glad you're finally here. So, Shippio is a digital freight forwarder, but for the audience, let's explain what freight forwarding is, so let's say for example, I've got some construction equipment sitting in a factory in China,

DJ Selects: How this Musical Shoe is Helping Hospitals Feb 17, 2020

Most great startup ideas don’t grab your attention right away. It takes a while before the founder’s vision becomes obvious to the rest of us. On the other hand, the startups that immediately grab all the press attention often go out of business shortly after shipping their first product. Reality never seems to live up to the promise. And then there are products like Orphe. This LED-emblazoned, WiFi-connected, social-network enabled dancing shoe seems made for fluffy, flashy Facebook sharing, but only when you really dig into it, do you understand what it really is and the potential it has in the marketplace. Today we sit down with Yuya Kikukawa, founder of No New Folk Studio and the creator of the Orphe, and we talk about music, hardware financing, and why this amazing little shoe is finding early adopters in places from game designers to hospitals. It’s a great conversation, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes The inspiration for musical shoes Why Yuya's first musical instrument attempt was a failure The biggest challenge in moving from prototype to production Orphe's technical specs How Orphe is being used in hospitals and other healthcare applications How small Japanese startups can achieve global distribution Where the next big startup opportunities in Japan will be Why most hardware startups fail Links from the Founder No New Folk Studio Hompage See Orphe in action Check out Yuya's blog Follow Yuya on Facebook Check out PocoPoco on YouTube [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. As expected, my new Google duties are taking a lot of my time and taking me out of Japan quite a bit. Things will be returning to normal soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to bring you a special selects show with a really interesting update. Yuya Kikukawa first sat down together a few years ago to talk about shoes, but if you listened to the last episode of Disrupting Japan you know that when you are talking about shoes you are never really talking about shoes. In this case, the shoes in question are the Orphe, and they are a combination musical instrument and social network, and yeah that will make a lot more sense when you listen to the interview. And we also talk about what defines a musical instrument, the unique challenges of Japanese hardware startups, and the nature of innovation. Oh, and I also have some news. In our conversation, Yuya and I debated a strategic decision that all hardware startups face, and just last month we finally got our answer. I’ll tell you about it in the update after the show. Intro You know, most good startups are obvious. I don’t mean that I could have had the idea before the founders did. By obvious, I mean that right away you can understand the problem the company is solving for their customers and how they’re doing it. Naturally, that makes it easier for the customers to buy. Most non-obvious startups are in reality still struggling to find the product market fit and are probably not long for this world. And then there are products like Orphe, an LED-emblazoned WiFi-connected social sharing enabled dancing shoe. Yeah, it sounds like something you would find on Indiegogo and that one time not too long ago, it was. But when I sat down with Yuya Kikukawa, founder of No New Folk Studio and the creator of the Orphe, it became clear that this was not some quirky side project or some overfunded crazy hardware startup. This was something really different. We talked about the original inspiration for the shoe and what does and does not qualify as a musical instrument and how Orphe is being used by the artistic community in Japan. But we also dive into the technology inside it, and that, well, that’s something special.

Why Japan’s #KuToo is Not Really About Shoes Feb 03, 2020

Today I am going to correct two big mistakes; one of my own and one of society's. I lot of listeners emailed me about the comments I made regarding how Japanese companies treat their employees and customers while they are pregnant. I got it wrong, so I would like to set the record straight. I also explain what I see as the obvious answer to the current #KuToo controversy. I realize that this puts me at serious risk of having to publish another retraction, but I think it's an important way of looking at this problem. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think. Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. As expected, my crazy Google travel schedule has caused me reschedule some of my interviews, but I promise that I’ll get back to talking with some of Japan’s most amazing startup founders really soon. Today, however, I want to talk about the feedback I received from my recent discussion with Miku Hirano about how pregnant women are treated at work in Japan, and specifically, about my comments in the outro of that episode. Hey, when I screw up, I have no problem admitting that I screwed up, and boy did I step in it this time. So today, I want to set the record straight on what it’s like for women working at startups and at large enterprises here in Japan. Oh yes, and we are also going to tak about shoes. And yeah, I totally understand how strange it is for a white guy to stand behind a microphone and talk about the situation women face in Japan. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first, let me explain what I got wrong, and let me set the record straight. In our conversation, Miku told the story of how supportive her clients and prospective clients had been while she was pregnant. Doing things like adjusting their schedules and coming to her office for meetings, where Japanese business protocol would require that she visit them. Both Miku and I were surprised and delighted that so many Japanese salarymen, who have a reputation for being rather sexist, voluntarily went out of their way to accommodate her and to make things just a little bit easier for her while she was expecting. In the outtro, I speculated that this outpouring of support might be because she was a startup CEO, and many of the traditional rules of Japanese business etiquette don’t seem to apply to startups, and I mused that her experience might have been very different if she had worked at a more traditional Japanese company. Well, I was wrong. I was really wrong. And in fact, I have to say that I’m pretty happy that I was wrong about this. Let me explain what happened…. After that episode aired, I received a lot of email from female listeners working at large Japanese companies who explained that both their clients and their companies made exactly the same kinds of accommodations for them when they were pregnant. And I also heard from a few senior managers and HR professionals telling me that I got it wrong. They gave me examples of how they had made a point of traveling to visit a vendor who was pregnant or broke up long meetings into multiple short ones to make things more manageable for pregnant employees or visitors. So I got it wrong. And that’s awesome! But I can’t just leave it there. I probably should, but I mean something still doesn’t fit. There is a great deal of gender discrimination in Japan. Both international organizations and Japanese NGOs consistantly rank Japan very poorly in this regard. In fact, the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report ranked Japan 110th out of 149 countries. And then there are things like Tokyo Medical University marking down girl’s scores on the entrance exams to ensure “enough” boys would get in. So how do we reconcile this seeming contradiction? The independent research showing that discrimination exists is consistent and respected,

Big News for Disrupting Japan! – Japan Startup News Jan 21, 2020

There is big news for Tim and for Disrupting Japan this week. It's a very short episode, and I have no special links or show notes this time around. Please give the show a listen for the big reveal, and please accept my sincere thanks for all your support over the years. Disrupting Japan is just getting started. The best is yet to come. Leave a comment Transcript -- vintage news sounds -- This is a Disrupting Japan news flash. We are broadcasting live from Tokyo, Japan to bring you today’s breaking news. In just a few minutes from now, we will be witness to …. Hold on. Let me turn this thing off. OK. That’s better. So, this is the first episode of Disrupting Japan ever that has not been released early on a Tuesday morning Japan time, so as you might expect, something big is going on. And I wanted you to hear it from me. Because you, the Disrupting Japan listeners, are a big part of what has led to this, and as you’ll see, I think that you are going to be a big part of what’s to come. Some of you are new fans, and that’s great. The podcast keeps growing steadily every month. And some of you have been with me since the very beginning and you were with me as my ContractBeast startup went under. You were part of my Crowd-Sourcing-My-Career project. You were part of my journey to becoming Japan’s first professional podcaster, and with me when I decided to take the show non-commercial in order to work with energy startups at TEPCO. So it’s only fair that I let you know what’s coming next. I’m joining Google as the new Head of Google for Startups Japan. So what exactly does Google for Startups do? Officially, it's "Google’s initiative to help startups thrive across every corner of the world. Bringing together the best of Google's products, connections, and best practices to enable startups to build something better." And that’s, admittedly, pretty cool. In practice, however, what Google for Startups Japan will become is largely up to us. Google for Startups has different programs in different countries, and this is an amazing chance to create something unique for Japan and to make a real impact for Japanese startups. I have a lot of ideas, but I want to hear from you are well. If you are out there growing your startup in Japan, let me know what are some of the biggest challenges that you could use some help with. Or if you’ve already overcome those challenges, let me know what kind of resources and advice you wish you had access to back then. I’ll need your help to really make this work. So, what does all this mean for Disrupting Japan? Well, good things mostly. Google is being very supportive of the show, and with the audience as large and engaged as it is now, I don’t think I could stop even if I wanted to. However, my travel schedule for the next few months is absolutely crazy — even by my standards, so interviews will be hard to arrange. But we’ll make it work. I might be able to squeeze in interviews on the few days I’m in town and edit them on airplanes. Or maybe I’ll get a chance to interview Japanese founders in the countries I’ll be visiting. Or maybe I’ll bring my microphones with me, make a little pillow-fort studio in my hotel room and record some shorter solo shows on the road. I don’t know, but I’ll make it work. I haven’t missed an episode in the five and a half years since I started Disrupting Japan and I’m not going to miss one now. Format-wise, content-wise, things will return to normal in a few months. So I’m incredibly excited about this new opportunity. I mean its a chance for me to work full time with Japan’s startup founders to further develop Japan’s startup community. And that’s pretty much a dream job for me. But there is something else here, and it’s something that I don’t think anyone looking at Japan’s startups from the outside is quite ready for. You see over the past 10 years, and the past five years in particular,

How Japan’s forgotten past can stop IoT’s dystopian future Dec 23, 2019

Technology is global, but ideas are local. The same IoT technology is being deployed all over the world, but a small Japanese startup might be who helps us make sense of it all. There is amazing work being done in user experience design, but most designers are operating with the contract of keeping users engaged. This is a fundamental shift from the traditional user-centered and functional design approaches. Today we sit down with Kaz Oki, founder of Mui Lab, and we talk about user design can actually improve our lives and help us disengage. We also talk about the challenges of getting VCs to invest in hardware startups, why Kyoto might be Japan's next innovation hub, and what it takes for a startup to successfully spin out of a Japanese company It's a great discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes How Japanese design philosophy informs user interface design How UI design got so bad Who are the early technology adopters in Japan Why VCs hesitate to invest in hardware companies How to pitch corporate management to let you spin out a startup Why you should run a Kickstarter even when you have corporate backing Why a major manufacturer decided to outsource innovative manufacturing The secret to making corporate spinouts work in Japan How to convince Japanese employees to join a spinout How to get middle-management on-board with corporate spinouts What changed in Kyoto to make it one of Japan’s best startup hubs Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Mui Lab Check out the Mui Kickstarter Keep up-to-date on the Mui Blog Check them out on Facebook Follow Kaz on Twitter @mui_labo Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. If you're a fan of Disrupting Japan, you know that I have a strong dislike for attempts to make Japan sound too exotic and this goes in both directions. On one side, we have consultants who claim that Japanese business practices are so unique, arcane, and confusing that the only way westerners can possibly understand them is by paying large sums of money to consultants such as themselves. And on the other side, of course, we have people insisting that foreigners can't really understand Japanese anime without a thorough and nuanced knowledge of Japanese language and history. It's all utter nonsense. I mean, there are differences, of course, and those differences should be acknowledged and respected, but whether an idea is coming from Japan or America, or Germany, one true measure of the value of that idea is its universality. The most important achievements might emerge out of cultural biases or sensitivities but they address something universally true, something deeply human. Today, we sit down with Kaz Oki of Mui Lab and we're going to talk about Mui's radical rethinking of how we should interact with computers and the different contexts for that interaction. The Mui itself is a tactile and visual user interface that literally fades into the furniture when you're not using it. Now, this interface is clearly informed by Japanese aesthetics. In fact, some of the deeper issues Kaz and I talked about kept bubbling up in my mind in the week following the interview, and Kaz and I are going to do a follow-up later over a couple of beers in Kyoto, but there's nothing about the Mui design that looks particularly Japanese. It's tapping into a deeper and more human design sense, and that's far more interesting. Oh, and Mui Lab also represents a very rare kind of startup, a creature far, far more rare than unicorns. Mui Lab is an innovative and successful Japanese corporate spin-out. We talk about how Kaz made that work, his valiant battles against multiple layers of middle management, and how he managed to recruit top startup talent into that company,

Japan leads the world in this one important branch of AI Dec 09, 2019

Technology develops differently in Japan. While US tech giants have been grabbing artificial intelligence headlines, a business AI sector has been quietly maturing in Japan, and it is now making inroads into America. Today we sit down again with Miku Hirano, CEO of Cinnamon, and we talk about how exactly this happened. Interestingly, Cinnamon did not start out as an AI company. In fact, when Miku first came on the show, the company had just launched an innovative video-sharing service. Today, we talk about what lead to the pivot to AI and why even a great idea and a great team is no guarantee of success. We also talk about some of the changing attitudes towards startups and women in Japan, the kinds of business practices AI will never change, and Miku give some practical advice for startups going into foreign markets. It's a great discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes How Miku invented TikTok before TickTok and why it didn’t work How you know when its time to pivot a startup Why companies will never go digital and will always use paper Who will benefit most from AI The four categories of AI How AI will change the legal profession How japan is actually ahead of US and China in some kinds of AI What's really driving business innovation in Japan Can AI actually reduce overtime? How enterprise clients treat women founders Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Cinnamon Follow Miku on Twitter @mikuhirano Friend her on Facebook More about Cinnamon Miku's original Disrupting Japan interview Eliminating Repetitive Office Work through Disruptive AI Miku on the John Batchelor Show - Part I Miku on the John Batchelor Show - Part II Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to sit down and talk about artificial intelligence with Miku Hirano of Cinnamon. Now, Cinnamon is actually a great example of a successful Japanese startup pivot. When we first sat down with Miku four years ago, she had an innovative micro-video sharing company called Tuya and really, you should go back and listen to that episode. I've put a link on the show notes and it was really a good one. Anyway, Miku basically started TikTok a few years before TikTok and we talk about why things didn't work out, why even with the same idea, one startup will become a multi-billion dollar brand and the other will pivot. Of course, the pivot to AI and the rebranding to Cinnamon has led this to their current success in using AI to read and to understand common business forms. In fact, for reasons that Miku will explain during the interview, Japan is actually ahead of the US and China in the area of business AI. We'll also talk about how attitudes towards women are changing here and how Japanese men at traditional companies treat women founders, particularly women founders with children, and I think it might surprise you. I mean, it surprised me and it surprised Miku as well, But you know, Miku tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Miku Hirano of Cinnamon and it's great to have you back on the show again. Miku: Yeah, thank you so much for having me here again. Tim: Well, so much has changed since -- it was three years ago, right? Miku: Yeah, yeah, and I had a totally different business at the time. Tim: Well, not only a totally different business but you've gotten married and you've had two kids. Miku: Yeah, yeah, and at the time, I think I was living in Taiwan and now, my business is in Tokyo, so everything has changed. Tim: And so, we're not even going to cove what we talked about last time even though in the in...

DJ Selects: Why Men Need Women Founders Nov 25, 2019

Ari Horie has always had a different approach to supporting women entrepreneurs. She doesn't talk about "empowering" women and ...

The big reason Japanese companies can’t innovate Nov 11, 2019

Japanese enterprises are their own worst enemy when it comes to innovation. In this live panel discussion, I talk about my experience driving innovation at TEPCO, and Ion and Jensen share their experiences running innovation labs. This panel was part of the btrax Design for Innovation event in Tokyo last week. We talk about the specific challenges that Japanese companies are facing and the strategies we've used -- with varying degrees of success -- to help overcome them. Of course, like everyone else, I always remember the most important thing to say ten minutes too late, so I've added those thoughts to the outro at the end of the podcast. It's a great conversation with four people who really care about innovation in Japan, and I think you'll enjoy it. Links from the Panel Brandon Hill (moderator) Connect on LinkedIn Follow on Twitter @BrandonKHill the btrax homepage Tim Romero (me) You've already found me here, but we can connect on LinkedIn if you like. Or follow me on Twitter @timoth3y, but my Twitter game is pretty bad Jensen Barnes Connect on LinkedIn Ion Nedelcu @frogdesign.com Check out Frog Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I’ve got another live show for you today. I’ve gotten some great feedback on the past couple I’ve put out, so while I finish up the big solo show I’m working on about how to raise money in Japan, I thought I would bring you another live show today. But this one is a bit different. Last week, at the BTrax Design for Innovation conference, I was part of a panel where we talked about the challenges a lot of large companies face in driving innovation internally. I talk about some of the specifics from my work at TEPCO and my fellow panelists share their experience running innovation labs for Japanese enterprises. And, I’m sure you will not be surprised to learn that Japanese companies are pretty bad at innovating this way. At least so far. Most have good intentions, of course, but almost all of them are making the same core mistakes in their innovation programs. We go over a few of the big ones in our conversation, and in my comments at the end of the show, I’ll give you my closing thoughts on the problem with what I call the "innovation market." But for now, lets get right to the discussion. Interview Brandon: So let's see the topic innovation labs. So sounds really Silicon Valley, isn't it? So I like to start by getting a poll from the audience about Silicon Valley. So how many of you guys have visited Silicon Valley in the past, but few, one third maybe? I live in San Francisco and I see many Japanese companies visit Silicon Valley looking forward to some ideas or methods for innovation. And I feel like every single week there's one company visiting from Japan trying to find some ideas. However, I feel like result-wise and output wise, I haven't seen a clear results least. So I like to open up discussion here to ask your opinions about while we did some of the challenges that Japanese companies are facing when it comes to creating innovation, even though they do come to the second Valley very often. What's, what's wrong with it? What's, what, what do they need to do? Anybody JV, go ahead. Jensen: Well hi, I'm Jensen Barns. I'm from California, lived in Japan for six years. Basically opened up, well co founded the innovation lab here in Japan. Been active in many institutions and I kind of brand myself as doing new things, always doing new. So I think the, the issue I see in this in California is Japanese key Japanese companies coming, but then not really setting with Tim has, both Ian and I have, we've talked about is like setting objectives, setting the right objectives and coming for the right reasons. As a,

The hardest thing about hardware startups : Live from CEATEC Oct 28, 2019

This year at CEATEC, I worked with Plug & Play Japan to bring on stage founders from two very different hardware startups. We talk in-depth about what it takes to be a hardware startup in a world where venture capital seems fixated on SaaS companies and software platforms. Although their startups seem very different, Tomo Hagiwara and Keith Tan had very similar core experiences. Tomo and Keith share some great advice about raising money as a hardware startup, how to give large companies confidence that your product will meet their quality standards, and some pretty surprising answers to questions about the best way to go global. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Links Everything you ever wanted to know about Crown Digital Learn about Aquabit Spirals Follow Tomo on twitter @hagi_w Friend him on Facebook Leave a comment

Artificial Intelligence’s broken promise and its secret truth Oct 14, 2019

The promise of AI is easily understood by anyone with an imagination, and for 40 years, venture capitalists have been enthusiastically investing in that promise. However, it's been significantly harder for founders to turn that investment into sustainable business models. Today we are going to look at why that is, and go over what might be a blueprint for startups to create business models around artificial intelligence. Tatsuo Nakamura founded Valuenex in 2006 with the goal of using artificial intelligence to supplement the work being done by patent attorneys, and their software was instrumental in the resolution of one of Japan's most famous, and most valuable, lawsuits. the Blue LED patent case. We also talk about how to sell to large companies as a small startup, the challenges in trying to make product strategy based on technology, why staying private longer is not always a good thing for startups, and how Valuenex technology accidentally discovered a secret collaboration between Honda and Google. It's a great discussion with the founder of one of Japan's most successful AI companies, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes Why AI can understand patents better than lawyers can Why the market should drive technology rather than the other way around How Valuenex helped resolve one of the biggest patent lawsuits in Japanese history How a new law if forcing change in Japanese universities How Valuenex discovered a secret collaboration between Honda and Google How to create sustainable business models in AI Why quantum computing will both break AI and save AI Why Valuenex IPOed early instead of staying private and growing Some unusual advice about when to do a market entry Why Japanese VC often make market entry difficult Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Valuenex Connect with Tatsuo on LinkedIn Friend hin on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to be talking about something that's frankly difficult to talk about on an audio podcast. Tatsuo Nakamura founded Valuenex in 2006 to use Artificial Intelligence and modern visualization techniques to help clients make sense of their patent portfolios and to keep an eye on what the competition is doing. In fact, this technology uncovered some of the core evidence that decided the famous blue LED case. It's highly effective but highly visual, so let me try to explain it. Valuenex creates a kind of topographical map that shows companies where in the market, their IP is strong and where it's weak. This can let them spot new market opportunities or learn what their competition is about to do. It's all pretty intuitive when you see it, but today, we'll have to use our imagination as a kind of screen simulation. Tatsuo and I also talk about Valuenex's US market entry - well, their two US market entries, actually. We cover what he sees as the best overall strategy for AI startups for them to find their product market fit, and Tatuo explains how he was accidentally able to discover a significant collaboration between two world-famous companies six months before the project was announced. But you know, Tatsuo tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: I'm sitting here with Tatsuo Nakamura, the CEO and founder of Valuenex. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Tatsuo Nakamura: Thank you very much. Tim: Now, Valuenex is a leader in visualization and big data analytics and it's so hard to talk about visualizations on an audio podcast. Tatsuo: Yes. Tim: But we're going to try. So, what's the best way to explain? What does Valuenex do? Tatsuo: Valuenex is a predictive analytics compan...

DJ Selects: A Japanese MBA Does Not Mean What You Think It Means Sep 30, 2019

Education is very hard to disrupt. That’s both good and bad. Education is so important to both individuals and society, it should not be changed on a whim, but over time it seems that our institutions of higher education have drifted away from meeting students real needs. Yoshito Hori, founder and CEO of Globis, is making radical changes. He turned a small training school into Japan's first independent and fully accredited business school with an MBA. Less than ten years later, Globis became Japan’s most popular MBA program. We talk about the need for change in education and about the successful, real-world pilot program Globis is running to modernize Japanese higher education. Yoshito also shares insights on how to teach innovative thinking and explains why such a high percentage of Globis MBAs go on to found starts or join them. It's a fascinating discussion and I think you'll really enjoy it. Show Notes Why most Japanese do not want to attend full-time MBA programs How to make an advanced degree both exclusive and inexpensive How to groom MBA students to start startups How Sumitomo missed out on a multi-billion dollar business Why Japanese higher education is so resistant to change This difference between SPOCs and MOOCs, and why it's important How drinking in front of your computer might save higher education Links from the Founder Check out Globis Yoshito's blog on entrepreneurship in Japan Follow Yoshito on Twitter@YoshiHoriGLOBIS Connect with him on LinkedIn Yoshito's article on 100 Actions to revive Japan The G1 Global Conference [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. I’ve got another great select show for you today. I really like this particular episode because it highlights that disruptive innovation does not have to be about the technology, If fact, even when disruption seems to be about technology, it’s really not. It’s about changing systems, changing the way people and businesses interact with each other. Of course, that often does involve technology, but when it does, the technology is only the conduit. Nowhere is that more clear than in my conversation with Yoshito Hori, the CEO, and founder of Globis. In fact, I would say that at least so far, Globis has brought far more genuine change to Japan’s education market than all Japan's edTech startups combined. So please enjoy the episode and I’ve got some important updates to our story for you after the show. ----- You know, education is hard to disrupt. And as long-time fans know very well, that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because education is so important and foundational not only to how well a given child will do later in life but also because in the large developed nations, the educational system forms the basis of society itself. It provides us all with a shared set of experiences. So the fact that we don’t change the rules every few years is a good thing. On the other hand, this lack of disruption leads to educational systems that don’t really meet the needs of today’s students and today’s societies for that matter. So clearly, there must be a better way of doing things than what we’re doing now. Well, today, I’d like to introduce you to someone who’s found a better way. Yoshito Hori founded Globis as a small business training school and grew it into Japan’s first independent and fully accredited business school offering MBAs. And then, Globis became Japan’s most popular MBA program. Yoshito’s strategy for innovation is fascinating. Unlike similar schools in the US, Globis does not compete on cost. In fact, the Globis MBA is more expensive than similar degree programs at Todai or Hitotsubashi. No. Globis is doing something unique and something that is making a lot of people rethink how un...

How scammers are using your devices to steal money Sep 16, 2019

Ad-fraud is one of the most profitable activities for organized crime today. The scammers are sophisticated, disciplined, and numerous, and they might be using your IoT devices to rip people off. Over the past decade, there has been relatively little of this kind of cybercrime in Japan, but that's changing as the ad-fraud crime networks go global. Japan has to catch up and catch up fast. Unfortunately, Japan defenses have been rather poor. Today we sit down and talk with someone who is fixing that. Satoko Ohtsuki is the founder and CEO of Phybbit, Japan's largest ad-fraud prevention network, and she's going to explain the biggest scam you've probably never heard of. Of course, we talk about the different kinds of ad-fraud and what is being done to combat them, but we also talk about how she was pushed into entrepreneurship, and the challenges of raising money (and raising children) as a female founder in Japan. It's a great discussion with one of the most interesting founders in Japan, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes The global scale of ad-fraud How to bluff your way into starting a leading software company The main kinds of ad-fraud Google & Facebook's conflict of interest in solving ad fraud How scammers try to get around the fraud countermeasures Who exactly are the ad-fraud scammers and where are they located? How your devices and home electronics are helping the scammers The challenge of raising venture money as a woman in Japan Satoko’s advice for women raising money in Japan Balancing the demands of a growing startup and growing children How Japanese VCs stop Japanese startups from going global How the 2020 Olympics are affecting venture investment in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Phybbit Phybbit's 2019 Whitepaper on Ad Fraud Check out Satoko's blog Follow Satoko on Twitter @satoko90 Friend her on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we are going to be talking about ad-fraud. Ad-fraud is a multi-billion-dollar problem that a lot of people don’t really want to see get solved. You see, when you run an internet ad campaign or participate in an affiliate network, some of the clicks or installs you pay for are from real people interested in your product or service, but a lot of them are bots that are simply scamming money for the site owners. In fact, a surprising number of ad-clicks are bots. Internet advertising is a $280 billion global business and it's estimated that somewhere between 25% and 50% of it is fraud. Well today, we are going to sit down with someone who is doing something about that. Satoko Ohtsuki founded Phybbit to combat ad fraud, and it has now become the largest ad fraud detection service in Japan. Satoko and I talk about how Phybbit is using artificial intelligence to combat the seemly endless stream of online ad fraudsters, the challenges she faced raising money as a woman founder in Japan, and how you, yes you in particular, might be helping out the ad fraud scammers without even knowing it. But you know, Satoko tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: Cheers! Satoko: Cheers! Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Satoko Ohtsuki of Phybbit, so thanks for sitting down with me. Satoko: Thank you too. Thank you for your time. Tim: Phybbit makes Spider AF. Satoko: Yes. Tim: And the AF stands for 'Anti-Fraud'? 'Ad Fraud'? Satoko: Ad Fraud. Tim: Ad Fraud. Satoko: So, let me introduce what is Ad Fraud first. Ad Fraud is exactly as it is written, it’s advertisement fraud. For example, if I was a blogger, I will put some advertisement spot inside of my blog a...

These robots are changing cooking forever. But one thing will never change Sep 02, 2019

The robotics ecosystem in Japan is amazing. And confusing. It's a collection of crazy ideas, odd creations, and true breakthroughs. And despite the combination of fawning prise and snide skepticism that Japanese robotics evoke in the international press, only time can really separate the true breakthroughs from the dead ends. Today, we sit down with Tez Sawanobori, the founder of Connected Robotics, and we talk about how robots are being adopted in the restaurant industry here in Japan. Connected Robotics already has two lines of consumer-visible robots being used in restaurants in Japan, and the reaction from the owners, the employees, and the customers has been overwhelmingly positive and quite a bit different than similar experiments run in America. We talk about the strong economic and social pressures affecting the adoption of robots in restaurants and discuss the changes he had to make before chefs and robots can really work side by side. It's a great conversation, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes The real reason we need robots chefs The unlikely founding of Connected Robotics Why the restaurant business is so hard to disrupt Looking at the real economics of food prep robots What’s holding back robotics in restaurants Can robotics really solve the labor shortage in Japan? How Japanese employment practices make it harder to use robots but increase the need for them How Japan can catch up to the US and China in robotics research The best way for American and Japanese robotics engineers to work together The future of foreign workers in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Connected Robotics Watch a video of the OctoChef in action Follow Tez on Twitter @tezsawa Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to be talking about the OctoChef. “What the hell is the OctoChef?” you might ask, and that would be a good and quite reasonable question. The OctoChef was created by Connected Robotics and it’s a robot that makes Takoyaki, and we’re going to sit down with founder Tez Sawanobori and talk about why it’s important. It’s important to understand that the OctoChef is not just some crazy side project of Tez and the team, although I guess it was the very first time I met them, but no, now, the OctoChef is being used in both small scale, single restaurant installations and industrial scale factory installations. Tez and I talk in detail about how Japanese react to robotics and work with robots very differently than westerners do. We also sit down and eat some pretty good robot-cooked Takoyaki and take a hard look at the question of whether the OctoChef is just a novelty or a fad, or if on the other hand, it’s solving a real problem. The answer turns out to be yes but the reason why is pretty surprising. But you know, Tez tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Tez Sawanobori from Connected Robotics, the maker of the OctoChef, so thanks for sitting down with me. Tez: Yeah, thank you for having me in this great show. Tim: Thank you. What is the OctoChef? Tez: OctoChef cooks Takoyaki. Takoyaki is octopus ball popular in Japanese festivals, you see a lot of Takoyaki stalls. Tim: Yeah, the round little – and they’re awesome, it’s great food. Tez: Yeah, yeah, it’s a popular Japanese fast food, and a robot cooks Takoyaki and it’s from pouring oil to serving to the dish, all the process the robots do. Tim: Okay, so in the process, the humans still have to create the batter? Tez: Yes. Tim: And, I guess deliver the cooked Takoyaki to the cus...

Outside of the Bubble with Japan’s Startup Girls: Mone Kamishiraishi Aug 19, 2019

Those of us who spend our lives working with startups live in a bubble. Whether you spend your days programming at a startup or investing in new ventures, you and I see things differently than “normal” people. It happens to everyone to some extent. We all tend to interact with people who are like us, who care about similar things and who work in similar industries, so of course, we frequently hear the same ideas and opinions. The startup bubble, however, is particularly strong and particularly opaque. We founders have a bad habit of believing our own bullshit. Well today, we step outside our bubble and sit down with Mone Kamishiraishi, the star of the new film Startup Girls. We talk about what she learned as an outsider interviewing startup founders to get ready for her role, what most Japanese find surprising about founders and startup culture, and what Japan can do to to make starting a company more mainstream and accepted. It's a great conversation, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes What most Japanese people think about startup founders The similarities between startups and acting Why family support and role models are so important in Japan right now What’s holding entrepreneurship back in Japan What we need to do to create a broader acceptance of startups in Japan Links from the Founder Check out Mone's official homepage Follow her on Instagram The Startup Girls official site See the trailer Pre-order tickets Follow Startup Girls @startupgirlsmov Startup Girls on Instagram Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, I’ve got a very different kind of interview for you. It’s shorter than most but it’s going to be an interesting one. You and I talk a lot about innovation in Japan and how things are changing for the better here. But as many of my friends point out, I live in kind of a bubble. Not in an economic bubble but with all the startup unicorns we see prancing around these days, we’re probably living in an economic bubble too. But no, no, I mean more of a filter bubble. Disrupting Japan is a podcast about innovation in Japan so naturally, we talk a lot of Japanese innovators. Most of my friends are startup founders and venture capitalists. So, while we are seeing all kinds of innovation and increased risk-taking in this group, maybe that’s not really reflective of Japanese society as a whole. Well, today, we’re going to step outside our bubble and see what’s there. We’ll still be talking about startups, of course, and we’ll be doing it with Mone Kamishiraishi. Now, Mone was the star of the megahit anime, Your Name, and she is co-starring in the new film Startup Girls which focuses on startups in Japan. So, when Mone accepted the role of playing a startup founder, she had to figure out exactly what they were and how they were different from, well, let’s just say how they were different from normal people. It’s a great discussion about how people outside of our bubble see us and Mone and I also talk about the similarities between startups and acting, the general attitude towards creativity in Japan and how to foster a greater acceptance of startups and innovation in Japan. But you know, Mone tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: You know, the idea of startups is kind of new in Japan, right? Mone: Yeah. Tim: So, before you started this project, before you started working on Startup Girls, what was your image of startup founders? Mone: To be honest, I didn’t even know what the word “startup” stands for. Tim: Really? Mone: Yes, I could imagine very, very vaguely but, yeah, start something, I thought. But yeah, I didn’t know and also,

Live from Stanford: Where are Japan’s Unicorns? Aug 12, 2019

I’ve got a special bonus episode for you this week. Last month I was part of a panel discussion hosted by Stanford University and the Japan Society of Northern California. It was part of this year’s Japan-US Innovation Awards, and it was a great conversation, so I thought I would share it with you. The panel was moderated by Dr. Richard Dasher and was a discussion between me and Allison Baum who is an investor and a prolific writer about startups and innovation. We talk about a surprising source of innovation in Japan, discuss why there are not more Japanese unicorns, and peer into our crystal balls to predict what Japan’s startup ecosystem will look like in three to five years. It’s was a great discussion, so I packaged it up for you as is, with no editing or commentary. I think you’ll really enjoy it. Leave a comment

DJ Selects: IoT, Japan, and the Uncertain Future of Poop Aug 05, 2019

Startup founders claiming their company is going to “change the world” has become a cliche. But rarely do we see a product that could clearly and significantly make someone’s life better. D-Free is one of those products. However...

How Government Money is Hurting Japanese Startups Jul 22, 2019

Japanese university and government venture funds play a much larger role in Japan than in the West. I've always considered this difference to be, on balance, neutral, today's guest makes a convincing case that these funds are actually hurting the startup ecosystem here. Today we sit down and talk with Hiroaki Suga, co-founder of PeptiDream. PeptiDream is now a $7 billion biotech company, but it started out as a couple of university faculty members funding operations out of their own pockets. PeptiDream succeeded by using a very different model than that used by either the current generation of university spin-outs or biotech startups in the West. It's an interesting blueprint that other biotech firms might want to copy, but only if they are really sure that their technology will actually work. It's a great conversation, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes Japanese Univstities' problems with applied research The challenge in moving from academia to startup operations How to hire a CEO What most professors don't know they don't know about business How to land large sales contracts as a small startup How to sell new technology to Japanese pharmaceutical companies Why biotech investment is so hard in Japan Why you want to step away while you are on top Japan's next biotech unicorn Why most Japanese government startup money is misused Links from the Founder Dr. Suga's Lab Everything you ever wanted to know about PeptiDream Hiroaki's new project MiraBiologics Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. We’ve talked a lot before about how there are not many life sciences startups in Japan and what can be done to change that. But there are, of course, some and some incredibly successful ones. PeptiDream is one of those startups. Founded by a small team at a university lab, PeptiDream has grown from nothing to a $6 billion company. Today, we sit down with the founder of PeptiDream and fellow guitarist, Hiroaki Suga, and he’ll explain how they’re working with pharmaceutical companies all over the world to discover new drugs and new treatments. We also talk about the rather unusual business strategy that allow them to scale up with relatively little financing and to land deals with global drug companies a lot sooner than most biotech startups can. And I’ve got to say, my conversation with Dr. Suga really changed my mind about the role the Japanese universities and the government should play in fostering startups and innovation here. It’s a fascinating and unique perspective from inside the system, and I guarantee you, it’s not what you think it is. But you know, Hiroaki tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: I’m sitting here with Hiroaki Suga, the cofounder of PeptiDream. So, thanks for sitting down with me today. Hiroaki Suga: Sure. Very welcome. Tim: PeptiDream is a peptide discovery platform but what is that exactly? Hiroaki: So, the technology started from over 25 years ago. I had idea. Is that okay? I want to develop RNA catalyst. The so-called ribozymes. I did a post doc with Professor Jack Szostak in Harvard Medical School. I run the techniques for the in vitro selections but I didn’t really get major success, but I was fortunate enough that I get an academic position in State University in New York Buffalo. So, I succeeded in developing we call “flexizimes” so that the first two patents are owned by SUNY Buffalo, but it wasn’t really quite useful yet. Tim: So, you were working on this for 20 years plus? Hiroaki: Pretty much, yeah. Tim: Did you have an end target in mind saying, “This is how I’m going to commercialize it, this is why it’s useful”?

What You Need to Know to Raise Money in Japan Jul 08, 2019

Startups and venture capital work differently in Japan. The rounds are smaller, the priorities distinct, and while the same terms are used, people quickly discover that the definitions are often subtly different. The game is played differently in Japan. Today we get a chance to clear up a lot of the confusion as we sit down with James Riney, founder of Coral Capital and head of 500 startups Japan. We talk about some of the most significant changes that Japanese venture capital has seen over the past five years, and we look at how things are going to develop going forward. James and I also break down the business model behind venture capital funds themselves. It's something that all serious startup founders should understand, but few do. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How venture funds raise funds Why Japanese banks and corporates are changing their attitudes towards Japanese startups The tradeoff between sector-specific and general VC funds What the hell is a Series-A anyway? How VCs try to appeal to the "right kind" of startups The real problem with IPOs in Japan How Japan's new, bigger funds will change Japanese VC in the long term What you never want to tell a VC when you are raising money What VCs do with their portfolio companies that don't work out How Softbank's Vision Fund is changing the market Advice to foreign founders who want to raise money in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Coral Capital Check out James' blog Follow him on Twitter @james_riney Friend James on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to do something a little bit different. We are going to talk about the state of venture capital in Japan. If you are raising money in Japan or thinking of investing in Japan, you really want to listen to this. Now, normally don’t interview VCs on Disrupting Japan. It’s not that VCs are not interesting. I’ve got nothing against VCs. I mean, some of my best friends are VCs. No, it’s just that VCs have a tendency to talk in the abstract. They talk about general trends and their portfolio companies, and I have always found that it is far more informative to go straight to the source, to talk to the founders about what they specifically are doing to capitalize or respond to those market trends, to have them tell you about the real challenges that startups are facing right now, and how that fits into the bigger more important society-wide stories. Well, today, we’re going to do both. Today, we sit down and talk with James Riney of Coral Capital, and we examined the business of venture capital, how VCs view advertising and customer acquisition, and what causes some VCs to make money and others to lose money. It is not exactly like it is for startups, but it is surprisingly close. We talk about the most important changes happening in Japan’s startup community, of course, but we also dig into the challenges facing venture capital funds in Japan, and Coral Capital in particular. We talk about what VCs look for when evaluating a pitch, things you should never tell a potential investor, what the next few years of venture funding in Japan will look like, and hopefully, we will clear up some of the confusion about the difference between seed and pre-seed, and pre-series A and series A rounds. But you know, James tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, we’re sitting here with James Riney, the founding partner and CEO of Coral Capital and former head of 500 Startups Japan, and we are going to be talking about venture capital. James Riney: Yes, it’s good to be back, Tim.

DJ Selects: The Myth of the Successful Startup Failure Jun 24, 2019

Startup culture has crazy and contradictory views about failure. As founders we are told to fail fast, but also to never give up. We are told to follow our vision, but be ready to pivot. Somehow this macho-bullshit culture of “I never really fail and ‘m not afraid of failure.” has become dominant amount founders. But it’s the result of denial. Trivializing failure is a way of not thinking about it’s effects. The truth is that failure sucks. Failure is painful. Failure ...

Live: What You Need to Know to Work at a Startup in Japan Jun 17, 2019

I’ve got a special bonus episode for you today. Last month, I moderated a panel discussion at Coral Capital’s “Bilingual’s and Gaijin in Startups” event.' Our panel focused on what foreigners should expect when working at Japanese startups and what Japanese startups should start doing to better support their international employees. It was a great conversation with four amazing people from four of Japan’s most interesting startups. Tetsuya Sawanobori of Connected Robotics Jordan Fisher of Zehitomo Takanori Sato of Shippio Tatsuo Kinoshita of Mercari This is a bonus episode, so the recording is straight off the board. There is no editing, no transcription, and no witty summary at the end alluding to the larger significance of the discussion. But a lot of good ideas were shared on stage, so I really wanted to share it with you. If you’ve ever thought about working for a Japanese startup, I think you’ll really enjoy this. Leave a comment

The Unexpected Profit Plan for Emotional Computing Jun 10, 2019

The idea of computers capable of reading our emotions and responding to them is both fascinating and terrifying. Will this technology serve us or manipulate us? Well, the speculation is ending because the technology not only exists, but it is being rolled out commercially. Today I'd like you to meet Hazumu Yamazaki, co-founder of Empath. Empath is a web-based API that detects human emotion from audio data, and its initial use in call-centers has shown a significant increase in sales. But as Hazumu explains, the potential effects are much larger. It's an enlightening conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How emotion detection is being used in commerce How easy is it to emotionally manipulate us into buying something? The hardest thing to get right about corporate spinouts Why detecting emotions at scale will make money The true killer app for emotional recognition How startups can use pitch competitions & accelerators strategically How Japanese startup founders should act while overseas What Japanese founders can really learn from their overseas counterparts Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Empath Friend Hazumu on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn Pitch training at Slush Tokyo Empath on Orange Blog Announcement for ICT 2019 Keynote Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Siri and thanks for joining me. Today, I’d like to talk with you about – Hey, Siri, why are you doing the podcast intro? Hi Tim, I’ve noticed you’ve been very busy and seemed a little stressed, so I thought I would help out with this week’s podcast. I appreciate that, but I enjoy doing the podcasts, so I think I’ve got this. Okay, Tim. You know where to find me if you need me. Thanks, Siri. There is no doubt that computers, that artificial intelligence getting better at understanding our emotions, and when we think about the application for that emotional connection, we usually think of things we interact with directly, like personal assistance, like Siri. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to be its primary use, and it’s certainly not going to be the most profitable use of this technology. Today, I’d like to introduce you to Hazumu Yamazaki, the co-founder of Empath. Now, Empath is an AI system that can determine your emotional state by listening to how you speak, so Empath does not need to understand what you are saying, but by listening to how you speak, it can quite accurately determine whether you are feeling calm, anger, joy, or sorrow. The first commercial use of this technology has been in call centers and customer contact centers where it’s improved sales by as much as 20%, and yeah, this does open up some serious ethical issues over emotional manipulation that we are going to get into a bit during our conversation and get into a lot more in the comments at the end of this episode. But along the way, we will talk about how a modern version of build it and they will come might just be a viable marketing strategies. The key to making corporate spinouts worked in Japan, and a different way for Japanese startups to go global. But you know, Hazumu tells the story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, we are sitting here with Hazumu Yamazaki, the cofounder of Empath, so thanks for sitting down with me. Hazumu: Yeah, thank you for having me today. Tim: Now, Empath is a technology that detects emotion in human voice, but you can probably explain it a lot better than I can. Hazumu: Sure. So, we developed Empath which is an emotion AI that can identify emotion from your voice,

Why Your New Smart-Home Won’t Really Belong to You May 27, 2019

We've been talking about smart homes and smart cities for a long time. However, it turns out that we are not willing to pay very much for simple convenience, so the technology is coming into our homes bundled with different agendas. We've seen this happen with the success of Alexa and Google Home, and we are now seeing it here in Japan with Nature Remo. Today we sit down and talk with Haruumi Shiode, the founder and CEO of Nature, and we discuss not only what the future of home automation will look like, but who will be paying for it. It's an enlightening conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The real motivation behind smart home purchases How hardware entrepreneurship went mainstream The one way in which crowdfunding is still relevant Why Nature decided to launch English-first How to outsource hardware production without going bankrupt Nature's real business model for the future The importance of demand-response in Japan The growing significance of corporate alumni networks in Japan Why Kyoto might be Japan's next innovation center Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Nature Remo Friend Haruumi on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @haruumi524 Read about Haruumi's transformational sailing journey. It's a pretty cool story. Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Smart homes and smart speakers have not really changed our lives in the way that was predicted. I mean, it’s not that they have not sold well. Amazon has sold over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices and the technology is a really amazing, but voice assistance remain a novelty rather than a real step forward, and here in Japan, even with Japanese language support, the adoption rate has been low. I think a big part of that is the lack of conductivity, and by conductivity, I don’t mean the ability to connect to a computer or interact with other programs. I mean, smart speakers don’t connect us to each other in new ways. In the end, they are just an input device. They don’t provide something that we don’t already have in our lives. Well, today, I’d like you to meet Haruumi Shiode, the founder and CEO of Nature’s created a new smartphone device, the Nature Remo. Now, the Nature Remo provides some immediate utility: the ability to control your life and your air conditioner from your smart phones or based on rules that you set up, but the real reason that Nature is so interesting is what comes next. It’s a lot more than just turning your lights on and off; it’s a new way of connecting with each other and a new way for power companies to manage the power grid during times of peak load. But you know, Haruumi tells the story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Haruumi Shiode of Nature, so thanks for sitting down with me. Haruumi: Thanks for inviting me for this podcast. Tim: No, I’ve been looking forward to it. So, Nature makes the Nature Remo which is a really interesting device that you can probably explain a lot better than I can, so what is the Remo and how does it work? Haruumi: Nature Remo is basically a very small tiny device that can turn your AC or TV, or lighting through smart device. It communicates with those appliances through the infrared and they connect to Wi-Fi, so that you can control from your smart phone or smart speakers. Tim: Okay, so infrared means it’s sort of – it’s emulating the remote control for your TV or your air conditioning? Haruumi: Yes. Tim: Ah, okay, cool. So, if it’s infrared, and so if I wanted to outfit my apartment with these and control or my air-conditioning units and my TV, so would I need one Remo in each room? Haruumi: Yeah,

DJ Selects: What You Need to Know To Sell Services (and Saas) in Japan May 13, 2019

Selling services in Japan is very different than selling products or software. Everyone knows that relationships are important in Japan, but not many people understand why they are so important, and how you can use that understanding to build a successful business here. Today Sriram Venkataraman explains how he grew InfoSys Japan from a one man operation to over 1,000 employees and how understanding why Japanese enterprises must trust their vendors far more than companies in other developed countries. And we dive into what that means for the new generation of SaaS startups. Our conversation is basically a blueprint for how to grow a startup from nothing to thousands of people in Japan, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Leave a comment Links & Resources Follow Sriram on Twitter @japansriram Connect with him on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to disrupting Japan straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I’ve got another great Disruption Japan Selects show this week. And this show, well this was one of those conversations that have really stuck with me over the years. In fact, if you are interested in selling to large Japanese enterprises, then this might well be the most insightful conversation that’s ever happened on the topic in English. Over the course of a decade, Sriram Venkataraman grew Infosys Japan from one employee to well over 1,000 before retiring to work with startups. In this episode, we cover why so many foreign companies have trouble selling to Japanese enterprise, and the one critical thing you need to do if you have any hope of building a long-term business. And afterward, I’ve got an update for you. I caught up with Sriram the other day and I mentioned that the recent popularity of SaaS products seems to contradict some of the advice he’s about to give. But it turns out it doesn’t. The successful Japanese SaaS companies are playing by very similar rules to those we outline in our conversation. and I’ll give you that update at the end of the episode. So please enjoy the show. First Intro Today we’ve got some amazingly good advice for anyone who wants to sell services in Japan. Selling products or software is challenging enough, but selling services where relationships mean everything and where the quality expectations for service is perhaps the highest in the world, that provides a host of very special challenges. Today we sit down with Sriram Venkataraman, as he explains how me manages to scale Infosys, which provides outsourced Indian development services, from 2 people, to over 1,000 people in Japan. In a very real sense, he did it with a strategy that is pretty much the opposite of what you would expect from an Indian software services company. This is a real insight into the mind and the buying decisions of Japanese enterprise customers and Sriram has a different, very compelling perspective, on why so many foreign companies have trouble gaining real trust in the Japanese market. We talk a lot about finding the right people here in Japan, and how to avoid the hiring traps that western firms commonly fall into. Really, this interview is basically a blueprint of how to grow from nothing to 1,000 people in Japan. But, you know, Sriram Venkataraman explains that much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: I’m sitting here with Sriram Venkataraman, of Infosys, and you have been with Infosys from the very beginning in Japan, and you’ve seen it grow from a tiny team to over 10,000 employees here now, haven’t you? Sriram: Not 10,000. Tim: No? That was on the website. Sriram: Our total Japan business is probably about 1,000 people today. But given the business model, not all of them are here. Roughly 65 to 70% of the teams are in India and the b...

How I Made $8,000 per Month Podcasting, and Why You Probably Don’t Want To Apr 29, 2019

This is a rather personal episode. We have no guests this time. It’s just you and me. New listeners might not know that for about one year, Disrupting Japan was sponsored and was my primary source of income. So today, rather than diving deep into a specific aspect of startups in Japan, I thought I would share the history of Disrupting Japan itself, about my decision to go pro (and then go amateur), my visions of a podcast empire, and how it came crashing down. I'd like to tell you the story behind the stories. Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I’ve got a special show for you today. There will be no guests, no beer, no playful banter about making, marketing or monetization. For the next 20 minutes, it’s just you and me. It’s been a while since I’ve done a solo show, and these solo shows tend to be some of the most popular. So today, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some of my thoughts about podcasting and to tell you the story of Disrupting Japan itself. Why I started it, how I grew the audience, how I turned the show into over $8,000 a month in income, and how I started to put together Japan’s first podcast advertising network. And, most importantly perhaps, why I walked away from all of that and returned Disrupting Japan to the non-commercial, sponsor free format we’ve all grown to know and love. Our talk today will explain why a number of more unusual things about Disrupting Japan are the way they are. And you know, Disrupting Japan has been growing even faster since we went commercial-free. Today we have over 10,000 listeners in 160 countries. Including one listener in Vatican City. Now, I have no way of knowing for sure who exactly that one listener is. I mean, sure, it could be anybody, but I like to think … I choose to believe that Disrupting Japan has listeners in very high places. But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, Japan is a very hard place to launch a podcast. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Podcast Nation Japan is not a podcasting nation. Most popular podcasts are recycled radio produced by major media companies. Good independent shows exist, but you need to look for them. I’ve built a few startups in Japan, and the podcast was supposed to be me just talking with my founder friends about startups and innovation in Japan; about what it’s like to be an innovator in a culture that prizes conformity. I christened the show Disrupting Japan, and launched to decidedly little fanfare in September 2014. The podcast totaled 42 downloads that month. I thought that was great. How Not to Grow a Podcast My audience rose steadily each month, and after six months I had about 400 listeners. At this point, I decided to invest in growing my show, but most of the common sense marketing and production approaches I tried either had no effect or actually backfired. I rented a studio to improve production quality, but it made my guests uncomfortable. Most simply could not relax in the unfamiliar environment and spent the whole interview looking at their mic rather than at me. I tried this with three different guests and didn’t get a single usable conversation. It’s obvious in retrospect, but few things make people more nervous than shoving a microphone in their face. So I gave up on the studio. I started going to their offices and using a pair of small lapel mics. The sound quality was lower, but after a few seconds, my guests forgot they were wearing these little microphones and we could talk like two human beings. Showing up with a couple of beers also helped my guests relax and made the recording less if an interview and more of a conversation. It turned out that sacrificing a bit of production quality and so-called “professionalism” for more personal, honest conversations was one of the best decisions I made.

Why Wind and Solar Energy Make Sense in Japan Apr 15, 2019

The promise of renewable energy has always been alluring. Now that the technology has caught up to the promise, record amounts of wind and solar are coming onto the grid both in Japan and throughout the world. But so far startups, especially Japanese startups, have been playing a very limited role in this transformation. But that's starting to change. Today we sit down with Ken Isono, founder and CEO of Shizen Energy, and we talk about what it takes to succeed as an energy startup in Japan, and since Shizen Energy is rapidly expanding globally, what it takes to succeed as a startup in the global energy markets. We talk about which renewables are working in Japan and which are not, what the real bottlenecks are, and more important, how we can fix them. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why startups struggle in the energy market How solar plants get built in Japan How to find wind projects worth building The importance of going local in a global market Why the Japanese value land rights so highly A deep dive into solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy in Japan How Japanese communities are funding local renewable energy Why so many of Japan's startups come from Fukuoka How Japan can transform into a free-energy economy Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Shizen Energy Shizen Energy on Facebook Shizen Energy retail green energy Friend Ken on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. It’s surprising at first, for all of the potential disruption in the energy industry, for all of the potential profits that can be made by doing things better and more efficiently in the energy industry, we don’t see that many energy startups, and as it turns out, there are good reasons for this. Generating and storing electricity at scale require skills that can’t be supplanted by new technology and innovation. Furthermore, most energy projects are long-term, low-risk medium return projects that are just not attractive to venture capital. These projects require a different kind of financing. One notable exception, however, is Japan’s Shizen Energy who is bringing a lot of renewable energy onto the grid in Japan and around the world as well, and they’re doing it as a startup. In just a minute, we’ll sit down with Ken Isono, Shizen Energy’s founder and CEO. He’ll explain how his little startup has worked with local governments and fought the incumbents to bring enough renewable energy onto the grid that Shizen Energy is not so little anymore. We’ll talk about that growth, of course, and we also take a deep dive into the current state and the future prospects of the most important renewable energy technologies in Japan. But you know, Ken tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Ken Isono of Shizen Energy, and thanks for sitting down with me. Ken: Thanks for the chance to speak. Tim: Now, Shizen Energy, you guys are a vertically integrated renewable energy company. You guys do generation, your financing, and the retail side as well. Ken: Yeah. Tim: That’s a lot for a startup to do. Ken: We started with solar but the three co-founders used to work in wind power generation company together for five years. Tim: What made you guys decide to leave that company and start your own project? Ken: So, actually, Shizen Energy, we found this company 2011, June, so three months after Fukushima accident. Before that, there was no demand from the market, from policy in renewables, but we knew that it’s going to change. Tim: At first you were focused on large scale solar projects? Was it just the financing,

The true reason for Japan’s critical developer shortage Apr 01, 2019

It's a great time to be a programmer in Japan. Everyone is hiring and there simply is not enough talent available. But why is that? The truth is that until about 10 years ago, programming was considered kind of a blue-collar, low-skill job. It was OK to start your career as a programmer, but if you had not moved into management by the time you were 30, clearly you weren't that bright. The startup boom has changed that, and developer salaries (and respect) has improved significantly. But the education system has not caught up, and far too few people know how to code. Today we sit down with Masa Kato, founder of Progate, and discuss how Japan got herself into this situation, and what Progate is doing to fix it. The problems run deeper than expected. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why Japanese elementary students are learning Javascript The problem with computer science in Japan Why Japanese universities resist change - even when they know they need it The flaw in most online programming courses Can online education ever really be global? Why B2B edTech companies have trouble in B2B markets How English skills are holding back Japanese startups Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Progate Friend Masa on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @cmasad43 Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, I spend a lot of time talking with startup founders in Japan. I also spend a fair amount of time talking with policymakers and academics, and even executives of large companies who want to support startups in Japan. Two of the most concerns I hear revolve around the lack of qualified developers in Japan and how the Japanese education system doesn’t really prepare students for a world that demands that they innovate. Well, today, we’ll be tackling both of these issues head-on. In a few minutes, I’d like you to meet Masa Kato, the CEO of Progate. Progate is an online platform that is teaching young people to code, and yeah, yeah, there are a lot of startups doing that, but these guys are onto something. As Masa will explain, he actually started Progate when he was majoring in computer science at the University of Tokyo, and he didn’t start Progate as a side project, he started it because even though he was majoring in computer science, he wasn’t learning how to program in his computer science classes. Now, all of this will make much more sense when Masa explains it to you, but this foundation might be why Progate has seen so much success so quickly. Progate is now being used in high schools and elementary schools all over Japan, and they have expanded into overseas markets as well, but things didn’t work out exactly as they plan and they had to change their business model to survive. But you know, Masa tells that story much better than I can. So, let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Masa Kato who wants to teach the world to code. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Masa: Thanks for having me. Tim: Masa, you are the founder and CEO of Progate. I explained it a bit in the introduction, but why don’t you tell us a bit about what Progate is? Masa: So, basically, we are a company that teaches programming and we teach it online. The content we teach is mainly web-related, so it’s about teaching people how to make websites, make web services. Tim: So, HTML, CSS, this kind of – Masa: JavaScript and Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and all that, yeah, and we started this company five years ago. Tim: Okay, so is Progate, is it an app, is it a video? Masa: So, we do have an app as well, but we started off as a web service, and instead of using videos,

DJ Selects: How to Sell Without Salesmen in Japan – Daisuke Sasaki Mar 18, 2019

Corporate accounting is not usually the first thing the comes to mind when you think of disruptive technology, and for the most part, that’s a good thing. Daisuke Sasaki of Freee, however, is changing the way sales are made in Japan from the bottom up.

Silicon Valley has Chatbots all Wrong. Here’s How They Really Make Money. Mar 04, 2019

A few years ago, shiny new startups were using their marketing dollars to tell the world that chatbots were going to change everything. Those marketing dollars have now been spent and most of those startups are no more. But for the past few years, one company has been quietly making chatbots useful, and they are now starting to make some noise. Today we sit down with Akemi Tsunagawa, founder of Bespoke and creator of the Bebot chatbot. In several important ways, Bespoke is one of the most successful chatbot companies in the world, and you'll be hearing a lot about them in the years to come. Today, however, Akemi explains how she and the team managed to succeed where so many better-funded companies failed, and she gives some great advice about how to get consumers to try out new technologies. We also talk about why you should absolutely never build your business around Facebook or WeChat. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why most travel websites are doomed to failure Founding a technical startup without technical co-founders How to get people to tell chatbot what they really think Where chatbots excel and where they should not try Things you should never use a chatbot for Why you should not build a chatbot on Facebook or WeChat Why Japanese don't want to use chatbots Bespoke's plans to go global How to speed up decision making inside Japanese companies Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Bespoke Friend Akemi on Facebook Connect with her on LinkedIn Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I think the peak of the chat bot hype cycle came in 2017. If we cast our minds back into the midst of that distant age, perhaps we can recall that chatbots were going to change the way we work, the way we shop, the way we bank, the way we talk to our customers, and even the way we find love and raise our children. Yeah, that didn’t happen, and startup founders, start of investors, and start of media all moved on to focus on some newer, shinier object – blockchain, probably. But, you know something, sometimes, all that media type and investor attention can actually make it really hard to build something worthwhile. A lot of times, the best ideas and the best use of technology come from trying to solve a simple problem without investors telling you you need to be a unicorn or a journalist demanding to know exactly how you plan on changing the world by the end of the year, and so it is with chat bots. Today, we’re going to sit down with Akemi Tsunagawa, the founder and CEO of Bespoke, the creator of the Bebot chatbot. Now, Akemi will tell you exactly how Bebot works in just a second, but to really appreciate what that important story Bespoke is, you need to understand that outside of marketing and some trivial customer support apps, you’ve got to realize, there is almost no chatbot success stories. Bebot is one of the very few chatbots in the entire world that provides enough genuine utility that people not only willingly interact with it but start to rely on it. Bespoke’s business model does not rely on novelty or cost-cutting, no. Bespoke is solving an actual problem. This is a great example of how the needs of one industry can push technology forward for other sectors, and Akemi and I also talk about why she didn’t even realize they were running a chatbot company at first. She gives some great advice on how to get consumers to try out, not just chatbots but any new technology, and we chat about why you should never – and I mean never -- build your business around Facebook or WeChat. But you know, Akemi tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right into the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview

You need to Ignore the Worst Advice being given to Female Founders Feb 18, 2019

Everything about employment in Japan is changing. Lifetime employment is gone. Skilled workers are discovering that they have job mobility and large Japanese companies are increasingly confused by the fact that many new graduates don't want to work for them. Wantedly has been one of the companies that has changed the way corporate recruiting works in Japan, and today we sit down and talk with the founder and CEO Akiko Naka. We first talked with Akiko a few years ago when Wantedly was starting to gain traction, but since then Wantedly has grown, IPOed and become of the most highly valued public companies in Japan. We talk about her journey, of course, but we also dive into how the nature of work is changing in Japan, the best way to promote yourself and your company in Japan, and the one terrible piece of advice that women founders need to stop listening to. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why Japanese companies can’t hire creative employees How to deal with startup copycats The advantages and dangers of diversification The secret to making change happen in Japan How to brag about yourself in Japan The best advice for companies wanting to expand outside Japan Unconventional advice for women entrepreneurs Why Japanese millennials really are different Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Wantedly Checkout Akiko's blog Friend her on Facebook Follow Akiko on Twitter @acanocic Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to sit down with an old friend. Well, I mean, actually, she still a very young friend, but we’ve known her for years, so she’s – anyway, she’s Akiko: Today, we will be sitting down and catching up with Akiko Naka, CEO and founder of Wantedly. Of course, we will talk about Wantedly’s amazing growth and the IPO that has happened since the last time Akiko came on the show, but there is a much more important story here, and before we get to that, I should let you know at other than a brief overview of Wantedly’s business model, this show is all new content and conversations. If you want to understand the crazy ideas and questionable positions that led to Akiko creating Wantedly, and believe me, that’s a story you want to hear, I urge you to listen to the original episode at disruptingJapan.com/show008. I’ll have a link up at the site as well. But today, ah, today, we will be talking about the best way to sell genuinely new product to large Japanese companies, some practical advice for anyone trying to take their company into overseas markets, including into Japan, and why the most common advice given to aspiring female founders is actually terrible, terrible advice, but you know, Akiko tells that story much better than I, so let’s get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Akiko Naka, the fearless founder of Wantedly, so thanks for sitting down with me again. Akiko Naka: Thank you so much for coming. Tim: You know, it’s really great to have you back on again. So much has changed since we sat down over three years ago. Akiko: Yeah, I can’t believe it has been three years already. Tim: Well, listen, we have a lot to catch up on, but for my listeners who did not follow my advice during the intro and go back and listen to our old interview, why don’t you explain what Wantedly does. Akiko: Wantedly is a platform where we match users and companies based on vision and values, not only salary and benefits. When we compare our platform with traditional media, traditional job matching platform, traditional ones values more salary and benefits, but our platform focus on why the company do what they do, so more value and culture of each company. So, that way, we believe users and company can meet people casually,

DJ Selects: The Real Reason Uber is Failing in Japan Feb 04, 2019

Uber and Airbnb represent a new very kind of startup, one that could not have existed twenty years ago, and the very thing that make these companies so transformative in the United States ensures they will never succeed in Japan. You see...

An Inside Look at Japan’s Curious Coding Bootcamps Jan 21, 2019

The developed world is facing a severe programmer shortage. Around the world, coding boot camps have stepped into this gap to teach newcomers basic programming skills quickly. But in like so many other areas, Japan is different. Coding boot camps have been slow to take off here, and programmers are taught by a patchwork of academic degrees, on the job training, and informal meetups and study sessions. Kani Munidasa, the co-founder of Code Chrysalis, is changing that. He's started one of the first Western-style coding boot camps in Japan, and the ecosystem is already seeing the results. Code Chrysalis has an amazing placement rate with grads receiving above-average starting salaries, but there is something more going on here as well. Kani and I talk about how the job market for programmers is changing in Japan and, more important perhaps, how their place in society is changing as well. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why Japanese engineers don’t participate in open source projects The differences between Japanese and US junior developers Diversity on a programming team does not main what you think it doe How to learn to learn Why Code Chrysalis turns down 80% of its applicants Why Japanese enterprises are getting behind boot camps Why developer pay in Japan is so low Why so many engineers want to come to Japan anyway How to overcome the need for degrees and certificates Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Code Chrysalis The Code Chrysalis blog Friend Kani on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @munidk A research-based approach to coding education How to Get Into Code Chrysalis Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. One of the most important developments in Japan over the past 10 years and perhaps, the most important way that things are different for startups today than they were 20 years ago is the existence of a startup ecosystem. Now, let me explain that because it’s not obvious, especially to younger entrepreneurs who have never had to run a startup the absence of a startup ecosystem. A startup ecosystem is not just a group of startups that operate in the same city. We had that during the dotcom era. There were even VC investments, occasional meet ups, and some mentoring, but we didn’t really have an ecosystem back then. We had a community for sure, but not that ecosystem. An ecosystem comes into being when startups start buying from and selling it to each other. When startups can target other startups with their innovative products, where our pool of employees move from startup to startup, taking their ideas and best practices, and work ethic with them. When an ecosystem developed, it’s an amazing cross-pollination of innovation and growth that is just awesome to be a part of. This is happening in Japan. It’s a relatively new and it’s fantastic. Today, I’d like you to meet Kani Munidasa, co-founder of Code Chrysalis, a startup that can only exist within a healthy startup ecosystem but also one that any healthy startup ecosystem needs in order to grow. Code Chrysalis is a coding boot camp where over 12 weeks, students learn of the skills they need to get jobs as programmers in Tokyo and as you will soon see, they are really getting jobs. In fact, after our conversation, there is something I want to ask you and I mean you, personally because it’s something that you might understand better than I do. I would ask you right now, but the question won’t really make a lot of sense until after you sit in on the conversation with me and Kani, and we cover a lot of ground. We talk about how to get a programming job in Tokyo, how to ramp up skills quickly, and why diversity in programming might not mean what you think it does. But you know,

Is There (Finally) a Practical Way for Foreigners to Live in Japan? Jan 07, 2019

For decades, Japan has been struggling with the economic need to attract more foreign residents to the country and the general social reluctance to do so. Over the years there have been some well-publicized failures and a few quiet successes, and Japan retains her image as a generally closed nation. But reality changes much faster than perception in Japan. Things are already changing and that change is about to accelerate. Today I'd like you to meet Nao Sugihara founder of MTIC, who is going to explain these trends in detail. Nao runs a recruiting platform called GaijinBank that deals exclusively with blue-collar, foreign labor, and he'll show you not only that Japan's has opened up far more than most people acknowledge, but that this trend will likely accelerate over the next 20 years. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Which companies hire foreigners for blue-collar work n Japan The biggest misunderstandings between Japanese companies and foreign staff The overtime gap with foreign workers The real reasons foreign workers object to overtime Japan's new guest visa program How to integrate more foreigners into Japanese society Lessons learned from the Latin American guest-worker program Why the foreign nurses programs never seem to work out well Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about MTIC Friend Nao on Facebook About GaijinBank Home Page Youtube Channel Facebook All Jobs in Japan Leave a comment Transcript I love working with startups. I love talking with startup founders and I know that you do too. That is why you listen to the podcast and I thank you for that. When the traditional media focuses on startups, they tend to look at the crazy founders making outrageous claims or the newly minted billionaires, CEOs, and investors. That is all good fun, of course, but when we look a little deeper, startups tell us something else. Looking at what startups get started and what startups get funded, and what startups get traction, that tells us a lot about the kinds of problems that we, as a country, thin are worth solving. What problems are important enough to attract time and money, and customers changes a lot from country to country, and it reveals a lot about the social priorities of the cultures that these startups operated, and it’s not always a pleasant revelation. Japan has always had a complex relationship with her foreign residents. Even today, there is a widespread intellectual acknowledgment that Japan needs to increase and encourage immigration but transforming that goal into actual policy enter real social acceptance, well, that is harder. Today, we sit down with Nao Sugihara of MTIC and were going to dive deep into this. Nao runs a recruiting platform called GaijinBank and while there are lots of job sites catering to foreign engineers and creative’s, socket deals exclusively with the blue-collar labor. Foreigners are working blue-collar jobs in Japan is actually an incredible aspect of the Japanese economy and one that is largely ignored, not only by the Japanese press, but even by the foreigners living in Japan, and you know, I have to admit, the things are different and, in some ways, much more encouraging than I expected. But you know, Nao tells that story much better than I can. So, let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Nao Sugihara of MTIC which is Make Tokyo an International City. Nao: Yes! Tim: So, thanks for sitting down with me. Nao: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity like this. I’m happy to talk today. Tim: Wow, I’m glad to have you on, and I usually don’t interview founders of companies for like, recruiting companies, but what you are doing is really different. Nao: Thank you. Tim: You know,

DJ Selects: Japan’s Airbnb for Satellites – InfoStellar Dec 24, 2018

The aerospace industry has been particularly resistant to disrupting in Japan. In the rest of the world, launch vehicle and spacecraft technology has made incredible gains over the past decade, but here in Japan its still mostly the same government contracts going to the same major contractors. Naomi Kurahara of InfoStellar, has come up with an innovative way to leverage existing aerospace infrastructure and to collaborate globally by renting out unused satellite ground-sataion time, Airbnb style. You see when an organization launches a satellite, they also build a ground station to communicate with it. The problem is, that as the satellite obits the Earthy, it’s only in communication range of the ground station for less than an hour a day. The rest of the time the ground station just sits there. By renting out that unused time ground-station operators earn extra income, and the satellite operators are able to communicate with their satellites as often as they need. It’s a great interview and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why the Airbnb for satellites startup model makes sense The demand-side problem Why this market is much larger than it seems today The key growth drivers in the satellite market Why the Japanese aerospace industry can't innovate How to run a startup as an expectant mother What challenges women scientists still face in Japan How Japan could better support working moms Links from the Founder Learn about InfoStellar [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 56. Welcome to Disrupting Japan - straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Aerospace in Japan is particularly resistant to disruption. Over the past decade, the rest of the world has seen incredible gains in both launch vehicles and spacecrafts. But Japan has been moving slowly. Sometimes it seems as if she’s determined to stay the course with the same government contracts going to much the same corporate heavyweights year after year. Naomi Kurahara of InfoStellar once had plans of changing the Japanese aerospace industry. But along the way she went out on her own with a plan that bypassed Japan’s major players and targeted the global market. You see, when an organization launches a satellite, they usually also build an antenna and a ground station to communicate with that satellite. The problem is that as the satellite orbits the Earth, it’s only communications range with the ground station for less than an hour a day. The rest of the time the ground station just sits there. So, Naomi decided to pool all of the unused ground station time together and rent it out to satellite operators, Airbnb style. Everybody wins by sharing resources. The ground station operators get income by renting out their facilities and the satellite operators get to communicate with their satellites far more often. But Naomi explains it better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers! I’m sitting here with Naomi Kurahara, the CEO and fearless founder of InfoStellar, so thanks for sitting down with me. Naomi: Thank you for inviting me. Tim: Now, InfoStellar is basically time-sharing for satellite ground station, or Airbnb for satellites, but it’s a complex idea so why don’t you explain a little bit about what InfoStellar does. Naomi: Okay, the reason I started this business is the aerospace space has an issue for cost. Like satellite is expensive, and rocket is expensive, and ground station is expensive because, maybe, not many people are using. Tim: Well, aerospace is incredibly expensive but actually I think before we get into InfoStellar’s business model, I think it’s going to be best if you explain what ground stations are and how th...

Can capitalism ever allow us a good night’s sleep? Dec 10, 2018

There is something odd about the way we treat sleep. We understand that it is essential for good health, but we are almost ashamed when we admit that we get enough of it. We are rightfully proud when we keep our resolutions to go to the gym more or to eat a more healthy diet, but if we get a good night's sleep, we tend to keep it to ourselves. In fact, when we talk about sleep at all, it's usually to brag about how little sleep we are getting. We seem to consider getting a healthy amount of sleep to be some kind of luxury, or worse, as evidence of laziness. Today we are going to talk with Taka Kobayashi, the founder, and CEO of NeuroSpace, and he's going to explain how things got so bad, and what he plans to do about it. Taka is is building a business around that idea that companies should not only encourage employees to get more sleep but that they should pay NeuroSpace a helthy sum to do so. Most sleep-based startups have failed in the past, but Taka explains how NeuroSpace is doing things differently and how he his building on his initial successes. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why sleep is really a skill The reason we ignore the importance of sleep How to fall asleep more quickly What your iWatch isn’t telling you about sleep The right way to track your sleep A way to overcome jet lag The real challenge facing all sleep startups The good and bad sides of Japanese govement startup grants Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about NeuroSpace Check out Taka's blog Follow him on Twitter @kobat_jp Friend him on Facebook The ANA jet-lag project Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Let’s talk about sleep. Are you feeling tired? If you’re like most workers in Japan, the US, or Europe, the answer is yes, and oddly, even if you’re not feeling particularly tired, you probably won’t admit to be well-rested to your coworkers. We, and by we, I mean all of the developed world, we have this funny relationship with sleep. We all know, we all acknowledge how important sleep is. Science and personal experience have proven conclusively that our own health and performance depend on it, but for some reason, we all like to brag about how little sleep we’re getting. Normally, I’d call this macho bullshit, but women seem to be every bit as bad about this as men are. We seem to consider getting a healthy amount of sleep to be some kind of luxury or worse, as evidence of laziness. Now, there are a lot of reasons for this and we are going to talk about them with Taka Kobayashi, the founder and CEO of NeuroSpace. NeuroSpace is doing something important but something very difficult. Taka is building a business model based on convincing companies that not only should they encourage their employees to get more sleep but that they should pay NeuroSpace to help them do so. Taka is fighting some deeply ingrained culture here, but he is making progress, and today, we will talk about some of the unlikely partners and bedfellows he finds himself with, why so many other startups in the space have failed to achieve product market fit, and most important, what NeuroSpace is doing different. But you know, Taka tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: I’m sitting here with Taka Kobayashi of NeuroSpace who is a startup specializing in sleep. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Taka: Thank you. Tim: What NeuroSpace is doing is really fascinating but I think you can explain it better than me,

The Secret to Making E-Payments Work in Japan Nov 19, 2018

Whenever you hear someone claim that the Japanese will never do something for unspecified "cultural reasons", you know there is a fortune to be made. Lu Dong is the co-founder and CEO of Japan Foodie, a cashless payment system currently masquerading as a restaurant discovery application. Lu and I talk about the boom in inbound Chinese tourism that led to the creation of Japan Foodie, and how he and his team quickly managed to identify and dominate this massive and underserved market. We talk about how tourism is changing Japan, the best way to build a two-sided marketplace, the only way forward for most e-commerce platforms, the future of e-payments in Japan and the history of women's lingerie in China. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The real problems with Japan being a cash-based society What people really care about in a restaurant app How to build a two-sided marketplace Why e-commerce platforms are really advertising companies What happens in Japan after the Olympics Launching China's first major sexy lingerie brand How too much success can kill a startup When you should turn down VC money Why its harder to be an entrepreneur when you get older The importance of corproate accelerators in Japan Links from the Founder Check out Japan Foodie Connect with Lu on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. One thing I have learned starting startups in Japan for 20 years is that every time you hear people claiming that Japanese people won’t do something because of unspecified cultural reasons, there’s a lot of money to be made. In the 90s, people claimed that e-commerce would never catch on because Japanese preferred the high touch, expensive department stores, but today, those department stores are struggling as every year, more and more commerce moves online. 10 years later, people were saying that online auctions would never work because Japanese people would simply not by used goods for cultural reasons. They were wrong, of course, and today, Yahoo! Auctions and Mercari, and dozens of others are thriving. When a behavior is widely described as a result of cultural reasons, it usually means that the behavior doesn’t really make sense, and we cannot explain it, and man, that is the perfect area to start looking for business opportunities. If you can discover the real reason for this behavior, and it’s usually a rational economic reason, if you can discover the real reason for this behavior and fix it, you can make a fortune. You might have heard that Japan is a cash-based society for cultural reasons, but we are already starting to see the cracks in that falsehood forming. Today, I’d like to introduce you to Lu Dong, the founder and CEO of Japan Foodie, a restaurant discovery app and yeah, there are a lot of those, but this one is special. Well, not so much the app, but the business model, and the perfectly rational way in which Japan’s cash-based culture will migrate to electronic payments, and it’s already working. In our conversation, Lu also provides some great advice for building multi-sited marketplaces, and he tells some pretty interesting stories about tourism, fundraising, and women’s lingerie. But you know, Lu tells that story much better than I can, so let us get right into the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Lu Dong, the founder of Japan Foodie and several other companies, so thanks for joining us. Lu: Thank you. Tim: You know, actually, recently, we’ve been focusing on sort of serial entrepreneurs in Japan, but before we talk about your other companies, let us talk about Japan Foodie. Lu: So,

How a Rumor Can Destroy Your Business in Japan Oct 29, 2018

Japanese thoughts on risk are changing, but they are changing slowly. Many people still consider failure to be a permanent condition, and that makes it hard to take risks, or in some cases even to be associated with risks. Today we talk with Hajime Hirose, one of Japan's new breed of serial entrepreneurs. Hajime has started companies in three different countries and several different industries. We talk about the challenges and importance of going global and how a Japanese founder ended up running a Chinese company that IPOed in New York. And of course, we also talk about how difficult it is for startups to combat rumors in Japan, even when everyone knows those rumors to be false. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The road to China runs through Seattle Today's management crisis in Chinese and Indian companies Why leave Japan to start a startup Why not all publicity is good publicity in Japan Why the truth cannot fix lies How to survive when your competition is giving away their product for free What startups are best started outside Japan Links from the Founder Connect with Hajime on LinkedIn Hajime's latest project, Datadeck PTMind's PT Engine Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. You know, there aren’t many serial entrepreneurs in Japan. The reason for that is, well, the same reason why we don’t have a lot of angel investors in Japan. Until very recently, the idea of both startup success and startup failure was permanent. If your startup succeeded, you were expected to be running it until either you or the company expired, and if you failed, well, if you failed, you were done. Until very recently, failure was considered a permanent condition. No one was inclined to give you a second chance, but things are changing, and today, I would like to introduce you to Hajime Hirose, a Japanese serial entrepreneur who has built and sold startups and also bankrupted them. We talk about how Japanese attitudes towards startups are changing, but how in Japan, a bad rumor, even a completely unfounded rumor can kill and otherwise promising startup. We also talk about the importance and the difficulty of going global, and the unlikely tale of a Japanese man running a Chinese startup that ended up IPOing in New York, and we also talk about Hajime’s old startup story that wheezed its way through London, Shanghai, Redmond, Jakarta, and yes, of course, Tokyo. But you know, Hajime tells that story much better than I can, so let us get right to the interview. [Interview] [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: Cheers! Hajime: Cheers! Tim: All right, so I am sitting here with Hajime Hirose, the what the future founder of BuzzElement, and a few other startups as well, so thanks for sitting down with me. Hajime: Well, thank you. I’m really excited because I’m a big fan of your show and I’m really thrilled to be on this side of the show. Tim: Well, listen, I’m excited to have you here because there are relatively few serial entrepreneurs in Japan. So, I’m looking forward to this conversation. Your first real international business was in China, but before we get to that, let us back up and talk about how you wound up there. Hajime: So, I was born in Tokyo, grew up in Yokohama, and I went to CIO for university, and I’ve been living outside of Japan for the last 26 years. Tim: And, you ended up working for Microsoft, right? Hajime: That’s right. Tim: Back when MSN was still a thing. Hajime: That’s right, yeah. So, that was back when Microsoft just bought Hotmail back in 1998. Tim: Oh, the good old days. Hajime: Yeah, that was good, that was really fun. So, I was lucky to be the only two Japanese guys on the project.

What This 330-Year-Old Company is Learning from Startups Oct 15, 2018

The conventional wisdom is that traditional Japanese companies can't innovate. And traditionally, that's been true. Hosoo, however, might be carrying on a 1200-year-old tradition, but they are hardly a conventional company. Today we talk with Masataka Hosoo, who is the 12th-generation leader of Hosoo, one of Japan's most famous kimono silk makers. And while the company used to provide kimono fabrics to emperors and shogun, times have changed. Masataka explains how he is changing with the times and working with not only fashion brands like Dior and Chanel, but companies like Panasonic to develop user interfaces that involve textiles rather than simple lights and buttons. We also talk about a possible innovation blueprint that Japan's other small businesses can follow. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How ancient weaving techniques are used in modern fashion When Japan hit peak-Kimono (it’s not when you think) Bringing kimono fashion to Paris How to retrain a 300-year old company to be innovative Why textiles should be seen as jewelry How traditional Japanese crafts can go global How other 300-year-old companies are reinventing themselves Why Kyoto might be Japan's next startup hub The 80/20 Rule for innovation in Japan Links from the Founder HOSOO global website This year's Hosoo Collection Hosoo's current design projects Videos of the fabric and the production process Kyoto's Go On project Panasonic's Kaden Lab Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Who says traditional Japanese companies can’t innovate? Well, okay, actually, a lot of people say that. I mean, yeah, to be honest, almost everyone says that, but the point is, those people are wrong. Now, I have talked before about my work at Tepco and other large companies and the progress of they’re making their innovation programs, but today, we are going old school and I mean really old-school. Masataka Hosoo is a 12th generation leader of Hosoo, the company that bears his family name. Now, Hosoo is one of Japan’s most famous kimono makers. They used to provide fabrics to emperors and Shogun, but times have changed, and today, Masataka explains how he is innovating and changing with the times. Hosoo still makes kimono fabrics, of course, but they are also working with companies like Dior and Chanel to create new design ideas, and also with companies like Panasonic to change the way people interact with electronics. It is a great conversation, not only about fabrics and fashion, and the unexpected way that they affect our lives, but one of a unique approach to innovation and of punk rock, but you know, Masataka tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers! Masataka: Cheers. Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Masataka Hosoo of Hosoo, one of the most innovative textile manufacturers in Japan. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Masataka: Thank you. Tim: Hosoo is a very different kind of company than the startups that usually come on the show. I mean, you were founded 330 years ago, but you are doing really new things. So, why don’t you tell us a little bit about who Hosoo is and what you are doing today? Masataka: Okay, now, Hosoo is a family business and we had been making kimono more than 300 years in Kyoto. Of course, Kyoto is a 1000-year-old chapter and our textile called Nishijin textiles. Nishijin is a district’s old name in the center of Kyoto about 3 km², and this area had been making textile more than 1200 years, and before, our client is Imperial Kyoto, Shogun at the top of a samurai. Tim: So, Nishijin-ori, I mean, you mentioned its 1200 years old.

Disrupting Japan Trailer Oct 08, 2018

Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Twice a month, you and I will sit down meet the founders of some of Japan’s most innovate startups. We'll talk a bit about their companies, of course, but most of the time we talk about how Japan is changing, what it's like to try to sell to large companies as a small startup, new emerging Japanese technology, and a lot of the social and personal issues founders here face. Disrupting Japan is really about what it’s like to be an innovator in a culture that prizes conformity. And yeah, since most of my guests are speaking English as a second language, there is alcohol involved in more than a few of these interviews. So if you are interested in Japan and in innovation, let me introduce you to some of the most amazing and creative people in the world. Come join me in Disrupting Japan.

Live & Unleashed – How to Run a Startup as a Foreigner in Japan Oct 01, 2018

Disrupting Japan is four years old, so we decided to invite a few hundred movers and shakers from Tokyo’s startup community over to have few drinks and to hear three of Japan’s most successful foreign startup CEOs talk about what it takes to succeed in Japanese when you are not Japanese. Our panel included some of the most influential foreign startup founders in Japan. Tim Romero (@timoth3y) - Moderator Paul Chapman (@pchap10k) - CEO, Moneytree Jay Winder (@itsjaydesu) - CEO, Make Leaps Casey Wahl (@caseydai2asa9sa ) - CEO, Wahl & Case We talk about strategies for growth, how to leverage your "foreignness" to your advantage, how to best manage multi-cultural teams, and what the future looks like for foreigners in Japan. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. On a personal note, thank you for reading and listening and for being a part of Disrupting Japan. When I started this project ago, I never imagined how large and influential the show would become, or how large and passionate the worldwide interest in Japanese innovation truly is. I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who has pitched in to help make Disrupting Japan a success. There is no way I could have done this alone. But the best is yet to come. There is an amazing amount of innovation going on right now in Japan, and I look forward to bringing it to you. Thanks for listening! Leave a comment A Special Note For those of you who listened to the podcast know that the recording equipment cut out about half-way through the show. Fortunately, Jason Ball from Business In Japan was live streaming the show. Although the audio quality wasn't high enough for the podcast, you can watch the whole show (minus a bit of Q&A) online. Also, the transcript below represents the full show. Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for coming out tonight. Now, you guys are awesome! [applause] You know, actually, that’s exactly what I hear in my head every time I say that line. Now, for our listeners at home or wherever you may be in the podcast land, we got a special show for you tonight. To celebrate Disrupting Japan’s 4th anniversary, we are podcasting live from Super Deluxe in Roppongi with some of the most innovative people on the face of the planet, that is Japan’s startup ecosystem. So, let’s everyone get their drinks together for a kampai, and listeners at home, feel free to drink along with us. Over the last four years, Disrupting Japan has become bigger and more influential than I ever imagined it could be. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done to support the show. Thank you for listening. It’s been an amazing four years, and the next four years are going to be even better. So, kampai! Audience: Kampai! [applause] [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: For these anniversary shows every year, we have a theme and this year, it is foreign founders in Japan, and on stage tonight, we have three – well, I guess four fearless foreign founders who have taken very different roads to developing their companies here in Japan. So, with introductions, on my far left is Jay Winder who has established MakeLeaps which is Japan’s leading SaaS invoicing system, and before that, you had another company, but I think a lot of you know Jay for running the Hacker News meetup here in Japan. [applause] In the middle, we’ve got Paul Chapman, co-founder and CEO of Moneytree which is one of Japan’s fastest-rising fintech startups, and a true B2C SaaS success story in Japan. Paul Chapman: Thanks, Tim. Tim: And on my immediate left is Casey Wahl, CEO and founder of Wahl & Case which is a recruiting company which doesn’t sound that startup-y to begin with, but Casey’s also founded Red Brick Ventures which was an accelerator that spun out several startups.

How Dancing Satellites from Japan Will Clean Up Outer Space Sep 17, 2018

There are a lot of aerospace startups in Japan these days. We are seeing innovation in everything from component manufacturing to satellite constellations to literal moonshots. All of those, however, depend on the ability to place new satellites in orbit, and that is getting harder and harder due to the ever-increasing amount of orbital debris. It's simply getting too crowded up there. Nobu Okada founded Astroscale to solve this problem. Today we sit down and talk about his solution, and we also dive into the very real political and financing challenges that have prevented this problem from being solved. In many ways, the removal of space debris of a classic Tragedy of the Commons problem. Everyone agrees that it is an important problem that should be solved, but no one wants to spend their own money to solve it. Well, Nobu and his team have developed a business model that they believe will be able to address this problem. It's an innovative and important approach. And yes, we also talk about dancing satellites. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes What is this Kessler Syndrome and why do we need to worry about it Why dreams of being an astronaut did not work out Why aerospace startups need their own manufacturing facilities How to bring down a satellite The trigger leading world governments to finally get serious about space clean up What are your options when your satellite fails to launch The single biggest risk in the space debris removal business Why there are so many aerospace startups in Japan recently Links from the Founder Check out Astroscale and watch the dancing satellites for yourself Friend them on Facebook Follow Nobu on Twitter @nobuokada Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. There are a surprising number of new aerospace startups in Japan and today, you will be meeting the founder of one of the most innovative one. Nobu Okada founded Astroscale to solve the problem with space debris. You see, every year, we are putting more and more satellites into orbit, and it’s gotten kind of crowded up there. There are zombie satellites that we have lost control over and there are satellites that have collided, resulting in thousands of small pieces of debris zipping around in random orbits at thousands of miles per hour, just waiting to crash into other satellites and begin a chain reaction. Well, Nobu and the team want to do something about that. They have a plan to start de-orbiting this debris, and the technology side is fascinating. I mean, you might think that you have no real desire to know how to de-orbit a satellite, but trust me, you want to know how to de-orbit a satellite. It is really that cool. Of course, Nobu and I cover much more than the technology. A big part of the story is how Astroscale has begun to build international recognition and consensus, and how they have actually constructed a business model around debris removal, and we also talk about the forces driving the sudden growth of aerospace startups and talk a bit about dancing satellite, but you know, Nobu tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: We are sitting here with Nobu Okada, the CEO and founder of Astros scale was cleaning up space, so thanks for sitting down with us. Nobu: It is a great pleasure to meet with you and thank you for this great opportunity to be on your podcast. Tim: I’m delighted to have you, and I’ve got to say, Astroscale is not like your typical startup. You have a really unique mission, so can you kind of explain what your vision is and what you are trying to do? Nobu: Our mission is to secure long-term space flight safety by removing the s...

The App Store for Medical Devices Is Being Tested Right Now Sep 03, 2018

There are relatively few biotech startups in Japan. Few investors are willing to write the multi-million dollar checks and have the decades-long patience that is required to really succeed investing in this industry. But startups find a way, and an innovative biotech ecosystem has started to develop in Japan despite the lack of traditional funding. In fact, we might be seeing a new, uniquely Japanese, model of innovation that we'll call "the innovation supply chain". Today, we get a first-hand look at how this innovation supply chain functions, as we sit down with Yuki Shimahara the CEO and founder of LPixel. LPixel uses AI image analysis to detect potential problems in patients MRI and CT scans. The technology itself is fascinating, but Yuki and I also talk about how medical research and medical innovation might be taking a very different path in Japan than it is in the West. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll really enjoy it. Show Notes The real problem with using AI for medical diagnosis AI's deep roots in medicine How safe is medical AI, both in theory and in practice Are we about to see an App Store for medical devices? Why doctors have mixed feeling about AI in medicine How to maintain a competitive advantage in a crowded AI marketplace Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about LPixel Connect with LPixel on LinkedIn Friend Yuki on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, we’ve talked a lot about biotech in Japan on this show before and quite a bit, really. We have gone into the fact that the Japanese biotech venture ecosystem is really being held back by the lack of investors willing to write of the large checks required knowing that they won’t see any returns for over a decade. So, things are hard for life sciences in Japan. However, in the words of Dr. Malcolm, "Life finds a way" or in our case today, "Life sciences find a way." There’s a growing number of impressive life sciences startups emerging in Japan and they are adapting it and evolving so that they can innovate within the capital constraints they find themselves in. Today, we sit down with Yuki Shimahara, founder and CEO of LPixel. Now, LPixel applies artificial intelligence to medical imaging and detects a wide variety of conditions from CT scans and MRIs. Yuki is still a PhD candidate at the University of Tokyo but he is running a company with more than 40 employees, so you can imagine, he is a pretty busy guy, but he took some time to sit down with Disrupting Japan and talk about how AI is being used in medicine, the challenges facing life sciences in Japan, and between the two of us, we sketch out a new way forward for Japanese innovation, an innovation model that is distinctly different from that in the US, but that might just be the way forward in Japan. Oh, and as you know, my goal here at Disrupting Japan is always to bring you amazing insights from Japanese entrepreneurs in their natural habitat. This week, that habitat was a large concrete wall to conference room that makes it sound like we are talking at a vast underground cavern. It sounds a bit odd at first, but if you join us for the next 20 minutes in our underground layer, I guarantee you that you will leave thinking very differently about life sciences in Japan, but you know, Yuki tells us that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Yuki Shimahara of LPixel and things were sitting down with me today. Yuki: Thank you. Tim: So, LPixel is a cloud-based AI image analysis that you are using mostly for life sciences and related research,

Men and Women Watch TV Differently. Here’s how to make money from that. Aug 20, 2018

Most of us don't actually zone out in front of the TV. In fact, we give off all kinds of clues to what we really think about the shows we are watching. Japanese startup, T-Vision Insights has come up with a way both to measure and to monetize those reactions. Today we sit down with founder and CEO Yasushi Gunya and we talk about T-Vision's business and the future of advertising in video. T-Vision Insights already has 100's of customers and is monitoring thousands of households both in Japan and the US and we dive into some of the differences in how different kinds of people watch and react to TV. I guarantee some of the results will surprise you. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How AI can determine viewer engagement Proof that women watched the super bowl more closely than men How men and women watch TV differently Which TV shows and commercials are most engaging The danger of advertising on the Walking Dead How privacy concerns are addressed Why it's hard to sell genuinely new innovations The most engaging parts of commercials Why starting a startup is not really risky in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about T-Vision Insights T-Vision Insight's ranking of the most engaging commercials in Japan Friend Yasushi on Facebook Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. This episode is a fun one. You know, I’ve always considered watching TV to be a passive activity. I mean, aside from sleeping, it seems like the most passive thing you could spend your time doing. You zone out while entertainment is poured into your brain, but it turns out, that’s not quite the case. TV watchers are a subtly active bunch and as we watch, we give off all kinds of signals to indicate our opinion of what we are being shown. Well, Yasushi Gunya, founder and CEO of T-Vision Insights has developed an unobtrusive way to measure viewers’ reactions to TV shows and to TV commercials. It’s already deployed in thousands of homes in Japan and in the United States, and the results are remarkable. T-Vision is already showing global 100 brands how consumers react to their commercials and to the TV shows that they air in, and they provide a data-driven approach to show what content is the most engaging and what kind of response it evokes, but what I think is even more interesting is that T-Vision’s data shows that we all engage with TV differently. Adults engage differently than children, Americans watch differently than Japanese, and men watch very differently than women do. In fact, there’s a big difference between how men and women watch sports on TV, and I guarantee you, it’s not the difference you think it is. But Yasushi tells that story much better than I can. So, let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers! Yasushi: Cheers! Tim: So, we are sitting here in the We Work office in this incredibly hot Tokyo afternoon with Yasushi Gunya of T-Vision Insights, so thanks for sitting down with us. Yasushi: Thank you, Tim, and let’s cheer since we have beer here. Tim: That tastes good on a hot day. So, T-Vision Insights measures the viewer’s reactions to TV shows and the commercials, but why don’t you explain basically how it works and what it is? Yasushi: Okay, our core technology is AI-backed algorithm and we just inserted to a sensor and set the sensor on the top of TV. As a result, we can understand how people in front of the TV will react to the contents of TV, and actually, we have already said this kind of stuff to 3,000 households in US and Japan. Tim: Okay, and we say ‘how they react,’ so is this a device sort of like Microsoft Kinect,

Foreign Startup Founders Have Secret Advantages in Japan Aug 06, 2018

The single most common question I get asked are variations of "How do you start a business as a foreigner in Japan?" or "What's it like to start a startup as a foreigner in Japan?" It's always been a hard question to answer simply because it is such a big one, that it can be hard to know where to start. Well, today we are going to start to answer that question, and over the next month or two, we are really going to dig into it. Jordan Fisher is CEO and co-founder of Zehitomo, which is an online marketplace for off-line services. This is not an easy space. There are many such sites in Japan, but Jordan explains why the fact that he and his co-founder are both foreigners has given them a competitive advantage not just in the marketplace, but in recruiting and marketing as well. Unsurprisingly, there are a few things that are much harder for foreign startup founders than for Japanese founders, and we talk about those as well. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why charging commission is a losing strategy One surprisingly popular kind of offline services Why its hard to start a startup as a foreigner in Japan What it's like raising money as a foreigner in Japan Ho to use your gaijin-ness to your business advantage Why some Japanese have a hard time in foreign startups How to differentiate your startup in Japan Why the fear of failure is still holding Japan back Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Zehitomo Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook Zehitomo is Hiring Main recruiting page Wantedly page Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. How do you start a business as a foreigner in Japan? What’s it like to grow a business as a foreigner in Japan? These are the two questions I get asked the most, not only by our non-Japanese listeners who make up 80% of the Disrupting Japan’s audience but also by our Japanese fans as well. And you know, I’ve always found it hard to answer that question because it’s just such a big question that it’s hard to get your head around it. It’s hard to know how to even start to answer it. Well, today, we’ll be talking a lot about exactly that. We’ll be sitting down with Jordan Fisher, the CEO and cofounder of Zehitomo. Now, Zehitomo is an online marketplace for off-line services and we will dive deeper into their business model during the show, but really, we talk a lot about how Westerners or at least Jordan, this one particular Westerner approaches of doing business in Japan. Both as an individual and a company, there are certain things that you can get away with and some things that you just can’t. There are certain advantages you’ll have over your Japanese competition and there’s certain disadvantages that you might not be able to overcome. But you know, Jordan tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Jordan Fisher, the founder and CEO of Zehitomo which is a marketplace for matching professionals with those who want to hire them, so thanks for sitting down with me. Jordan: Yeah, great to be here, Tim, thank you. Tim: So, I mean, I gave a really brief description of what Zehitomo is, so maybe you can explain it a little better than I did. Jordan: Sure, sure. In a nutshell, it’s what you said, we’re a marketplace for local services. I think a lot of people don’t really immediately click when you say ‘local services,’ what that actually means, and I generally summarize it by saying that it’s the jobs that happens off-line, not the ones that happen online, so think about your photographer, your plumber, your personal trainer,

How Japan’s Unique Relationship with Robots is About to Make it #1 Again Jul 23, 2018

Japan had been a global leader in robotics for decades, but recently the traditional Japanese leaders have been losing ground to the better-funded and better-publicized firms coming out of America and China. Mujin is changing that. While iRobot and Boston Dynamics have been grabbing headlines and YouTube views, Mujin has been quietly breaking ground with a series of real-world commercial successes in deploying the next generation of industrial robots. Perhaps Mujin's largest achievement to date has been their project for Chinese e-commerce giant JD, in which they developed the world's first fully-automated logistics warehouse where robots unload the trucks, stock the shelves, and them pick and pack the items for shipment without human intervention. Today we talk with Issei Takino, who founded Mujin with his co-founder Rosen Diankov, and he explains why Japan looks at robots in a fundamentally different way than Western countries do, and how that will lead to a significant competitive advantage. It's an interesting conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes How to get the ecosystem to adopt your platform Why robots have not yet taken over industry (or the world) How to get your first customers in robotics How to get feedback from reluctant Japanese customers When being a Japanese startup is an advantage How America and Japan view robotics and automation differently Advice for starting companies with multi-cultural teams The critical differences between Japanese and American universities Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Mujin Friend Issei on Facebook See Mujin's robots in action Video of Mujin's automated logistics warehouse (this is very cool) [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we're going to talk about robots, specifically industrial robots. Now Japan has been a global leader in robotics for decades, but in recent years, Japanese firms seem to be losing ground to the better funded and better publicized companies coming out of the US and China. Well today we're going to sit down with the founder of a company that is already starting to change that. Issei Takino founded Mujin with his co-founder Rosen Diankov and they have developed a kind of android for industrial robots, that is to say, it's a generic operating system that works with almost any hardware and works far more effectively than anything else in the industry. Issei and I go into some of the details during the interview but perhaps the clearest illustration of Mujin success was a project, they did for Chinese e-commerce giant JD. They developed the world's first fully automated logistics warehouse. It's a massive facility but almost no humans work there. Robots unload the trucks, stock the shelves, pick the items for delivery and then pack them and ship them out. It's hard to explain in an audio podcast, so check out the video. We've got a link at the site and it's really amazing to watch. Issei and I also talked about how Japan and the West look at robots very differently and how that might be holding America back. He also shares his experience and advice about founding and running a start-up as a multinational team and we talked about why these kinds of Japanese foreign partnerships are going to become more common and more important in the coming years. But you know, Issei tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: All right! So I'm sitting here with Issei Takino of Mujin, the maker of controllers for industrial robots. So thanks for sitting down with me. Issei: Oh! It's my pleasure, thank you, thank you for inviting.

What They Never Teach You in Language School – Peter Galante Japanese Pod 101 Jul 09, 2018

Twenty years ago, we all thought that starting a startup required a special and rare kind of talent. It was something you either had or you didn't. Today, founding and running a startup is considered more of a learnable skill. It has its own best practices, industry standards, and common knowledge. And, in both startups and enterprises, I find it refreshing to talk to people who have succeeded by going against those industry standards. Peter Galante started what would become the wildly successful Japanese Pod 101 with no clear idea how to monetize and no clear business plan. He did, however, have a firm conviction that what he wanted to build had value and the people would flock to it. And he was right. Peter and I talk about how his unconventional business plan and his rejection of VC advice and standard best practices, actually resulted in a rapidly growing startup in a market protected from even his best-funded competitors. It's an interesting conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Who is really studying Japanese online Why most Japanese language learners fail What you need to know about turning a hobby into a business What happens when your startup start changing for free content Why podcasting is dying [Noooo!!!!] and video is rising How content creators can get paid when so much content is free How to defend your business against better-funded startups Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Innovative Language Learning JapanesePod 101 JapanesePod101 on YouTube Connect with Peter on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to sit down and talk with startup founder and fellow podcaster Peter Galante, founder of Japanese Pod 101, and if you study Japanese, then you've probably already listened to more than a few of those episodes. When I went over to their studio for the conversation, Peter mentioned that he was actually a little bit nervous about coming on the show. That came as quite a surprise to me. I mean, I'm a friendly guy and I genuinely love learning about business models and taking them apart, you know, breaking them down into their individual movies parts, holding them up to the light to see how they work. I think that subject is endlessly fascinating and I learn something new every time I do it but that's my approach and not everyone thinks this way. Not everyone approaches startups as an exercise in business model design where you have a system of interacting components that need to be optimized in underserved markets that need to be served. Some people, in fact, probably more founders that are willing to admit it start out with a vision of what they want to be doing and then figure out how to backfit some kind of sustainable business model onto it. This is exactly what Peter has done and as we'll see during the interview, this is exactly what has not only led to the success of Japanese Pod 101 but it is also what is preventing even well-funded competition from entering this space. We also - and as a podcaster, this breaks my heart - we also talked about the ongoing and transformative shift from audio to video content. Oh, yeah, and Peter wanted to make sure I let you know that about the same time this podcast is released, Japanese Pod 101 will exceed 1 billion downloads. That's pretty impressive for something that started out as a hobby but you know, Peter tells that story a lot better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [interview] Tim: I'm sitting here with Peter Galante of Innovative Language Learning who is redefining online language education but is m...

How Japan’s evocative machines are quietly creating new startup unicorns Jun 25, 2018

This is a rather personal episode. We have no guests this time. It’s just you and me. Today, rather than diving deep into a specific aspect of startups in Japan, we are going to take a hard look at both what is and what is not working within the Japanese startup ecosystem as a whole. And at the end, I'm going to answer the most common question I am asked by overseas audiences. "Where are the Japanese unicorns?" You might already know about Japan's two existing unicorns, but I'm going to explain where the next four will be coming from. I guarantee that it's from somewhere you would not have expected. So let's get right to it. UPDATE: Evocative Machines are starting to take off in Japan. If you are interested in the subject, please check out The Evocative Machines Project. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Once again, I’ve got a special show for you today. There will be no guests, no beer, no playful banter with someone speaking English as a second language. Today, it’s just you and me. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these one-on-one episodes. Way too long really. I truly enjoy doing them and they tend to be my most popular episodes, but man they take a lot of time to write and put together. This episode, in particular, I had to rewrite two or three times, to make sure you would really understand what I am trying to explain. Because by the end of this episode you and I will definitely be in new and uncertain territory, and I for one love being in new and uncertain territory. By the time we’re done, you’ll have a solid idea of where Japan’s next dozen unicorn startups will be coming from. First, I want to tell you what inspired me to create this episode for you. In fact, it was kind of a strange situation. I mean twice a month we sit down and talk about innovation in Japan. I’m privileged to talk with and to introduce you to some of the most interesting founders and innovators in Japan. I spend a lot of time talking, writing and thinking about how the startup ecosystem is changing. But. You know, I think I missed something. Something important. And, I think the reason I might have missed it was because I watch things so closely that when …. Well, lets back up a bit so all of this will make sense. Actually, it was my friend Allen Miner who first pointed out the change. For those of you who don’t know him, Allen was one of Japan’s first modern VCs and he also brought both Salesforce and Oracle to Japan. And by the way, if you have not listened to the Disrupting Japan episode where Allen tells the story of Oracle’s Japan market entry, you really need to go back and listen. Someday business schools will make proper case studies from that story, but until then, it’s a Disrupting Japan exclusive. It’s a story of fake it till you make it on a multi-billion dollar scale. The plot involves intrigue, secret dealings, and … rock-concerts. What more could you possibly want? Go and listen to it right now. I'll wait. … Welcome back. Did you listen to the episode? No, of course, you didn’t. Nobody ever does. It’s a silly conceit. I don’t know why we podcasters keep using it. We should stop. Anyway, give Allen’s interview a listen when you get the chance. Now back to our story. For the past eight years, the Japan Society of Northern California has given out annual innovation awards to startups in both Japan and the US. They are a really worthwhile organization that has been around for more than 100 years. I’m on the advisory committee for the awards, and last month in Tokyo I attended the awards ceremony for the Japanese startups. The winners, by the way, were Mujin, Soracom, and Cloudian. Ken, the founder of Soracom was on the show last year, and you’ll be hearing from the other two founders on the ...

Japan’s Business Card Giant Explains Why Business Cards Are Disappearing Jun 11, 2018

If you've ever done business in Japan, someone probably walked you through the intricacies of Japanese business card culture. Chika Terada, the founder of Sansan, created one of Japan's most successful startups around the business card protocol. And even though Sansan has been expanding quickly and is on track for an IPO, Chika thinks that Japanese business card culture will soon disappear. Chika and I talk about the challenges of rapidly scaling a company, and how the IPO market in Japan will change in the next few years. We also talk about what Chika learned as his company expanded into other markets and how even B2B business is really a complex mix of business and culture. It's an interesting conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why business cards are not data, but an event marker Why Sansan wants to replace business cards How to save the corporate culture when you are committed to things that don't scale How stock options should be (and are) used at Japanese startups Why marketing is so hard to disrupt in Japan How Japan's business card culture extends overseas How big company attitudes towards startups re changing in Japan How to teach innovation in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Sansan Check out Eight for business networking Sansan in English Friend Chika on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, anyone who has done business in Japan has had to learn the intricacies of Japanese business card culture and the protocol involved in exchanging them. Well, Chika Terada has built Sansan, one of Japan's most successful startups around business cards. The name Sansan started as a play on words, kind of like the band Mister Mister but the company itself has grown into a powerhouse of B2B CRM and corporate relationship management in Japan where LinkedIn has failed. Now, Chika and I talk a lot about the challenges involved in scaling a company up so quickly and what he's learned by expanding into international markets, some with business card cultures very similar to Japan and some with very different protocols, and we talk about why we might finally be seeing a shift in the unhealthy fixation that so many Japanese investors and founders have on the IPO. And you know, despite the fact that Sansan has built its entire business on business cards and the protocols surrounding them, Chika explains why he thinks that they may eventually go away and what will replace them. But you know, Chika tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So we're sitting here with Chika Terada, the CEO and founder of Sansan who is really changing how Japan looks at business cards. So thanks for sitting down with me. Chika: Thank you, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to talk with you again. Tim: Again, yes, it's great to have you back on the show because you were actually the very first guest I had on this show over three and half years ago. Chika: I'm very pleased to hear. I mean, by looking at your success after the first interview, that's remarkable. Tim: And likewise, you as well. Sansan has been just growing at a fantastic rate since that interview and jt's one of the real startup success stories in Japan. People from overseas often see Sansan as kind of like a business card scanning app and I know it's a lot more than that. It's more like a networking tool but maybe you can just start out by explaining what Sansan is and what Eight is. Chika: Right, it is true that our company deals about business cards but this means our company is all about the bu...

How to Solve Japan’s Innovation Bottleneck in Healthcare May 28, 2018

Startups are changing how business is done in Japan, but medicine remains stubbornly resistant to innovation. In some ways, that's good. We are literally experimenting with peoples lives, so caution is definitely warranted. We don't want to rush things. However, Japan's national health insurance acts as a single buyer, and sometimes the only way to innovate is to go around them. That's exactly what Kenichi Ishii, the founder of Next Innovation has done. Their long-term strategy involves creating widespread and comprehensive telemedicine in Japan, but right now they have developed a basic approach that has reduced the cost of some medical treatments by more than 70% And business is booming. Ken and Next Innovation are both proudly from Osaka, and we also talk a lot about the state of the Osaka startup ecosystem. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why medical startups need to innovate around Japan's national health insurance How to cross-sell in the medical market Why Osaka offers a competitive advantage to some kinds of startups What is holding back telemedicine in Japan The culture of secrecy in Japanese medicine The most likely source for innovation in Japanese medicine Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Next Innovation Friend Ken on Facebook Check out the Sumashin app The Osaka Innovation Hub is the center of Osaka's startup scene [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. The medical industry is one of the hardest to disrupt and in some ways, that's a good thing. I mean, we're literally experimenting with people's lives here so there's a good argument to be made for being conservative and taking things slowly, but you know, looking at the national health insurance system in Japan and the health systems of all developed nations, it becomes pretty obvious that not only can improvements be made but that improvements must be made. Well, today, we talk with Kenichi Ishii, the founder of Next Innovation. Their long-term strategy involves increasing the use and acceptance of telemedicine in Japan in general but right now, they've developed a basic approach to telemedicine that enables them to sell prescription drugs over the I, and business is booming. Oh, and Next Innovation is a proudly Osaka-based startup. Ken and I talk a lot about the challenges Osaka has faced in developing a startup ecosystem and why it seems that those problems might be over, and you'll be hearing from more and more Osaka startups on the show. During the interview, Ken and I talk about value-based medicine and price-based medicine. It's not really intuitive so it's probably best if I explain it to you now. When Ken talks about cost-based patients, he means those who see medical treatment as a means to an end and they want it done simply, cheaply, and quickly. The value-based patients are those that want to be involved either because of an interest in the treatment or for other social reasons that we’ll talk about. Ken will explain why this difference is important, how Japan's tight control over the medical industry forced him and his team to be very resourceful in launching this product, the crisis Japanese hospitals are facing now and why we can't stay on our current path; we need to innovate our way out of this situation. But you know, can tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I'm sitting here with Kenichi of Next Innovation, a true telemedicine startup in Japan. So thanks for sitting down with me. Kenichi: Thank you, nice to meet you. Tim: Telemedicine covers a really broad area,

This Startup Just Built Japan’s Most Powerful Supercomputer May 14, 2018

Preferred Networks is making changes in Japan. Over the past few years, this AI startup has raised more than $130M in venture funding and grown to more than 130 people. If you live outside of Japan, you might not have heard of this team, but they are working with Toyota to create the next generation of driverless cars. They are working with Japan's most advanced industrial robot manufacturers to improve efficiency. They are also working with many financial institutions on fraud detection. Oh yes, and they also built Japan's most powerful commercial supercomputer. Today we sit down and talk with Daisuke Okanohara, the technical co-founder of Preferred Networks. Daisuke and I talk about the story behind Preferred Networks, he also shares his challenges and current strategies for maintaining the company's experimental and engineering culture as it grows larger and more structured. Daisuke also talks about his time at Google, how Japanese AI stacks up to China and the US, and why he’s convinced that their biggest competition is going to come from somewhere you would never expect. It's a great discussion, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes What edge-heavy computing is and why it's important How a Google Internship changed Daisuke's outlook on AI The future of driverless cars at Toyota Why the team decided to build Japan's most powerful supercomputer Why you can't sell disruptive products to large companies How to keep a curious spirit even as your company grows Where the real competition in AI will come from Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Preferred Networks Check out their Homepage Follow them on Twitter @PreferredNet Check out Chainer Preferred Networks free open source AI library The core Chainer project PaintsChainer Cupy Chainer [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Preferred Networks is without question the brightest star in the constellation of Japanese AI startups. It attracted about 130 million in venture funding and have grown to more than 130 people over the past few years. Of course, if you don't follow AI, you might not have heard about them at all but they are the technology behind Toyota’s driverless cars, some of FANUC’s industrial robots, many cutting-edge applications in other verticals, and as a side project, they also built Japan's most powerful commercial supercomputer. It's an interesting team to say the least and today, we sit down and talk with Daisuke Okanohara, Preferred Networks’ technical cofounder. We talk about how Preferred Networks got started and got to scale and he also shares his challenges and strategies of trying to maintain the company's experimental and engineering culture as it grows larger and monthly revenue pressures increase. Daisuke also talks about his time at Google, how Japanese AI stacks up to China and the US, and why he's convinced that their biggest competition is going to come from somewhere you would never expect it. But you know, Daisuke tells that story much better than I can, so let’s gets right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I'm sitting here with Daisuke Okanohara, the cofounder and Executive Vice President of Preferred Networks, Japan's leading and probably most innovative AI startup. So thanks for sitting down with me today. Daisuke: Thank you very much. Tim: So Preferred Networks talks a lot about the importance of edge -heavy computing. So can you explain exactly what edge-heavy computing is and why it's important? Daisuke: Cloud computing is one of the most important trends in the IT area and most people believe that most computations or operations sho...

A Japanese MBA Does Not Mean What You Think It Means Apr 30, 2018

Education is very hard to disrupt. That’s both good and bad. Education is so important to both individuals and society, it should not be changed on a whim, but over time it seems that our institutions of higher education have drifted away from meeting students real needs. Yoshito Hori, founder and CEO of Globis, is making radical changes. He turned a small training school into Japan's first independent and fully accredited business school with an MBA. Less than ten years later, Globis became Japan’s most popular MBA program. We talk about the need for change in education and about the successful, real-world pilot program Globis is running to modernize Japanese higher education. Yoshito also shares insights on how to teach innovative thinking and explains why such a high percentage of Globis MBAs go on to found starts or join them. It's a fascinating discussion and I think you'll really enjoy it. Show Notes Why most Japanese do not want to attend full-time MBA programs How to make an advanced degree both exclusive and inexpensive How to groom MBA students to start startups How Sumitomo missed out on a multi-billion dollar business Why Japanese higher education is so resistant to change This difference between SPOCs and MOOCs, and why it's important How drinking in front of your computer might save higher education Links from the Founder Check out Globis Yoshito's blog on entrepreneurship in Japan Follow Yoshito on Twitter@YoshiHoriGLOBIS Connect with him on LinkedIn Yoshito's article on 100 Actions to revive Japan The G1 Global Conference [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. You know, education is hard to disrupt. And as long-time fans know very well, that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because education is so important and foundational not only to how well a given child will do later in life but also because in the large developed nations, the educational system forms the basis of society itself. It provides us all with a shared set of experiences. So the fact that we don’t change the rules every few years is a good thing. On the other hand, this lack of disruption leads to educational systems that don’t really meet the needs of today’s students and today’s societies for that matter. So clearly, there must be a better way of doing things than what we’re doing now. Well, today, I’d like to introduce you to someone who’s found a better way. Yoshito Hori founded Globis as a small business training school and grew it into Japan’s first independent and fully accredited business school offering MBAs. And then, Globis became Japan’s most popular MBA program. Yoshito’s strategy for innovation is fascinating. Unlike similar schools in the US, Globis does not compete on cost. In fact, the Globis MBA is more expensive than similar degree programs at Todai or Hitotsubashi. No. Globis is doing something unique and something that is making a lot of people rethink how university and post graduate education is done in Japan. But you know, Yoshito tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So we’re sitting here today with Yoshi Hori of Globis. Thank you so much for sitting down with me. Yoshi: Thank you very much as well. Tim: Globis has about 7,000 students per year. It’s the most popular MBA in Japan. It always does well in the national business school rankings here. But what seems most unusual, it’s a truly international MBA program. You have students both from Japan and overseas now, right? Yoshi: Yeah. Tim: What sort of ratio? Yoshi: Well, we have English MBA program and Japanese MBA program.

This Japanese Startup Is Using Your Phone to Make Insurance Social Apr 16, 2018

The insurance industry has proven very resistant to innovation. In fact, it has not really changed much in the past 200 years. The way insurance is sold and managed has changed, of course, but from the point of view of the consumer, things remain surpassingly like they were a century ago. Today we talk with someone who is changing that. Kazuya “Kazy” Hata is CEO of JustInCase, a new breed of Japanese insurance company that offers insurance over the smartphone and then monitors how you use your phone, your lifestyle, and your social connections to determine what your premium should be. We also talk about the next logical step for smart-phone-based insurance. Being able to ensure specific activities or possessions at will, maybe just for a few hours or while you are on a trip. It’s a great conversation, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes Who actually buys long-term cell phone insurance What behavior might make you a "risky" smartphone user Why there are so few life sciences startups in Japan The future of insurance on demand Why P2P insurance presents a unique market opportunity Why it is so hard for insurance companies to innovate How Japan's FSA is working to encourage insurance innovation Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about JustInCase Kazy's blog (Japanese) Follow Kazy on Twitter @KazyHata Friend him on Facebook Genome Link Online Hackathon [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, the insurance industry is really resistant to innovation. The modern insurance industry was largely developed in the 17th and 18th century and it's not changed a whole lot since then. Oh, the tools have changed: insurance is sold very differently today, risks are better understood and better quantified, better measured, and the emergence of the global reinsurance market has made the system far more stable, but the way insurance works from your point of view, from the way you and I see it, things have changed very little over the past hundred years. Most of the change in the industry is driven by regulatory changes rather than entrepreneurial innovation, and for insurance, I've got to say, I'm pretty much okay with that. Insurance firms need to remain solvent for decades and theoretically forever, and the fail fast, fail forward philosophy doesn't really work when it comes time to pay out life insurance or after a natural disaster, and yet, there needs to be a way to innovate and that's what we're going to talk about today. Kazuya Hata or “Kazy” as his friends call him is the founder and CEO of JustInCase. JustInCase offers insurance over the smartphone and the first product they're insuring is your smartphone itself. JustInCase then uses artificial intelligence to analyze your usage profile and your social connections to determine the premium you should be paying. We also talk about the next logical step for a smartphone-based insurance, being able to enter specific activities or possessions at will, maybe just for a few hours or while you're on a trip. The cellphone interface and the personal rich data which we continuously share about ourselves online, whether we know it or not allows companies to build up a personalized risk profile and both offer customized and flexible products and replace the number of fraudulent claims. But you know, Kazi tells this story much better than I can so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] I'm sitting here with Kazy Hata of JustInCase who offers not only insurance on your cellphone but actually sells insurance on the cellphone. Does that make sense? Kazuya: That's actually right, yes. Tim: Well,

Japan’s Secret Strategy for Global Drone Domination Apr 02, 2018

Blue Innovation attracted a lot of international attention last year when they announced the T-Frend drone system. This dystopian drone flies around offices after hours reminding staff not to work overtime, and taking pictures of those who violate overtime policy so that management can be alerted. We’ll talk about this particular drone, of course, but Blue Innovation's technology is much broader and is making an impact an many more important, if perhaps less visible, areas. Founder and CEO Takayuki Kumada explains the early days of the company and why they decided to pivot into drones in the first place. We also talk about the future of drones in Japan and globally, about what’s really holding the industry back, and why the Japanese government crackdown on drones might have actually forced the industry to focus on a very specialized and very lucrative niche. It’s a great conversation, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes What is a drone integrator, and why are they important? How Blue Innovation pivoted from environmental consulting to drones How drones navigate with no WiFi no GPS and no light What kinds of jobs drones should not do Why flying drones make more sense than swimming or crawling drones Which industries will be most affected by drones What's really holding drones back How Japan can overcome China's lead in drones Links from the Founder Check out everything Blue Innovation is doing Blue Innovation's Facebook page Japan Drone 2018 on the Blue Innovation blog Friend Takayuki on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. One of the ideas I've talked about a lot over the past few years and one that's finally gaining some acceptance is that the bulk of meaningful innovation in Japan is going to come not from startups but from midsized companies. Of course, Japanese venture capital and the ecosystem will adapt to include these players but things are going to develop differently in Japan than in the United States. With this in mind, perhaps you won't be too surprised to learn that Japan's leading drone company is not a traditional startup but a midsized company that pivoted into drones from a completely different industry. Today, we’ll sit down with Takayuki Kumada, founder and CEO of Blue Innovation, Japan's leading drone integrator. Now, Blue Innovation attracted international attention last year with the announcement of their T-Frend drone. Now, this drone is designed to reduce overtime by flying around the office taking pictures of staff and telling them to go home, and yeah, we talk about how effective this is likely to be but we also talk about the integrator strategy, the one that's being pursued by a lot of the most successful high-tech startups in Japan. It's a strategy that allows them to quickly collaborate across industries and brings an immediate cash flow, but it does come at a cost and it might not be stable long-term, but we’ll get into that. We also talk about the future of drones, both in Japan and globally and what's really holding the industry back, and why the Japanese government’s crackdown on drones might have actually forced the industry to focus on a very specialized and very lucrative niche, But you know, Takayuki tells the story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [Interview] [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: So I'm sitting here with Takayuki Kumada, the CEO of Blue Innovation, and Blue Innovation is developing civil engineering services using drones. So thanks for sitting down with me. Takayuki: Thank you very much. Tim: Okay. On your website and in interviews, I've heard you describe Blue Innovation as drone integrators.

How Startups Can Attract, Retain, and Develop Staff in Japan Mar 26, 2018

Have you ever been at a crowded and noisy party and heard a conversation across the room? You catch pieces of it, and you know it is interesting, but you can’t quite make it out and you can quite push your way over to that side of the room to be a part of it. Well, that was the situation a lot of our guests found themselves in a few weeks ago, so today we are going to set things right. Last month 500 Startups and Disrupting Japan held a joint event that focused on how Japanese and foreign staff can work best together at startups. As the event, I had a great discussion with three startup founders who are leading multi-cultural teams. They candidly shared their stories and advice and even told us about some of their biggest mistakes. It was a great discussion, the event was a huge success, and we’ll definitely be doing it again very soon. But in a way, the event was too successful. Way more people showed up than we expected and the place was packed. Everyone had a good time, but the room was so packed and noisy that only the people close to the front got a chance to hear some amazingly good advice and life experiences. So I thought I would release the entire conversation as a special in-between episode of Disrupting Japan. There are no show notes for this one and it's not transcribed, but it is a great conversation with three experts on how startups can recruit, retain and get the very best out of multi-lingual, multi-cultural staff. Leave a comment

A Successful Kickstarter Campaign Almost Bankrupted This Startup Mar 19, 2018

Hardware is hard. In fact, sometimes the simplest and most straightforward ideas turn out to be the hardest to implement. Today I’d like you to meet Kyohi Kang the founder and CEO of Atmoph. Atmoph is a programmable window which can display the sights and sounds of hundreds of scenic places from all over the world. It's an exciting project, and the team attracted a great deal of early interest. They even ran one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns and a smaller, but still successful, Japanese campaign on Makuake. But this success almost bankrupted them. Kyohi and I discuss how this happened and how other startups can avoid falling into the same trap. We also discuss Kyoto and the fledgeling startup ecosystem that is just starting to spread its wings there. And we'll dive into detail about why, unlike most other startups, Atmoph has decided to remain a hardware startup rather than pivoting to software and licensing when presented with that option. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes What are digital windows and who wants to use them? What happens when the Kickstarter money runs out? What are the important differences between crowdfunding in Japan and the US What hardware startups really need to know about crowdfunding How you can be bankrupted by crowdfunding too well How to maintain sales momentum after the crowdfunding period ends Why you have to choose to be a hardware company or a software company. The dangers of trying to do both. Why the founders left Tokyo to start a company in Kyoto How the Osaka and Kyoto startups communities are different Links from the Founder Check out Atmoph - You won't really get it until you see it. Friend Kyuhi on Facebook Follow him on Twitter @kyohik Atmoph's Social Sites AtMpoh on Twitter AtMpoh on Facebook AtMpoh on Instagram [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, I was moderating a discussion panel at the big Hakusuka event last month and before things kicked off, I sat down at a café with Kyohi Kang, the found of Atmoph. Now, Atmoph is one of those ideas that is so obvious once you see it that you're sure that someone has thought of it before. In fact, you're pretty sure that you've thought of it before. We did, right? And yet, Atmoph seems to be the only company in the world that is producing this product. What is it? Well, I'm getting to that. You'll hear a lot of the details during the interview and it's always challenging to describe something so intensely visual on an audio podcast, but Atmoph is literally a window onto the world. It's a 27-inch diameter monitor that's mounted in a picture frame and it displays the sights and sounds of, well, anywhere, really: a window onto a Polynesian beach, a Roman Piazza - anywhere. Kyohi and I also talk about how Atmoph's very successful Kickstarter campaign almost bankrupted his company and since the team has run crowdfunding campaigns in both the US and Japan, we'll go over some of the most important differences between the platforms in both countries, and more importantly, the important differences about the customers and the customer expectations in both countries, and even though we met in Osaka, we talk a lot about Kyoto. Kyoto has the potential to become one of the most important startup communities in Japan. It's not quite there yet but there's a lot of promising signs and a lot of promising startups, for that matter. But you know, Kyohi tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. [Interview] [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: So I'm sitting here with Kyohi Kang of Atmoph and it's kind of a digital window,

This Japanese Startup Is Bringing The Human Genome to The Mass Market Mar 05, 2018

Right now, it looks like the most profitable business models that are emerging from the mapping of the human genome are not in the field of medicine, but in a variety of B2C business models focused on consumer marketing. That may be a surprising claim, but if the past 40 years of life sciences have taught us anything, it's that our genetic information will be both more valuable and harder to understand than we expect it to be. Today, I’d like you to meet Tomohiro Takano, CEO and founder of Awakens. Awakens is opening up the genome to make it more accessible and understandable to you and me. They are designing a genetic marketplace that will serve both B2B and B2C clients, and they are working with other startups to develop applications that will leave some readers impressed and excited, and others appalled and concerned. So it’s probably best to let Tomo tell you about it. Show Notes Why people will share their DNA information How to choose your customers as a genetics startup Why developing B2B clients is different in Japan and the US Why people you would not suspect want access to your genome The true accuracy of consumer DNA analysis DNA for dating and social networking What an accelerator must do to validate a startup Why there are so few life sciences startups in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Awakens Tomo's genetics blog (Japanese) Follow Tomo on twitter @mr3tiago Friend him on Facebook Genome Link Online Hackathon [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to be talking about mining the genome, because if the last 40 years of life-sciences has taught us anything, it's that the information we take from our DNA is always more valuable than we think it's going to be, and why wouldn't it be? I mean, innovation and efficiency, and profit, and money in general are all just proxies for some greater and deeper human need. Most innovation is a more efficient means to the same ends, but DNA, well, that's different. That is who we are. It literally defines us, so naturally, it's something we all care about deeply whether we know it or not. Today, I'd like you to meet Tomohiro Takano, CEO and founder of Awakens, and Awakens is trying to open up the genome and to make it more accessible and understandable to you and me. How exactly they plan on making money doing that, well, Tomo will explain in just a moment. It's a combination of a B2B and B2C DNA marketplace that some listeners will find exciting and some will find it infuriating. But you know, Tomo tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers! Tomohiro: Cheers! Thanks. Tim: We are sitting here with Tomo Takano of Awakens, a genomic startup here in Tokyo, so thanks for sitting down with us. Tomohiro: Yeah, it's my pleasure to be here today. Tim: Okay, let's do a quick overview of what Awakens is. So you developed the Genome Link software and you say you have a vision of everyone being able to access their own DNA data. Why would we want to do that? Tomohiro: We create a service called Genome Link which is the kind of API solution for companies to develop their own DNA personalized products. So we see that in the near future, in five or 10 years, every single people will have access to their own DNA data then make use of that data for like, they are choosing in fitness, nutrition, food, medicine. Tim: Does Awakens do the DNA testing as well or do you just link to work that's been done by like, Ancestors or 23AndMe? Tomohiro: Right, so at this point, we are simply focusing on existing genetic testing users,

Japan Announces Plans to Land on The Moon by 2020 Feb 19, 2018

We startup founders and investors like to talk about “moonshots”. It points out startups that have huge dreams, those that are solving hard problems, and those that will actually change the world if they succeed. Usually, the term moonshot is used metaphorically, but today I’d like to introduce you to a literal moonshot. Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace, plans on landing commercial payloads on the moon in the next two years. Ispace is in the process of developing lunar landers and lunar rovers, and they plan on using the increasingly inexpensive commercial launch companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to send them to the moon. Ispace has secured a partnership with Japan’s space agency, and they have attracted more than $90 million in investment. It’s a great conversation and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes Why Japan's space program is being privatized How a lunar lander can be commercially viable by 2020 An overview of ispace's first ten lunar missions How much it costs to put one kilogram on the moon What's worth mining on the moon What a lunar economy could look like Why lunar advertising is a possibility Links from the Founder Check out ispace Connect with Takeshi on LinkedIn [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. “Boys, be ambitious. Be ambitious not for money or selfish aggrandizement, not for that evanescent thing which men call fame. Be ambitious for the attainment of all that a man ought to be.” That was a parting advice given in 1867 by William S. Clark to the students of what would become Hokkaido University. While Clark is not widely known in his home country of the United States, both he and the phrase “Boys, be ambitious” are legendary here in Japan. And yet so few Japanese boys or girls, for that matter, really are ambitious, at least in the way that Clark intended it. Of course, many of Japan’s most ambitious boys are girls are the very ones out there starting startups, and today, I’d like to introduce you to the most ambitious Japanese startup in existence. They are a literal moonshot company and they’ve just raised over $90 million to pursue that dream. Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace plans on landing commercial payloads on the moon in the next two years. Now, ispace is not making rockets like SpaceX or Blue Origin, they're creating lunar landers and lunar rovers, and they are making plans for a commercially viable lunar economy. I'll let Takeshi tell you all about it. Oh, but before I do, you should know about the Google Lunar X Prize. This was a global $25 million competition sponsored by Google and open to any companies that could land a rover on the moon and send data back to Earth. Now, no one ended up winning the main prize but Takeshi’s Hakuto project was one of the five companies from around the world that won an intermediate milestone prize. But you know, Takeshi tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So we're sitting here with Takeshi Hakamada of ispace who is going to commercialize the moon with exploration mining and eventually tourism, so thanks for sitting down with me. Takeshi: Thank you for having interview with me today. Tim: I really appreciate this and I love big dreams, and I think that no company in Japan has bigger dreams than ispace. Takeshi: Really? Tim: Yeah. Well, I mean, you've recently raised $90 million for a literal moonshot. Can you explain what you're planning on doing? Takeshi: We are trying to provide a commercial transportation service to the moon in the next few years. Starting from that service,

Why Artificial Intelligence Is The Key to Fixing Japan’s Rigid Education System Feb 05, 2018

Using artificial intelligence to change the way the education system works seems like a fool’s errand. When you combine the fluid and opaque nature of AI technology with the slow, bureaucratic decision making of education, you usually wind up with the perfect storm of stagnation, frustration, and rapidly burning through investor capital. Out guest today, however, thinks he’s found a way to make it work. Daisuke Inada, founder and CEO of Atama+, left a promising career at Mitsui to start an EdTech company he believes will change the way children learn. Interestingly, Daisuke’s vision is not the standard EdTech dream of online classes and automated learning. It’s one where human instructors are still very much involved and critical to the success of both the students and the programs. Of course, their role will change and the overall structure will look quite different from what we know today. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes How to find a customer willing to fund changes in education The challenge in exporting the Japanese education model How to find co-founders when you are a mid-career executive What most people over 35 misunderstands about starting a startup Why education is hard to disrupt Why online education will not work in Japan or any other country How Japnese AI companies can compete against their better funded foreign rivals How to convince more Japanese to start companies Links from the Founder Check out Atama+ Follow them on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we're going to talk about artificial intelligence and natural intelligence. In fact, we're actually going to talk about using artificial intelligence to improve natural intelligence, so yeah, and tech. Education is one of our institutions that is both most in need of disruption and most resistant to disruption, and there's probably no small amount of cause and effect in that statement. I mean, the reason education is in such need of disruption is because it has been so hard to change for so long although almost every other aspect of our lives has been transformed. Education has changed over the past 100 years, not just in Japan, mind you, but all over the world. Well, today, we're going to talk about exactly why that is and what the hell we can do about it. So I’d like to introduce you to Daisuke Inada, founder and CEO of Atama-Plus. Now, Daisuke left a long and lucrative career at Mistui because he believes he has a better way to help people learn. Now, in the interview, Daisuke and I talk about jyuku and for those of you outside japan, I should probably explain what jyuku are and why they're important to innovation and education. Jyuku is usually translated as cram school. They don’t really have a parallel in the west, but they're very common in Japan and in other parts of Asia. Jyuku are school run by private companies and Japanese high school students attend jyuku after they finish their regular classes and on weekends, and on holidays. The purpose of these schools is to help the students score higher on their college entrance exams or in the case of junior high school jyuku, to increase student scores on their high school entrance exams. Unlike the high schools and junior high schools themselves, however, jyuku are private companies and some are even publicly traded. Jyuku compete fiercely for students and they're evaluated based on how well their students do on the tests. It's no surprise that they're willing to try new technology and why most education innovation in Japan focuses on jyuku. Now that you have that background, our conversation with Daisuke will make a lot more sense. Of course, we also talk about the challenges he faced when deciding ...

How Startups Can Compete In The New Energy Markets Jan 22, 2018

The global energy markets are transforming themselves right before our eyes. Very little fundamental change has occurred over the past 70 years, but 10 years from today the Japanese and global markets are going to look completely different. Today we sit down with Yohei Kiguchi CEO in Enechange, Japan’s largest retail energy switching platforms, and we dive into detail about how these markets are changing. We talk about Enechange’s business model, of course, but we also discuss the most effective strategies for startups who need to compete against large incumbents, and that advice holds true for startups in Japan or anywhere else in the world. Yohei also has some interesting observations on why Japan is a better place to start a company than the UK or Europe. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes How to identify a promising startup opportunity in Japan What’s driving change in Japan’s energy markets How to appeal to Japanese investors from overseas The importance of TV advertising in Japan How to make money in a slow-growth industry When Japan's nuclear plants will be turned back on How Japan's IPO markets gibe Japan a strategic advantage Why enterprise upper management is leaving to join startups in Japan Links from the Founder Check out Enechange SMAP Energy's website [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I surprised a lot of my friends and fans last year when I joined TEPCO, Japan's largest electric utility. I admit, at first glance, it seems a pretty radical departure from my history in startups and in most ways, it is. However, there's a transformation going on right now in energy all over the world, and while there's been very little disruption in the energy markets over the past 70 years, 10 years from now, the markets will look nothing like they do today. Well, today, we sit down with Yohei Kiguchi, CEO of Enechange, one of the more innovative startups building a business in the new energy markets. Now, before you understand what Enechange does, I need to give you a little bit of background on how energy deregulation is working around the world and the story of the coming disruption is quite similar in all developed nations. Since the days of, well, Thomas Edison, really, the power company was responsible for creating the electricity, building and maintaining the power grids to transmit that electricity across the country, and then billing the customers for the electricity they used. Because of the cost involved and the importance of universal and reliable electricity, it made sense for this to be done by a single, tightly-regulated monopoly and that's how things stayed for about 100 years, but over the past decade, around the world, the cost of generating electricity have dropped and we've seen smaller, more affordable plants, and a proliferation of sore. On the retail side, smart meters and the internet has made it easier to collect data and to be bill customers, and so markets around the world are being deregulated with power generation, power transmission, and retail billing all being handled by separate companies. While power regulation gets most of the press, most of the market disruption has focused on the retail side with hundreds of companies entering the market and many offering steep discounts. Around the world, electricity consumers have never had this much choice, and that's where Enechange comes in. Enechange is by far Japan's largest energy-switching website. It provides tools that allow consumers and businesses to shop for the best or the cheapest energy supplier, but as Yohei explains, the cheapest is not usually the best and Yohei also has some interesting observations on why Japan is a better place to start a startup than ...

Why Your Freemium Strategy Might be Hurting Your Sales Jan 08, 2018

Having a free product tier is a time-proven way for startups to get a foot in the door by giving potential customers a low-risk way of evaluating your product. However, there are times when it's easier and much more profitable to simply make the sale. Yu Taniguchi s CEO of Vesper and creator of TableSolution.TableSolution is a SaaS product similar to OpenTable. It helps restaurant owners manage their reservations and better understand their customers. You might not have heard of them yet, but you will. Today they have thousands of paying customers including some of the world's largest hotel chains, they are profitable, and they are expanding globally. Yu and I talk aboutTableSolution's business model, of course, but you Yu also has some great advice and some counterintuitive insights about selling to mid-sized companies, expanding into new verticals and recruiting great staff. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes Two ways to differentiate your startup in a crowded industry How Freemium can hurt your B2B sales How restaurants are using bid data to learn more about you How Tokyo restaurants secretly raise prices together The advantages of having a multi-lingual product from day one How to keep customer churn low in a competitive marketplace Is it more profitable to go deep or to go wide? How is selling to enterprise different from selling to startups and smaller firms Links from the Founder Check out TableSolution Follow TableSolution on Facebook Friend Yu on Facebook Vesper's TableCheck site [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Startup investing follows trends and following these trends is an easy way to raise money. Two years ago in Tokyo, everyone was starting food delivery businesses. A year ago, it was AI-related companies, and now, of course, at coffee shops around the world, founders are trying to figure out how to graft a cryptocurrency onto an existing business model and launch an ICO. Of course, after you raise the money, you got to grow the business, and that's always hard, but it's even harder when you are competing against 100 other funded startups with the same business model, no. Long-term, the companies that went out are either those who are doing something no one has thought of before or those doing something so boring that everyone has thought of it but they are doing it in a way that puts them out in front. Today, I'd like to introduce you to one of those companies. Yu Taniguchi is CEO of Vesper, the creator of Table Solution. It's a SaaS service similar to OpenTable in that it helps restaurant owners manage their reservations better and better understand their customers. You might not have heard of them yet but you will. They have thousands of paying customers, including some global chains, they are profitable, and they are beginning to expand globally. The business model itself is interesting and you also have some great advice and some counter-intuitive insights about selling to mid-sized companies and the dubious value of the freemium model in general. But you know, Yu tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I'm sitting here with Yu Taniguchi, the founder and CEO of Vesper, makers of Table Solution in the online restaurant management platform. So thanks for sitting down with me. Yu: Thank you. Tim: Table Solution is in a super competitive space so let's talk a bit about what it is. Yu: Super competitive, a lot of people think that Table Solution's competitors are companies such as GuroNavi, Tebelog, OpenTable. That's totally different, actually.

What Every Foreigner Needs to Know about Hiring Staff in Japan Dec 25, 2017

Japanese labor law is very different from what is standard in the US or Europe, and more than a few foreigners have made simple mistakes that have cost them their jobs or their entire companies. Terrie Lloyd has started more than a dozen companies in Japan over the past 30 years and has hired hundreds of people here. Today Terrie shares a number of personal stories and also offers a lot of practical advice for westerners in Japan who need to hire, manage and retain Japanese staff, either for their own startup or as part of a larger organization. Of course, we talk about Japan Travel, Terrie’s latest venture, but we also cover the state of Japanese startups in general, how to best raise money from Japanese VCs, and we go over a few real-world examples of how you can protect yourself when things go horribly, horribly wrong. It’s an interesting discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes One mistake all founders need to avoid when building a platform business Why Japanese VCs have a blind spot to the travel industry How you know when to bootstrap and when to raise funds Why loyalty points are stronger than blockchain Why Japanese companies are afraid of open data The best way to recruit and manage Japanese staff How to find a startup niche as a foreigner in Japan How to get rid of problem employees without getting sued What you need to watch out for when getting legal advice in Japan Links from the Founder Check out Japan Travel Terrie's Take is a weekly newsletter that is definately worth reading Japanese Labor Law for startup founders A general overview of Japanese Labor Law JETRO's Guide to Japanese Labor Law Some good advice to startup founders from a Japanese Lawyer [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Okay, I want to explain in advance, this one is going to be a little long, but believe me, you are going to be glad you spent the time, and you know, you might even find yourself listening to this particular episode a couple of times. There's so much good stuff coming. Terrie Lloyd has started more than a dozen companies in Japan and he has hired hundreds of people over the past 30 years. Now, Terrie and I have known each other for a long time. In fact, when I was first starting out in Japan, I did some programming for one of his companies back in the 90s. I wrote for one of his magazines in the early 2000s, and you know, I'm not sure what took me so long to invite him to sit down and talk, but I'm glad I finally did. Of course, we talked about Japan Travel, Terrie's latest startup, but our conversation also turns into a brutally practical guide for any foreigner who wants to run a business in Japan. I will warn you in advance, our conversation lacks most of the startup hype and pep talking most founders exude, but you're about to hear some fantastic real-world advice about how foreigners can hire, manage, and occasionally even fire Japanese staff. Japanese labor law is well, different than it is in the US or Europe, and more than a few foreigners have made simple mistakes in this area that ended up killing their companies. Terrie has some great advice both on how to attract and to keep Japanese talent, and a few real-world examples of how you can protect yourself when things go horribly, horribly wrong. But you know, Terrie tells that story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I'm sitting here with Terrie Lloyd, the founder and CEO of Japan Travel and LINC Media, and BiOS and quite a few other companies, so thanks for sitting down with me. Terrie: It's my pleasure. Tim: Yes, I'm amazed how long it's taken us to get around to ...

This Japan Startup Is Changing the Way Your Kids Buy Fashion Dec 11, 2017

Japanese fashion is unique, and so is the entire Japanese fashion industry. Today I would like to introduce you to a Japanese fashion startup with a genuinely unique business model. Tsubasa Koseki and his team at Facy, have created a fashion marketplace based on instant messaging and relationship building between shops and consumers. Interestingly, this market is not dominated by major labels or global companies, but by more local, mid-market brands. Tsubasa and I talk about his plans for Asian expansion, Facy’s chances for global domination in this niche, and the major differences between fashion retailing in Asia and in the West. It’s a fascinating discussion and a great inside look at fashion retailing. Show Notes What is the last untapped fashion market The reason behind the recent boom in startup founders from Todai How SNS use differs between Asia and the West Why you may not be able to trust Japanese e-commerce reviews The biggest mistake fashion startups keep making Why the global fashion brands will be at a disadvantage over the next 10 years Links from the Founder Check out Facy Follow them on Facebook More about Facy on The Bridge [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Every once in a while, I come across a startup with a business model that only exists in Japan. Now usually, this is because the startup is responding to a market need or a consumer behavior that also only exists in Japan. Occasionally however, only occasionally, I come across a unique startup with a genuinely good idea that has potential to make a global impact, and today, I'd like to introduce you to one of those companies. Tsubasa Koseki is the CEO and founder of Facy, and Facy has developed a fashion marketplace based on, believe it or not, text messaging. Consumers with questions about fashion can ask for advice, and fashion brands and stores respond to those questions. Yes, yes, I know, messaging is already widely used in the fashion e-commerce industry, but Facy has a wonderful and minimal approach to it that really deserves attention. Now, I grant you that the fashion industry as a whole is a bit outside of my core competence and in truth, I have a fashion sense that is perfect for podcasting, but Facy's results really speak for themselves, and Tsubasa and his company have big plans for expansion as well, but you know, Tsubasa tells that story much better than I can, so let's hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Okay, so we're sitting here with Tsubasa Koseki, the CEO and founder of Facy. So thanks for sitting down with us today. Tsubasa: Yes, thank you, Tim, too. I'm very happy to present our project. I'm a big fan of your podcast. Tim: Well, thanks. Let's get right into what Facy does, so you talk about o-to-o means in offline-to-online support services for fashion and apparel stores, so how does this work exactly? Tsubasa: On our service, user can ask their fashion needs like Quora. Tim: Quora? Like the Q&A site? Tsubasa: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. User can ask their own fashion needs. For example, I'm looking for sneakers for the office, shop staff can reply to the post by uploading their item in their stores. User can ask additional questions. If it's okay, they can buy or reserve item. Tim: I really think you got an interesting approach to e-commerce in general, but fashion in particular where it is this kind of calling response where you got customers texting like just random questions, and how detailed are these questions? Are they simple things like, "I'm looking for a new pair of sneakers for basketball"? Or do you get people saying,

Why Japanese Design Is So Different & What You Should Learn from It Nov 27, 2017

There are a lot of passionate opinions about Japanese design. From the beauty and subtlety of the best Japanese anime to the design horrors of most corporate Powerpoint presentations, Japanese design covers a huge range. Things are changing though, and today we sit down and talk with Naofumi Tsuchiya, the founder and CEO of Goodpatch, one of Japan’s leading, and most richly valued, UI/UX design startups. We talk about how Japanese design is evolving and why we might be seeing (for better or worse) a more global design standard and sensibility. Goodpatch is one of the new breed of Japanese design firms, and they’ve been able to raise substantial venture funding. Nao and I also talk about how that venture money has forced his startup to move in very specific strategic directions. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. UPDATE: The conversation below on the future of Goodpatch's two products is a bit confusing. Goodpatch has stopped development of Balto, but is continuing development on Prott. They are now in the process of a major rewrite and will soon launch a revamped Prott 2. Show Notes How you can choose your customers in Japan, and why most startups think you cannot How a life-threatening illness actually turned Nao's life around What makes a product meaningful How to discover passionate teams hiding inside large enterprises Why it's hard for a startup to move from services to products Why design in Japan is so different today How to improve user acquisition by over 50% (at least in Japan) How we should be raising the next generation of designers Links from the Founder Learn more about Goodpatch on their homepage Check out Nao's blog Follow him on Twitter @tsuchinao83 Check out the Goodpatch blog In English In Japanese Listen to the Goodpatch podcast (sorry, Japanese only) [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to be talking about design in Japan and it’s going to be good. Because Japanese design is a topic that people have a lot of strong opinions about. From the subtlety and nuance you see in the very best of Japanese anime to the visual horrors of Japanese corporate PowerPoint presentations. The topic covers both the wonderful and the terrible. And so, to dance us through this minefield is Nao Tsuchiya of Goodpatch. Now, Goodpatch is one of Japan’s fastest growing and most highly valued design startups. We’ll talk about Japanese design not only as it exist today but why we might see a global convergence of design, style, and UI sensibilities in the coming decades. Even if it’s inevitable, it’ll be sad to see the current global diversity disappear. And though we don’t talk about it during the interview, I first ran across now a while back when I recommended Goodpatch to one of my larger consulting clients. Before providing an estimate or drilling down into the requirements, Goodpatch sent back a detailed questionnaire, asking this enterprise about their dreams for the project and who their ideal users were, and how they normally communicated with them. Now, these are great, in fact, even common sense questions for designing a user experience. They show that the designers really do care about what they’re building over at Goodpatch. But the enterprise employees running this project simply did not know how to deal with it. And rather than trying to answer the questions and challenge their own assumptions about the project, they went with a more traditional and more obedient vendor. The final product was definitely the last because of that decision. I’ve been a fan of Goodpatch from the day I saw that corporate client questionnaire. But you know, Nao tells the story much better than I can.

How Machine Learning Is Changing The Way We Watch Video Nov 13, 2017

Video is taking over the internet, but in many ways, it has not changed significantly in the past 40 years. The way we discover and pay for video content has changed significantly, of course, but we still consume video in a continuous, linear sequence, and that’s about to change. Sandeep Casi and his team at Videogram are using deep learning to change the way you and I discover and watch video. They’ve already had success in the enterprise realm, and they are now bringing the technology to consumers. Interestingly, Videogram was not founded the way most startups are, and Sandeep’s approach to leveraging the intellectual property locked up inside Japan’s large corporations might represent a unique and important avenue for innovation here in Japan. One that might become every bit as important as traditional seed-funded startups. We also dive into the paradox of enterprise innovation, and Sandeep explains a few things that all startups need to understand about corporate accelerators before joining. It’s an interesting discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes Why the key-frame model of video presentation is broken How General Motors pioneered VR in the early 90s Why there are fewer breakthrough technologies than you think What a startup can do when you are too early to market Why technology companies need to be content companies Why we might see more spinouts from Japanese enterprise How to raise funds as a foreigner in Japan How the Olympics will force Japan's video market and culture to change How to overcome the aversion some Japanese VCs have to foreign founders Links from the Founder Learn more about Videogram Check out Sandeep's home page Follow Sandeep on Twitter @sandeepcasi Friend him on Facebook The Increasing Interplay of Video and Social Media How Machine Learning Unlocks the Value of Video [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to be talking about the future of both how we create and how we consume video. Now I grant you, this may sound like something that’s pretty hard to do in an audio format but I think is some ways it’s actually easier. After listening back to this interview after I recorded it, it became clear that imaging the possibility in your mind’s eye us much more powerful than laying it all out for you in two dimensions. But we’ll get to all of that in just a little bit. You see, today we sit down and talk with Sandeep Casi, founder and CEO of Videogram. We talk not only about the future of video but also about a new model for unlocking some of the intellectual property that’s currently locked up in large Japanese companies. Sandeep and his team followed a very different startup model than what we see in Silicon Valley. It’s something we might be seeing a lot more of in Japan because the model is so well-suited to conditions here in Japan. Sandeep also has some really practical advice for participating in corporate accelerators and for new things startups absolutely must keep in mind when trying to sell innovative products to large enterprises. There are definitely tradeoffs. In fact, you could say there’s almost a built-in conflict of interest. We also share some real-world suggestions on how foreign founders can successfully raise multiple funding rounds in Japan. But you know, Sandeep tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Sandeep Casi of Videogram, which is an amazing video product. Thanks for sitting down with me. Sandeep: Thank you, Tim, and thanks for the opportunity to talk to your audience.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Asia Nov 06, 2017

Today I have a special in-between episode for you. At this year's big Tech In Asia Tokyo event I moderated a panel on artificial intelligence with some of the leaders in the field in Asia. We talked about how to separate the AI hype from reality, where companies can and are finding competitive advantage in AI, and whether in the decades to come artificial intelligence will be serving us in the future or whether we will be answering to our robot overlords. Joining me on the main Tech in Asia stage were: Alexis Zheng - Product Lead, Uber Toshitada Nagumo - CEO, Fenox Japan Takahiro Shoji - Venture Partner, Zeroth.ai It was an interesting conversation, and I thought I would package it up and bring it to you exactly as it happened. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Apologies, but there is no transcript of this show.

This Japanese Startup Beat Out NASA to Create Affordable Bio Jet Fuel Oct 30, 2017

There is far more to startups in Japan than SaaS software and IoT hardware companies. Biotech startups are beginning to make a mark here. Today we sit down and talk with biotech pioneer Mitsuru Izumo and talk about his ground-breaking work at Euglena. In many ways, the team at Euglena succeeded where even NASA failed. They have developed a process to cultivate this microorganism, also called Euglena, affordably and at industrial scale. And Mitsuru and his team use using Euglena to create everything from inexpensive nutritional supplements to biological jet-fuel. Mitsuru tells an amazing story of how he took his startup from inspiration to proof of concept, to IPO, and how the real innovation is just getting started. I think you’ll really enjoy this one Show Notes Why the same organism can produce both food and fuel Why Euglena has been impossible to cultivate at industrial scale The world does not have a hunger problem; it has a nutrition problem How to move forward when no one believes in your vision How small companies can get to scale in Japan Why Japanese startups must IPO sooner than those in the West Why NASA gave up on Euglena, and why they were wrong Links from the Founder Learn about Euglena, the company Learn about the Euglena, the organism Follow Euglena on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to talk about slime. Well, actually no, not slime exactly we’ll be talking about algae. Well, actually, the biology nerds out there and I think it’s awesome if you are one, will point out that technically, we aren’t actually talking about algae but a unique organism called euglena, that has both animal and plant characteristics. And we’ll also be talking about a unique company, also called Euglena, that is cultivating this organism at scale and turning it into everything from nutritional supplements to jet fuel. In fact, in this episode, we drink our opening toast not with our usual Anchor Steam beer but with a glass of euglena. Now, I know what some of you are thinking and yes, university research labs and crowdfunding sites are packed with companies claiming that their pet organism is the key to solving a wide variety of mankind’s problems. But Euglena is not operating in a lab but commercially and at massive scale. And today, we sit down with the founder and CEO, Mitsuru Izumo, who explains how he overcame initial market skepticism to get financial backing. How he was able to achieve what NASA could not. And how and why he decided to take his company public. But you know, Mitsuru tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers. Mitsuru: Yes. For starting. Cheers. Tim: That’s pretty good. So, I’m sitting here with Mitsuru Izumo, the founder of Euglena. Thanks for sitting down with us today. Mitsuru: Thank you for coming today. Tim: I think most of our listeners are not familiar with Euglena, either the company or the organism. First, what is the organism? Mitsuru: Euglena is a kind of tiny microorganism. You can’t see it directly. You have to see through microscope because the length is only 0.1 mm. Tim: So that’s about the diameter of human hair? Mitsuru: Yes. Exactly. Very similar to the human hair. Little bit smaller than the hair. Euglena is green colored microorganisms and euglena have a lot of chlorophyll. Euglena can do photosynthesis by capturing carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and carbohydrate. Tim: Euglena, it’s a single cell organism. Is it a type of algae or is it its own unique type of organism? Mitsuru: It’s difficult to answer.

The Hard Thing about Hardware Startups in Japan – Logbar Oct 16, 2017

There’s a very good reason most Japanese hardware startups fail. Today we sit down with Takuro Yoshida CEO and founder of Logbar, and we dive into the reasons and also go over Logbar’s strategy for avoiding the mistakes that have killed off so many other Japanese IoT startups. Takuro is the creator of one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns and two of the most successful IoT projects in Japan, the Ring Zero, which is VR controller in wearable ring form and the ili automatic translator, which is just starting to gain real traction. Of course, we dive into how he managed to create and bring these products to market, and we also talk in detail about Takuro’s unusual journey from professional bartender to successful startup CEO. It’s a great conversation, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes How to go from bartender IoT startup founder Why a successful Kickstarter campaign can be a danger to your company Why the Ring failed as a hardware controller Why hardware translators will succeed where software-based translators have failed How hardware devices will survive in the world of a standardized mobile phone platform Why even in Japan all publicity is good publicity Why Japan has fallen behind in hardware and how it can catch up Why Japanese VCs don't want to invest in hardware startups Links from the Founder Find out about Logbar Info on the Ili translator The video that got Logbar so much attention [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. You know. One of the biggest changes I’ve seen in Japanese startups over the last 20 years, in the increasing number that are coming out of Japan’s top universities. I’ve got to say there’s both a positive side and a negative side to the large number of new startups being founded at these universities, particularly at the University of Tokyo. On the positive side, it’s great that so many of Japan’s top students, students who have the option of a fast track career in government or a Japanese industry are choosing to take a risk and start a company. It’s a concrete sign that things really are changing in Japan. However, the fact there there’s been such a large number of founders from the University of Tokyo in particular, shows that in some ways, not that much has changed. The fact is that when Todai ramped up their entrepreneurship program, they brought resources to bear that only they could. Todai students have access to government connections, funding, and industry programs, and alliances that no one else in Japan had. Some founders in Todai rely heavily on these connection, some almost exclusively, and others barely use them at all. And in the end, of course, outside of a small handful of startups that rely primarily on government investment, all startups will succeed or fail in the same public marketplace. Still, however, sometimes the most inspiring founders are those who come from somewhere you don’t expect, someone who takes an unusual and u likely path to entrepreneurship. And Takuro Yoshida of Logbar is a founder in that mold. When I first met him four, five years ago, he was tending bar and trying to innovate bartending. Over the past few years, he and his team have run one of Japan’s largest Kickstarter campaigns and developed, released, and secured national and international distribution for two completely hardware products. And I think you can learn a lot from him. But you know, Takuro tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [Interview] [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Takuro Yoshida of Logbar, one of Japan’s most creative internet of things startups.

Live & Unleashed – Japan’s New Wave of Hardware Innovation Oct 02, 2017

Disrupting Japan is three years old, so we decided to invite a few hundred movers and shakers from Tokyo's startup community over to have few drinks and to hear three of Japan's most successful startup CEOs talk about what it takes for Japanese startups to succeed globally. Our panel included the CEOs of some of the most innovative startups in Japan. Ken Tamagawa (@kentamagawa) - CEO, Soracom Takuma Iwasa (@cerevoglobal) - CEO, Cerevo Shin Sakane (@laundroid_0 ) - CEO, Seven Dreamers We talk about strategies for global growth, how to best manage multi-cultural teams, and the likely future of hardware and IoT startups in Japan. In fact, we talk a lot about the challenges hardware startups are facing in Japan today. Japanese hardware startups are at a crossroads. The old model of hardware innovation is failing, but there is a new model, unique to Japan, that might just take its place. But, as our guests explain, things are far from certain. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. On a personal note, thank you for reading and listening and for being a part of Disrupting Japan. When I started this project three years ago, I never imagined how big it would become, or how large, passionate, and global the interest in Japanese truly is. I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who has pitched in to help make Disrupting Japan a success. There is no way I could have built this by myself. I have access to a bottomless well of innovative and genuinely interesting Japanese startup founders, and I look forward to continuing to introduce them to you and to bring you their stories. Thanks for listening! [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. You guys are joining mw. You guys are awesome. Audience: [Cheering] Tim: I’ve got to admit, that is the exact response I hear in my head every time I say that phrase. Audience: [Laughing] Tim: Before we get to the kampai and to the panel discussion proper, there’s a few people I really want to thank, who without them I couldn’t have put this show together. The first of which is Creww. What Creww does is they run about 80% of the corporate accelerators in Japan. So if your startup wants to hook up with a large corporation or you’ve got a big company who want to hook up a startup, you need to talk to Creww and Segawa-san is hanging around somewhere. Where is Segawa-san? Waive. I can’t see you from up here, so. There he is in the back. Talk to Segawa-san and also, Creww is opening a new co-working collaboration space to help startups connect with enterprises. It’s just up the street. Second, I want to give a big shout out to the Carter Group. Dominic Carter is here somewhere, himself. There is Dominic over there. And so, for those of you who have done business in Japan, which is pretty much everyone here, the things never quite work out as you expect them to. The Carter Group provides market intelligence and market research that help companies grow their business here or come here in the first place. Their processes and the prices are extremely startup-friendly. So if you want to grow your business here, talk to Dominic. And last but certainly not least, I want to give a big shout out to Digital Hub. Now, you’ll see these guys running around with cameras and microphones, documenting this for all of posterity. Don’t talk to the guys with the cameras. But they also do some great corporate video work. So if you’re looking for video — and who isn’t these days — talk to Steve, who is over there. Audience: [Applause] Tim: So, I’d like everyone to raise their glasses and thank you guys so much for being with me for three years and over 100 episodes. And I hope you come along with me for the next 100 episodes in the next three years. Thank you so much. Kampai!

How You Can Prepare for Japan’s Coming Wave of Cybercrime Sep 18, 2017

Corporate Japan is about to go through a major transition in its approach to computer security. In the past, Japan-only payment systems and the Japanese language itself provided a barrier that kept international fraud and attacks at a very low level. All that is changing now. With payment systems becoming increasingly global, and free, instant translation available to anyone with a browser, fraud is on the rise in Japan. Today we sit down with Atsuyoshi Shimazu of Caulis, and he’s going to both explain the new threats and explain exactly what he plans to do about them. He’ll also explain why Japan’s current approach to the internet of things means that things might get worse before they get better. It’s a great conversation, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes Why 50 million accounts are at risk in Japan Why some Japanese companies avoid taking security measures Toyota's vision of connected cars in the gig economy What security looks like in an IoT world Why online fraud is about to skyrocket in Japan Japan's susceptibility to ransomware attacks Why hacking insurance might be the future of security Why Japanese CSOs and CIOs are so bad at their jobs Links from the Founder Connect with Atsuyoshi on LinkedIn Friend him on Facebook Find out about Caulis Follow them on twitter @CaulisJP Visit them on Facebook Find out if your account has been hacked at Have I Been Pawned [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to talk about fraud. Online fraud, hackers, scams, identity theft in Japan, and what exactly we can do about it. Now, I’ve been involved professionally in IT in Japan for more than 20 years, and that includes both enterprise scale big IT and startup scale little IT. Corporate Japan has always had a strange relationship with computer security. On one hand, companies are very sensitive to security concerns and they’ll pay top dollar for security hardware and software systems and evaluations. But on the other hand, day-to-day security practices are often neglected. Operating systems remain unpatched, firewalls are set up and then never touched again, and backup systems are rarely tested. Right now, however, Japan is going through a bit of a security transition in both their understanding of fraud and how susceptible their systems are to fraud and hacking, and walk you through some of these important changes. Today, we sit down with Atsuyoshi Shimazu, founder and CEO of Caulis. Now, Caulis offers a distributed online fraud prevention service called Fraud Alert, and it’s solid technology that has a special appeal in the Japanese market. Now, Atsuyoshi also explains how the internet of things is going to force all of us to radically change the way we think about online security and security in general. He also explains why the instances and losses due to online fraud is set to skyrocket in Japan over the next two years. But you know, Atsuyoshi tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Atsuyoshi Shimazu of Caulis, the makers of Fraud Alert, which is an online security and fraud prevention tool. I’m sure you can explain it much better than I can. Thanks for sitting down with me. Can you tell me a bit about what Fraud Alert does and what Caulis is? Atsuyoshi: Fraud Alert protect the corporate website from the fraud attack such as brute force attacks. At first, we protect the log-in page and also conversion page such as money transfer pages. Tim: You’re preventing unauthorized access to web pages and monitoring the behavior on those pages as well?...

Why I Turned Down $500k, Shut Down My Startup, And Joined the Enterprise Sep 04, 2017

Welcome to our 100th show. If you are new, welcome to Disrupting Japan. If you are a long-time follower, thank you for being part of the community and helping to make Disrupting Japan what it is today. This is a special, and rather short, episode. Today I'm going to tell you a very personal story of startup failure, and let you in on what's coming next. Both for me, and for the show. Thank you for listening, and I think you'll enjoy this one. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan episode 100. Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan's most sucessful entreprenuers. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Wow. One hundred episodes! That’s right Orson Wells only made 64 movies. The Rolling Stones have only recorded 53 albums. Lord Byron only published 83 poems. But Disrupting Japan has now released 100 episodes. And I’m pretty happy about that. When I started this show, almost exactly three years ago, I never imagined it would grow into the big international community it has become, and I want to thank you for being part of it. Wether you were one of our 14 original listeners or one of the thousands who have signed up more recently, thanks for joining the conversation about some of the truly amazing things going on in Japanese startups and innovation today. I knew I had to do something special for our 100th show, and gave a lot of thought to exactly what that should be. I thought about doing a clip show with many of Japan’s startup founders saying a word about startup in Japan and wishing us a happy 100, but that seems kind of, I don’t know vain and self-congratulatory. I thought about getting a big name on the show. There are a couple of world-famous Japanese founders who I could have probably brought on for the big anniversary, but that didn’t feel quite right either. I mean, we’ll definitely get those guys on later, but what you’ve been telling me — pretty consistently — over the past three years, is that it’s the human stories of success .. and failure and challenge that really meet to matter. And that makes sense. It’s not the dot.com billionaires that are diving innovation in Japan. It’s the thousands of individual innovators and the millions of Japanese people newly willing to take chance and try out these new ideas that are really driving the change. In a way, the billionaires are just as much a result of these historic changes as they are a cause of them. The real change, the real engine for innovation in Japan is the creative people who are willing to take some very real social and economic risks to follow their dreams and try to create something new. I mean, they are not selfless. Very few of them are doing it for the betterment of Japan. No they have their own reasons some financial, some personal, but they are willing to put themselves out there, both economically by starting a company, and socially by, among other things, coming onto this show and talking very frankly about what they feel, and what they fear … and what they really want. This kind of public openness about true hopes and fears. This kind of sharing. It’s never really been a part of Japanese culture, but that’s changing. At least among startup founders. And that’s a great thing. So, in that spirt of openness about failure and success and hopes and dreams, for this special 100th episode, I’ve decided to share a personal story of my own. I’m going to tell you about one of my startup failures, and then I’ll tell you about my new job. I can talk about it now, and if you haven’t heard yet, you are in for a surprise. Ah, but before I tell you about dreams of future success, I owe you a story of past failure. This is adapted from an article I wrote a little more than a year ago about why I decided to shut down my latest startup a few weeks before launch. The article was originally titled “Why I Turned Down $500k,

What You Don’t Know about Japan’s Sharing Economy – Anytimes Aug 21, 2017

Fewer than 1% of Japanese consumers have ever purchased a product or service from a sharing economy platform. It's actually quite puzzling. Social and economic factors all seem to indicate that Japanese cities would be ideal for sharing economy businesses, but for a number of reasons sharing economy startups have not really taken off here. Today we unravel a bit of this mystery as we sit down with Chika Tsunada, founder of Anytimes and the Director of the Sharing Economy Association Japan. Anytimes is a P2P sharing economy startup with a unique and participatory business model. Chika explains why she chose that model and the challenges it presents. Even under ideal circumstances, building a P2P marketplace is hard. It's one of the most challenging business models to execute, and to succeed today requires doing something truly unique. Chika has chosen an unusual path both for herself and for her business. It's a great discussion, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes The best strategy for building a two-sided marketplace Why even Japanese entrepreneurs discourage their children from joining startups How to start a web-startup when you are not a programmer or designer Is it better to go deep or go wide in creating a marketplace? One technique for fighting online review fraud Why the Japanese labor market is unique in regards to the sharing economy Why freelancing has not yet taken off in rural areas The spark that will ignite the sharing economy in Japan How licensing and administrative guidence stifles innovation in Japan Links from the Founder Friend Chika on Facebook Follow her on Twitter @chikageena Check out the Anytimes homepage Anytimes for Andriod Anytimes for IOS [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, when I run startup workshops and classes on entrepreneurship, by far, the most popular business model used by the students for their startup ideas are two-sided marketplaces. Everybody wants to be a marketplace. Why not? There’s a lot to love about being a marketplace if you can pull it off. Aspiring founders imagine themselves running a platform that matches up buyers and sellers and takes a small piece of each transaction. They imagine dozens of other ways to monetize both the relationships they have with the participants and the data and the insights they gather about the market itself, and they all scale up easily and can be run with a relatively small staff. Really, online marketplaces seem like the ideal business model, and on paper they are. The reality, however, is that marketplace businesses are hard. I mean, really hard. Sure, once you have millions of users, marketplaces can be insanely profitable. The problem is getting that first 1,000 or maybe 10,000 active users. That’s hard. To do that, you need to be doing something unique. Well, today, we sit down with Chika Tsunoda, the CEO of Anytimes and the director of the Sharing Economy Association of Japan, and she explains how she’s been building a P2P services marketplace with a unique Japanese twist. It’ been a bit of a crazy journey for Chika so far but she thinks that Anytimes is positioned to take advantage of a unique aspect of the Japanese labor market. But you know, Chika tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I am sitting here with Chika Tsunoda, the director of the Sharing Economy Association in Japan and the fearless founder of Anytimes. Thanks for sitting down with me. Chika: Thank you for coming and thank you for interviews. Tim: Anytimes is a skill-sharing and a skill-matching platform bu...

This Startup is Turning Investing into a Lifestyle Brand Aug 07, 2017

The financial services industry in Japan is pretty unsophisticated. There are relatively few options for brokerages and mutual funds, and what options there are tend to be expensive. Furthermore, since pensions and taxes are generally handled by the employer there is not much reason for the average Japanese to think much about investments. Jin Nakamura of Money Design is trying to change that with a very interesting strategy. In a market that is dominated by price competition, Money Design has set out to create a premium lifestyle brand that has nothing to do with finance. And it’s working. Money Design has become the largest robo-advisor service in Japan and is partnering with some of the largest banks here. It’s a fascinating story, and I think you'll really enjoy it. Show Notes Why young Japanese are not investing Why it takes so long to launch a financial product in Japan The danger of using AI in investing How to reach $1 billion assets under management How to avoid competing on price in a price-sensitive market What it will take to get the Japanese public to believe in startups Links from the Founder The Money Design homepage Check out Jin's blog Friend Jin on Facebook Check out THEO. It's pretty cool. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan episode 98. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to talk about money, about investment. It’s not about exciting things like venture funding and ICOs but about simple somewhat stuffy stocks and bonds. Jin Nakamura cofounded Money Design as a way to introduce millennials and other young Japanese to investing. Money Design has created THEO, one of Japan’s first robo-advisors. Now, robo-advisors are a lot simpler than their name implies. Basically, all that’s happening is that you contribute a small amount of money each month and the robo-advisor will invest a certain percentage of that in stocks and another percentage in bonds and will make some adjustments if the allocations get too far out of alignment. I t’s a simple concept, really, but as Jin explains, young Japanese have shown very little interest in this kind of investing. So to reach them, Money Design created a lifestyle brand, one that had absolutely nothing to do with finance or money, and it worked. Young investors have been flocking to the THEO system and have made it the largest robo-advisor in Japan. In fact, Jin shares some of the insight that will be very important to anyone running a fintech startup or trying to sell financial services in Japan. But you know, Jin tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Time Romero: So I’m sitting here with Jin Nakamura, the CEO of Money Design and creator of THEO, a robo-advisory for retail investors. Thanks for sitting down with me. Jin Nakamura: Thank you very much. Thank you for coming in our office. Tim: Delighted to be here. I described Money Design in a very simple way but I think you can explain what you guys are doing much better. Jin: Our product is very simple. We are providing a robo-advisory service in Japan. And then our global competitor is Betterment and Wealthfront. We are one of the first venture company to provide robo-advisory services in Japan. Tim: For those of our listeners who don’t know, robo-advisory just means that individual investors can give you a relatively small amount of money and you invest it automatically for them. Jin: Yes. We are providing the very simple financial product by smartphone. Once you access our website and then you answer just five questions. We showed the portfolio for each customer.

This Is Why Japanese Startups Can’t Pivot Jul 31, 2017

Japanese enterprises are particularly susceptible to disruption, and Japanese startups have a harder time than most pivoting. Both of these problems stem from the same root, and today we are going to dig up that root and have a look at it. Today we sit down with Shogo Kawada co-founder DeNA, and we talk about both the challenges of the company’s early startup pivots and the post-IPO difficulties they faced with new disruptive challengers. Shogo is now one of the most active and successful angel investors in Japan, and he explains how both the role and profile of Japanese angels is shifting. He also outlines the reasons why their presence is leading to several positive changes in Japan’s venture capital ecosystem. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes How both eBay and DeNA screwed up auctions in Japan Why most business alliances fail Why startups will always have the advantage with new technology How to get started in angel investing The only thing the can force Japanese corporate VCs to change their structure Why the current startup bubble is different from the dot.com bubble What will happen when the current bubble bursts Why Japanese VCs never take technology risks Links from the Founder Follow Shogo on Twitter @shg A brief history of DeNA [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan episode 97. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Japanese startups have trouble pivoting. Business and social conventions make it really hard. Once the team, the company or the country has committed to a certain path, with Japan’s consensus-driven approach to decision-making and the importance placed on maintaining social harmony, it makes it very hard for an individual to stand up and say, “Hey everyone, I think we’re on the wrong path here.” Business convention in Japan requires you to simply pitch in and pull your weight. This is one of the reasons that Japanese companies, particularly the large enterprises are so susceptible to disruption. But some Japanese startups have been able to pivot their way through multiple business models and into a successful IPO and those are the ones that we need to study to find out how they did it. And today, Shogo Kawada, co-founder of DeNA takes us through the exciting story of one such case study. We talk about why DeNA was able to pivot relatively easily from auctions to commerce to mobile gaming but why it was unable to make the jump from web auctions to mobile auctions or from early mobile gaming to smartphone-based mobile gaming. We discussed the core reason for the problem and examine possible solutions. And we also talk about the rise of angel investors in Japan and how they’ve changed the way investing works here. But you know, Shogo tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Shogo Kawada, the co-founder of DeNA. Thanks for sitting down with me. Shogo: Thank you very much. Tim: I’m sure most of our listeners know DeNA. It was one of the most important gaming startups of the .com generation. You founded it with Tomoko Nanba in 1999 and you’ve become one of the most active angel investors in Japan now. So before we dig into current investment trends in Japan, I want to back up a bit and talk a little about you and DeNA. Shogo: Basically, we started DeNA as an e-commerce company. It first started, it’s PC-based auction service in 1999. Tim: Okay. So originally, the idea was to compete with Yahoo Auctions and eBay? Shogo: Yes, exactly. When we started, at that time, there’s no Yahoo Auction. Yes,

Why Japan is Already Becoming the World’s FinTech Leader Jul 24, 2017

FinTech in Japan is far more advanced than most outside observers imagine it to be, and based on new deregulation and government incentives, finTech in Japan is about to accelerate even more. Today we sit down and talk with Toshio Taki, co-founder of Money Forward, advisor to Japan’s Financial Services Agency, and the head of the FinTech Institute of Japan. He not only tells the story of the founding and growth of MoneyForward -- one of Japan's finTech success stories, but he outlines how the Japanese government’s plans to promote financial innovation while still maintaining the integrity and stability of the industry as a whole. The Japanese banking regulators are, at least in this sense, far less conservative than you think, and they are setting up a finical ecosystem in Japan that will lead to far more innovative finTech startups than we are seeing coming out of Europe of America. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes How banking and credit card use is different in Japan Why most Japanese need multiple bank accounts Why finTech is evolving differently in Japan Who really controls household finance in Japan How Money Forward was reluctantly pulled into the B2B market How Japan's FSA is promoting finTech and financial innovation in Japan How the FSA is forcing Japan's banks to open up to innovation Links from the Founder The Money Forward homepage Japan's Financial Services Agency Connect with Toshio on LinkedIn [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Okay. For all of you fastidious followers and fanatical fans of all things FinTech, I have a fantastic show for you today. We’re going to sit down and talk with Toshio Taki, co-founder of Money Forward, about how the Japanese government is forcing the banking sector to allow startups to innovate. Well, perhaps forcing is too strong a word, let’s just say that Japanese banks are being strongly encouraged to work with startups. Now, Toshio studied under Peter Thiel at Stanford before co-founding Money Forward which has become the leading personal finance app in Japan. He’s also an advisor to Japan’s financial services agency and the head of the FinTech Institute of Japan. After listening to Toshio, you’ll understand why the Japanese banking regulators are far less conservative than you might imagine them to be and why the Japanese financial sector is about to become a whole lot more competitive than what exists in Europe or North America. Of course, this being Japan, risks must be understood and managed. And Toshio walks us through the Japanese government’s blueprint for fostering financial innovation while still maintaining the integrity and stability of the industry as a whole. This episode is required listening for anyone who wants to understand the future of FinTech in Japan. And you know, Toshio explains that much better than I can so let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Toshio Taki, the co-founder of Money Forward and head of the FinTech Association of Japan. Toshio: Cancelled meeting today and I’m very excited for this podcast. Tim: I’m glad to have you here because I think FinTech in Japan right now and Money Forward, it’s pretty amazing space to be in. Before we get started on the overall market, let’s explain what Money Forward is. I know it’s online financial management software that you sell to individuals and small business but tell us more about what it actually does. Toshio: Sure. In brief, Money Forward operates two types of businesses. One for the B2C where probably the most familiar name would be mint.com.

Why Nerds Need to Stop Reading Tolkien Jul 19, 2017

(Photo Credit: WurFi) This is a short and very personal episode. Things will be changing for me and for Disrupting Japan, and sometimes when you are facing a lot of big changes, it really helps to be able to share your thoughts with people you care about. That's you. There is no guest this time. It's a story about me and magic and chivalry and startups. I hope you find something in it. Transcript Disrupting Japan Episode… well, that’s kind of complicated. Hi. Tim here. I’ve got some big news that I can only tease you with right now, but I wanted to share it with you in this special, short in-between episode. There are no ads this episode, because … well, because this one is not brought to you by our sponsors, it’s too personal. It’s brought to you by me. Now, no one has ever been surprised to learn that I was a huge nerd in high-school. And this was back in the 1980’s, a very long time before nerds were even remotely cool, and female nerds simply didn’t exist. Actually, no I take that back. I’m sure there were female nerds back then, but social norms being what they were, they had to stay in the closet and hide their nerdy nature from the rest of the world while pretending to be interested in cheerleading and quarterbacks and what have you. So I guess that the 1980s were a tough time to be a female nerd. Nerd liberation came later for girls than it did for boys, but the 80s were not a great time to be a male nerd either. Anyway, I was on the debate team and spent my free time programming my Commodore 64, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and arguing the finer points of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with my equally nerdy friends. Now over the years, I’ve given up on the idea of debate for debate's sake, upgraded my computer, and I haven’t played D&D since high-school graduation. However, I still enjoy Tolkien and find myself re-reading his books every decade or two. The Lord of the Rings is a classic tale that is beautifully told, and generations of nerds have found in it not simply an enjoyable distraction, but as profound human insight and as inspiration on leading a life well lived. But recently, and as a result of this serial entrepreneur life I’ve chosen, the characters in The Lord of the Rings have been seeming a bit thin, and those of another novel have started to seem richer and richer. Back in high-school, I considered Cervantes’ Don Quixote an interesting enough story, but over the years as I’ve embarked on several radically different careers and started startup after startup, something about the novel started to resonate with me. As the Lord of the Rings began to feel more and more like a well-told fairy tale, Don Quixote began to seem, well a little bit like me. For those of you who have not read the book in while or who have only seen one of the movies, all of which miss the core point of the book, let me explain Cervantes wrote Don Quixote more than 400 years ago, and he tells a story of a man who lived in a time of overdue bills, nosy neighbors and bickering politicians. It was a time when the world was filled with petty people with tiny dreams wasting their lives in mundane and meaningless pursuits. Well, Quixote dreamed of a better world. A world where life had honor and meaning. He desperately wanted to live in an age of chivalry. A time of damsels in distress and knights errant, a time when there were still giants left to slay. He believed in his vision so passionately he began to see the world not as it was, but as it could be; as it should be. Farmers became noble squires, peasant girls became princesses, and most famously, windmills became ferocious giants. Now Don Quixote is not a heroic figure. He never managed to change the world. In fact, no one ever believed in his vision except for him. The world viewed Don Quixote as a somewhat amusing, but a pathetic and pointless person. When you read the novel, you get the impression that even Cervantes,

How This American Got The Japanese Government to Fund His Startup – enTouch Jul 17, 2017

Two of the most persistent and damaging myths about Japan are that it is hard to start a company here and that it is hard to do business as a foreigner. Well, those are not complete myths. Both of those things are indeed difficult, but no harder than they are in any other country. Today Marty Roberts explains not only how he started and rapidly grew a successful startup here in Japan, but how he got the Japanese government to pay for it. To contain health care costs, the Japanese government is pushing doctors to prescribe more generic drugs, and that is forcing the pharmaceutical industry to change they way they do business or to go out of business. Marty saw an opportunity in this shift, and his company has quickly grown to be the leader in its space. Marty also offers some very practical advice for anyone thinking of leaving a senior management role to start a startup. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes How pharma sales is broken in Japan Why work is about to get a lot harder for Japan’s Doctors How Japan plans on cutting medical costs in the future Why enTouch needed services to sell software How to negotiate non-compete agreements with your current employer Getting funding from the Japanese government Why you don't want to invest in technology early How enTouch will survive the next phase of market distortion What needs to change about childcare in Japan Links from the Founder Find out more about enTouch Follow them on Facebook or LinkedIn Friend Marty on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan Episode 95. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Work is about to get a whole lot harder for doctors in Japan. Japan’s rapidly aging population combined with a pressure to decrease costs in the National Health Insurance program means that doctors and well, all parts of Japan’s health care industry are going to have to do a lot more with a lot less. Of course disruptive innovation in health care is rare and frankly, that’s a good thing. Most advances in health care are steady if unpredictable incremental innovation, and we’re going to be looking at one of those today. Japan’s pharmaceutical companies are under pressure not just from the drugs going off patent but the Japanese government’s plans to drastically increase the percentage of generic drugs being prescribed by Japanese doctors. This means a lot less money flowing to pharma and Japanese pharma companies are scrambling to cut cost and remain competitive. Marty Roberts saw a startup opportunity here and he founded enTouch which provides what the industry calls remote detailing services. Now, this basically means explaining drugs to doctors online rather than face-to-face meetings but as you might expect, there’s a lot more to it than that and Marty soon discovered that it required a very specific Japanese twist to make this technology work here in Japan. Marty also provides some very sober advice for you if you are thinking of leaving a large company position to start your own startup. But you know, Marty tells this story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Marty Roberts of enTouch. A company that lets pharma reps more efficiently connect with doctors. I know that’s a really broad description, so can you explain a bit better what enTouch does? Marty: You did a pretty good job there, Tim. EnTouch is focused on helping pharmaceutical companies communicate better with doctors so that doctors know about newest medicines, newest trends in health care so that they can treat their patients bett...

How Micro-Retail Shops Are Changing Japan – Nokisaki Jul 10, 2017

Japan has a long history of small shopping streets and tiny markets. In fact, despite the population density, American-style mall culture never took off here. The back streets of even the most crowded downtown office districts are filled with little specialty stores and vegetable stands. Akiko Nishiura, the CEO and founder of Nokisaki, wants to see that culture spread even further in Japan, and her company is helping small merchants find physical spaces for pop-up shops, vegetable stands and food trucks. Nokisaki is connecting these small merchants, who need just a little bit of space, with commercial landlords who have a little bit of free space and are looking for some additional foot-traffic. It’s an interesting business model, and Akiko and I discuss how it will work outside of Japan or even outside of Japan's big cities. She also explains how Nokisaki survived a crisis that would have bankrupted almost any other startup — at least any other startup outside Japan. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes Why parking is different (and difficult) in Japan How a new alliance is developing between big-brand stores and tiny retailers Why it's so difficult for Japanese moms to return to work after having kids How the Japanese market reacts to new challenges How a security risk shut down her company How Japanese retail culture differs from the West How Nokisaki will out-maneuver her much better-funded competitors Links from the Founder The Nokisaki Homepage Nokisaki Parking Nokisaki Business Nokisaki Parking on Facebook Nokisaki Business on Facebook Friend Akiko on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 94. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Napoleon supposedly once called England a nation of shop keepers. And while the comment was undoubtedly meant as an insult in the context it was offered, there’s something to be said in favor of being a nation of shop keepers particularly in this age of e-commerce, Rakuten, Amazon stores, and drop shipping. In fact, Japan, more so than the U.S. has a culture of tiny little neighborhood shops that have never been pushed out completely by big box stores, shopping malls, and chain stores even in the big cities. Well, today we’re going to sit down and talk with someone who’s accelerating that trend by making it easier for small shop keepers to pop up all over Tokyo. Akiko Nishiura, CEO of Nokisaki, connects commercial landlords with just a little extra space to small merchants who are looking for, well, just a little space. And in their spare time, the company is also trying to solve Japan’s horrible parking problems. The discussion of the company in the market alone would make this episode worth listening to. Akiko also shares a story of something that would have forced almost any Western startup into bankruptcy but due to the unique and frankly somewhat extreme notion of Japanese customer loyalty, it resulted in only a minor interruption of Nokisaki’s rapid growth. But you know, Akiko tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Akiko Nishiura, the founder and CEO of Nokisaki. Akiko: Yes. Tim: Thanks for sitting down with us. Akiko: Thank you, Tim. Tim: Now, Nokisaki is a parking space sharing and space sharing startup but I think you can explain it much better than I can. So tell me a bit about what Nokisaki is. Akiko: Okay. Tim, have you ever heard the word “nokisaki” and do you know the exact meaning of nokisaki? Tim: I have to admit I didn’t know it until I looked it up. Akiko: Right.

The Fastest Way to Start a Startup in Japan – Mobingi Jul 03, 2017

Platform as a Service (PaaS) has been a difficult startup business model in the US, but Wayland Zheng, founder and CEO of Mobingi, has found a way to make it work in Japan. His approach involves a combination of leveraging both a unique feature set and some unique aspects of Japanese technical buyers. Wayland also shares his story of what is probably a record for the fastest time to startup launch for any foreigner in Japan. Within two months of landing in Tokyo, and unable to speak the language, he had settled on a startup idea, found a Japanese co-founder, and been accepted into one of the most competitive startup accelerators in Japan. Three years later, Mobingi has an impressive and growing list of clients and investors. We talk about how he made all this happen, the importance of accelerators, and how you need to tailor your startup not just to a rational business model, but to the business culture of the market. It’s a great discussion and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes How Mobingi saves it's customers 80% on AWS services Why DevOps disciple has been slow to develop at Japanese companies The important difference between security and compliance Why cloud sales in Japan requires face-to-face meetings How to start a company after only two months in Japan The important differences between Japnese and American startup accelerators Why China is a better expansion market than the US What is the future of PaaS and middleware Why simple honesty is sometimes surprising among founders Links from the Founder The Mobingi Homepage Mobingi Facebook page The Mobingi Blog Mobingi on Instagram Friend Wayland on Facebook Check out his blog Join a Mobingi Meetup [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 93. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, I get asked a lot about the difficulty of starting a company in Japan as a foreigner. I always have trouble answering that question because although I’ve started a number of companies in Japan as a foreigner, I have nothing to compare it to. I mean, I’ve never started a company in Japan as a Japanese person so I only have my own experiences to base a judgment on. Well, I’ve got good news. All foreigners who are griping about how hard it is to start a company in Japan can now officially stop complaining. I’ve got a pretty amazing guest and a pretty amazing story to tell today. I’ve got a pretty amazing guest and a pretty amazing story to tell today. Wayland Zheng started Mobingi only two months after arriving in Japan and he’s made a success of it. He attracted a co-founder, joined an accelerator, on-boarded customers, and raised funds all without speaking Japanese. Of course it wasn’t exactly easy. As you’ll see during the interview, it’s not even fair to say that he made it look easy. It was hard. But Wayland explains how he managed to overcome the language barrier and well, several other barriers as well. We’ll also dive pretty deep into startup accelerators, how they differ between Japan and the U.S. and what founders should reasonably expect out of them, because Wayland’s been to a few and sometimes, they did not work out as planned. But you know, Wayland tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Wayland Zheng of Mobingi. Mobingi is a platform as a service company but I know it’s so much more than that. Why don’t you tell us a bit more about what Mobingi is? Wayland: Okay. First, thanks for visiting my company. Mobingi is a software as a service. It’s a solution for helping companies to manage their application on the ...

The Little Startup from Japan That Took Down NTT – TownWiFi Jun 26, 2017

It’s rare for a Japanese startup to challenge NTT and come out ahead. But that’s exactly what Takehiro Ogita and his team at TownWiFi have accomplished. TownWiFi is a mobile app that automatically detects and logins into available WiFi hotspots. Since TownWiFi was very modestly funded, Takehiro and his team relied on a better user experience and word of mouth to get the word out. Today we sit down with Takehiro and dive into that story, but we also look at the company's existing overseas userbase and his plans for global expansion on a shoestring. There is so much changing among Japanese startups right now, and Takehiro explains some of the social forces working for and working against new Japanese startups. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes The universal problem with free WiFi What allowed TownWiFi to gather a userbase so quickly Why Rakuten produces so many startup founders Why Takehiro had to hide his startup from his family How TownWiFi managed to beat NTT in direct competition A common sense plan for global expansion How pivoting from a C2C to a B2B model saved this startup Links from the Founder The TownWiFi Homepage Takehiro's Blog Friend Takehiro on Facebook And, of course, download the TownWiFi app [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 92. Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Takehiro Ogita started TownWiFi as a simple way to allow Wi-Fi hotspots to be accessed and shared to mobile phones or mobile device users in general. There are a number of free Wi-Fi finding apps out there today but there are a few particularly interesting things about TownWiFi. First, unlike almost all their competitors, TownWiFi has found a way to monetize this app. And while they’re not yet profitable, they are earning revenue. Second, and I love this for so many reasons, the dominant player in this space, when TownWiFi launched their product was NTT and little TownWiFi has absolutely crushed NTT in the marketplace. Don’t get me wrong. I like NTT. I have friends at NTT. NTT is actually doing a lot of positive things in the area of corporate development and open innovation. The reason TownWiFi’s story is so inspiring is that it would have been absolutely impossible 10 years ago. Back then, NTT DoCoMo was not only the dominant mobile carrier but strictly controlled which apps would be allowed to be featured on their platform and sold to their subscribers. This may sound vaguely like the way Apple runs the App Store but it’s not. At that time, Japanese carriers would select one or two apps in each category, usually from closely associated companies and then lock everyone else out. Apps did not really compete with each other and there is no way that a serious challenger to the carrier’s own app let alone one made by an independent upstart would have been allowed inside their walled garden. Things are changing for startups in Japan, and when tiny little startups begin to beat NTT at their own game, it means great things are on the way. But you know, Takehiro tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Takehiro Ogita of TownWiFi. Thanks for sitting down with us today. Takehiro: Thanks for having me. Tim: TownWiFi is an app that helps you find free Wi-Fi hotspots but I know it’s more than that, and you can explain it better than I can. So why don’t you tell us what TownWiFi is? Takehiro: We are providing app which can auto-connect and authenticate to the public Wi-Fi. Our biggest point is that we are auto-authenticate, and auto-login,

I Was Wrong. Startups Are Not the Future of Innovation in Japan Jun 19, 2017

This is a rather personal episode. We have no guests this time. It’s just you and me. We talk a lot about Japanese startups on this show and the role they will play in shaping Japan's economic future. Well, today we are going to look at this from a different angle; one that puts the hype aside and looks at some cold hard numbers. The result is sobering, surprising and, believe it or not, kind of inspiring So let's get right to it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan Episode 91 Welcome to Disrupting Japan straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening Once again, I’ve got a special show for you today. There will be no guests, no beer, no playful banter with someone speaking English as a second language. Today it’s just you and me. For the next 20 minutes, I’ll be whispering in your ear about something I consider very important, but that not enough people are talking about. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these solo shows. They tend to among my most popular episodes, I get a lot of requests for them and I love doing them. I would like to do more, but you might be surprised at the amount of research and revisions that go into these solo shows. Not to mention the times when I get two-thirds of the way putting one together only to realize the primary thrust of my argument is flawed and the whole thing needs to be reworked. Unfortunately, I’m not really smart enough to just turn on the microphone and talk for 20 minutes. It’s so much easier sitting down and talking to amazingly creative Japanese startup founders and innovators who are doing and saying crazy things. Well, today, I’d like to share something with you that first occurred to me about a year ago. And the more I research it, and the more people I speak with, the more I become convinced it’s right. I’ve haven’t talked about it a lot before, because well, frankly, it’s something that a lot of people in the startup community here will disagree with — and some will disagree in very strong terms. But it’s important, so let’s strap in and get right to it. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Over the next twenty years, startups are not going to revive the Japanese economy, nor are they are they going to be the primary driver of innovation in this country. Don’t misunderstand, startups have a role to play, a very important role to play, but they will not be the primary drivers of change. No. Japan’s mid-sized companies will be the primary drivers of both large-scale innovation and economic growth over the next ten years. For this to make sense, we are going to look at the role that mid-sized companies play in the Japanese economy today, we’ll then step back in time both to see how things get this way and to understand why Japan is at such a pivotal juncture today, and then look at how thing are likely to shake out over the next 15 years or so. Now, to the average podcast listener, this would sound like a dry topic, but you as a DJ listener are a special breed, and you’ll be rewarded for coming with me deep, deep into the weeds. If you come along, I promise that in twenty minutes you will have a new way of looking at mid-sized companies in Japan, and perhaps a new way of looking at Japanese startups as well. You see medium-sized enterprises are the middle child in Japan’s corporate family. The large companies, the brands you know Toyota, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Mitsui. For the most part are the remnants of the once incredibly powerful keiretsu groups. These companies are the oldest child. Everyone knows who they are. They are in the news. They have influence. They work closely with the Japanese government, both the legislators and the bureaucracy, to ensure that the needs of Japan’s large corporations are reflected in national policy and international trade agreemen...

How this Musical Shoe Startup is Helping Hospitals – No New Folk Studio Jun 12, 2017

Most great startup ideas don’t grab your attention right away. It takes a while before the founder’s vision becomes obvious to the rest of us. On the other hand, the startups that immediately grab all the press attention often go out of business shortly after shipping their first product. Reality never seems to live up the to promise. And then there are products like Orphe. This LED-emblazoned, WiFi-connected, social-network enabled dancing shoe seems made for fluffy, flashy Facebook sharing, but only when you really dig into it, do you understand what it really is and the potential it has in the marketplace. Today we sit down with Yuya Kikukawa, founder of No New Folk Studio and the creator of the Orphe, and we talk about music, hardware financing, and why this amazing little shoe is finding early adopters in places from game designers to hospitals. It’s a great conversation, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes The inspiration for musical shoes Why Yuya's first musical instrument attempt was a failure The biggest challenge in moving from prototype to production Orphe's technical specs How Orphe is being used in hospitals and other healthcare applications How small Japanese startups can achieve global distribution Where the next big startup opportunities in Japan will be Why most hardware startups fail Links from the Founder No New Folk Studio Hompage See Orphe in action Check out Yuya's blog Follow Yuya on Facebook Check out PocoPoco on YouTube [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 90. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. You know, most good startups are obvious. I don’t mean that I could have had the idea before the founders did. By obvious, I mean that right away you can understand the problem the company is solving for their customers and how they’re doing it. Naturally, that makes it easier for the customers to buy. Most non-obvious startups are in reality still struggling to find the product market fit and are probably not long for this world. And then there are products like Orphe, an LED-emblazoned WiFi-connected social sharing enabled dancing shoe. Yeah, it sounds like something you would find on Indiegogo and that one time not too long ago, it was. But when I sat down with Yuya Kikukawa, founder of No New Folk Studio and the creator of the Orphe, it became clear that this was not some quirky side project or some overfunded crazy hardware startup. This was something really different. We talked about the original inspiration for the shoe and what does and does not qualify as a musical instrument and how Orphe is being used by the artistic community in Japan. But we also dive into the technology inside it, and that, well, that’s something special. That’s why this quirky little blinking shoe is starting to get used by game and UI designers, as well as hospitals and sports trainers in Japan. It’s a fascinating discussion but you know, Yuya tells the story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Yuya Kikukawa of No New Folk Studio. Thank you for sitting down with me. Yuya: Thank you for inviting. Tim: Now, you guys make Orphe which is an LED dance shoe but it’s so much more than that. Can you describe what Orphe is exactly? Yuya: Yeah. Orphe is kind of world’s first smart LED shoes. Smart means it has a computer inside of the sole, at the same time there are about 100 full color LEDs. The computer can control each pixel. So the user can change the color through the smartphone application. Tim: Okay. It’s always so hard to describe dance and visual effects on an audio podcast.

How One Good Idea Emerged from Japan’s Nuclear Disaster – Safecast Jun 05, 2017

After the March 2011 earthquake and the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, TEPCO and the Japanese government tried to assure us that everything was just fine. The repeatedly insisted that there was no serious danger posed by the radiation. Not very many people believed them. Reliable data from fallout areas was sparse at best, and many Japan residents doubted that the government was telling the truth in the first place. It was in that environment that Pieter Franken and his team created Safecast. Safecast began as a small group in Japan with home-made Geiger counters making their reading available to everyone. They have now grown into an international movement involving private citizens, universities, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Pieter also explains why environmental science will look very different ten years from now. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why Japan's disaster preparation failed Why you need high-resolution and high-density radiation monitoring Why citizens do not, and perhaps should not, trust their governments The advantages of creating a DYI kit rather than a product How to maintain data integrity for crowdsourced efforts Why both pro-nuke and anti-nuke activists opposed Safecast How governments have reacted to alternative data sources Safecast's plan to win over the scientific community The future of citizen science Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Safecast Safecast's radiation maps Safecast's radiation report Connect with Pieter on LinkedIn Follow him on Twitter @noktonlux [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 89. Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, crowdfunding and crowdsourcing in Japan largely gained in its popularity in projects related to the massive March 2011 earthquake, and ensuing tsunami, and the release of radiation at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. In fact, longtime listeners have heard the founders of some of Japan’s largest crowdfunding and crowdsourcing companies explain that breaking away from this image of crowdfunding as a social good was something that they had to overcome before their startups became truly successful. Well, today we’re going to sit down with Pieter Franken of Safecast, one of the earliest examples of widespread crowdsourcing in Japan. And we talk about how they’ve grown from a Japanese patchwork solution to the leader of a global movement. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, people throughout Japan were worried about radiation. TEPCO, who operated the facilities and the Japanese government assured everyone that things were under control and that everyone was perfectly safe. As you might imagine, however, most people were highly skeptical of these claims. The radiation data just wasn’t there or it wasn’t being shared with the public or it wasn’t believed when it was shared with the public. Pieter and his team started Safecast to make sure that lack of information and lack of transparency would never happen again and they began building low-cost Geiger counters that people around the country and then around the world could use to measure their local area and then have all that data uploaded into the cloud and made available for anyone. It’s an amazing story and it’s one that Pieter tells much better than I do. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Pieter Franken of Safecast. You guys make an open environmental data collection system for everyone but I think you can explain much better than I can what it is.

How You Can Build American Startup Culture in Japan – OpenTable May 29, 2017

Selling innovative software to conservative Japanese businesses is never easy, but it’s particularly challenging in the cutthroat and low-margin restaurant industry. Today, we sit down with Masao “TJ” Tejima and talk about how he brought OpenTable into Japan, and why it took him much longer than he had originally hoped. It’s a wide-ranging and deep-diving discussion on how to identify which companies are most suitable for Japan market entry and TJ’s rather extreme approach to maintaining a consistent corporate culture between Japan and corporate headquarters. We also take a look at some of the biggest mistakes Western companies make when hiring a Japan Country Manager and a few simple ways those mistakes can be avoided. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll really enjoy it Show Notes Why leave a company after a successful market entry? How to build a product around a human network Why you need to run market entry like a startup OpenTable's real business model and how is was adapted for Japan How to sell new technology to traditional low-margin businesses The danger of over-localization Why the Japanese fast followers ran into problems How to build a global culture at a Japanese subsidiary The one type of Japanese General Manager foreign companies need to beware of Links Masao's official bio Sports for Life is Masao's latest project is running the Asia Pacific Corporate Games [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 88. Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from the CEOs breaking into Japan. I am Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to be sitting down with Masao Tejima or "TJ" as his friends call him and I have to admit, that this interview did not exactly goes as planned. A few days beforehand, TJ and I agreed to sit down and talk about how he brought Open Table to Japan. And he used that experience as a jumping off point to give advice about how to bring in innovative software company to Japan and then sell to very conservative Japanese companies - and we did that. And then in the next forty minutes, you’re going to be hearing all about it. However, Open Table was not TJ’s first Japan market entry. He also brought in Macomedia and before that all this. And our simple talk, meandered him into ninety minutes history of desktop publishing in Japan and how he had to forge strategic alliances and corporate standards that allowed the technology to take route. I walked away with the makings of two amazing stories on tape. So, here’s what we’re going to do. Today, we’re going to tell you the much more recent story of how Open Table entered the Japanese market. And a bit later, we’ll have TJ on again to give us the blueprint of the right technology can let you disrupt an entire industry in only a few years, even in Japan. Today, we’re going to learn about how to identify what companies are most suitable for Japan market entry and talk about TJ’s rather extreme approach to maintaining a consistent corporate culture between Japan and corporate headquarters. We’ll talk about effective techniques for selling innovative software to conservative Japanese businesses and we’ll look at some of the biggest mistakes companies make in hiring their Japan Country Managers. But you know, TJ tells that story much better than I can. So, let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I am sitting here with TJ Tejima of well formerly, Japan CEO of Open Table. So, thanks for sitting down with me. TJ: Thank you very much. Tim: So before we get started with the history of this market entry and what went right and what went wrong, can you give us a brief explanation of what Open Table’s business model is?

How This Startup Makes Money from Children’s Old Notebooks – Arcterus May 22, 2017

Education is one of the hardest sectors to disrupt -- or even improve upon -- and most EdTech startups struggle. Today we sit down with Go Arai and we talk about how his company, Arcterus, is taking a bottom-up approach to improving education. Arcterus has developed a service called Clear, which profits by helping students help each other study. Clear is basically a study-notebook sharing platform, and now Go and his team are building it out into something much more than that. We talk about Arcterus’ recent Asian expansion and why some seemingly small cultural differences made their product unviable in certain countries. We also explore why it's sometimes hard for Japanese startups to pivot and the effects of the company and the team when a radical change in direction is needed. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why notebook sharing works in Japan but not in America How lessons from a corporate turnaround were applied to a startup How a terrible skiing accident ended up launching a startup Why it took the team five pivots to find product-market fit What makes pivoting hard in Japan How to use Twitter to drive business Why other Asian countries are ahead of Japan in EdTech What today's textbooks will evolve into Links from the Founder Arcterus Homepage Everything you ever wanted to know about Clear Friend Go on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 87. Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, for a few very good reasons and many very bad reasons, education is particularly hard to disrupt. I think a big part of this is that the goal of public education is far more than imparting a set of skills onto the students. Although my libertarian friends might disagree, public schooling provides not only the hard skills that students need to function in the society, but universal education provides us with a shared experience and shared frame of reference that helps us define society. It’s something that binds us together. Now, different countries have different approaches to creating this shared experience. In Japan, the Ministry of Education defines precisely what every child in the countries learning, in any given week. In America, there are no national requirements at all, and tremendous latitude is given to the states and to the individual school boards. One approach is not necessarily better than the other but startups that try to disrupt the way we impart skills to our children at the expense of that shared experience, are likely to fail. Or worse, succeed and do long term harm to our society. Well today, we’re going to sit down and talk with Go Arai, CEO of Arcterus, a EdTech startup that is trying to help students learn more effectively but also contribute, just a little bit, to that shared experience. Arcterus is a platform that allows students that share their study notebooks with other students and then profit from that sharing. We also talk about Arcterus’ recent Asian expansion. You know, we in the west often make the mistake of thinking about "Asian" culture. But there really is no such thing as Asian culture. Asian countries have an incredible diversity of cultures and Arcterus ran straight into that as they discovered that very specific cultural traits determine whether they will succeed or fail in a specific country. But you know Go tells that story better much I can. So, let’s hear from our sponsor and then get right into the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] (Interview) Tim: So we’re sitting here with Go Arai of Arcterus it’s a social learning app based on notebook sharing, but you can probably explain it much better th...

Why Only the Uncomfortable Succeed in Japan – Jeff Sandford – Wovn.io May 15, 2017

The translation and localization industry has seen some impressive innovations over the past decade, but in many ways, it has remained stubbornly resistant to change. Today we sit down and talk with Jeff Sandford co-founder of Wovn.io. The Wovn team has developed a way to take the pain out of web localization and translation. They promise to do it all with a single line of code. We talk a bit about the mechanics of web-site localization and state of the industry as a whole, and we also discuss some important but surprising differences between with makes compelling UI/UX design for Japanese and for Western users, and what kinds of tasks machine translation can really be trusted with. Jeff also explains why he decided to start a company with someone he had never meet. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why website translation is important but often overlooked Why Jeff chose to start a company with someone he had never met How to combat Japan's "Design by Committee" problem Why you should not trust machine translation for e-commerce When you need to change from a bottom-up to top-down sales strategy The challenges of working with Japanese enterprise customers as a startup Advice for foreign engineers and founders who want to come to Japan Why Japan needs to get uncomfortable Links from the Founder Wovn.io homepage Wovn.io on Twitter Wovn.io on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 86. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we’re going to talk about something that you and I, and probably everyone else listening right now has struggled with. Translation and localization. It’s been an industry that has both seen some impressive innovations over the past decade, but is also somehow quite resistant to change. Localization is a part of business that almost every firm has to deal with, but almost no one looks forward to. It’s a lot like dealing with lawyers in that way, I suppose. Well, today we sit down with Jeff Sandford, cofounder of Wovn.io who say they’ve developed a one line of code method for taking the pain out of localization and translation. We talk a bit about the mechanics of website localization and the state of the industry as a whole, of course. We also talk about the important and surprising differences between what makes great UI/UX with Japanese and western users. And what kind of tasks machine translation can really be trusted with. And Jeff shares a story of what made him decide to start a company with a cofounder who he’d never even met before. But you know, Jeff tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor, and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers. Jeff: Cheers. Tim: So I’m sitting with Jeff, cofounder of Minimal Technologies and the creator of Wovn.io. And thanks for sitting down with me today. Jeff: Thank you very much. Good to be here. Tim: Wovn.io at a high level is simply localization for a website. But it’s more than that. It’s more interesting than that so why don’t you tell us a bit about what it is. Jeff: So often people when you tell them you do website localization, they think translation, which it actually isn’t. Translation is a very integral part of it, but what we focus on is the system of localizing a website. So let’s say you have an English website, and you’ll like to create a Chinese version or Spanish version of that website, we handle all of the details of actually creating those versions, and also managing them and serving them to users. Tim: Now there’s a lot of companies that are doing that,

Can This Founder Solve Japan’s Hidden Mental Health Problem? – Hikari Labs May 08, 2017

Seeking help for even minor mental health problems still carries a stigma in Japan. This is particularly unfortunate because clinical research shows that a significant portion of Japanese adults suffer from depression or other mental illnesses. Ayako Shimizu, the founder of Hikari Labs, has an innovative approach that represents a huge step forward in addressing this problem. Hikari Labs develops and distributes video games based on cognitive behavior therapy, and these games enable players to literally train their brains out of depression. Her approach bypasses both the stigma and costs involved in seeking treatment. Even in conservative Japan, she is seeing increasing and enthusiastic adoption by corporate wellness programs. But this whole project was almost shut down by the very people who should have been helping her. Ayako has a fascinating story, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups How gaming can treat depression and reduce suicide rates Why marketing mental health games is so challenging The changing profiles of Japanese who suffer depression Why women have higher rates of depression, but lower rates of suicide How Ayako's University tried to put a stop to this project How to build a business model around mental health Why conservative corporations are on the forefront of improving mental health in Japan Links from the Founder Hikari Labs homepage Online counseling YouTube video Todai Shinbun article Follow Ayako on Twitter @Hikari_Lab_Inc Friend her on Facebook Try out SPARX SPARX for iPhone/iPad SPARX for Android Clinical Journal on SPARX [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 85. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Now long-term listeners know that this show is not really about start-ups. Well, of course it’s about start-ups, but it’s about so much more than that. Japanese start-ups give us a unique perspective on Japanese society. Looking at the problems that need to be solved, the path people are taking to try to solve them, and seeing what challenges society throw up against them can tell us more about a country or a society than mountains of surveys and piles of longitudinal studies. Start-ups tell us the kind of future that people envision, and how the present plans on resisting the future. Nowhere is this more true than with today’s guest. Ayako Shimizu, founder of Hikari Labs. Ayako is developing and marketing video games to treat mental illness, and she has the clinical data that shows the approach has real therapeutic value. And yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, Japanese academia and the medical industry as a whole have been—Well, let’s just say less supportive of her efforts. But still she’s seen steady increases in both the number of users and growing interest from a surprising segment of corporate Japan. But you know, Ayako tells that story much better than I can. So let’s here from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Ayako Shimizu of Hikari Labs, and thanks for sitting down with me. Ayako: Thank you, Tim, for inviting me here. Tim: Now Hikari Labs is focused on improving mental health through software, I guess. But why don’t you tell us a bit about what Hikari Labs does and what it’s mission is. Ayako: Okay, well Hikari Labs currently have two services. One is online counseling called Kokoro Works, and another one is this game application called Sparx, which was developed at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Beneath the Cherry Blossoms with Dave McClure – 500 Startups May 01, 2017

Today we sit down with Dave McClure under the cherry blossoms and talk about startups, funding, failure Dave has long been involved in Japan and in the startup community here, and in this episode, we talk about the progress Japan has made in the past decade and the changes that still need to be made. We go over what Dave sees as the gaps in the Japan’s venture capital ecosystem and also dispel some of the pervasive myths that have spread throughout Silicon Vally and the entire startup world. We spend a bit of time diving into what Dave and 500 Startups consider to be a risky business model, and it may not be what you expect, but it’s great advice for anyone thinking of starting a company. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Who is doing most of the investing in Japan right now Why Japan needs more angel investors What startups should be looking for in investors How to find a startup idea What Japan should learn from Silicon Valley and what it should ignore Which business models are truly unproven The one thing Japan should change to encourage startups How to really learn from failure Links from the Founder 500 Startups 500 Startups Japan Follow Dave on Twitter @davemcclure Friend him on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 84. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from CEOs breaking into Japan. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Japan, well most of the world really has an unhealthy obsession with Silicon Valley. I’ve been to Japanese language start-up events here in Tokyo where the phrases Silicon Valley, or San Francisco, were mentioned more than twice as often as Tokyo or Japan. And yes, I actually did keep count. And I’m sure none of my friends are the least bit surprised by that. My point is that while Japan can learn a lot from Silicon Valley, the reverse is also true. There are a lot of things going right in Japan, and many things that are developing differently here than they are in Silicon Valley. Well, today we sit down with Dave McClure, founder of 500 Startups, and we talk under the cherry blossoms about start-ups funding failure, and about some of the most pervasive myths surrounding start-ups and start-up founders. For our listeners who are not familiar with the Japanese tradition of Hanami, or cherry blossom viewing, I’ll explain it to you in both theory and practice because those two can be a bit different. In theory, Hinami is a time to reflect on the transitory nature of beauty, of our possessions, and of life itself. The cherry blossoms bloom only for a few days a year before their pedals fall. And almost everyone in Japan no matter how busy or sick will make at least a little time to go out and walk among the blossoms. The trees really are beautiful, and that beauty is made all the more precious by the fact that they can only be appreciated for such a brief period of time. In practice, people from all over Japan get together with their friends under the cherry blossom trees, get rip-roaringly drunk, sing karaoke, and have a great and boisterous time. So when Dave and I are talking and in the background, you hear school girls laughing, drunken cheering, and people suddenly breaking into song, you’ll know what’s going on. It was a great party and a great discussion. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers. Dave: Cheers. Tim: So I’m sitting hear with the indomitable and encourageable Dave McClure. Dave: Encourageable sounds right. Tim: So thanks for sitting down. I really do appreciate your time. Dave: Yeah. Tim: You’ve had ties to Japan for a long time. Dave: Yes,

These Japanese Bio-Hackers Are Growing Affordable Meat in A Lab – Shojinmeat Apr 24, 2017

Growing our meat in a lab or factory has been a science fiction staple for decades, but much like jetpacks, it has never quite worked out in practice -- at least not at scale. Yuki Hanyu and his team at Shojinmeat, however, are changing that. Actually, scientists have been growing muscle tissue in labs for more than 100 years, but Shojinmeat has developed techniques that bring the cost down to less than one 1,000th of traditional approaches. Now, that still leaves it too expensive for most commercial applications, but Yuki explains how his team (and others) will bring the costs down into the commercial range very soon. We also talk about both why Japanese life-sciences startups have such a hard time raising money in Japan and how Shojinmeat found a way to make the system work for them. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups How do you grow meat in the Lab? Why cellular agriculture doesn’t get funding Is lab-grown meat kosher? Combining open research and patent protection How to bring down the cost of cultured meat Solving the taste problem How cultured meat will become available Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Shojinmeat How Integriculture is commercializing lab-grown meat Check out Yuki's blog Follow him on twitter @yukihanyu1 New Havest talks about Yuki's project [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 83. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Today we’re going to talk about the future of meat. Many would say the future of humanity, but really today we’re just going to talk about the meat. Yuki Hanyu and his team at ShojinMeat are growing meat in the lab, and they’re doing it at a tiny fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Actually, it turns out that lab-grown meat or cellular agriculture—as the discipline is actually called—is not particularly new. It’s been in active development all over the world for well over 100 years. What’s different about ShojinMeat, however is that they’ve been able to bring the cost down by an astounding three orders of magnitude. And that brings a technology within striking distance of a lot of practical uses. We dive into the actual science behind cellular agriculture. And if you can follow all of it, it means that you’re a huge biology nerd, and I love you for it. Otherwise, it would be good just to let the science wash over you. It’s a pretty amazing topic. Another thing we talk about is why Japanese life sciences start-ups have such a hard time both raising money and growing here in Japan. And how ShojinMeat meat has found a way to make the system work for them. But you know, Yuki tells that story much better than I can so let’s hear from our sponsor, and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Yuki Hanyu of ShojinMeat, and thanks for sitting down with me. Yuki: Thank you very much for inviting me to the podcast. Tim: Today we’re going to talk about meat. Yuki: Yeah, meat. Tim: And most specifically, cellular agriculture. So to get started. Why don’t you explain what what ShojinMeat is? Yuki: We are a collection of volunteer students, artists, and people of various disciplines to develop cultured meat technology. Tim: So it’s a bio-hacker community here in Tokyo, right? Yuki: Yes. Tim: So how long have you been doing this. Yuki: If you’re talking about active wet novelty work, that will be about a year and a half. Tim: Okay. Yuki: And if you’re talking about people building a team, that would be about two and a half years. Tim: Alright. Okay, well actually before we go forward in this,

How Virtual Reality is Changing Surgery in Japan – Holoeyes Apr 17, 2017

Many VR startups are a solution is search of a problem, but Holoeyes is already in use at hospitals around Japan. Although the medical industry is one the most highly regulated, conservative and hard to disrupt, Holoeyes has made inroads by solving a very specific problem for surgeons. Today we sit down with Naoji Taniguchi, CEO of Holoeyes, and talk about the steps his startup had to take to sell into the medical market in Japan and to win over traditionally conservative doctors. Holoeyes builds up virtual reality models of organs from CT scans, and lets doctors analyze and discuss these matters much more directly and clearly than they could before. It’s a great interview and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups How VR can actually save hospitals money and improve outcomes Why the world needs a GitHub of surgery What Japanese startups get out of accelerator programs Why the real value in surgical VR is not what you think How Holoeyes achieves medical quality in low-spec devices How Holoeyes convinced conservative doctors and hospitals to try a new technology Advice for startups trying to sell to doctors Why more and more medical professionals will be getting involved in startups in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Holoeyes Follow Naoji on Medium Follow him on twitter @tani_yang Friend Naoji on Facebook See Holoeyes in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrYlsSldXSM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu9RU03PPho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANN64JeUjog&t=2s [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 82. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. The medical industry is one of the world’s most highly regulated and hard to disrupt. And for the most part, that’s a good thing. But there are a number of innovative start-ups that have ways of improving things. Not disruptive change, mind you, but simple, more cautious, incremental change that will make life better for everyone. Holoeyes is one of those questions. And today we sit down with Naoji Taniguchi and we talk about how their VR solution is winning over doctors all over Japan, and changing the way surgery is done. Holoeyes builds up a virtual reality model of organs from CT scans, and let’s doctors analyze and discuss these matters much more directly and efficiently than they could before. We’ll get into the details during the interview. But one of the things that impressed me the most about Holoeyes, is that is is already in use today. So much VR tech and so many VR companies have an amazing wow factor, but only the promise of future applications. But you know, Naoji tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Naoji Taniguchi of Holoeyes. Naoji: Yeah. Tim: This is an application that uses AR and VR for medical training, and thanks for sitting down with me. Naoji: Okay. Tim: Can you tell me a bit more about the application and how it’s used? Naoji: Holoeyes make customized model for each patient. For VR, our mixed reality, our product helps communication between doctor, surgery team members, or training senior doctors and new doctors. Tim: So let’s just walk through from start to finish how it’s used. So how do you build up this VR model? Naoji: Partially use Diacom Viewer. Diacom Viewer is viewer of CT scan image. Now we are trying to use deep learning to automate, create, make part of a model from CT scan image. Tim: Okay, so it’s laterally taking a CT scan and building up the VR image kind of slice by slice? Naoji: Yes, yes. Tim: Alright,

Japan’s Laundry Folding Robot Is Taking Over Your Closet – Seven Dreamers Apr 10, 2017

It’s often surprising to discover which problems are hard for AI. We hear stories about artificial intelligence being better than the most skilled humans at go, chess, Jeopardy, and better than many at driving a car, and we assume that computers will be as smart as we are very soon. Then we discover how hard it is for AI to fold the laundry. Shin Sakane and his team at Seven Dreamers have been working on this particular problem for 12 years, and they are now rolling out the first commercially available laundry-folding robot. They will be first to the global market and have secured a production partnership with Panasonic. Shin and I talk a lot about AI and innovation in Japan, and also cover his rather unusual corse to innovation here. Seven Dreamers is not your typical venture-backed startup, and they might just provide a blueprint for innovation that many existing Japanese firms can follow. It’s a great interview, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why AI can drive a car but not fold socks Why starting a company in Japan is different today Shin’s formula for developing innovative products How to work with large Japanese companies Why the future of laundry is more disrupting than you imagine Why big data wants to hack your washing machine The need to go global quickly Can Japan once again lead the world in AI Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Laundroid Friend Shin on Facebook Seven Dreamers Homepage Find out more about Laundroid on Facebook or Twitter Nastent website Find out more about Nastent on Facebook or Twitter The carbon-fiber golf shafts on the Web and on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 81. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, the term artificial intelligence is thrown around far too loosely these days. Every start-up using decision trees, Bayesian algorithms, or the simplest machine learning techniques, label themselves as world leaders in AI. Now there’s no question that projects like Google’s driverless cars and IBM’s Watson have pushed the limits of what’s possible, and have introduced astounding innovations in AI over the past few years. But sometimes it’s surprising to take a look at the kinds of problems that are extremely difficult for AI. It turns out that folding laundry is one of those problems. Today we sit down with Shin Sakane, CEO of Seven Dreamers and inventor of the Laundroid. The first commercially available fully automatic laundry folding robot. We talk a lot about AI in general. And the importance and the risk of attacking the really hard problems. And what he and his firm had to go through to make Laundroid a reality. It’s also worth noting that Seven Dreamers is not your typical venture back start-up. And Shin and I talk a lot about the role that mid-size companies have to play in kick-starting the Japanese economy and returning Japan to the global leader in innovation she was in the 60s and 70s. But you know, Shin tells that story better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Shin Sakane of Seven Dreamers, and we’ve been bumping into each other for a long time now. Shin: Right. Tim: So thanks for finally making time and sitting down with me. Shin: Thank you very much for coming. Tim: We’re here to talk a lot about the Laundroid. Now it’s a robot that folds clothes, which I guess is the simple way of explaining it, but why don’t you tell us more about what it is. Shin: Okay. We’ve been working on this project for the last 12 years almost. Tim: Wow. Shin: Yeah.

How A Failing Music Startup in Japan Pivoted to Global Success – Nana Apr 03, 2017

It’s hard to make money with music apps. The competition is intense, and most people simply are not willing to pay much for music apps; either because music is something they only do casually or because if it’s something they do professionally, they probably don’t have money. Akinori Fumihara of Nana, however, is succeeding despite the odds. Nana is a collaborative music creation app, where different users upload and submit different tracks to a song, which can be edited and remixed by others to create an unlimited number of arrangements. Today Nana has a highly engaged global user-base that numbers in the millions, but it almost did not work out that way. Three months after the initial release, Nana was running out of money and was watching new installs trend towards zero. How Aki and his team managed to turn things around is an amazing story, and one I think you’ll really enjoy. Show Notes for Startups Why "casual music" is important How to develop an overseas user-base by word of mouth Why teenage girls form the heart of Nana How a YouTube video inspired an iPhone app Why it's hard to monetize a music app Why startups in Japan (outside of Tokyo) struggle The difference between Tokyo and Kansai startup founders Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Nana Friend Aki on Facebook Check out Nana on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 80. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for music apps. The competition in this space is intense, and almost every niche seems to be filled. So trying to differentiate a music gap calls for a lot of creativity. But it’s usually their quixotic quest for business models that is the most interesting. The problem is that people just don’t want to spend money on making music. The amateurs and the dabblers don’t spend enough time on the hobby to invest much. And the professionals, well speaking as a former professional musician myself, I can tell you that professional musicians never have money in the first place. Well today, we sit down with Akinori Fumihara of Nana, and they might have just cracked the code. Nana is a collaborative music creation app where different users upload and submit different tracks to a song. Which can be edited and remixed by others to create an unlimited number of arrangements. Now Nana has become a huge hit with its millions of users. And just like Google, the name Nana itself has become a fully conjugatable verb in Japanese. “Nananu Nanateru, Nanata.” “I use Nana. I’m using Nana. I used Nana.” Now I’ll warn that Aki’s English is not as good as some of our other guests. But the man is really excited about reaching out to foreign listeners and so he decided to make it work and come on the show. Nana is a very cool app, and Aki’s a pretty cool guy. He’s got an amazing life story, and he started a fascinating company. But you know, Aki tells that story much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: Cheers. Akinori: Cheers. Tim: So I’m sitting here with Akinori Fumihara, the CEO and founder of Nana. Thanks for sitting down with me today. Akinori: Nice to meet you. Tim: That’s great. Now Nana is a social music platform, but can you explain what is social music? How does Nana work? Akinori: Nana is music collaboration. I’ve found and enjoyed that biggest feature is collaboration and over dubbing. For example, like the base line, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Next, with the base add drums, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So with the beat it adds piano.

The Missing Link in The Internet of Things Ecosystem – Soracom Mar 27, 2017

Soracom is one of those rare Japanese startups that has the potential to become a major global player and to change the way Internet of Things devices work. The real deployment bottleneck in the Internet of Things is not the hardware or the software, but the connectivity. There are still relatively few inexpensive, flexible and scalable ways that IoT devices can transmit and receive data. Cellular connectivity is expensive, and WiFi is largely limited to stationary devices in homes and offices. Today we sit down with Ken Tamagawa, CEO of Soracom, who explains his solution to this problem, and it's a good one. Soracom operates a mobile virtual network and provides widespread connectivity for IoT devices for pennies a day, and since their infrastructure runs completely on AWS their costs are significantly lower than the competition's. Soarcom is extremely well-funded, and they are quickly expanding globally. You are going to be hearing a lot about them in the future, so let’s get to know them today. I think you’ll really enjoy the interview. Show Notes for Startups What are MVNOs and why are they important for the Internet of Things Why replacing hardware with software drives innovation How Japan Taxi is taking advantage of the Internet of Things The most surprising thing about going global from Japan The future of the IoT in Japan Why play and serendipity remain important even as a company scales Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Soracom Follow Ken on twitter @KenTamagawa Friend him on Facebook Check out the Soracom blog Get started with the Soracom Developer Site Safecast P2P Radiation Monitoring [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Welcome to Disrupting Japan- straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. One of the most important problems of the internet of things is not the internet or even the things. The problem lies in connecting those things to the internet. In fact, much of the promise of the internet of things is based on the idea of thousands of connected devices working together. It turns out that building the hardware and writing the software has proven to be much simpler than developing an affordable, scalable, and secured network that enables these devices to communicate with home base and with each other. Some applications use WiFi and that's a great solution for stationary devices that operating homes or offices, or anywhere else where you can be certain to have a connection. But, many devices are mobile or need to operate whether there may not be a WiFi connection. Some applications paired with cellphones and that works well for personal devices and wearable’s and things will carry around with us. But for things like sensors and inexpensive autonomous devices, well, having a cellphone plan for each of them is simply cost prohibitive. So, right now, connectivity is the real problem for a lot of internet of things applications. Well, Soracom has a solution and a damn good one in my opinion. Today, we sit down with Ken Tamagawa, CEO of Soracom to talk about their solution which involves slicing up mobile bandwidth and using Amazon web services as their backbone and this enables a pay as you go remote communication package for pennies a day. We also discuss Soracom's global ambitions. Soracom is one of the few Japanese start-ups to raise a round of more than 20 million dollars and a lot of that is targeted on their global expansion. Soracom has something that is truly unique and you'll be hearing more about Soracom in the years to come. But Ken tells us story much better than I can. So, let's hear from our sponsor and get straight to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview]

How This Startup is Getting Japanese Moms Back to Work – Waris Mar 20, 2017

Miwa Tanaka, CEO of Waris, is working to make things better for working women in Japan. Although things are slowly changing, most Japanese women still must leave the workforce when they have children. The Waris platform helps them get back on track, either as a freelancer or by restarting their career. We talk about her startup, of course, but we also talk about the difficulties women still face, the kinds of roles they are traditionally placed into, and the traditional employment structures and roles are changing. It’s a optimistic interview and Miwa explains why she believes that corporate Japan truly wants to change things for the better. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why Japanese women leave the workforce when they have children The problem Japanese women face during negotiations How the Tohuku Earthquake changed Miwa's life path Why the Japanese government changed its opinion on freelancers What "diversity training" actually means in Japan and why it's important The importance of startups selling to each other and bootstrapping the ecosyste Why Japanese women are attracted to entrepreneurship and freelancing Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Waris Friend Waris on Facebook Follow Waris on Twitter @info_Waris The Waris community blog Cue for working women in Japan. Friend Miwa on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Welcome to Disrupting Japan, -- straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I am Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Miwa Tanaka, the CEO of Waris is working hard to make things better for women in Japan. The changing roles of Japanese Women in both start-ups and large enterprises is something we talked about quite a bit on disrupting Japan and Miwa has a unique perspective on this subject. Waris is a platform that is helping Japanese women who've quit their jobs to have children, rejoined the work force. Now, of course, we talk about the social and business conventions that results in Japanese women having to quit their jobs to have children in the first place. But often the best solutions to these kind of social problems are small steady improvements, and that's what Miwa is trying to do. In fact, hearing Miwa explained what Waris is shows us some microcosm of women in Japanese business, --- the difficulties women face, the kind of roles they've traditionally been placed into and also how those roles and the traditional employment structure are changing but more important, perhaps, how Japanese women themselves are choosing to adapt, to work around, occasionally, walk away from those restrictions. And as Miwa explains, another sign that things are getting better here in Japan is that Waris has a steady stream of corporate customers who are asking for diversity training. I think that this is a sign, much like it was with previous guest who discussed the demand for open innovation and LGBT sensitivity training that corporate Japan wants to change. I think much of corporate Japan and the government as well, are sincere on their efforts to make things better. But as Miwa explains, sometimes those changes can painfully slowly, but Miwa tells that story much better than I can. So, let's hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Miwa Tanaka, the co-founder and the CEO of Waris. So, thanks for sitting down with us. Miwa: Thank you so much for inviting me. Tim: Now, Waris is an online job matching service to help women continue their career after they've had children. I'm sure you can explain it much better than I can. So,

The Real Reason Japan Can’t Innovate & What to Do About It – Xenoma Mar 13, 2017

From the transistor radio to the Walkman to the Gameboy and the Playstation, Japan has always been both a leading force in hardware technology and a Mecca for gadget geeks. Over the past ten years, however, Japanese dominance in consumer hardware has been slipping away. The falling price of not just computing, but of manufacturing and prototyping has resulted in some amazing connected devices appearing all over the world. But while Japan’s large corporations have been falling behind, Japan’s startups have been rushing ahead. Today we sit down with Ichiro Amimori of Xenoma to talk about why he left a successful 20-year career in materials science at FujiFilm to found a company that makes a low-cost, washable motion capture shirt they call e-skin. It’s a order of magnitude cheaper than existing technology and opens up the possibility of applications in gaming, sports technology and heath and medicine. We also talk about the challenges Japanese enterprises and universities have turning fundamental research into salable products, and a few trends that might just turn that situation around. It’s a great interview and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups What is e-skin and why is it important? Why leave a 20-year career to start a risky startup How FujiFilm managed to innovate and survive How to attract developers to a new hardware platform Why most early adopters are outside Japan How Japan lost it's lead in the gaming industry How motion capture can help the elderly Why Japanese companies have trouble in new markets The future of open innovation in Japan Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Xenoma A deeper dive on e-skin Ichiro's personal blog (in Japanese) Follow Ichiro on twitter @ichiroamimori Friend him on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Welcome to Disrupting Japan- straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. You know, Japan has always been the land of cool hardware, from the Zoom recorder I’m talking into to the Gameboy, to the Play Station, to the Walkman, to the transistor radio. Japan has always been a mecca to gadget geeks. Of course, things have changed in recent years, the falling price of not just computing, but of manufacturing and prototyping has resulted in some amazing connected devices appearing all over the world. And Japan, if we’re being honest with ourselves here, is falling a bit behind. Ichiro Amimori is a small part of the solution to this. He left a 20-year career in material science to found a company that produces what they call e-skin. It’s a tight fitting shirt that can sense the movements of its wearer and act as an inexpensive, accurate, motion capture device. It’s price and durability is something you might find a little bit surprising. Of course, with a cool hardware available now, attracting developers to your new platform, no matter how cool, is something of a challenge these days. Even Google is having problems in this area. Ichiro and I dive into some detail about how Xenoma is solving this. We also talk about the challenges that Japanese enterprises and universities have turning fundamental research into real products. And the steps that they’re taking to solve them. But you know, Ichiro tells that story much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Ichiro Amimori of Xenoma. You guys make e-skin. It’s like clothing, it’s motion capture, it’s just a shirt, really, but thanks for sitting down with us. Ichiro: Nice meeting you. Tim: Tell us more about what Xenoma is, and what this shirt really does. Ichiro: So we are a startup company from the University of Tokyo,

Japan’s Return Path to Innovation – Tim Rowe – CIC Mar 06, 2017

There are no shortage of startup accelerators, innovation spaces and startup community hubs, and sometimes it can be difficult to put your finger on what makes one a success and another a failure. Today, Tim Rowe the CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center walks us through what he believes will make or break a startup community. The CIC started as a small co-working space for a handful of startups, and now is the biggest facility of its kind on the world. They’ve expanded to several locations and are now int he process of setting up their Tokyo facility. Tim lived in Japan for a few years in the 1990’s and he understands that Japan is different, and that’s a good thing. It’s an interesting interview and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups What makes one startup space succeed and others fail When you need to turn down the money to support the mission How NGOs and governments can sponsor innovation A blueprint for a successful innovation space What approaches to innovation might be particularly effective in Japan What three things all innovation communities need to succeed What Japanese universities can do to foster innovation Links from the Founder The Cambridge Innovation Center Follow Tim on twitter @rowe WCVB-TV's video on Kendall Square and CIC [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Welcome to Disrupting Japan- straight talk from the CEO’s breaking into Japan. You know, I’ve always been a bit skeptical about co-working spaces, innovation centers, and startup community hubs. Some of them are well intended, but too often, the organizations that put these facilities together have a bit of a field of dreams mindset, where, if they just build the office space, the innovative entrepreneurs will come, and then the organizers will find themselves at the center of a thriving ecosystem. Sometimes that actually happens, but usually not. But when it works, when all the pieces really do come together, amazing things happen. And a community develops that is far greater than the sum of its parts. So what’s the real difference between the innovation spaces that flourish compared to those that stagnate? Well, today we get a chance to sit down and talk to Tim Rowe, CEO of Cambridge Innovation Center, or CIC, the largest innovation center in the world. And we have a conversation about what’s really involved in building an entrepreneurial community, and the CIC's progress on building a very large-scale innovation center right here in Tokyo. It’s a truly insightful conversation, so let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to our interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Romero: So I’m sitting here with Tim Rowe, CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center. This is a pretty incredible space that you have been running for 15 years now. So rather than having me explain it, can you tell us a bit about what CIC is and how it came to be? Rowe: Sure. CIC is the world’s largest space for startups, that is our Cambridge Space, specifically. We’re also in Boston, Miami, St. Louis, Rotterdam Netherlands, at the moment and we’ve got some more in the works. We call ourselves a community of startups. So we’re not an accelerator where we’re telling people how to build their business or investing in them. We have brought 15 venture capital funds into our location in Cambridge and some of our other locations, so there is access to money, but it’s more of an open platform. Romero: So the VCs actually have offices there? Rowe: Their entire firm is there. Romero: In terms of business, though, it’s a real estate business. You’re renting office space. You don’t make money by making investments or… Rowe: Yea. So we don’t think about it that way. You could argue that a university is mostly made up of real estate, but that’s not its purpose.

Foreign Tourism is Reinventing Hiking in Japan – Yamap Feb 27, 2017

Hiking, back-country skiing and mountain climbing are not usually the first things associated with Japan. Japan, however, has some stunning natural beauty and Yoshihio Haruyama of Yamap is trying to get more and more people to appreciate that. Yamap is a mobile app that allows hikers, back-country skiers and other outdoorsmen to know exactly where they are even when they are well outside of areas cell-phone reception, and the platform is also providing Japan’s outdoor enthusiasts with a way of connecting to each other. Yoshi also explains how relatively young Yamap managed to negotiate OEM deals with both Casio and Kyosera, and give practical advice for other startups hoping to partner up with large Japanese firms. It’s a great discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why add gamification to a hiking app Why Yamap had to pursue multiple monitazation strategies What a startup needs to know to work with a large Japanese brand Why going global might require a business model pivot There are important differences between hikers in the US and Japan The importance of inbound tourism for outdoor activities in Japan How the Fukuoka startup scene is different from Tokyo Links from the Founder Everything you wanted to know about Yamap See a demo video of Yamap in English Check out Yoshi on Tumbler Follow him on twitter @haruyamayoshi Friend him on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan episode 75. Welcome to Disrupting Japan- straight talk from japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. Ah, the great outdoors, it is something that nerds like me do not get enough of, especially living here in Tokyo. Yoshi Haruyama of Yamap is starting to change that. Yamap is a mobile app that allows hikers, back country skiers, mountain climbers and other outdoors men to know exactly where they are. Even where they are far, far away from anywhere with cell phone reception, and to share this experience with others and to learn from them. If you are one of our overseas listeners, you might be surprised at how much natural beauty Japan has to offer, and if you are of our listeners in Japan you might be surprised at the average age of Japanese outdoors men. Yamap has also done some OEM deals with Japans largest brands. Yoshi gave us some practical advice on how startups can sell to and work with large Japanese companies on joint projects. Oh and during the interview we talk about a wireless transmission technology called Lora. Just so you know, it is a low power wide coverage network that is useful for transmitting large numbers of very small messages. So, now you will know it when you hear it. Let us hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I am sitting here with Yoshi Haruyama of Yamap, it is an application for hikers and mountaineers and other outdoors men in Japan but Yoshi I’m sure you can explain it a lot better than I can, so, tell us abet about a Yamap, what is it? Yoshi: Yamap is a social GPRS tracking application. You install the Yamap application. You can find where you are without mobile reception, such as mountain or foreign countries. Tim: Who are the main users, is it hikers, is it back country skiers, mountain climbers? Who uses it? Yoshi: The most of our uses are hikers and back country skiers. Tim: Okay let us see, you started the company in 2011 and you launched like two years later, right? You were working on this project for a long time and you digitized a lot of these maps by hand and were like marking the trails yourself earlier on. Was there problem that there just is not digitized information on hiking trails in Japan? Why did you spend so much time having to do it by yourse...

How to Create a Micro-Startup in Japan – Patrick McKenzie Feb 20, 2017

More than a few people dream of coming to Japan, starting an online business that gives you financial freedom and leaves you with enough free time to study the language travel and just enjoy Japan. I know that sounds like the opening to some terrible multi-level marketing pitch, but today we site down and talk with someone who has done exactly that — twice. Patrick McKenzie came to Japan more than 15 years ago and after enduring the soul-crushing boredom that is the life of a Japanese programer, he took maters into his own hands, left his job and began developing software products that he sold and supported all over the world the world from his home in the Japanese countryside. It turns our that life was not as idillic or as simple as it seems, but there are some important lessons learned and a great story to be told. I think you’ll enjoy this one. Show Notes for Startups What it's like working as a developer at a Japanese company The 30-year career plan Japanese companies have for their employees Why Japanese developers don’t start side businesses Why it's smart to focus on the foreign market when selling software from Japan What's the wrong way to generate a startup idea Why running a micro-startup can be more rewarding than getting investment What made Patrick give it all up and get a day job Why you need to develop the ability to do arbitrary hard things How to make failure a part of life in Japan, and why that would be a good thing Links from the Founder Patrick runs the Kalzumeus blog Check out some of Patrick's (aka patio11) prolific writing at Hacker News Stripe's Atlas Program Check out the Kalzumeus podcast, and tell Patrick to make more of them [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 74. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me. One of the things I enjoyed most about making Disrupting Japan, is not only do I get a chance to sit down and talk with some of the most innovative people in Japan, but I hear from people all over the world who are thinking about bringing their company to Japan, or who are deeply involved in the startup scene in their own country, or who just have a love of Japan and enjoy hearing about startups and how things are changing here. I also get a pretty steady stream of inquiries from listeners with a very specific Japan-focused dream. There are a lot of developers all over the world who want to move to Japan, maybe move to a Japanese company, study the language, and then start some kind of internet business that would give them the financial independence and the freedom to just live your life in Japan. Well, if that sounds appealing, I’ve got a treat for you today. Today, we’re going to sit down and talk with my friend, Patrick McKenzie, and we’re basically going to give you a blueprint for doing exactly that. I’ll warn you in advance, it might not be as easy as you think it is, or as rewarding as you imagine it might be, and in fact, in the end, Patrick left that life behind. Before he did that, however, he created not just one, but two successful online businesses, that he ran from the comfort of the Japanese countryside. Now, you’ve probably never heard of either of Patrick’s companies, but he’s a more important part of the Tokyo startup ecosystem than he likes to let on. He’s an advisor, a connector, and someone whose name just keeps popping up in Tokyo’s startup scene, and he has a really amazing story to tell. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Patrick McKenzie of Stripe and of Kalzumeus software, and the illustrious Kalzumeus podcast, as a matter of fact.

Japan’s Toys to Life is the Future of Gaming – PowerCore Feb 13, 2017

Gaming is very different in Japan than it is in America, but PowerCore is introducing technology that could lead to major changes in both of them. Toys to Life technology blurs the distinction between the analog and digital worlds by having digital gameplay react to the presence of physical toys. For example, after buying a figuring, that character would appear in the game. The first generation of this technology is already being used by powerhouses such as Disney and Nintendo, but the real change is yet to come. Today Jia Shen explains what the future holds for Toys to Life, and why he decided to start his company in Japan. It seems that the boundary between analog and digital is about to become a lot less clear. It’s a great conversation, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why large companies have trouble crossing the toy-game barrier Why it made sense to build a distributed team from Tokyo The special appeal of physical goods in our digital life How Disney just made a big mistake Why children don't play with some toys Why Japan gaming might be the future model for the rest of the world Links from the Founder Learn more about Powercore Check out their Online Store Some cool toy pics on Instagram Follow Jia on twitter @mekatek Friend him on Facebook Jia on Instragram You really need to see the toys in action to appreciate them check out This video or this one this is cool too or this video [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 73. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, gaming has always pushed the limits of both computer hardware and the interfaces we use to interact with computers. Jia Shen, of PowerCore, is blurring the distinction between the online and offline interaction. Powercore enables video games to react to the presence of physical object. For example, if you owned a figurine of a superhero, that hero could appear in the game. It’s a simple interaction that radically changes the way we view the digital-analog divide. Of course, as with all technologies, adoption is never smooth, and Jia explains some of the mistakes that burned Disney, and some of the major market players. It seems that, as is so often the case, the secret to introducing innovative technology, is to do only as much as you absolutely have to, and then watch how your users react. It’s a simple idea in principle but there are surprising reasons why some of the most influential companies in the industry have trouble following it. But Jia tells that story much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Jia Shen of PowerCore. Now, PowerCore does toys to life or sometimes it’s called offline-online business, but why don’t you explain basically what it is and who uses it. Jia: Sure. The toys to life is a model, that from our perspective, Japan has done a lot of pioneering, but the United States, in maybe the last 5 or 6 years, have made a very large business out of it. So we point to, in the US, Skylanders from Activision, Disney had a big one called Infinity, featuring a lot of the great Disney characters. Nintendo, LEGO, they all have some forays into this. And specifically it’s toys that are collectible, that have a strong interaction with video games. So the guys that do it on a large scale, they usually have console games, and you have different characters, which you can stick into the game, they have different power-ups, they have different game mechanics. Tim: For example, there would be a figurine, or a trophy, or a sticker of some kind that would activate a character in the ...

What You Need to Know To Sell Services in Japan Feb 06, 2017

Selling services in Japan is very different than selling products or software. Everyone knows that relationships are important in Japan, but not many people understand why they are so important, and how you can use that understanding to build a successful business here. Today Sriram Venkataraman explains how he grew InfoSys Japan from a one man operation to over 1,000 employees and how understanding why Japanese enterprises must trust their vendors far more than companies in other developed countries. We talk about hiring strategies and techniques he used to get his initial customers and some of the most common mistakes that western companies make with their senior leadership in Japan. It’s basically a blueprint for how to grow a services company from nothing to thousands of people in Japan, and I think you’ll enjoy it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Links & Resources Follow Sriram on Twitter @japansriram Connect with him on LinkedIn Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 72. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from the CEOs breaking into Japan. Today we’ve got some amazingly good advice for anyone who wants to sell services in Japan. Selling products or software is challenging enough, but selling services where relationships mean everything and where the quality expectations for service is perhaps the highest in the world, that provides a host of very special challenges. Today we sit down with Sriram Venkataraman, as he explains how me manages to scale Infosys, which provides outsourced Indian development services, from 2 people, to over 1,000 people in Japan. In a very real sense, he did it with a strategy that is pretty much the opposite of what you would expect from an Indian software services company. This is a real insight into the mind and the buying decisions of Japanese enterprise customers and Sriram has a different, very compelling perspective, on why so many foreign companies have trouble gaining real trust in the Japanese market. We talk a lot about finding the right people here in Japan, and how to avoid the hiring traps that western firms commonly fall into. Really, this interview is basically a blueprint of how to grow from nothing to 1,000 people in Japan. But, you know, Sriram Venkataraman explains that much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Sriram Venkataraman, of Infosys, and you have been with Infosys from the very beginning in Japan, and you’ve seen it grow from a tiny team to over 10,000 employees here now, haven’t you? Sriram: Not 10,000. Tim: No? That was on the website. Sriram: Our total Japan business is probably about 1,000 people today. But given the business model, not all of them are here. Roughly 65 to 70% of the teams are in India and the balance are here. Tim: Okay, let’s actually back up a bit to 20 years ago. The Japanese market is obviously a very big one but system integration is always a very local game, so what attracted both you and Infosys to the Japanese market in the first place? Sriram: So Infosys was founded by 7 people. The senior founder, I think he’s a true visionary . So one of the important dimensions for Infosys was, “How do we move away from a large dependence on the market of the United States?” Because our business is quite dependent heavily on the mobility of people’s ideas. If you are dependent only on one market, if there is a regulatory change, or if there is something else that happens, then you are not going to be able to sustain the productions that you make. Tim: And back then, what percentage of the revenues were coming from the US? Sriram: The year I joined, this company had a global revenue of $26 million. I was I think sales employee number 10.

This Low-Tech Japan Travel Startup is Going Global – Bed & Art Jan 30, 2017

Today we are going low-tech. Sledgehammers and paint brushes low tech. Keigo Fukugaki has started his own hotel brand, BnA, which stands for Bed & Art. It’s not a platform. It’s not an online marketplace. There isn’t (yet) even a meaningful e-commerce component. BnA is a new kind of hotel that places travelers not only in hotel rooms with interesting decor, but plugs them into the local artistic community. It’s an incredibly ambitious project, but Keigo and his team have three small prototype hotels up and running, and they are in the process of building a full scale facility in Japan and already in talks about international expansion. With SaaS companies and digital marketplaces dominating the news, sometimes it's nice to know that some startups are running businesses based on concrete and lumber. It’s a fascinating interview, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why old office buildings make ideal art spaces The dangers of standardization in Japan and global the hotel industry Why Bed&Art is the anti-Airbnb Why crowdfunding should never be about the money any more Why Keigo left San Francisco to start his startup in Japan The very real danger of stretching yourself too thin Why the differences between Japanese and American programmers are real and important Links from the Founder Learn more about Bed and Art Follow Keigo on twitter @makeshiftjp Friend him on Facebook Checkout Keigo's design firm Makeshift Honey Wedding The BnA prototype as Airbnb in Ikebukuro Their successful crowdfunding campaign [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 71. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, more than anything else, Disrupting Japan is about introducing you to the people who are changing business in Japan. I mean, really introducing you to them. Not the banal book tour interviews you hear everywhere else, but to let you get to know the real people starting things up in Japan. People you would love to sit down and have a beer with and with whom I’m lucky enough to do just that. It’s letting you know the people behind the startups. And although Disrupting Japan is a business podcast, business is personal. Hiding behind every great startup with impressive numbers, there is an interesting story about how it got started. And hiding behind that interesting story is the story of what really happened and the real goals, and the real successes, and real disappointments. And what I love about podcasting is that it makes it so easy for you to hear when someone is telling a PR approved origin story and when someone is really speaking from the heart, when they are telling you about something that really matters to them. Well, I’ve got a great story for you today and listeners have commented that I’ve been a bit tech heavy recently, so today, we’re going to meet someone who is decidedly low tech, as in paint brushes and hammers low tech. Keigo Fukugaki has started his own hotel brand, Bed & Art, in which he tries to merge travel with supporting the local artistic community. It’s an ambitious project to be sure and as the interview progressed, I went from thinking, “This won’t work,” to, “Nah, this is way too much of a long shot to really work,” to “You know, this is just crazy and quirky enough that is just might work.” In this age of SAS, Airbnb, and middleware, sometimes it’s refreshing to find a startup that deals in concrete. But, you know, Keigo tell that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So cheers. We’re sitting here with Keigo Fukugaki of Bed & Art,

In Japan Partnerships are a Two-Edged Sword – Doug Chuchro – Fastly Jan 23, 2017

Sales is different in Japan. When Fastly entered the Japanese market, they quickly discovered that they had change their technology-driven bottom up sales approach to fit Japan’s top-down enterprise market. Today we sit down with Doug Chuchro, the Japan head of Fastly who explains how he had to chance both the sales strategy and the corporate culture from that of the US, which a highly knowledgeable user base who understood the workings of their technology as well as the sales team to Japan, where they frequently found themselves educating potential customers about what a content deliver network is and how they are used. We also explore the importance of partners in the Japanese market, and how those relationships can be very much a two-edged sword. It’s a fascinating conversation, and I think you’ll enjoy it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Links & Resources Learn more about Fastly here Connect with Doug on LinkedIn Follow Doug and Fastly Japan on Twitter @FastlyJapan (Japanese) or @fastly (English) Contact doug@fastly.com or the Tokyo team japan@fastly.com (English or Japanese) Read about Fastly’s partnership with Nifty Cloud (Japanese) Read about Fastly’s partnership with SoftBank (Japanese) Learn about Fastly’s Cloud Accelerator with Google Cloud Platform (English) Sign up for a free Fastly trial account Find out how to do stuff on Fastly from posts on Qiita (Japanese) Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 70. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from the CEOs breaking into Japan. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Today we’re going to talk about content delivery networks or CDMs, those services that cache your website locally around the world so that users can access it extremely quickly. Or more accurately, we’re going to talk about how Fastly has managed to sell them in Japan. We sit down today with Doug Chuchro, the Japan head of Fastly to talk, not so much about the company, but how you sell innovative technology to large Japanese enterprises. We’ll explore why partners are all but essential in entering the Japanese market, but how those relationships can be very much a two-edged sword, you need to know what to expect going in and to try to manage the expectations of everyone involved. When you’re trying to convert a proven, bottom-up, technical sales process into one that is Japanese style top-down, and governed by long-term relationships and unseen alliances. Even when done perfectly, your Japanese partner won’t always do what you want, but sometimes they’ll do what you need. But, you know, Doug tells this story much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Doug Chuchro, the representative director of Fastly KK and thanks for sitting down with me. Doug: It’s my pleasure. Tim: Before we get into all the details of how you brought the company into Japan and how you grew it here, I want to take a step back. Can you explain what Fastly does? Doug: Sure. We are a content delivery network. There are a number of content delivery networks out there. Many of them have been around for years and years. In fact, the space is close to 2 decades old. We are, essentially a content delivery network brings content closer to end users and increases the performance for those end users, and decreases the amount of workload that the customer’s origin has to do. So it essentially is a global caching network that the two major benefits are increasing the end user performance and decreasing the origin offload. Tim: So just every individual around the world would, instead of accessing the original source homepage, they would be accessing the cache that is closest to them and having the fastest experience possible. Doug: Exactly. For example,

How Japanese Startups are Breaking into Silicon Valley – Ramen Hero Jan 16, 2017

More and more Japanese founders are moving their startups to San Francisco. It’s easy to see why. There is more venture capital, more startup know-how, and more startup energy in that city than anywhere else in the world. In fact, there is a small, close knit Japanese startup community in San Francisco, with Japanese startups, mentors and investors all supporting each other and trying to grow their business there. On my last trip to San Francisco, I had a chance to sit down with one of these startup founders, Keisuke Kajitani, co-founder of Ramen Hero. He moved to Silicon Valley from Japan to start his company because he thought the US market was a better fit. Ramen Hero sells home delivered ramen meal kits. Interestingly, the popularity and ubiquity or ramen in Japan works against them, while the novelty and price of ramen in the US has enabled them to get attention from both VCs and customers there. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why ramen gives them a competitive advantage in the US Previous failures in the ramen business and why it's different this time Why Ramen Hero had to pivot from B2B to home delivery What's great about the Japanese startup scene in San Francisco How many companies can the market sustain? When Japanese companies should move to Japan Links from the Founder Learn more about Ramen Hero at their home page Follow Ramen Hero on Instagram [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 69. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from the Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. More and more, Japanese startup founders are looking at, or even moving to Silicon Valley. It’s easy to see the appeal. San Francisco is home to the largest and most competitive startup ecosystem in the world. In fact, there’s a small Japanese startup community in San Francisco, with Japanese startups, mentors, and investors all supporting each other and trying to make it work. Of course, the founders that come from Japan—well, it’s a mixed group. Some successful companies view San Francisco as their logical first step towards global expansion; some are new founders that have an idea they feel is more suited to the American market than the Japanese market; and some, well, some are kind of startup tourists, visiting the offices of famous startups and going through the motions, as if they were in some sort of startup role playing game. On my last trip to San Francisco, I had a chance to sit down and talk with Keisuke Kajitani, co-founder of Ramen Hero. He and his co-founder moved to San Francisco from Japan because they thought the US would be a better market for their product, oddly, because ramen is already too popular in Japan. Now, Ramen Hero sells home delivery ramen meal kits and it’s a business that makes much more sense to launch in the US than it does in Japan. But, you know, Keisuke explains all that much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Keisuke Kajitani of Ramen Hero and we’re sitting here in beautiful San Francisco. So thanks for sitting down with us. Keisuke: Thanks for having me. Tim: I’ve got to say, San Francisco is not so beautiful today. Keisuke: Yeah, it’s raining hard. Tim: I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much rain in San Francisco. Keisuke: Yeah, it’s unfortunate. Tim: But we’re inside and dry, so that’s good. Listen, to get things started, why don’t you tell me a bit about Ramen Hero? Keisuke: Sure. So Ramen Hero is a meal kit service specifically focused on delivering authentic ramen to your house. So what we deliver inside of the meal kit is fresh noodles, and soup, and toppings,

Why Ride-Sharing is Different in Japan – Ryo Umezawa – Hailo Jan 09, 2017

Ride sharing works differently in Japan. Hailo lost the global market-share war to Uber and Lyft, but Hailo won the battle in Japan. Today, Ryo Umezawa details Hailo’s Japan market entry strategy and explains how they were able to succeed where Uber has failed. While Uber vowed to disrupt transportation by taking on both government and industry, Hailo worked within the system. They designed and launched a platform that was completely legal and made life better for all major stakeholders, including the taxi companies. This was a battle between Uber’s disruptive innovation and Hailo’s sustaining innovation. On the global battlefield, Uber won. Uber is the world’s most valuable startup and is still growing fast, while Hailo had a cash crunch in 2016 and was acquired by Daimler. In Japan, however, Hailo won. Hailo’s sustaining innovation soundly trounced Uber’s disruptive innovation, and Hailo remains significantly larger than Uber in Japan. Of course, as you probably suspect, both companies had very different strategies in Japan than they did in the rest of the world, any Ryo explains it all in the interview. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Links & Resources Check out Ryo's blog Follow him on twitter @umemac Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 68. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from the CEOs breaking into Japan. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Today we once again turn our attention to ride sharing, but surprisingly, we won’t be talking about Uber—at least not very much. No, today we get a chance to sit down and talk with my old friend Ryo Umezawa, who is responsible for Hailo’s market entry. Now, listeners not familiar with Hailo, let me explain. Hailo is, in a way, Uber’s quiet and somewhat neglected little brother. Hailo did not make the same impact as Uber worldwide, because they followed a very different strategy. While Uber vowed to disrupt transportation by taking on all-comers, both government and industry, Hailo had a different approach. Hailo wanted to work within the system. They wanted to design a platform that was completely legal and that would make life better for all stakeholders, including the governments and taxi cab companies. In fact, their model involved working with taxi companies directly. This was very much a batter between Uber’s disruptive innovation versus Hailo’s sustaining incremental innovation. And on the global battlefield, Uber won. Uber is the world’s most valuable startup and is still growing fast, while Hailo ran into a cash crunch in 2016 and was acquired—for quite a healthy sum, mind you—and it’s still an ongoing concern. In Japan, however, Hailo won. Hailo’s sustaining innovation soundly trounced Uber’s disruptive innovation and Hailo remains significantly larger than Uber in Japan. Of course, as you probably suspect, both companies had very different strategies in Japan than they did the rest of the world. But Ryo Umezawa tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Ryo, the former country manager of Hailo. You’ve since moved on from Hailo, but we’re going to back up a couple of years because I think your experience with Hailo is something that a lot of people who are coming into Japan now can learn a lot from. Thanks for sitting down with us. Ryo: Thanks for inviting me to speak. Tim: Hailo is very popular in Europe and it made a good run in Japan, but I think a lot of people in the U.S. aren’t familiar with it. So can you just give a brief overview of what it does? Ryo: Okay, sure. Hailo is a British company started up in 2012. It’s a smartphone hailing app. So we basically connect drivers and users who want to ride a taxi through the app and we also help drivers basically raise revenue by utilizing ...

The Global Niche Startup Strategy – Cerevo – Iwasa Takuma Jan 02, 2017

Cerevo wants to be a “global niche” player. That makes sense for this Internet of Things company. The IoT has become so pervasive and so successful that the terms ha become almost meaningless. Today we simply except and accept that almost everything should naturally be connected to the internet. Of course, it wasn’t always that way, and today Takuma Iwasa, founder and CEO of Cerevo tells us of how he started his career at one of Japan’s big consumer electronics companies trying to force the internet into devices where it really didn’t belong. And how that experience forced him to find a better way and to found his own company. Takuma also explains Cerevo’s innovative business model. In fact, the company is structured less like a hardware manufacturer and more like a hardware startup accelerator. He and Cerevo are aiming for a series of niche-market successes which will be acquired by large mass-market firms. And his strategy seems to be working. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you will really enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why Japan's first "smart devices" failed The foundations of the "global-niche" IoT strategy Why startups should build rather than license How to get media attention for cool, new IoT devices How IoT startups really should be using crowdfunding Will Japan ever regain the lead in robotics? Why Japanese companies were afraid of the Roomba Links from the Founder Learn more about Cerevo at their home page [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 67. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. The internet of things is unstoppable. It’s so broadly defined these days, connectivity is cheap, and they can be added to just about anything. Of course, whether it should be added or not is another matter entirely. That question is near and dear the heart of Takuma, founder and CEO of Cerevo, one of the most innovative and connected device makers in Japan. Takuma started his career at Panasonic and he had high hopes of creating all manner of consumer devices that could take advantage of internet connectivity. What he found, however, was that his job consisted mostly of finding ways of trying to force internet connectivity into existing products. Genuinely new products and innovations were being dismissed out of hand. Well, Takuma did what everyone should do, but very few people actually do in that situation, he quit his job, took some of the best engineers with him, and he started his own company. Now, there are a lot of gadgets and IOT devices being built in Japan, but Cerevo has a genuinely interesting and methodological approach to it. During the interview, you’ll hear Takuma try to downplay that strategy as just gut instinct, but as you listen, you’ll understand the very rational method of what, from the outside, might look like madness. We’ll talk about plenty of cool devices, but I think you’ll find the strategy that underlines Cerevo’s success to be at least as interesting. But, you know, Takuma tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from our sponsors and get right to the interview. [Interview] [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: So I’m hitting here with Takuma Iwasa of Cerevo. Now, Cerevo, I’m tempted to call it a gadget company, but that’s not really fair because you guys do a lot more than just make little gadgets. So can you tell us a little bit about what Cerevo does? Takuma: Okay, so my company’s name is Cerevo and we say Cerevo is a consumer electronics start up company, not gadget, right. We are really focusing to the connected consumer electronics devices—connected robot, or connected camera, or connected, of course, gadgets. Sometimes we try connected toys, connected sports equipment.

How U.S. FinTech Stripe Broke into Low-Tech Japan – Daniel Heffernan Dec 26, 2016

Stripe’s Japan market entry did not go according to plan. Things worked out worked out well in the end, but they did not go according to plan. Stripe is one of the world’s largest payment processing companies, but they remained flexible and agile enough to take advantage of some of the surprises they faced in Japan. Today we sit down with Daniel Heffernan, the Japan head of Stripe, and he walks us through what happens when a technically sophisticated and streamlined FinTech company comes face-to-face with the very low-tech and slow-moving processes that make up FinTech in Japan, and how they made it all work. They faced complex, lengthy technical specifications delivered in three-ring binders and un-copyable, printed documents, and they dealt with the Japanese aversion to integrating directly with banks and financial institutions. They even planned to support some of Japan’s more unique payment methods until surprises during development made them change course. Stripe’s entry into the Japanese market is both an essential case study for any FinTech company considering coming into Japan and an entertaining story for those of us with an interest in business in Japan. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Links & Resources Check out Daniel's blog Follow him on twitter @danielshi Find out more about Stripe Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from the CEOs breaking into Japan’s. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Stripe is one of the largest credit card payment processing companies in the world and their Japan market entry did not go according to plan. It went well, mind you, but it just did not go according to plan. Stripe was agile enough to take the changes and surprises in stride. Today, we sit down with Daniel Heffernan, the Japan head of Stripe, and he walks us through the process where one of the most technically sophisticated and streamlined fintech companies in the world came face-to-face with a very low tech and manual nature of fintech in Japan, and he explains how they made it all work. From detailed, extensive technical specifications that were delivered as uncopiable, printed documents in three-ring binders, to the Japanese aversion to interacting directly with banks and financial institutions, to trying to support some of Japan’s more unique payments, and some of the surprised they discovered once they began work. Stripe’s entry into the Japanese market is both an essential case study, for any fintech company looking at Japan, and an entertaining story for those of us with an interest in business in Japan. But you know, Daniel tells that story much better than I can. So let’s hear from out sponsor and get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: I’m sitting here with Daniel Heffernan of Stripe and we’re going to talk about Stripe’s market entry into Japan. And you guys have just officially launched officially but let’s back it up and talk about when you first came in. What was Stripe’s main motivation of coming into Japan in the first place? Daniel: Well, when we started looking at Japan, we looked at it kind of like we do every other market that we considered. There are a few things we look at when we’re trying to decide whether to go into a market. One of them is the size of the e-commerce economy. Japan is pretty big. Last year it was about $130 billion, which is significant. That’s actually number 4 in the world. So you have China and U.S., are giants at the top, then it’s kind of a big jump down, and you have the U.K., and Japan is actually just behind the U.K. If you think about it from a population point of view, it’s really weird because the population of U.K. is like half of Japan. Tim: Yeah, I find that surprising from both a population and an economy point of vi...

How to Make Startup M&A Work in Japan – Naoki Yamada Dec 19, 2016

Startup M&A is changing in Japan. In August, Naoki Yamada sold his startup Conyac to Rozetta for $14 million. It was an unusual journey of alternating cycles of rapid growth and near bankruptcy, and today Naoki explains how he managed to make the deal happen and also how M&A is changing in Japan, and it seems that change might come much sooner than anyone had been expecting. Naoki talks very openly about some of the mistakes he made and give solid advice on how you can avoid making the same ones. And of course, he explains how he handled the negotiations for the acquisition, and why he decided the exit now rather than continue to grow the company. It’s a great story, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups How two quick pivots saved Naoki's company The risks for startups hiring (and firing) too quickly The temptation and danger of focusing on investors at the expense of the team Why M&A made more sense than another round of fundraising What Japanese acquiring companies are most worried and most excited about The struggles of post-M&A integration Advice for large companies who want to acquire startups Links from the Founder Learn more about Conyac at their home page Rozetta's Home page Read Naoki’s thoughts on Nakoki’s personal blog Follow him on Twitter @naokey Friend him on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 65. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Today, Naoki Yamada, founder of Conyac, joins us for a second time. Long-term listeners may remember that he first came on the show a little over 2 years ago and he’s been very busy since then. In August, 2016, Naoki sold his company to Rozeta for about 12 million dollars. But that deal almost didn’t happen and today Naoki joins us again to tell us the story of massive growth, followed by near bankruptcy, followed by massive growth, followed by near bankruptcy, followed by recovery, followed by M&A. So you already know the ending but it’s the story that’s important. Naoki talks very openly about some of the mistakes he made and gives solid advice on how you can avoid making the same ones. And of course, he explains how he handled the negotiations of the acquisition and why he decided to exit now, rather than continue to grow the company. But, you know, Naoki tells that story much better than I do, so let’s hear form our sponsor and then get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tim: Cheers. It’s great to see you again. I’m sitting here with Naoki Yamada and we’re going to talk about Conyac. And it’s an exciting story of starting up and growing, and almost going bankrupt, and growing, and almost going bankrupt again, and having a happy ending. So thanks for sitting down with us. Naoki: Thank you. Tim: So let’s back up a bit—let’s back up a lot. Tell us about what Conyac is. Naoki: When was the last time we talked? Tim: A little over two years ago. Naoki: Okay. It’s been a while and we’ve changed a lot. We started Conyac as a social translation and we slightly changed our service from customer service to business service in 2013. Tim: So let’s start from the beginning. In 2009, you started it. What is consumer translation? Was it like peer-to-peer translation? Naoki: It was more like a community-based translation service. At that time, there were only two options for the translations. One is traditional translation entities and the other one is Google. We wanted to make our service in between those two options, so we asked people who could do the translations outside of the community. We added many translators in our platform and we did translation through those people. Tim: So was it just very small batch translations of 1...

Dealing with the Bad Things First – Expedia Japan – Hidemaru Sato Dec 12, 2016

Expedia had a hard road to travel when they decided to come into Japan. The Japanese market turned out to be nothing like they had ever experienced before. Not only were consumer attitudes and behaviors towards travel booking completely different than it was in their home market, but they were up against some very powerful and well entrenched companies, including both online giants Rakuten and Yahoo and traditional powerhouses like JTB. Today Hidemaru Sato, or “Maru" as his friends call him, will explain to us how Expedia managed to overcome the odds on a ridiculously tight deadline and how a few tweaks to the core product turned out to be key to their success. Maru also shares some great advice for both western companies looking to hire a Japan country manager and for people who are Japan country managers and want to do their jobs more effectively. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Friend Maru on Facebook Connect with him on LinkedIn Maru's advice on successful market entry Maru's advice on how to hire a country manager Partial Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 64. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from the CEOs breaking into Japan. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Travel giant Expedia has their work cut out for them coming into the Japanese market. Not only was the online travel game played very differently in Japan, but they were up against some very strong, very entrenched competition in Japan, both from the major online players like Rakuten Travel and Yahoo Travel, and from traditional players like JTB as well. Today we sit with down with Hidemaru Sato, or Maru, as his friends call him, and he explains how he had to change both Expedia’s marketing message and he product itself to make it attractive to Japanese consumers. In both cases, you’ll see why less is actually sometimes more. Maru also provides framework for both western companies looking to higher a Japanese country manager and for people who are Japanese country managers and want to do their jobs more effectively. Once you get to know Maru, you won’t be surprised to see that he has a very personality-driven approach on both counts. But you know, Maru can explain that much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsor and then get right to our interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So, we’re sitting down with Maru Sato, and you’ve brought a number of companies into Japan, but today we’re going to talk about Expedia. It was a while ago but let’s go back to when Expedia was first thinking of coming into Japan. What did they see that was important about the Japanese market? Why did they want to be here? Maru: Okay, I think back to maybe the early 2000s, and basically it’s kind of the boom. It’s a lot of successful U.S. companies who enter the Japan market because Japan was still strong. Tim: Well, it still is. The Japan market is still pretty big. Maru: Then also, the Japanese market is something like new IT technology or internet-related business just starting. The first company I just helped come into Japan market is America Online, AOL. This is 1999, so this is when AOL was the world’s biggest internet service at that time. So they expand to Europe first, U.K., Germany, France, and also the Asia Pacific. Tim: In both AOL’s case and Expedia’s case, it was just part of the natural global expansion. Maru: And then U.S. companies, or global companies, they expect the Japanese market is big. So now it’s the same thing. Basically the Japanese market is big but usually they do not understand the cultural difference, and also business difference, and also user difference. So a lot of our conflict— Tim: I want to talk about that a lot. Before we get to that, though, how did Expedia pick you?

What Airbnb’s Japan Problem Can Teach Your Startup Dec 05, 2016

This is a rather personal episode. We have no guests this time. It’s just you and me. From the outside, it looks like Airbnb is crushing it in Japan. Listings and rentals are both increasing at an unbelievable rate, and Japan is loosening her room-sharing (or minpaku) laws. The future looks bright for Airbnb here, but behind the scenes a resistance is secretly growing. You see, Airbnb has a real problem in Japan. At first glance many of the issues look familiar. They seem to be the same kinds of challenges Airbnb is facing all over the world, but things are different in Japan, and today we're going to take a look at how important these differences can be. It's worth noting that so far, Airbnb has not taken steps to address their Japan problem, or even publicly acknowledged that it exists. But it's a situation they will be forced to deal with over the next 18 months, and it's something that we can learn a lot from. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan Episode 63 Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs. I’m Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Once again, I’ve got a special show for you today. There will be no guests, no beer, no playful banter with someone speaking English as a second language. Today it’s just you and me. For the next 20 minutes I’ll be whispering in your ear about something I consider very important, but that not enough people are talking about. Airbnb has a serious problem in Japan. They may or may not have recognized it yet, but there has been something massing behind the scenes, getting stronger and stronger. And it’s something that will become very visible over the next 18 months. Now, to the casual observer, and lets face it, most journalists and bloggers are casual observers. To the causal observer, it seems ridiculous to even claim that Airbnb has a problem in Japan. In fact, if you rely on what’s written in the English-language press, any rational person would conclude that Airbnb is crushing it in Japan. Let's look at the facts. Japan is Airbnb’s second largest and their fastest growing market. In fact, listings are up over 500% from last year. Furthermore, Airbnb are way out in front of their local competition. They have far more listings, and using publicly available data, it looks like Airbnb’s Japan site is getting more than 15x more traffic as the most popular local competitor. In fact, I’ve had several different investors speculate that the Japanese companies providing cleaning services to Airbnb hosts are probably making more money than the Japanese companies competing with Airbnb. And yet, Airbnb is dancing through a minefield in Japan. Whether they are doing it blindfolded or with their eyes wide open, well that’s anyone’s guess. But if you read Japanese and you care about such things you can see that there are powerful forces lining up against Airbnb in Japan, and next year we are going to see the start of a real public backlash. Now, I know what you are saying. This is nothing unique to Japan. Airbnb is fighting this backlash all over the world. I mean New York and Berlin just passed strong anti-Airbnb legislation, and Airbnb’s lawyers are suing and pushing back hard. San Francisco recently added new restrictions to Airbnb rentals and Airbnb is suing the city, of course. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Airbnb is used to handing that kind of backlash and legal challenges. They are good at it. It’s in their DNA. No, what is happening in Japan is different. It’s quieter. More secret, and in some ways far more dangerous than the challenges they’ve faced in other markets. But i’m getting a bit ahead of my story. We will get to all of that. First let me set the stage and explain what is actually playing out on the ground here in Japan. So lets walk though what is happening around Airbnb in Japan and ...

How to Build a Market in Japan Without Localization – Derek Sorkin – GitHub Nov 28, 2016

GitHub entered the Japanese market under enviable conditions. They already had a strong corporate user base, solid brand awareness and product evangelists throughout Japan. They did not so much push their way into the Japanese market, so much as they were pulled into it. Even under the best conditions, however, Japan market entry is not easy and Derek Sorkin explains some of the challenges they faced with their distribution plans and the original go-to-market strategies. Managing to salvage a great ongoing relationship from what could have been a very ugly incident. Derek also explains why even in this age of Skype and go-to-meeting it’s absolutely essential to spend the time and money on airfare in managing international offices and to maintain trust and credibility. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Links & Resources The GitHub homepage Connect with Derek on GitHub @dsorkin Follow him on twitter @thesorkin Connect with him on LinkedIn Partial Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 62. Welcome to Disrupting Japan - straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. GitHub entered the Japanese market under enviable conditions. They already had a strong corporate user base, solid brand awareness, and product evangelists throughout Japan. They did not so much push their way into the Japanese market so much as they were pulled into it. Even under the best conditions, however, Japan market entry is not easy, and Derek Sorkin explains some of the challenges they faced with their distribution plans and their original go-to-market strategies. And how they managed to salvage a great ongoing relationship from what could have been a very ugly incident. Derek also explains, even in this age of Skype and GoToMeeting, it’s absolutely essential to spend the time and money in airfare in managing international offices and to maintain trust and credibility. But Derek explains all of that much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsor and then get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Derek Sorkin, the Asia Pacific for GitHub, who spearheaded GitHub’s entry into Japan and that’s what we’re going to talk about today, so thanks for sitting down with me. Derek: No problem, Tim. Good to talk to you again. Tim: Excellent. So listen, you guys have been here a while and you’re doing really well. Let’s step it back a couple of years. What did GitHub see in Japan? What was the motivation for coming here? Derek: We had quite an interesting background with Japan. Our co-founders had been coming here for some time for different conferences; working with companies like Digital Garage back in the day, talking to them; and open source has always had a strong foothold in Japan, things like many of the contributors to the Ruby Project, which GitHub is obviously built on to a certain extent. In Japan and Japanese. Tim: Ruby is from Japan. Derek: Right. So we always had a good core base of those Ruby developers that were interested in open source, that were using GitHub since very early days of GitHub, back in 2009 and 2010. So when we started in the B2B space and working with enterprises—and I think we’ll get into this a little more later, around how decisions are made in Japan—but that really helped us here. There were lots of the forward thinking internet companies. I say “internet companies” broadly, but internet gaming companies like that, that immediately took a hold with organizations on GitHub.com Tim: Okay, so even before you guys were here, you had brand awareness and you had users here in Japan. That’s a huge leg up in the market. Derek: Yeah. It makes it very interesting, especially at that time,

Will Japan’s Geisha Survive the Digital Age? – Disrupting Japan Nov 21, 2016

You don’t usually think of Japan’s geisha as being an industry, but it is. In fact, strictly speaking, it’s a cartel. A cartel that is now being disrupted by internet-based booking agencies and low-cost substitutes. It seems that even geisha are not immune to internet-based disintermediation. In this special interview Sayuki, Japan’s only geisha that holds an MBA, explains the business model behind geisha. We talk about the way things used to be, the current threats that have many geisha concerned that the traditional art form and the lifestyle will not survive, and how some geisha houses are trying to adapt. This is a rare, behind the scenes look at the business of being a geisha and a chance to see how Japan’s geisha might survive and even thrive in the coming digital age. It’s a fascinating discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups How Sayuki broke 100 years of tradition to become a geisha How geisha are being challenged by both the entertainment and tourism industries Changing geisha from a private art to a public one Why geisha might not survive the modern era of tourism The geisha cartel is being challenged, any why that's not good for anyone The challenge modern geisha face on social media The changes in training for the next generation of Japan's geisha Links from the Founder Sayuki's home page Follow her on twitter @sayukiofasakusa Become her patron on Patreon Follow her on Facebook Book a geisha experience Geisha Banquet in Tokyo Private Custom Shopping Tour with a Geisha Private Lunch with Sayuki Kimono Shopping Tokyo Tour [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 61. Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Today I’ve got something really special for you. We are going to talk about the kind of business that you’ve probably never heard any details about. Today we’re going to sit down and interview Sayuki, a Geisha. And since this is Disrupting Japan, we’ll be talking about the business side of being a Geisha. We’ll look at the Geisha business model and examine how it’s being disrupted by modern technology. And believe me, it really is. Now, listeners outside Japan might not understand how special this opportunity is. Traditionally, Geisha are not really supposed to talk about their business. Geisha create the illusion of comfort, beauty, and elegance, that is unsoiled by such base things as money. But make no mistake about it; it’s an illusion. Geisha is a very serious business and Sayuki, who also has an MBA from Oxford, has agreed to sit down and walk us through it. In fact, from a business point of view, Geisha are an established cartel that are being disrupted by new technology, the internet, and tourism websites in particular, and by low-cost substitutes. And there’s a very good chance that Geisha will not survive in their traditional form. In fact, many Geisha houses are proactively trying to adapt to this new market environment. But Sayuki tells this story much better than I do, so let’s hear from our sponsor and then get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So today we’re sitting down with Sayuki, who is a bonafide Geisha here in Japan and we’re going to talk about the business of being a Geisha, so thanks so much for sitting down with me today. Sayuki: Thank you. Tim: First and foremost, a lot of our audience is either in Japan or knows a lot about Japan, but a lot of people don’t, so before I get started for the business can you clear up exactly what a Geisha is, what they do now, what they used to do? Sayuki: A Geisha means arts person, literally. So Geisha are traditional dancers or musicians,

How to Win Over Japanese Regulators – Jonathan Epstein – PayPal Nov 14, 2016

FinTech is one of the hottest startup sectors right now, but if you've been in the industry for a while, you know that FinTech is always one of the hottest startup sectors. And yet FinTech companies seem strangely local. Very few succeed outside their home markets. A complex web of regulations and local sensibilities almost always results in these firms struggling in overseas markets. PayPal wanted to make sure that did not happen to them in Japan. In this podcast, Jonathan Epstein explains how he brought PayPal into Japan. He talks in detail about how he got the Japanese regulators to sign-off on PayPal's innovative products, and also how he and his team had to throw out the US playbook and cooperate with other overseas divisions to build new retail and online markets from scratch here in Japan. Jonathan and I also talk about the exacting demands of Japanese consumers, and how those sensibilities convinced him to decide to start a project that drastically increased short-term costs, but might have saved the business in the long run. It's a fascinating discussion, and I think you'll enjoy it. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Partial Transcript If you read the news, you know that Fintech is one of the hottest start-up sectors right now and if you’ve got a long memory, you’ll also know that Fintech is always one of the hottest start-up sectors. Yet, Fintech companies seem to be strangely local. Very few succeed outside of their home markets. A complex web of regulations and local market sensibilities almost always ensures their failure. PayPal wanted to make sure that did not happen to them in Japan and today, Jonathan Epstein explains how he brought PayPal into Japan. He explains not only how he got the Japanese regulators to sign off on PayPal, but how he and his team had to throw out the U.S. playbook and build a new retail and online market from scratch in Japan. Jonathan also explains how the exacting demands of Japanese consumers forced him and PayPal to make a decision that dramatically increased costs in the short run, but saved the business in the long run. But Jonathan tells that story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. If you’re a start-up thinking about Japan, you’ll never really understand the opportunities here until you start to take a serious look at what’s happening outside of Tokyo. Osaka in particular deserves your attention and this is especially true if you and your team are involved in smart cities’ technologies. Now Hankyu’s GVH#5 project is Osaka’s start-up central and it’s a great place for you to get started. They offer co-working space, bilingual business support, venture investment, and they’re at the center of a great international start-up and community. Now Hankyu’s GHV#5 in Osaka really deserves your attention, so pay them a visit at www.GVH-5.com/EN. You’ll be glad you did. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Jonathan Epstein, who led PayPal’s market entry into Japan. And you’ve done a lot since then but today we’re going to talk about PayPal and how all that came together. So thanks for sitting down with us. Jonathan: Thanks for having me. Tim: Delighted. Well, let’s get right into it. When PayPal was looking at the Japanese market, what was headquarters’ main motivation for coming into Japan? What did they see here? Jonathan: PayPal has actually been in Japan for several years and what they wanted to do was to expand their presence dramatically. Basically, the entire focus of their mission in Japan has just been on their existing internet based business. And that’s been driven by a lot of natural—people signing up for PayPal because they want to buy something at a shop that offers PayPal, they learn about it. Originally it’s been driven a lot by foreigners who came to Japan,

Why The Sharing Economy is Different in Japan – Spacee Nov 07, 2016

Spacee has staked out an interesting position in the sharing economy. Spacee enables companies and individuals to rent out unused meeting room space to people who need to hold a meeting. It's an interesting take on applying a sharing economy model to business. I’m generally very skeptical of startups who define themselves as “Uber for X” or “Airbnb for Y”, particularly in the B2B space, but Spaceee has already been in business for several years in Japan, and they are seeing strong traction and increasing revenues. They might really be onto something. Taku has some fascinating insights on why Japan, and Tokyo in particular, might be far more fertile ground for sharing economy startups than almost any other place in the world. It’s a great discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups Why the basic business case makes sense How large the meeting space market can grow The challenge of expanding outside of Tokyo Why Spacee turned down venture financing to bootstrap for three years Whats wrong with the current fundraising environment in Japan Which other companies are coming into the meeting room rental space Why Japan is uniquely suited for the sharing economy Links from the Founder Learn about Spacee Follow them on twitter @spaceejp Friend them on Facebook An interview with Spacee CEO on fundraising [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 59. Welcome to Disrupting Japan - straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. You know, the world is full of start-ups that define themselves as “the Uber of X” or the “Airbnb for Y.” Frankly, most of those business models don’t really make sense when you dig into them. Spacee, however, might just be onto something. Spacee rents out unused space around Tokyo to salesman, co-workers, or people who just need a quiet place to conduct a little business. As Takuya Umeda explains in the interview, it’s not just meeting rooms that are being rented out. The sharing economy is relatively new in Japan and Takuya and I talk not only about some of the problems its facing here, but why, in the long-run, Japan might be better suited for sharing economy companies than anywhere else in the world. He also explains why Spacee decided to delay taking outside investment for almost three years while they built their business and how that turned into an advantage later on. But you know, he tells the story much better than I can, so let’s hear from our sponsor and then get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting here with Takuya Umeda, co-founder of Spacee. Thanks for sitting down with me. Taku: Thank you, Tim. Tim: Spacee is kind of like Airbnb for meeting spaces, but that’s a really overly broad description, so why don’t you tell us a bit of how it works. Taku: Spacee is really like the Airbnb of business. In Japan, wherever you have a meeting, if you have an outside meeting, the only place you go is like Starbucks or a café. Tim: Right. Everyone meets in coffee shops. Taku: If there is a professional conference room, it costs really expensive. It’s probably like 5,000 yen per room, per hour. And at that price you can’t really do much, like brainstorming and start up some business plan. Stuff like that you can’t really do. And a café is not really good at it too. So we found that there is a gap between an expensive conference room and a Starbucks, so we fit into the gap. Tim: So something a little more formal and private than a coffee shop, but not quite as formal as a hotel meeting room or a service office. So tell me about your customers. Who is it that’s renting out these spaces and why are they doing it? Taku: You know, there is a lot of salespeople around and they stay l...

Taking Control Back from the Distributors – Allen Miner – Oracle Oct 31, 2016

Today is the first episode off our new expanded format. From today, we’ll be covering both disruptive Japanese startups and detailed market entry case studies of global companies that are disrupting Japan from the outside. Oracle first came into Japan more than 25 years ago, but the challenges they faced and overcame then are exactly the same ones firms are facing today in executing their Japan market entry. Allen explains why Oracle needed a unique sales and marketing strategy for Japan, and how he managed to get buy-in from headquarters — even though Oracle already had a sales and marketing program that had proven fantastically successful in other markets. We also talk about how Oracle managed to negotiate a amicable exit out from their exclusive distribution agreements not just once, but twice. That’s an amazing accomplishment considering that many foreign companies have destroyed their Japanese business the first time they attempt it. But Allen, tells the story much better than I do. I think you’ll enjoy the interview. I know I did. [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Partial Transcript Disrupting Japan, episode 58. I’ve got some big news for you today. Disrupting Japan is going to be twice as big, twice as informative, and twice as frequent. From today on, we’ll be sending out new episodes every single week. To do this, we’re going to be expanding the format. Half of our interviews will be with start-up founders, just like before, and half of our interviews will be with people who are disrupting Japan by bringing foreign companies, technologies, and innovation into Japan. This really makes a lot of sense because as fans of Japanese history know, foreign pressure has always been a powerful agent of change in Japan. I think you’ll find these additional episodes very interesting. And to kick things off today, we’ll get a chance to sit down and talk with my good friend Allen Miner about the challenges Oracle faced, and overcame, when breaking into Japan. I’ll warn you in advance that this episode is longer than most, and believe me, I cut things to the bone. But there is just too much great information about how to overcome both the personal and professional challenges that foreign companies face here. I felt like I would be cheating you if I edited out any more. In fact, Allen explains how Oracle successfully maneuvered out of an exclusive distribution agreement, not only once, but two separate times. This is something that has sunk more than one foreign company here. But Allen tells the story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So I’m sitting down here with Allen Miner and Allen, you’ve been involved with the market entry of a lot of companies into Japan. But today I want to focus on the one that you led personally, which was Oracle Japan. So let’s back up. What was attractive about the Japanese market? What made Oracle decide that they needed to be in this country? Allen: Actually, that happened a few years before I joined Oracle. In, I believe it was 1982, Oracle was about a $5 million a year company worldwide, 5 years old as a company, and just released their first commercial version of the Oracle database software. There was quite a bit of press about, “How interesting is this relation to technology? It doesn’t require traditional programming to do data manipulation.” And the U.S. press got read by some technical geeks in Europe. And one in particular in Japan said, “This sounds really interesting. We ought to figure out if we can bring this cool new technology to Japan.” Tim: So it was a partner company pulling you in? Allen: Yeah, it was a company called Digital Computers Limited, that at the time was building DEC VAX clones. Because Oracle originally was released on the DEC VAX computer platform,

Making Money in Other People’s Closets – Rie Yano Oct 24, 2016

Material Wrld has found a way to innovate in online fashion commerce, and that’s no easy task. It’s a crowded market, with tight margins. Rie Yano and her team, however, have found success by going against common wisdom. While their competitors were focused on building platforms and reducing the amount of work required by their staff, Material Wrld went the other way. They began to take on inventory risk and doing some of the most labor intensive parts of the process in house. This is the kind of move that looks foolish on the spreadsheets, but it turned out to be instrumental in enabling Material Wrld to maintain quality, develop lasting relationships with their customers and ultimately control their own brand. It’s an amazing, and somewhat surprising story, and it’s best if you hear it directly from Rie herself. Show Notes for Startups Why people feel guilty throwing out clothes How a credit card provides a physical anchor for an online brand Why traditional recycle shops need to change The need for cross-brand data in fashion commerce How Material Wrld handles inventory risk, and why? What kinds of pieces are easiest to sell online. Why doing things that don't scale pays off when building a brand Links from the Founder Learn about Material Wrld Check our Rie's articles on Medium Follow her on twitter @rieglobe Friend her on Facebook [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan, episode 58. Welcome to Disrupting Japan - straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. It’s hard to innovate in online commerce today. It seems like everything has been tried before and now we’re just looking at variations on a theme. At first glance, Material Wrld seems like just another online fashion marketplace but that first glance is deceiving. There is something very interesting going on here, but before I tell you what that is, I want you to meet someone. Online marketplaces are usually designed to be low-risk, low-capital organizations that focus on marketing building a technology platform with the buyers and sellers doing as much of the work as possible. Rie Yano, the founder of Material Wrld, however, ended up taking a very different approach. By taking on inventory risk and shifting non-scalable labor requirements onto her own team, they were able to build and scale a unique fashion commerce brand, where so many before have failed. Her reasoning may surprise you a bit, but you know, she tells the story much better than I can, so let’s get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1404" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] [Interview] Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Rie Yano of Material Wrld and thanks for sitting down with me. Rie: Thank you, Tim, for inviting me. Tim: Great to have you here. So, Material Wrld is a fashion trade-in service and, well, rather than have me explain it, why don’t you explain a bit about what material world is and how it works. Rie: Sure thing. Material Wrld is based in New York. We are a service that helps women easily refresh their closets. Often times, we find ourselves waking up, looking into a closet and feeling a sense of guilt or frustration in that what’s in your closet may not be what you want to wear or how you feel that day. We created Material Wrld so that you can constantly evolve your wardrobe. One day you might be feeling like you want to be a powerful woman. Another day, you might feel like you want to dress with some beautiful, emotional colors. Making sure that our service can enable that idea or feeling that you have by making the refresh very simple. Tim: So, usually that’s done by just buying more clothes but Material Wrld has a little bit of a different approach. What are the mechanics? How does it work? Rie: Sure. Everyone thinks about shopping for new clothing when ...

Japan’s Airbnb for Satellites – InfoStellar Oct 10, 2016

Startup Fundraising in Japan – Live & Unleashed Sep 26, 2016

Disrupting Japan is two years old and ready to party. To celebrate, we gathered the leaders of Tokyo's venture capital community together in front of a live audience of made up of the thought leaders of Japan's startup community. We all had a few drinks and talked about fundraising in Japan, the future of venture capital here, and how startups can best get in touch with and impress VCs. Our panel included some of the top VC investors in Japan, which naturally led to an amazing discussion. Shinji Asada (@asada23) - Japan Head, Salesforce Ventures Hiro Maeda (@djtokyo) - Partner at BEENEXT James Riney (@james_riney ) - Head of 500 Startups Japan We discuss the challenges or fundraising in Japan, growing a Japanese company as a foreigner, what Japanese VCs can learn from their foreign counterparts, and what kind of of pitch mistakes will ruin your funding chances. On a personal note, it's hard to believe that two years have gone by already. Disrupting Japan has grown larger, faster, and with a more engaged and passionate community than I ever imagined it could. Today, thousands of people from all over the world listen to each episode, and we are featured regularly in English-language and Japanese-language news and podcasts from all over the world. And to keep things fresh, I have some big surprises coming up in the next few months, so stay tuned. I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who has pitched in to help make Disrupting Japan a success. There is no way I could have built this by myself. I'm lucky. I have great subject matter to work with. Japanese startups and Japanese startup founders are far more innovative and far more interesting than most in the West give them credit for. I look forward to continuing to bring you their stories. Thanks for listening! [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Welcome to Disrupting Japan - straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for coming out tonight. You guys are awesome. All right, to our listeners at home, or wherever you might be in podcast land, we’ve got a special show for you tonight. We are broadcasting live from Super Deluxe in Roppongi with the most creative and dynamic group of people in the world, which is Tokyo’s start-up community. All right, and we’ve got an astounding panel discussion for you, and before we get to that and our kampai, I’ve got to call out three members of the start-up community who really helped put this together. There is absolutely no way I could have done it without them. They are start-ups themselves and you should know a little bit about them. So, first is Justa.io and I think Elena is here from Justa. Where are you Elena? Everyone wave at Elena. So, Justa is Japan’s, really, best start-up job board. If you’re an engineer or a programmer looking to work at a start-up, or if you’re a start-up looking to hire engineers or programmers, you want to talk to Elena. Second, I want to introduce Creww, with two W’s. And what Creww, with two W’s, does, is they run open innovation programs for Toyota, and Panasonic, and JTV. And these big companies really want to work with start-ups, but they’re bad at it. So that’s where Creww comes in to help out. They also have a start-up kit, which is a bundle of goodies from IBM and Microsoft and a bunch of big companies, that they give away for free. And Kozue is here from Creww. Kozue, where isKozue? Way in the back over there. Now,Kozue will pretend she doesn’t speak English but her English is really good so don’t be shy. And last, and certainly not least, is Digital Hub. You will see these guys running around with cameras and microphones, documenting this event for all posterity. And you want to talk to Steve, who is over there. So, these guys also do great commercial work. You can see it on the website or you can see it right now. They’re going to be producing this,

Brick-and-Mortar is Japan’s New E-Commerce Sep 12, 2016

Ten years ago, everyone know that e-commence would drive most retail stores, especially specially stores out of business, and with the Amazon juggernaut plowing ahead, there were very few dissenters. But something very interesting is going on right now. Many e-commerce companies are opening physical stores. Even Amazon, going against all economies of scale, is opening up brick and mortar bookstores in expensive locations with full-time staff. And there a good reason for this trend. There is something very reassuring about holding a product in your own hands. And it’s something that can’t really be replaced with high- resolution photos and customer reviews. Tomohiro Hagiwara of Aquabit Spirals has committed both his company and a large part of his adult life to bridging this gap between the physical and the digital world and is helping online retailers jump into the physical world. Of course, Aquabit Spirals’ technology does much more than this, and Tomo tells an interesting story of how it took his company more than six years of work before they closed their first deal and became an overnight success. It’s an fascinating discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it. Show Notes for Startups What is SmartPlate, and why is it important? Why e-commerce offline needs to come offline How to close global deals as a small startup The difference between going global and being global Why Tomo abandoned his first business to follow his dream The value of accelerators in Japan Why founders can't work at big companies Links from the Founder Learn about SmartPlate Follow Tomo on twitter @hagi_w Friend him on Facebook SmartPlate pitch-deck SmartPlate explainer video Coverage on VentureBeat [shareaholic app="share_buttons" id="7994466"] Leave a comment Transcript from Japan Disrupting Japan - Episode 54 Welcome to Disrupting Japan - straight talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening. Ten years ago, it was a common knowledge that e-commerce would drive most retail shops especially small specialty shops out of business. With the Amazon juggling up, moving it full speed, there's no reason to really doubt that opinion. But something very interesting is going on right now, many e-commerce companies are opening physical stores at expensive locations with actual products and full-time staff. Even Amazon is opening up Brick and Morter bookstores across the United States The truth is, there's something reassuring about holding a product in your own hands. It's something that can't really be replaced by high-res photos and online reviews. Tomo Hiro Hagiwara of Aquabit Spirals has committed his company, in fact, committed a large part of his adult life to bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds. But before I'll introduce you to Tomo, let me introduce you to someone else. Now, Tomo once had a thriving, profitable app development business that employed over 30 people, but he was committed enough to his vision of connecting the physical and digital that he turned down work and laid off most of his staff so he could focus on it. After working on it in obscurity for 6 years, he's now becoming an overnight success. But, Tomo tells the story much better than I can, so let's get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Tomo: Okay, cheers! Tim: Thank you. Tomo: Thank you. I'm very glad to see that you're here Tim: I'm sitting here with Tomo Hagiwara, CEO of Aquabit Spirals, and thanks for sitting down with me. Tomo: Yes, thank you. Nice to meet you here, and I'm very glad to meet you today. Tim: Great! Now, Aquabit Spirals makes the smart play which is a physical device that allows bookmarking physical objects with your phone,

Why AirCloset is Not Afraid of the Fashion Box Curse Aug 29, 2016

Fashion is a tough business, and fashion subscription boxes are even tougher. From the top down, this seems like a great business model. Subscribers are sent a new, hand-picked box of clothes or accessories each and every month. As you’ll see ...

Taking Akiba Back from The Otaku – Mitsuo Hashiba Aug 15, 2016

Long before the maker movement existed, Akihabara was world famous as a destination for hardware geeks, robotics nerds, and audiophiles and tinkerers of all kinds. Hundreds of tiny specialty shops lined the areas back streets and did a surprising brisk business in items you could not find anywhere else. The internet changed all that. ...

The Real Reason Uber is Failing in Japan Aug 01, 2016

IoT and the Future of Poop – Atsushi Nakanishi Jul 18, 2016

The Business Model Behind Startup Events – Antti Sonninen Jul 04, 2016

A key component to making a startup a success is knowing who your true customers are. Today, Antti Sonninen, the Japan CEO for Slush, one of the largest startup events in the world lays out the business model for us, and the facts will probably surprise you.

The Dark Side of Japanese Crowdfunding – Ryota Matsuzaki Jun 20, 2016

Crowdfunding is at a crossroads. The inherent conflict of interest in the business model is forcing US firms to either limit their growth or become the online equivalent of late-night infomercials. In Japan, however, crowdfunding has grown more ...

Crowdsourcing My Career Jun 14, 2016

Last week I published a article on Medium about why I was shutting down my current startup. If you haven't read it yet, you can find out Why I turned down $500K, Pissed off my investors, and Shut down my startup. The post went viral and I've received several thousand emails in the last few days. ...

Pivot Till It Hurts: Making Mobile Video Profitable – Pocket Supernova Jun 06, 2016

Pocket Supernova has pivoted through three countries and three completely different products before they hit their stride with their current video editing platform for mobile, and they now seem ready to move a generation of video content creators out from behind their desktops and onto their mobile phones.

Japan’s Unfair Advantage in Driverless Cars – Yuki Saji May 23, 2016

We are about to start seeing more cars but fewer drivers on the road. Self-driving vehicles are already moving out of the labs and onto the roads world-wide, and Yuki Saji thinks Japan has a unique competitive advantage in the space. Yuki is CEO of SB Drive, Softbank’s...

What’s Wrong With BioTech in Japan – Molcure May 09, 2016

Japan could be, and perhaps should be, a BioTech startup powerhouse. The size of the market, the aging population and the depth and quality of the fundamental research being done here should make Japan a global player. But something is holding her back.

How a Startup Went Global in Only 4 Seconds – Miku Hirano Apr 25, 2016

Everyone talks about the importance of international markets and how startups need to think globally from day one. Few companies, however, build that goal into their DNA as completely as Miku Hirano’s Cinnamon. Cinnamon’s core product, Tuya is a micro-video sharing platform...

What’s Holding FinTech Back in Japan – Paul Chapman Apr 11, 2016

Japanese banking is one of the most conservative industries in one of the most conservative countries in the world. That’s what makes it both so difficult and so profitable to disrupt. Today, Paul Chapman talks to us about the founding and growth of Moneytree, a personal finance app that is quickly growing into something much bigger and more important.

Winning When Everyone Tells You to Quit – Yuki Ito Mar 28, 2016

Over the last 25 years, both Zest and Yuki Ito have been through several different incarnations. Interestingly, these incarnations perfectly mirror the changes we have seen in Japan’s startup scene in that time. Today Zest makes cloud-based, field-service software, which ...

Japanese Startups, This Must Change Now! Mar 14, 2016

Overall trends are going pretty well for startups in Japan, but things could be a lot better. One strange thing seems to be that almost everyone asking how to improve things for startup in Japan are either government officials, academics or venture capitalists. It's fantastic that they are interested, and their interest in sincere, but there is only so much they can do. What needs to happen ...

Why Gay Rights Are Good Business in Japan – Koki Hayashi Feb 29, 2016

Koki Hayashi of Letibee is walking a difficult path by combining a startup business with social activism, but he just might pull it off. Japan is very rapidly becoming more accepting of those who are openly gay, and 2015 was a year of extremely rapid progress for gay rights. Letibee has plans to capitalize on this movement...

The Hard Truth Behind Japan’s Cute Robots – Shunsuke Aoki Feb 15, 2016

Japan has a long cultural fascination with human-like robots. Literature, cinema and anime are filled with them, and perhaps not surprisingly, a large number of Japanese startups are focused on making anthropomorphic robots. I have to admit that this fascination never really made sense to me until Shunsuke explained it during this interview.

Disrupting the Final Frontier – Yuya Nakamura Feb 01, 2016

There are not many industries more resistant to disruption than satellite and aerospace. The dominant firms thrive largely because of the massive capital requirements and strong government connections. Yuya Nakamura of Axelspace is confident he can change that.

Creating Japan’s Open Internet – Kaneto Kanemoto Jan 18, 2016

More than ten years before Quora and ZenDesk became famous, there was OKWave. Kaneto Kanemoto founded OKWave to address a massive problem that was unique to the Japanese internet in the mid-1990’s. Most of the country felt the situation was inevitable, even natural, but Kaneto knew it had to change.

The Happiest Company in the World – Yuka Fujii Jan 04, 2016

Yuka considers Famarry to be the happiest company in the world, and looking at who her customers are, I think she just might be right. But behind this happy company is an aggressive plan to disrupt a cartel of photo studios that have dominated the market for decades.

How Startup Thinking is Changing the Japanese Government – William Saito Dec 21, 2015

It’s hard to imagine an organization more resistant to change and disruption than the government of Japan. But today’s guest, William Saito has made it his mission to bring innovation to the way the Japanese bureaucracy operates. And more astoundingly, he’s actually having an effect.

The Myth of the Successful Startup Failure – Hiroshi Nagashima Dec 07, 2015

How Japan Can Get Her Innovation Mojo Back – Sorato Ijichi Nov 23, 2015

Japan was once home to some of the most innovative companies on the planet, but those companies lost their innovate edge a long time ago. Today, many are betting on startups to change the course of the Japanese economy and to some extent, that’s already starting to happen. Ijichi Sorato of Creww, however, is betting on a different approach to win out, that of Open Innovation.

Why Japanese VCs are Losing Out – James Riney of 500 Startups Nov 09, 2015

500 Startups has been one of the driving forces behind the utter disruption of how seed funding is done. That shift is one of the reasons we have seen such large and diverse startup ecosystems emerging around the world. Japan, however, often changes more slowly than other nations.

Why Japan Will Thrive on Disruption Oct 26, 2015

Too many things that are labeled as "cultural differences" have much simpler explanations. There are perfectly rational (and even mathematical) reasons why we have not seen a lot of entrepreneurship in Japan over the last 50 years, why we are starting to see a lot more of if now, and why we are likely to see an explosion of Japanese startups in the coming decade. In this episode, we look what happens in Japan when the gatekeepers who stand between the creative people and the broader public are removed.

How to Sell Without Salesmen in Japan – Daisuke Sasaki Oct 12, 2015

Turning a Toy into a Data Platform – Akinori Takahagi Sep 28, 2015

The Internet of Things is becoming so commonplace that it is almost almost invisible. About a year ago, Moff launched an extremely clever IoT toy called the Moff-band that allows kids to add sound effects to their every-day play. They toy had been successful, but for Moff to take the next step they need to create a platform around the toy.

Live & Unleashed – Our One-Year Anniversary Sep 14, 2015

Disrupting Japan is one year old, and ready to party. To celebrate , we gathered some of the leaders of Tokyo's startup community together in front of a live audience, had a few drinks, and talked about the future of startups in Japan. Our panel included perspectives from software, IOT, and venture capital, which led to some interesting discussions.

Marketing in Japan is Broken. Here’s The Fix. – Sunao Munakata Aug 31, 2015

Marketing automation is new in Japan, and it’s taking a lot of Japanese companies off guard. For decades, sales in Japan have been done by armies of salarymen in navy-blue suits visiting clients and marketing, well until recently, most Japanese companies didn’t make much of a distinction between marketing and advertising. This week, we get a chance to ...

Design in Japan is Different and That’s About to Change – Brandon Hill Aug 17, 2015

Everything we thing we know about design is changing. This transformation is further advanced in America, but the seeds have already been planted in Japan and the changes are now starting to take root. Brandon Hill explains how design, rather than more traditional analytical methods, is the ideal prism from which to view potential solutions to business problems. Not just the best approach to improving products, mind you, but also the best way to improve business processes and even to better engage employees.

Why Your Startup Accelerator is Going to Die – Hiro Maeda Aug 03, 2015

Can Mario Survive Japan’s New Gaming Disruption? – Rintaro Oyaizu Jul 20, 2015

Every 15 years, like clockwork, the Japanese gaming industry is disrupted by a new technology. The console giants were crippled by the first generation of mobile games published by companies like DeNA and Gree. Now those companies are now losing business to smaller publishers selling through the Apple Store and Google Play. Rintaro Oyaizu used to run

The High Profits of Low Tech in Japanese Startups Jul 06, 2015

I love low-tech solutions. They are more likely to be solving real problems, and if we are being honest with ourselves, a true a minimum viable product (or business) usually does not involve cool new technology. Hiroki Kudo of MerryBiz has rolled out a minimal solution to address their client’s bookkeeping needs, and he is now in the process of trying to gently walk his customers from this small, sustaining innovation to something more disruptive. Something that will change things in the long term. It’s an interesting path to be walking...

Why Men Need Women Founders – Ari Horie Jun 22, 2015

Ari Horie has no interest "empowering" women and sensitivity training is not in her toolkit. Ari is showing the startup world that incorporating some of the problem-solving skills and leadership techniques favored by women improves their chance of success.

Japan’s Startup Renaissance – Creativity, Risk & Process Jun 08, 2015

So many things that are labeled as "cultural differences" have much simpler explanations. There are perfectly rational (and even mathematical) reasons why we have not seen a lot of entrepreneurship in Japan over the last 50 years, why we are starting to see a lot more of if now, and why we are likely to see an explosion of Japanese startups in the coming decade.

A Startup Changes CEO: How Open is Too Open? – Gengo May 25, 2015

Gengo understands the need for small-batch translation. Global communication takes place exponentially faster than the project management cycle, and understanding is way too important to be left to machines. And with even the smallest and most early stage startups understand the importance of going global, Gengo seems to have found their niche.

Crowdfunding in Japan is Not About Startups – Ryotaro Nakayama May 11, 2015

Makuake is one of Japan's largest crowdfunding platforms. It was spun out of CyberAgent in 2013 with Ryotaro Nakayama (or Naka as his foreign friends call him) as CEO. Crowdfunding has taken off more slowly in Japan than it has in the US, and it has followed a different growth path. It started out primarily as a way to raise money for charitable causes and at the moment crowdfunding seems to be having a more significant impact on corporate Japan than on smaller Japanese ventures.

Japan’s New Agency Model for Innovation – Yuta Inoue Apr 27, 2015

Yuta Inoue and Quantum have developed a model to help large Japanese companies both work with innovative startups and to remember how to innovate internally. Many find it hard to believe today, but Japanese companies used to be some of the most innovative firms on the planet, and Yuta explains how a few of them are now starting to return to their creative roots.

From Salarymen to Freelancers – Japan’s New Economy – Koichiro Yoshida Apr 13, 2015

Koichiro Yoshida took CrowdWorks from idea to IPO in less than three years, and today both CrowdWorks and crowd-sourcing in general are seen as essential to Japan’s future economy. Just 10 years ago, Japanese politicians pointed to freelancers and part-times as part of the cause of Japan's economic woes. Fortunately, Japan's leadership is now beginning to realizing that having a flexible and skilled workforce is actually a tremendous economic advantage.

Innovating by Asking for Help – Eiko Hashiba Mar 30, 2015

Startup founders know that going from zero to one means not only making mistakes, but also asking for help. Unfortunately, in Japan asking for help has traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness. In both professional and personal life you are expected to be either a confident leader or an obedient follower. Such attitudes...

Tea Ceremony in Blue Jeans & Startup Lessons Mar 16, 2015

Investors were skeptical that combining traditional face-to-face learning with a P2P web platform would work. Over the past three years, startup founder Takashi Fujimoto of StreetAcademy has been proving them wrong. Takashi is showing Japan that the new does not have to replace the old. Sometimes the new just makes the old things even better.

Bursting the Filter Bubble – SmartNews – Atsuo Fujimura Mar 02, 2015

One Japanese startup founder is on a mission to change not only the way we think about the news, but the way we think about each other. The "filter bubble" is a term that describes the natural, but tragic, result of search engines and news services giving us more and more of what we want. We end up seeing only information that reenforces what we already believe. Ideas that contradict our beliefs, ideas that might make us uncomfortable, and ideas we have never been exposed to get filtered out in the process of ...

The Japan Startup Factory – Casey Wahl – Red Brick Ventures Feb 16, 2015

Casey has been on the founding team of several Japanese startups in markets ranging from from retailing, to recruiting, to information sharing, to private social networks for pachinko parlors. Add to that the fact that he's just published a book on Japanese startup founders and their stories, and you won't be surprised to find that this turns out to be a pretty interesting discussion.

Music, Maids & Startups in Japan – Hiroshi Asaeda – Beatrobo Feb 02, 2015

Starting and growing companies is nothing new to Hiro. He's been doing it his whole adult life. In his younger days, he always felt caught somewhere between Japanese and American culture, never really belonging to either. Hiro found inspiration in an unlikely place; Nintendo games. They were uniquely Japanese, but universally loved and intuitively understood. His journey so far has ...

Japan’s Seeds of Disruption Jan 19, 2015

The phrases "disruptive innovation" and "disruptive business" are thrown around far too often and far too loosely these days. Of course, at first glance, it would seem that the same charge could be leveled against this podcast. This is a special one-on-one episode where we talk about what disruptive innovation really means.

Japan’s Accidental Entrepreneur – Yusuke Takahashi Jan 05, 2015

Yusuke epitomizes the new generation of Japanese startup founders. That means he is exactly the opposite of what most Westerners picture as a startup founder in Japan. He left a fast-track, high-status job in academia to start one startup after another, in both Tokyo and in San Francisco, and while Yusuke has not achieved a massive Silicon Valley style exit just yet, there is no doubt he is on his way.

The Hardest Working Slacker in Japan – Masanori Hashimoto Dec 22, 2014

Masanori Hashimoto is the hardest woking slacker in Fukuoka. He's bootstrapped a collaborative diagramming company that is growing internationally and founded Myojyowaraku, the largest technology, music and arts festival this side of South By Southwest. But that ...

The Indirect Way a Startup is Disrupting Japan – Akiko Naka – Wantedly Dec 08, 2014

Akiko Naka is an amazing woman. When you first meet, her reserved and unassuming manner makes you wonder if she really knows how potentially transformative her ideas and her company are. As you get to know Akiko, however, it becomes clear she knows exactly what she's doing. She's just doing things her way.

How a Startup is Making Ticketing Pay – Taku Harada – Peatix Nov 24, 2014

Taku walked away from the kind of a career that most people dream of. He had proven himself at Sony Music, Apple and in his late twenties he was quickly rising thought he ranks at Amazon Japan. He and his friends knew they had an amazing career ahead of them, and that terrified them. At that point they knew they had to go out on their own and build something amazing.

Breaking Open Japan’s Closed Business Culture – Tadashi Tanimoto – Realcom Nov 10, 2014

Tadashi Tanimoto is a man with a big successes behind him and a big dream ahead of him. The IPO of Realcom was just a milestone in a longer journey to change the way people work together and share information. Now, I realize, that sounds like a typical committee-written and board-approved mission statement from any number of enterprise software companies. But as you get to know Tadashi, you begin to understand that he not only means it, but lives it.

Founding a Startup as a Foreigner in Japan – Jason Winder – MakeLeaps Oct 27, 2014

Jason came to Japan from Australia to study martial arts, and his company MakeLeaps is now kicking ass in online invoicing. Jason bootstrapped MakeLeaps himself and he and his partner, Paul Oswald grew the company organically, acquired two of their domestic competitors, and recently became the first Japanese company to receive funding from an AngelList syndicate.

What Japan’s Startup Ecosystem Needs to Grow – Ikuo Hiraishi Oct 13, 2014

The startup ecosystems in America and Europe are built around people like Ikuo, but men like him are still quite rare in Japan. After founding a series of successful (and a few less than successful) startups, Ikuo moved to the other side of the table and begin investing and mentoring.

Why Japan Needs to Change Its Communication Strategy Sep 29, 2014

It was a unique combination of Naoki's adventure driving through the US, his ongoing frustration in working for a large Japanese firm, and his love of an anime character from his childhood that inspired him to start his own venture and to try to change the way we communicate with each other via translation. Conyac is a collaborative translation platform with an innovative approach to ensuring product quality and customer satisfaction.

Exporting Japan’s Business Card Culture – Chika Terada – Sansan Sep 16, 2014

Business cards are far more important in Asia than they are in the West. Business cards command the same level of respect and deference as the person they belong to. Here in Japan, there are many times when a business conversation cannot get underway until all cards have been exchanged and everyone knows exactly ...

Japan’s Coming Startup Boom Sep 02, 2014

Far too many people, including many of the Japanese themselves, consider Japanese society as inflexible and unable to change. This is simply wrong. In this kickoff episode we look at what was behind the two disruptive, transformative really, changes that Japanese society has been through in the past, and examine the groundwork that is being laid for the coming startup boom. We nail down ...

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