Disrupting Japan

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

Show notes

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. We talk about the market forces that lead to the past pivots and why the team is confident they they have a winner on their hands this time. Oscar also outlines what he sees as the critical business model flaw that will cause 99% of all social startups, even the very cleaver ones, to fail. The local behind their move to Japan is fascinating as well, and Oscar views the use of Japanese developers, rather than San Francisco-based programmers as a key strategic advantage. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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 autonomous vehicle subsidiary which was recently spun out. We talk a lot about the future of driverless cars, of course, but also look into what Softbank, one of Japan’s largest and most valuable companies. is doing to ensure that it can continue to innovate and to also make sure the innovators within the company connect with each other and stay part of the corporate group. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it

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

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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. Today we talk to Yutaro Kyono and Yoichiro Hara, two of the co-founders of Molcure about the challenges facing BioTech in Japan and how they have managed to get around them. The Molcure system greatly reduces the time and resources to develop anti-body based drugs by identifying candidate gene sequences and automating the testing of those candidates. But Molcure's vision is bigger than that. They envision a system so automated and complete they refer to it as “Sample in. Cure Out" It’s an amazingly ambitious plan, even in the startup world, and they have some big challenges ahead of them. It’s a great story from an ambitious team, and I think you’ll enjoy the conversation.

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

Show notes

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 where users share four-second clips about their daily lives. The visual nature gives Tuya obvious international appeal. However, Cinnamon has a core team of Japanese founders, with primarily Japanese backers, and they founded their company in Singapore, hired staff in Vietnam, and then moved to Tawain to launch the product. These days language barriers are easily crossed and relocating the company for product launch is just part of the go-to-market strategy. It’s a great discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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. Japan still has a reputation as being a closed market, and it is harder than many, but if Paul and his two Western co-foudners can make this big an impact in such a traditional and conservative industry, it seems that things are opening up here. Paul also gives some practical advice for foreigners, or anyone else, who is thinking of starting a startup in Japan. It’s a great discussion, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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 is used to dispatch expensive resources for complex jobs, but they started out years ago as a software outsourcer when that was almost the only option for a small technology startup. We talk about Zest's products and plans, of course, but Yuki’s own story of becoming a programer when Japanese girls simply did not do that kind of thing, and how she grew her business even in a time when Japanese women simply did not make sales calls, is an amazing one. It’s a great conversation with an incredibly resilient entrepreneur, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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, and to hopefully do some good along the way. Letibee is an online gathering place for Japan’s LGBT community, and they generate revenues not only by selling advertising to companies wishing to reach the gay community, but by providing consulting services to Japanese corporations who increasingly want to understand how to better interact with their gay customers and employees. The speed at which these changes are happening in Japan comes as no surprise to long time listeners. We know that, contrary to popular wisdom, Japan changes very quickly. Koki's an interesting guy, and I think you’ll enjoy the interview.

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

Show notes

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. Our guest today, Shunsuke Aoki of Yukai Engineering lays it all out in a way that makes perfect sense. We talk about Bocco, Yukai’s new social robot, and we do a deep dive into how the robotics industry is changing. And how developments in both artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things might make social robots not only possible, but positively necessary. Shunsuke also shares his ideas about some of Japan’s big advantage in innovative robotics research and let’s us in on the one big thing that’s holding it back. It’s a great show, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Disrupting the Final Frontier – Yuya Nakamura Feb 01, 2016

Show notes

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. Axelspace’s micro-satellites are a complete redesign of what a satellite can be, and they come in at one-tenth the weight and one-hundredth the cost of conventional hardware. Axelspace has already launched the world’s first commercial micro-satellite, and are new gearing up to launch an entire constellation of them. Something amazing is happening in aerospace right now. After decades of, slow, steady incremental improvements, we are seeing tremendous new bottom-up development all over the world, and Axelspace is right in the middle of if it. It’s a great conversation and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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