Disrupting Japan

Latest Episodes:

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

Show notes

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 sit down and talk with Sunao Munakata, the founder of Innova. Sunao and his company are at the very heart of the rapid transition from simple advertising to content marketing and marketing automation. We explore the trends driving this change and where its leading. Sunao also give a lot of practical advice about what questions you need to ask in order to tell a good content marketing company from a bad one, and he also explains some of the basics of running a successful content marketing strategy in Japan. There is a lot of information distilled into only 30 minutes, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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. We talk about the core differences between the American and Japanese approach to design, and explore some of the reasons behind Japan's famous fondness for cute characters and busy, colorful layout. Brandon and btrax are also the driving force behind Japan Night, one of the oldest and most successful Japan startup events. Over the last eight years, Japan Night has done a lot to improve improve the level of awareness and collaboration between Japanese and Silicon Valley startups. Brandon also shares his plans for his latest project to improve the way Japanese and American programmers and designers work together.

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

Show notes

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.

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

Show notes

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 his own game development company and now runs CyberAgent Game Headquarters, which oversees all of CyberAgent gaming subsidiaries, and he explains CyberAgent's game development processes and the criteria they use to decide which games to develop and market. We also talk about the the shifts going on now, what lies ahead for both the current giants and new upstarts, and advice for people who want to break into the gaming industry. It’s an interesting discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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. We also talk about the changing attitude towards risk among Japanese startups and Japan as a whole. And Hiro talks openly about the biggest mistakes he made early on as a founder and the skills he had to learn. It’s an interesting discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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. Women having a leading role in entrepreneurship is not the socially responsible thing to do. It is the most profitable thing to do. Ari's been on stage with some of the most powerful men in Japan including Prime Minister Abe and Hiroshi Mikitani of Rakuten, and her message is starting to take hold. Entrepreneurship provides a much more level playing field than any other kind of business, and we should not be surprised that a lot of women excel here, and they often do it by doing things differently from their male competitors. Startups that plan to survive need to use all the tools at their disposal, and Ari explains exactly how this is happening.

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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. Matt and I talk about the growth of the company, the changing nature of startup investment in Japan and the rest of Asia, how to recruit and retain high-powered engineering staff in a hyper-competitive environment and the significance of foreign entrepreneurs in Japan. One of the most interesting topics we cover, however, is how Matt (and Gengo) are handling the recent change in CEO. It's always a difficult transition and many companies don't survive it. In this frank discussion without the usual platitudes, Matt explains the specific steps he’s taking to bring openness and transparency to all of Gengo’s stakeholders, and he also explains the changes he had to make in himself in order to take Gengo to the next level. It’s a great interview and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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

Show notes

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. Of course, things are changing fast. More and more creative individuals are taking advantage of crowdfunding platforms, and last year the Japanese government amended the law to allow new ventures to raise capital via crowdfunding. So perhaps we should say Crowdfunding in Japan is not only about startups

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

Show notes

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. His approach is a combination of chaotic startup innovation, agency intermediation and corporate training, and after only one year, he they are already seeing the seeds of change at some of Japan's biggest companies. These is as much creativity in Japan as there is anywhere in the world. The problem recently, however, has been in letting the innovation bubble up and commercializing it. This just might be the way forward.

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