Disrupting Japan

Latest Episodes:

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

Show notes

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. Of course, since so much of modern business culture in Japan is based on the idea of belonging to a specific company, the move to large-scale freelancing will lead to large social changes as well. Both good and bad. Koichiro and I talk about the impact those coming changes will have, and about his own journey and how there were many years of preparation, hard work and painful failures hidden behind the "overnight success" of CrowdWorks.

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

Show notes

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 tend to crush innovation and entrepreneurship. One startup founder thinks she has figured out how to bypass this social stigma via spot consulting, and Eiko's not the only one who thinks she's onto something. Her customer's include some of the most conservative companies in Japan and her backers include the Japanese government. We also talk about Eiko's transitions from housewife, to single mom, to MBA, to startup founder and her personal approach to taking risks and standing out from the crowd.

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

Show notes

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. StreetAcademy matches those who want to teach with those who want to learn. Local courses are offered in everything from cooking, to yoga, to foreign languages to how to best use Excel to generate a startup business plan, and three years in StreetAcademy is only just getting started. EdTech is one of the hottest sectors for Japanese startups today, and the Japanese education system is ripe for disruption. However, there are also formidable barriers to change, and very few startup founders are willing to throw themselves against the problem head on. On the podcast, Takashi and I discuss a possible third way forward. One that is blends the old and the new to achieve improvement in a productive, harmonious, and very Japanese way.

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

Show notes

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 "giving us what we want." Atsuo Fujimura and his startup team at SmartNews are working to change that. This comes as no surprise to those of us here in Japan since over the past twenty years Atsuo has launched a string of startups that have changed the news industry in Japan. What he has in store for us this time is amazing, and with his recent international launch, he's taking it global.

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

Show notes

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. We talk about changing attitudes among both Japanese investors and entrepreneurs, and explore the desire to maintain corporate control in depth. In Casey's research, he discovered that many Japanese founders are still reluctant to give employees stock options, and many investors still seem to prefer to deal with a man who sees himself as President for Life. Of course this is changing as more companies are founded by teams, but is it changing fast enough?

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

Show notes

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 involved maid-themed hair salons, social music sharing, a project partnership with Linkin Park, and working with the largest concert promoter in Japan. And he's just getting started. We talk about startup, strategies, failures, success and what's coming next for Beatrobo, startups in Japan and Japanese founders in general.

Japan’s Seeds of Disruption Jan 19, 2015

Show notes

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. We examine how Japan went from being the world's engine of disruptive innovation to being the developed nation most resistant to disruption. Most important, we show you how things are starting to change. A small handful of entrepreneurs are, perhaps for the very first time in Japan, embracing the spirit of disruptive innovation. And these startups will be the key to Japan's next economic boom.

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

Show notes

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. Yusuke and I discuss his transition from professor, to freelancer, to founder, to founder, to founder yet again. He explains how a one-way ticket to San Francisco and a chance meeting with Steve Blank changed his thinking and changed his life, and why sushi is the secret to successful fundraising. As an alum of well-known startup incubators in both Tokyo and San Francisco, Yusuke discusses his experiences at both and explains their most important value and their most important differences.

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

Show notes

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. Masa and I talk a lot about the importance of work-life balance. and Masa puts almost as much effort into supporting the startup, technology and arts scene in Fukuoka. Globally, the Japanese have a reputation as being a rather uncreative people, but if you get a chance to attend an event like Myojyowaraku, you'll see how unfounded that reputation is. We talk a lot about the unique startup ecosystem in Fukuoka and the possibility that future Japanese companies will be bled by teams rather than kings. Show Notes - Why Columbia and Taipei were NuLabs first export markets - Why you sold stop calling Fukuoka (or anywhere else) "The Silicon Valley of Japan" - What is the most effective way for governments to support startups - Why your team will make or break your company - A new, socially responsible startup exit event

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

Show notes

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. Japan is still very much a male-dominated society, so when journalists get a chance to talk to a female entrepreneur there is a tendency to focus on the novelty of her gender rather than the substance of her actions, and they miss out on the most important things to learn. During our conversation Akiko provides some solid insights about the best way to take on the Japanese power structure and win; by challenging them indirectly. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes - How Akiko moved from programmer to manga-artist to CEO. - Why founders must over-communicate their vision to succeed - Why the team is more important than the founder - Why you should focus on team-fit rather than job descriptions - How to challenge the Japanese power structure (indirectly) - Changing social and corporate hierarchies in Japan

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