Disrupting Japan

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

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 company using big data analytics. So, the main purpose is finding the future situation and making the strategy for our client. Tim: Okay, and you specialize in intellectual property and patents, right? Tatsuo: Because patent documentation is very, very good and useful for data source, because there's many fields in the data and they have a very clean documentation, so it is easy to analyze. Tim: Patents, especially, are interesting. I've heard from a few people in AI that right now, AI can read patents better than humans can because the language is so specialized and unusual that's it's really well-suited to AI. Tatsuo: Yes, so at first, when the people entered the IP field, "Oh, this is confusing because this is not language." It's a special words. However, when you apply machine learning technologies, it is easy to understand it because it is a very clear some kind of mechanism for the sentence. So, it is easy to transfer to the machine languages. Tim: Okay, s

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 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. Japanese MBA program is a part-time program. English MBA program, we have part-time, full-time, and online. We have roughly about over 100 English MBA program students. We have about 800 Japanese MBA programs. Tim: That’s interesting. So you have more

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 and if you saw my blog and clicked us, I will get some, like 10 Yen or $1, or something like that. If I was a malicious actor, I will try to abuse it to steal the revenue, right? Tim: Right, so Ad Fraud is basically people clicking on online banners and things but not real customers? Satoko: Yeah. Tim: Bots, things like that. Satoko: Exactly, to steal revenue. This is Ad Fraud, and now, our service, Spider AF, Ad Fraud prevention tool. Tim: Okay, and you guys released a white paper recently where you're saying that in Japan, a huge amount of traffic is ad fraud and it was almost like 20%, so does that mean like, in Japan, 20% of advertising clicks are bots and fakes, and scams? Satoko: Of course, 20% is very big, but compared to global market has kind of the same amount of ad fraud or even more. Tim: Okay. Well, we'll get to the details of how the fraud works and the different kind of scams later, but before we do that, tell me about your customers. So, are you selling to ad networks and affiliate networks, or are you selli

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 customer. Tez: Yeah. Tim: The robot handles everything else? And you actually launched the first commercial use of this in Nagasaki a while ago, so how’s been the reaction of the customers to the robot Takoyaki chef? Tez: Customers look very pleased to eat Takoyaki cooked by robots and this is a special occasion for them, and especially in Nagasaki, there’s a theme park called Huis Ten Bosch, so they enjoy looking at robots working. Tim: Okay. Yeah, I want to talk about like the business model in detail in a few minutes, but before that, let’s back up a bit and talk about you. Tez: Okay. Tim: So, you founded Connected Robotics in 2014 but before that, you started a restaurant right out of college, right? Tez: Yeah, right. I studied Robotics and Computer Science in the University of Tokyo and later, I went to Kyoto University and researched Computer Science, but when I graduated, I wanted to start my own business. Of course, I tried some web services, but I didn’t get satisfied with this kind of IT. Tim: Really? Tez: So, first thing I wanted to do was making a cool restaurant. Tim: It

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, my image for the founding businesses are quite far from me and only genius can do that. Tim: You know, I think a lot of Japanese think the same way about starting companies. Mone: I think so too. Tim: So, you thought it was kind of like only a special kind of person in a startup company? Mone: Yes, and I will never do that in my future. Yeah, I thought it before I started shooting this film. Tim: Okay. And so when the role was proposed to you, how did you get ready for it if you’ve never heard about startup founders before? Mone: Yeah, first I Googled the meaning of startup. That was the beginning. Tim: Really? What’s a startup? Mone: Yeah, yeah, yeah, startup. Search. That was the beginning, very low level. But after that, I began to interview to the real founders of businesses, especially the people who founded their business when they are young like university students. I could find the similarity between us and that was they had to manage both study and business at the same time, right? And actually, I go to university at the same time I work as an actress, so I understo

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

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...

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”? Hiroaki: Right, right. I already envisioned that we can apply this to the in vitro transition system. Once we have this in hand, we can do a lot of things, a lot of interesting things, right. So, I developed this flexizime prototype in the US. I came back to Japan by the invitation of the University of Tokyo. I got back to Japan and immediately we succeeded in real practical version of the flexizime. Tim: That’s interesting because Japanese universities have a reputation of really prioritizing pure research over applications. Hiroaki: Right. But this is actually pure research stage. Tim: Okay. Hiroaki: It’s really pure research but I was reminded to make it very practical. So, having this flexizime allows us to rewrite the genetic code. We call it “genetic code reprogramming.” Tim: It sounds like from pretty early on, you were thinking about how to commercialize this at some point in the future. Hiroaki: Yeah, at some point but not – I don’t know when. I didn’t know when. Tim: So, was the drug discovery an early and obvious target or was

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. Tim: It’s great to have you back on. Now, a lot has changed since – when was that, four years ago? James: Yeah, it must have been three, 3 ½ years ago, something like that. 2015, right? Something like that, yeah. Tim: Now, so much has changed about venture capital and startups in Japan. We will get into that, but first, I want to dig into venture capital as a business, what the business model behind venture capital? Because that’s something that many startup founders understand. James: Yeah, I mean, I think especially in Japan, but even broadly as the venture ecosystem, the fundraising side for venture firms is a little bit opaque, and maybe some founders don’t necessarily realize that especially the sort of startup funds like us, we have to go out and raise our own capital. Tim: Yeah, yeah, in much the same way startups do, but actually, even before that, so stepping back before that, when someone decides to start a fund, what do they do? Do they start with investing theses, do they start with a couple of high net worth individuals?

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 ...

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 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, and we focus on not what you say but how you say it, like speed, tone, pitch, or the intonation, so if that sense, it works language agnostic. Tim: And so, why is this important? Why is it important that we be able to detect that kind of emotion invoice? Hazumu: For instance, especially in a contextual sense, our emotional analysis has already demonstrated up to 20% increase of the sales conversion rate by analyzing both customer and operator’s emotional state, so we got some correlation between purchase activity and emotional state which finally improves the sales conversion rate in contact center. Tim: Actually, that was something I wanted to dive into later, but let’s talk about that use case right now because that’s really interesting. So, one of your big success stories is you have implemented Empath in a call center and you saw conversion rates go up by 20%. Hazumu: Up to, it’s maximum, yeah. Tim: Okay. So, what kind of a call center was this? Hazumu: We are now working with a remote for telemarketing contact centers. As you mentioned, including some financial sectors, as well as some companies who are selling subscription education materials, as well as some cosmetic compa

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, you have to have one device per room. Tim: Okay, and since it’s infrared, it needs to be line of sight, so you mount these on the wall or high up in the rooms? Haruumi: It will do anywhere. Yeah, yeah, it just has to be line of sight to the appliance. Tim: Okay. Haruumi: And, just to give some background to the audience, in Japan, most of the air-conditioners come with infrared control, and obviously, TV comes with infrared remote control, so when the Google Home or Amazon was launched in Japanese market, there was not many smart home devices that can speak with those smart speakers. The people wanted to have kind of a bridging device, so Nature Remo was exactly that one. Tim: Okay. So, actually, anything with a remote control, it could control, right? Haruumi: Yes. Tim: Okay, that makes sense. Haruumi: Infrared remote control, to be precise. Tim: Infrared remote control, right. And, what do these devices, what do they cost? Haruumi: So, right now, we’re giving a little bit of a discount, so it’s selling at around $70. Tim: So, tell me a

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 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. Tim: But that was—so this was ’96? Sriram: And ’97. Tim: So this was at the very start of this globa

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. Marketing my show proved counter-intuitive as well. None of the “foolproof techniques” everyone uses worked for me. I’ve had good results using social media advertising for some of my startups, but it was worthless for podcasting. I poured money into multiple campaign strategies on Facebook and Twitter, but I saw no real increase in listeners. These platforms reported lots of so-called engagement with my ads, but whatever form that engagement took, there was no significant difference in site visits or downloads between the episodes I advertised and those I did not. Appearing on other podcasts is also supposed to be a great way to grow an audience, but it didn’t work for me. I really enjoy the conversations I’ve had with other podcast hosts, but my appearances never resulted in a noticeable bump in listeners. The other problem I ran into here, was that most of these podcast appearances are expected to be reciprocal. I’ll go on their show and tell my story, they’ll come on mine and give theirs. Well, the obvious problem here i

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 construction? Ken: Yeah. So, we knew that this is very capital-intensive business and it’s really difficult for the startups to sustain the business. You have to keep on financing all the time, so our strategy was to be in the renewable business but start with the service. Started with the development of project. We also created EPC. It’s Engineering Procurement Construction. It’s basically the construction of the large-scale solar PV. Tim: Okay, well, let’s walk through what an early project was like. So, were you using investors’ capital to build these plants or did you fundraise for each individual project? Ken: So, we found the investor for the asset, but basically, we do everything for them. Tim: So, an asset would be a single solar farm? Ken: Yeah. Actually, feed-in tariff in Japan started 2012. So, when we found this company, there was no feed-in tariff yet and we didn’t know how much it’s going to be, so basically, there was no business model when we started. We just believed that there will be opportunity and there will be necessity of renewables. That’s

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, we used slides to teach the students, and we also have an online coding environment, so the users can actually test out their knowledge on the browser without any like, pre-setup. Tim: And, is it just sort of like, basic courses or is it basic to advanced? Masa: So, it’s basic to intermediate, I’d say. So, we teach the fundamentals of these programming languages and eventually, lead them onto programming frameworks, and then yeah, we lead them to develop their own services. Tim: So, is the primary interface the app or is it the browser? Masa: The browser. Tim: Yeah? Masa: Yeah. Tim: Yeah, I can understand that. I mean, trying to code on a smartphone would be kind of challenging. Masa: That’s true, that’s true, but we do have a special keyboard to make that easy. Tim: Yeah? People do that? I mean, really? Masa: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tim: Wow, I can’t imagine that! Maybe it is a generational thing, but for them even like, laptop screens seem kind of small. I can’t imagine doing it on a smartphone. Masa: Yeah, that’s true. We do provide Progate to high school students and

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.

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 Tim: So, I’m sitting here with Akemi Tsunagawa, the founder of Bespoke, and we’re going to be chatting about chatbots today, so thanks for sitting down with me. Akemi: Well, thanks for inviting me here. Tim: You know, there are so many chatbot startups out there right now, but this is really an interesting application for it, so you can you just briefly explain about the service, about what Bebot is? Akemi: Sure. We make chatbots for enterprise client in the hospitality space like hotels, airports, train stations to help them automate interaction with their visitors and guests, to provide better experiences. Tim: Oh, so you are focused on tourism and travel, and I’ve noticed you managed to get some major deals – Bebot is being used not only at the airport, in the New Otani Hotel, Tokyo Station. Before we dive into Bebot and the business in general, I want to back up a little bit and talk about you. Akemi: Sure. Tim: So, you started this in 2015, so why chatbots? Akemi: Okay, so to be honest, we never started this company as a chatbot comp

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, and that way, they can get to know each other better, and then eventually, those people can have a long-lasting relationship. Tim: That’s a really radical concept in Japanese HR. Akiko: Yeah, thank you for saying that. Tim: The whole industry, the whole process is built around very rigid job descriptions and salary scales, and even the resume format is pre-decided. Akiko: Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m really glad you said that we are very drastic because every time I explain our platform to foreign writers or reporters, their reaction is like, that’s only applicable to Japanese markets because Japan is very unique, but actually, the Japanese market is very conservative, like you said now. So, yeah. Tim: Well, does there continue to be like, pushback from HR people or from the big companies or saying like, we don’t want to do it this way, or…? Akiko: In early days, I would say nine out of 10 pitches we did to HR people was turned down, and most of pushback we had was HR people would say, “Akiko, you don’t understand anything about our job. We are so busy. We have to go through so m

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...

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, Kani tells that story much better than I can, so let us get right to the interview. [pro_ad_display_adzone id="1411" info_text="Sponsored by" font_color="grey" ] Interview Tim: Cheers! So, I’m sitting here with Kani Munidasa, the co-founder of Code Chrysalis, a Tokyo-based coding boot camp. So, thanks for sitting down with me. Kani Munidasa: Thank you for having me, Tim. Tim: Well, listen, before we get started, you can probably explain it a lot better than I can: what exactly is Code Chrysalis? Kani: Sure. Code Chrysalis is a 12-week software engineering boot camp. We focus on creating versatile and autonomous software engineering leaders. The hard skills are given: you will be able to create full-stack software applications by the time you graduate, but we also have a very strong focus on soft skills like leadership, empathy, communication, and teamwork. Tim: Okay, that is a lot to condense into 12 weeks. Kani: True. Tim: Okay, and it’s a full-time program or is it a part-time program? Kani: It is a 12-week full-time program, so there’s absolutely no way you can hold

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, there is – I don’t know how many hundreds of different job sites for engineers and designers in Japan, but you’ve got a unique focus. Nao: Yeah. Our service name is GaijinBank and we are especially for blue-collar type of work. We focus on the foreigner in Japan. Tim: The job market for foreigners in blue-collar jobs is something that a lot of people don’t know outside Japan. So, tell me a little bit about your customers on the employer side. What kind of blue-collar jobs are being filled by foreigners in Japan? Nao: For example, hotel, front desk, and craning, or manufacturing and construction, and logistics, and caregiver. Tim: That seems quite a range of responsibilities, so something like factory work would not require a great deal of Japanese skills but someone working at the front desk of a hotel or being a caregiver, I imagine that would require some pretty high level of Japanese ability. Nao: Yes. Tim: So, where are these jobs? Are they in Tokyo or are they in the countryside? Are they all over Japan? Nao: Of course, like many demand came from around Tokyo, and we d

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 they work. Naomi: Okay, so there is three main components for space business. That’s the ride, or spacecraft, and the rocket, which delivers the spacecraft from ground to space, and after the delivery, the operator has to control the spacecraft somehow because most of spacecraft doesn’t have people on board. It could be a space station, maybe only space station. But most of the spacecraft do not have an operator, so the ground operator has to control this spacecraft. So we need to send some commands. For that, we use radio and radio communication. So the antenna system and some computers to process the commands. Tim: So the ground stations, they’re what’s around the big parabolic antennas that everyone’s used to seeing on the ground and they both get data from the satellite? Naomi: And to the satellite. Tim: And give instructions back to it? Okay. Now that that’s clear, tell us about InfoStellar’s business. Naomi: To go back to the issue of this business, the cost. The cost is so expensive in this business, it’s diffic

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, so why don’t you tell us a bit about what NeuroSpace does? Taka: NeuroSpace is a company focusing on technology which is evaluating sleep relation and quality, and sleep skill improvement program for company. I found this company in 2013, a big motivation was my own serious sleep problem. Tim: You said something really interesting. You mentioned sleep as a skill, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard sleep described as a skill. So, what do you mean by that? How is it a skill? Taka: In general, anyone can improve like how to speak English and how to control bicycles, and so on. This is also a skill. Sleep also can be improved. For example, people suffering from wake up. There are some skill to wake up easy. Tim: I’ve never quite thought about it this way. So, is sleep really like a collection of different skills? Is there like a, for example, falling asleep quickly or getting deep sleep, or waking up fully? Are these things that you can train yourself to do? Taka: Yeah, of course, there are many kind of skill. To fall asleep, having good quality sleep, and easy to wake up, and so on, yeah. Tim: Okay. You know, we don’t really talk about sleep much in terms of our health. We talk a lot about diet and if you g

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, I started Japan Foodie in 2015. What is Japan Foodie? It’s basically a lot of friends from China, from the US, from all around the world come to Japan, to Tokyo. Whenever they know I’m in Tokyo, they always ask me, “Lu, hey, I’m in Tokyo next week – next month, where should I go to eat?” Right? So, they never asked me where should I go shopping? Where should I go sightseeing? But, all of them ask, where shall I go eat? A lot of times, I book restaurants for them, I give them instructions, and a lot of times, I also go to those restaurants with them to help them order. Tim: So, is the site really, is it more focused on restaurant discovery? Is it more focused on Japanese cuisine in general? In a nutshell, what are we – Lu: Yeah. In a nutshell, okay. So, basically, help tourists discover and book, and pay. That solves the three main pain points in terms of foreign tourists in Japan. They can’t find restaurants, they can’t communicate in terms of booking, and in store, in restaurant ordering, and finally, they can’t pay because 82% of the retail in Japan is done by cash. Tim:

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. My job was to grow with the project, so I was setting up the testing summers and writing tools, so that other people around the world can test it out. Tim: So, how did you wind up in China? Hajime: So, I worked for Microsoft for 10 years, from 1998 to 2008. Back in 2004, Microsoft decided that we need to go to China in order to secure more talents. My propriety was to hire a talent and also try to – so, my boss, right? He was a Caucasian guy. He thought I looked Chinese enough. He talked that I speak were spoke Chinese. Tim: Really? Please, tell me not. Hajime: No, I don’t know, I don’t know, but yeah, they sent to me there, right? So, during the week, I am one project, but then on weekends, I go around the universities around China to interview people and hire people. I get to meet a lot of smart people and I bring the men. Tim: How many people were they trying to hire? Hajime: Our plan was to hire 200 people within two years. Tim: Okay, that’s aggressive. Hajime: I did that. Tim: But, you eventually left to join a Chinese company. Hajime: That was back in 2007. That was

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. Is it the same technique today as it was 1200 years ago, or has it been improved along the way? Masataka: I think so, yes. The textile improves so every year, every year, so sometimes, our special material 400 years ago, developed, we called Haku, it’s a Japanese paper put on the cold leaf, after that, cut. The material is developed 400 years ago. Now, still, we use it. Tim: We will put up some links on the site to the videos you have on your site because it is really an amazing process to watch, but these days, you are also working with a Dior and Chanel, and a lot of modern designers. Masataka: Our company, we still make kimono, and as a side, we make textile and we provide to robust luxury market such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton. We provide textile, something for clothing. Sometimes, for upholstery. Tim: Okay, so material you are using this for their interior design and fabrics, not the fabrics of the clothing. Masataka: Yes, sometimes, we have a project with the fashion house. They would forge clothes for the Paris Collections.

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. His company is deeply involved in artificial intelligence projects. And, you are now on the long hard march towards IPO. So, you’re doing something right. Casey Wahl: That’s correct. Thank you. [applause] Tim: Okay, I want to start this out on a positive note. So, I don’t know, I’m someone who’s on the firm belief there’s not real fundamental advantages or disadvantages; it’s just differences that you can take advantage of. So, what I’d like to lead with is, let’s talk about what advantages foreign founders have in Japan. Jay, you want to lead that off? Jay: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point you just made, Tim, where there’s good things and there’s bad things, and at the end of the day, you just have to figure out how to make something work, right? Actually, I think one of my favorite quotes about entrepreneurship that I think is really interesting is, “Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of a goal without regard to currently held resources,” right? And so, that means how much money you have in your bank account, i

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 space debris, so space debris is jumping space. They are made of rocket upper bodies and old satellites, and fragments caused by the explosion, the collision among them. Tim: How much space debris is up there? Nobu: There are a variety of sizes of debris. If we count the object which is larger than 10 cm, there are more than 23,000, and the bigger ones are like, 8 m, 10 m, like a double-decker bus. Tim: Okay, so it’s quite a range of sizes? Nobu: Yeah, the small one is like, 1 mm, less than 1 mm, so yeah, it is a wide range. Tim: And even like a 1 mm sized object can do a tremendous amount of damage to a satellite or a spacecraft. Nobu: Yeah, right, they are flying with 7 to 8 km/s which means 40 times faster than the Bullet, and so it is quite fast, and they have a huge power to blow up other objects in space. Tim: Part of the problem as I understand it is that space debris kind of multiplies on its own, that these larger objects will collide with each other and make more and more smaller objects, and the worst-case scenario is of the Kessler

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, but you can probably explain it much better than I can. Yuki: so, LPixel is a start up from researcher realm in the Tokyo University, so our major is bio-image infomatics, so our core value is we combine life science and image analysis. Due to the evolution of CTs and MRI, and microscopy and so on, we have many, many data these days. We do bio experiments and develop microscope, and then analyze image data. Tim: Well, I think image data analysis, in general, is one of the most interesting areas of AI in machine learning right now. LPixel offers a dozen different products and services, so are these products meant to be kind of different pieces that can integrate together, like AWS? Are they one-off independent products that different customers would sign up for? How exactly does the system work? Yuki: Okay, so let me explain the one example, image analysis for medical image diagnosis. So, we provide the technology a name of EIRL, so EIRL is image diagnostic support system for medical doctor. So, for now, only human medical doctor diagnoses, CT and MRI images,

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, or what are you measuring or what are you watching? Yasushi: Yeah, actually, Microsoft Kinect is the sensor we are currently using but it’s not device-oriented. The core technology we developed is AI algorithm inside that and it’s applicable for all sensors. Tim: Okay, so basically, what you’re trying to do is find a way to objectively measure the quality of the reaction for a TV commercial. Yasushi: Yeah, different thing, different thing, because if you’re watching the TV, sometimes, you’re in front of TV but sometimes, even if you’re in front of the TV, you are just watching on your mobile phone or you are talking, or you have communication with others, and sometimes, even you go to the restroom. Tim: Yeah, some people just turn the TV on and leave it on all day as they wander around the house. Yasushi: Yeah, that’s actually right, that’s a reality, but the problem is, nobody understands how the reality is. Tim: Okay. So, let’s dig into kind of the technology of this. So, what exactly are you measuring? Are you looking at facial expressions or movements, or…? Yasushi: All kinds

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, all these scenarios where you’re connecting directly with a vendor, usually a small business or a freelancer off-line, and as opposed to maybe a programming job or a design task, or a legal paperwork that could be done through some sort of online crowd works or something like that. Tim: So, are most of the services offered on Zehitomo being offered by professionals or is it more like TaskRabbit where there are people who are just coming in and helping you assemble, like, yeah, furniture? Jordan: Yeah, yeah, great question. So, that is one way that we differentiate ourselves, so we are a platform for professionals. The average job size is closer to around $500 or ５万円, and when you look at that, we look at the LTV of the job, so a lesson might be a recurring service and kind of looking at the average, getting hired several times, etc., but these are professionals that do this job for their living. Some of them, it is fukugyo or there’s kind of second work when it comes to some of the lesson related categories, but the vast majority are actually small businesses,

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. Tim: Well I'm glad after all the technical difficulties that were finally able to sit down and talk. Why don't you tell everyone, what exactly the Mujin controller is and why it's important? Issei: So basically like an illusion control eyes, it's like Android and like I know IOS in cell phone industries. Right now like, industrial robot, it's actually needed with the highest demand ever. However you know necessarily what is very hard to use Tim: Right. Issei: And then like UI, you know, the interface is everything different. Every maker you know everything different but every maker, so it's like a harder to use and the robot is not smart, that's why the application is limited. Tim: So the Mujin controller is basically an operating system for industrial robots that, sits on top of the basic hardware. Issei: Yes. Tim: So to run on any manufacturers robot. Issei: Yeah, yeah exactly. Tim: That's fantastic, I can see why that is

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 more famous and I think well known by a lot of listeners for creating Japanese Pod 101. So thanks for sitting down with me. Peter: Thanks for having me. I'm actually a very big fan of your show. Tim: Well, thank you, many of our listeners already know and are probably already subscribers to Japanese Pod 101 but can you just briefly explain what it is and what your company does? Peter: What we do is we provide about 10 to 15-minute lessons teaching Japanese, usually centered around a conversation. We introduce the conversation, then you hear the conversation, and it's usually two voice actors of speaking Japanese. After that, we break down the conversation and explain the nuances of the words, the vocabulary and usually, some central point that ties this conversation together such as a grammar point or a set phrase. Tim: Okay, and the podcast acts as sort of sample lessons, and then people come onto the site and they subscribe for the whole package? Peter: Exactly. We have a free m

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 show soon. So, Allen was making an informal speech at the awards and he made an observation that made me question if I had missed something big in Japan’s startup ecosystem. He mentioned that for the past seven years there had always been a gap, a significant gap, between the quality of the Japanese startups who won the awards and their US counterparts. The American startups had always seemed to have expanded faster, to have more real-world deployments and to be frank, the US startups just seemed more innovative than the Japanese were. But this year was different. The three startups that won this year's awards could stand up with any silicon valley startup of the same age and industry. And he was right. I’m always talking about how fast the startup ecosystem is improving and how the quality of both founders and startups is rapidly approaching that of what we see in America. But what if it’s already happened and I missed it. Disrupting Japan has always been about bringing you the b

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 business encounters. People meet people in business every day and in Japan and in other Asian countries, people exchange business cards. This is a kind of culture so we provide two services, one is same name as the company Sansan for companies and the other services called Eight which is for business professionals. So Sansan is more like CRM solution based on business cards. The idea is that assuming the business cards as the representative of the business encounters, if you can manage business cards successfully as a company, it's going to be your sharing database because you can search that database with the name of the company you'd like to access, then you may or may not find a past to that company that your colleagues have. So that's the whole idea and that data itself can be utilized or exported to other system like salesforce.com. Tim: Well, and you also sort of work out the whole, the corporate org charts and hierarchy based on these cards, right? Chik

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, so can you just briefly explain what Next Innovation does? Kenichi: Our products, we call it smashing, it means smart and of course, the clinic, and there are three unique points. The first, main content is text-based communication. Tim: So not video? Text-based? Kenichi: Yeah, it's not video. We have a video, it's available but almost doctors, not choice. Second, we never use Japanese insurance systems. Tim: So you don't use the national healthcare system. Kenichi: Yes, yes, because we target all over the world. If we use the Japanese unique insurance system, we can't – Tim: It will be hard to go global? Kenichi: Yes, yes, yes. Tim: That makes sense but – well, so basically, you're providing online consultation for things like flu shots, erectile dysfunction drugs, hair loss, hayfever, and cat allergies, right? Kenichi: Yes, yes, yes. Tim: So if national health insurance doesn't cover your service, how can you compete w

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 should be done at a data center or across site, and it's okay if we deal with fragile information but when it comes to solving real-world problems like operating robots or autonomous driving, we need to process data at the edge site or near to the device. Tim: So just so make sure I understand it correctly, edge-heavy computing is important because of the latency of how quickly? Daisuke: Yeah, and reliability. Tim: Ah, right, right, because you want to always have connectivity? Daisuke: Yes, current internet, it's not reliable to use for the mission-critical tasks. Tim: Okay, so it's really a trade-off between the latency versus the amount of computing power you have? So if you can wait for the results, it's great to compete in the cloud but the closer to real-time, the more important edge computing is? Daisuke: Yes. Tim: Alright, that makes a lot of sense. But isn't the promise of big data that you need like, huge data sets? So when you are using edge-heavy

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. Japanese MBA program is a part-time program. English MBA program, we have part-time, full-time, and online. We have roughly about over 100 English MBA program students. We have about 800 Japanese MBA programs. Tim: That’s interesting. So you have more Japanese students but it sounds like there’s a lot more flexibility in the English language courses. Yoshi: That’s right, yeah. Tim: Why is that? Yoshi: Well, our vision is to become number 1 business school in Asia. In order to become number 1 business school, we need to have full-time English MBA program. But in case of Japanese, we don’t need to have full-time in Japanese MBA program because not many people quit jobs to get MBA in Japan. Therefore, in Japanese side, we have Japanese MBA program in five locations with Mito and Shin-Yokohama at Yokohama station for hop campuses and also online. Most of Japanese students participate and enroll into MBA program as a part-time MBA program. In case of English, we need to have full-time MBA program so that quite a few students come from overseas. There are roughl

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, thanks for sitting down with me. Okay, let's talk about your product. You're offering basic cellphone repair insurance for 200 Yen a month, right? Kazuya: Well, at the very cheapest, yes, and that's after the discount but we have about 30% on every discount, it can be as low as 200 Yen to maybe 400 Yen. Tim: So that seems like it's cheaper than AppleCare but more expensive than manufacturer's warranties. Kazuya: Right, right, right, because manufacturer warranty for the first 12 months normally comes without any cost. Tim: Okay, and are you ensuring customers only at the point where they buy the products or are you insuring them, if someone's had their phone for three years and wants to get insurance, will you sell them insurance? Kazuya: Yeah, we are open to both cases, brand new, of course, and also, we will definitely accept the second hand older smartphone, but our policy currently is only up to iPhone 5S, so iPhone 4 or iPhone 3, that's too old so

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. I was wondering if you could explain, what exactly does that mean? What is a drone integrator? Takayuki: Ah, I see. So drone integrator means hardware and a software, and a solution. We manage each component. Tim: So you work with various different companies in different industries to sell drone technologies, right? Takayuki: Yes, that's right. Tim: Before we get into all of the different systems you're developing, let's step back a bit because Blue Innovation, it didn't start out making drones. Blue Innovation started in 1999. Takayuki: Yes, that's right. Tim: And you were focusing on environmental issues or coastal erosion? Takayuki: Yes, yes, that's right. First, our business side is power protection to disaster, so we developed the countermeasure against beach erosion and tsunami. So we need some aerial photograph because we try to understand the cause of disaster, so aerial photograph is very, very important. So we bought the aerial photograph for s

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

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, so thanks for sitting down with me. Kyohi: Thank you for inviting for this interview. Tim: I think you guys have got a really, really interesting product but you can probably explain it a lot better than just a digital window, so tell us a little bit about what Atmoph is. Kyohi: We are calling "digital window" but the concept is very simple and you can hang on your wall, and it's a 27-inch display and once you hang it on your wall, you can see a view of the world, and every content is filmed by us in 4K and you can see such as views in Iceland, France, Germany, and also Hawaii, Japan, anywhere in the world. Tim: And it also has sound as well, right? Kyohi: Right. It has one speaker inside so that you can feel as if you are actually there like Hawaiian beaches, sound of the waves, sound of the birds. Tim: Now, I've noticed that - I mean, looking around the world, there are lots of kind of digital picture frames for still images, but Atmoph seems to be one of

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, so we don't do the sequencing operation because in United States, there is already 10 million genetic testing users, then uniqueness of US market is actually this user can download their data, then this user actually looking for the opportunity to make use of the data by accessing to other products. Tim: Tell me about your customers. Who are your customers in this model? Is it the software companies who are making new software that can take advantage of this genetic information, or is it consumers who want to explore their own genome? Tomohiro: Sure, so basically, we are trying to connect both users and companies, so right now, everyday, 100 people uploading their DNA data to our platform so we come out like, 100 genetic traits information, some are covered by 23AndMe or other genetic testing products. So people are looking for the opportunity to know more, right? Tim: What sort of traits are people looking for? Tomohiro: Famous one is something like fitness or like, personality, or so

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, we want to get into the mining business in space and then the human beings living in space. Our company vision is expand the planet, expand the future. We want to create a world where human being can live in space. Tim: So when you talk about mining on the moon, what is there to mine? Takeshi: There is many of the opportunity for the mining business on the moon. There also in space, however, the first target is water, h2o is going to be split into Hydrogen and Oxygen, and then it become appropriate for spacecraft with rocket satellite, and then if we can create a gas station in space, we can transform the space transportation system. Tim: Let's dive deep into the lunar economics in a bit, but just so our listeners understand how ambitious your goals are, in the next two years, you plan on two mission: one to send a lunar orbiter and a second mission to actually soft land and deploy a lunar rover on the moon. Takeshi: Yes. Tim: 2020 is two years away. Do you feel confident you'll be able to do that? Takeshi: Yes. First of all, we h

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 to leave Mitsui and he has some practical advice for how people who are not plugged into the startup scene can find co-founders. But you know, Daisuke 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 Daisuke Inada of Atama-Plus which is AI for education. So thanks for sitting down with me today. Daisuke Inada: Thank you very much for coming to our company. Tim: Well, listen, AI for EdTech is really vague and there's a lot of companies doing it so why don’t you explain what Atama-Plus does? Daisuke: We are trying to provide AI program to high school students and junior high school students in Japan. We provide a personalized curriculum which consists of video lecture, exercises, and tests analyzing the data of the students such as proficiency, learning history, consideration level, and so on. Tim: Okay, wel

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 Europe, but you know, Yohei 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 Yohei Kiguchi of Enechange, an energy price comparison site, so thanks for sitting down with me. Yohei: Yeah, thanks for having the time with me, Tim. Tim: What I find really interesting about Enechange is you started this business in 2015 and that was even before the retail markets were deregulated which happened in April 2016. What attracted you to the business? Yohei: We set the company exactly one year before the market deregulation, just one year to prepare for the market deregulation, so that's why we just intentionally set up the company in April '15. Tim: That makes sense but investors typically don't like to make big bets on unknown companies and unknown founders, and markets that don't exist yet, so w

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. The current situation is that restaurants accept reservations from various sources such as phone reservations, reservations from Tebelog, they have to manage all these reservations. It's usually done by a notebook, paper and pencil, so our competitors, direct competitors are paper and pencil. In that regard, OpenTable is actually our competitor. They not only provide media for the consumers but also, they provide reservation and customer management system which would be used by the restaurants. Tim: Right, so your model is similar to that, right? I mean, you are providing a customer CRM solution or reservation solution, a general table and guest management solution for restaurants, right? Yu: Yes, so the difference between OpenTable's business model and our business model is OpenTable charges cover fees which means that every time a customer makes reservations using OpenTable website, the restaurants have to pay a fee to OpenTable whereas we charge nothing, so the restaurants would us