Outside of the Bubble with Japan’s Startup Girls: Mone Kamishiraishi

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 understood how hard it is to cope with both things at the same time. We don’t have to do reports. We cannot go to school enough and there are many difficulties, so I could feel sympathy.

Tim: You know, I guess when you think about it, this startup life, the life of a startup founder and the experience of being an actor or a singer is actually kind of similar in a lot of ways.

Mone: Yeah, we have to create new things always. Yeah, I thought it is the same too. But yes, the thing is that we need to change our minds right away. For example, if director said no, we have to change our plans for the acting no matter how hard I prepared for that.

Tim: Okay, in the same way like in the marketplace if the customers don’t react the way you think they’re going to, even if you think you’ve got the right idea.

Mone: Yeah, you need to change it immediately, right?

Tim: Right.

Mone: Yeah, it can be said for any other jobs in the world but I found it too.

Tim: So, when you were interviewing these startup founders, particularly founders around your own age, did you end up making friends with them and are you still in touch?

Mone: Yes, one of them, Miku Hirono. She is actually a model of Hikari, the role I played in the movie.

Tim: Oh okay, Miku has been on the show.

Mone: Yes, yes, yes. I hope she were here. But yeah, after finished shooting the film, I went to her home and played with their children. Yeah, that was a very happy time for me. She was pregnant before we started shooting and after that, the baby was born so I felt, “Oh, the life, amazing.”

Tim: And so many responsibilities.

Mone: Yes.

Tim: Getting back to the similarities between acting and startups, one of the most common things that startup founders who come on the show mention, one of the hardest things about starting a company is often what your family thinks.

Mone: Yeah, I think it’s hard for them.

Tim: Japanese families are so conservative. Did you have a similar experience? Did your family want you to do more traditional things or were they very supportive when you decided to become an actor?

Mone: Yeah, they really support me. I really appreciate them. They say yes for everything I do and they watch everything, my movie or a TV drama or my musicals or so on.

Tim: That’s fantastic. I think that’s so important and I think with startup founders as well, most of the successful ones have at least one parent or one family member who was a role model or who is really supportive and helped them.

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Mone: Yeah, yeah, I think so too. And I really respect my mother.

Tim: Was she also kind of creative?

Mone: She was a teacher of music in junior high school and so I began to sing when I was 2 years old.

Tim: Oh wow.

Mone: I was taught by my mother.

Tim: You were singing basically at the same time you were talking.

Mone: Yes, right like ABBA song. Do you know?

Tim: Of course.

Mone: Yeah, and even now, I ask my mum to give me advice and she really supports me for everything.

Tim: That’s fantastic. I mean, I think that’s so important for longterm success, at least in the startup world but probably in entertainment too.

Mone: Yeah, yes, yes. I think so too.

Tim: Well, you mentioned that Miku is one of your inspirations for Hikari. So, do you think Hikari is kind of a typical startup founder or did you want to focus on one particular aspect of startup founders personalities?

Mone: She is likely to be seen as a unique girl because of her characteristic but basically, I think she is very typical. She has what she wants to do and she does what she thinks right, and she has a difficulty in communicating with others, so maybe she’s likely to be misunderstood. But basically, she’s a very pure girl and she really wants to help others by founding businesses. So, I think she is very nice girl and working so purely.

Tim: Just really focused on a girl with a vision and a dream.

Mone: Yes, yes, yes, that’s right.

Tim: In your research in getting ready and talking to startup founders and comparing them to the rest of the people you know, what did you notice that was really different, both good and bad, but different about startup founders that you had to model?

Mone: I thought their vitality and energy is so big, maybe bigger than us. If they find anything they can do, then immediately, they move and do what they want to do. It’s a very difficult thing, isn’t it?

Tim: Yeah, well I think that is difficult to do anywhere.

Mone: Yeah.

Tim: But I think it’s especially difficult in Japan.

Mone: Yeah, do you think so?

Tim: Yeah.

Mone: In your country?

Tim: Well, I think anywhere. I mean, it’s start difficult to be the one person who steps forward and says,