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Tim Romero

Disrupting Japan gives you candid, in-depth insights from the startup founders, VCs, and leaders who are reshaping Japan.

Disrupting Japan: Startups and Innovation in Japan

Last month I spoke on a panel about the future of climate tech.

I was joined by Emi Naganuma, the founder and General Partner of Apprecia Capital and Richard Youngman, the CEO Cleantech Group, with Michael Matsumura of Scrum Ventures moderating.

Right now is both a challenging and an exciting time for climate tech innovatoin.

It's a fascinating discussion, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Leave a comment

 
Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
I've got another quick in-between episode for you today. It's a great conversation about deep tech startups and the future of energy.
I was part of a panel discussion organized by Scrum Ventures at the Sakura Deeptech Shibuya Conference. It was moderated by Michael Matsumura of Scrum Ventures, and I was joined on stage by Emi Naganuma, the founder and general partner at Apprecia Capital, and by Richard Youngman, the CEO of the Cleantech Group.
We talk about the best way to raise venture funding as a deep tech startup, how enterprises and startups can better collaborate the important gaps we see in the green tech ecosystem and the somewhat controversial future of using ammonia and hydrogen as alternative fuels.
So, let's get right to the panel.
 
Discussion
Michael: Thank you much for our panelists. Maybe I'll just kick it off. Maybe you could start with Richard. Could you talk a bit about like what you're seeing globally in terms of where the dollars are flowing now? Has that changed like in the last like six months, one year from what you're seeing? From your perspective?
Richard: It hasn't changed radically yet, but it made it. So, I think if you go into Q1, clearly the deals in progress and so forth, some of which may have fallen apart, but some of which happen. I don't think the community in the US judging by our conference the year before was expecting the inflation reduction act to be sort of aggressively taken apart as it was. Meaning if something was already a deal was done and it was expected to continue. And so that's obviously created a lot of back backtrack there. But geographically, I would say we're still to see that. I guess the second comment might be in our 20 years and why really we're excited to be in this part of the world more and more is because we believe that innovation under this theme is coming from everywhere and should come from everywhere and needs to come from everywhere. This is not as Silicon Valley phenomenon. Silicon Valley has a role to play but so does everywhere else. And so I think long term we're expecting to see capital allocation change quite a lot.
Michael: Great. Then maybe staying on that sort of the macro theme maybe I could go to Emi obviously like on a similar topic, but in terms of like your limited partners, like the discussions you're having with your investors, like has there been a change in tone? Is it like in different sectors you guys are interested in or the partners interested in? Could you maybe touch upon a bit about that?
Emi: I think from the expectations from the investors, the LPs into the fund I see that they have shifted their interest into deep tech incredibly especially university or research driven. So, really deep tech and clean tech in terms of geography as well. I think a lot of attention has been in the US but now it, we do see more attention coming into Europe. We see US VCs also emerging into Europe. Before it was series B or series C that they came into. Now, early stage, I think from seed we kind of see some US VCs coming in and trying to getting into the deals. And I also see a shift of students coming in to study in Europe, but yes.
Michael: And in terms of your LPs, are they mostly Japanese or are they a mix of like global LP bases that you have?
Emi: We have Japanese corporates as LPs.
Michael: Thank you. Then maybe Tim, to your perspective, maybe also as JIRA,

What’s next for climate tech startups & innovation

For the last 150 years Japan has made a science of borrowing the best ideas from the West and transforming them into her own.

The startup world is no exception. Japanese startup culture is heavily shaped by western ideas, but not in the traditional top down way where leadership chooses which ideas are introduced. Japan's startup ecosystem is being shaped by bottom-up experimentation by both Japanese and foreign founders on the ground here in Japan.

Today we talk with Sandeep Casi, an entrepreneur and Partner at Antler. We talk about the challenges foreign founders still face in Japan and how they are changing Japanese entrepreneurship for the better.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
How to make money investing in idea-stage startups
 Why Japanese startups are more likely to get funded than their global peers
 Where to find Japanese deep-tech founders
 How foreign founders are changing how Japanese start startups
 The myth that Japanese founders can't speak English
 The one thing making university spinout difficult
 Why professors can't be trusted to evaluate technology
 Different startup ecosystem needs (and strengths) in different countries
 What's holding foreign startups back in Japan
 The dark side of startup events

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about Antler

 The Asahi Global Sustainability Initiative
 Emurgo and Antler Ibex

 Follow Sandeep on Twitter @sandeepcasi
 Connect with him on LinkedIn

Leave a comment

Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me.
There is a truism in venture capital that states no one invests in an idea.
This references the fact that ideas are easy to come up with and they have very little value on their own. But it seems that this truism is not completely true.
Today we sit down with Sandeep Casi, the general partner at Antler Japan, and he explains how Antler does in fact invest in ideas. I mean, in one sense, the truism is still true. Antler only invests in companies. But if you come to them with an idea, they'll invest a lot of resources to help get you from idea to startup.
We also talk about some of the challenges foreign entrepreneurs still face in Japan, the myth of Japanese founders not being able to speak English. And we dive deep into how foreign entrepreneurs are changing how Japanese founders start startups.
But, you know, Sandeep tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.
 
Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Sandeep Casi, a partner at Antler Japan. So thanks for sitting down with me.
Sandeep: Thanks Tim. And it's a pleasure to be talking to you today and looking forward to it.
Tim: Yeah, well, I should say welcome back to the show because I first had you on maybe eight years ago?
Sandeep: I think, so. It was a while. Yeah, it was about eight years ago.
Tim: When you were running videogram.
Sandeep: That's right.
Tim: But a lot has changed right in the last eight, nine years. So, Antler has a bit of a different model than most of the VCs and accelerators in Japan. So tell me a bit about it.
Sandeep: Just a bit about Antler’s background. We started in 2018 in Singapore. So, Antler is an ecosystem builder. We are not just a VC. So, what do we mean by ecosystem builder? We basically are the first check in most cases, and we take extreme risks as in zero day checks. So, we basically get people to come into our program who actually have an idea, maybe to start a company, but they have absolutely no idea how to go about doing that. They lack co-founders. They probably lack a lot of opportunities that are afforded to other startups that have pre-existing teams. So, when they come into a program, we actually sit with them for 10 weeks. We look at what their mission is,

Foreign founders are changing how Japanese start startups

Progress is not only slower in Japan, it is often different.

Looking at the numbers, it's clear that venture capital is even more male-dominated in Japan than it is in the West. Our guest today explains not only how that's changing, but how she's changing it.

Sophie Meralli is a Partner at Shizen Capital and co-founder of Tokyo Women in VC. We sit down and dive deep into the keys to developing a creative, global mindset among Japanese founders and VCs, the role immigrants have to play in developing Japan's startup culture, and what really works in changing, not only minds, but actions related to the role of women in startups and venture capital.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
The kind of startups Sophie and Shizen are looking for
 Why Japanese AI startups need to be especially careful
 The percentage of Japanese VCs are women, and how it's changed over the past 5 years
 Why more and more VC funds are being started by women in Japan
 What Women in VC does, and how you can get involved
 The main things holding back women in VC in Japan today
 The critical next steps for women in VC
 Is it easier for foreign women to defy gender stereotypes?
 Are Japanese women founders making faster progress than women VCs?
 What a “global mindset” really means for startups
 How to develop cultures of creativity and innovation

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about Tokyo Women in VC

 Tokyo Women in VC Job Board
 Tokyo Women in VC Research: The 7 Stats

 Shizen Capital
 Friend with Sophie on Facebook
 Follow her on Twitter @Soph_VC
 Info on rate of Japanese Passport holders

Leave a comment

Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
Finance and venture capital in particular has always been male dominated, and in Japan, well, it's even more so, but things are changing here and not quite in the way you might expect.
Today we sit down with Sophie Meralli, a partner at Shizen Capital, and co-founder of Tokyo Women in VC. And we have a frank discussion about what it's really like for female founders and venture capitalists here in Japan.
And some of it is surprising.
In some areas it seems that Japan is ahead of the west and in others, well, not so much. The conversation is at times both frustrating and hopeful. Sophie explains the one thing holding female VCs back more than any other, how things are changing for female founders and for male founders as well, and why so many new Japanese venture funds are being founded by women.
But you know, Sophie tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.
 
Interview
Tim: So we're sitting here with Sophie Meralli, a brand new partner at Shizen Capital. So, thanks for sitting down with me.
Sophie: Thank you so much, Tim. It's a pleasure to be here.
Tim: You're not new to VC, but you're new to Shizen. So, tell me a little bit about your new role, what kind of things you're looking for.
Sophie: Yeah, sure. For me, it's kind of interesting because I was in early stage in Boston and then when I came back to Japan, I was with Eight Roads Ventures for about five and a half years looking more into growth stage startups in FinTech, Enterprise SaaS. And those are really the area that I think are super interesting to me in Japan where I see a lot of potential. And so at Shizen, given this is much more like early stage, there are tons of ideas for which there are already unicorns abroad, but in Japan, those haven't surfaced yet. And I'm really excited to either incubate new businesses or just be able to be a partner for very early stage startups in those sectors.
Tim: Now, you mentioned your experience back at InSpark in Boston?
Sophie: Yes.
Tim: If I recall back then you were looking at AI startups and sort of the previous generation of AI startups.

What it’s really like to be a female VC in Japan

American startups dominate the current innovation cycle not as a result of startup innovation, but of enterprise innovation.

Today we sit down with Dai Watanabe and dive into the dynamics of industry disruption and startup innovation. For the last 25 years Dai has held leadership roles at the center of Japan's major innovation trends. From the glory days of Japan's mobile internet, to the utter disruption unleashed by the iPhone, to today's doubling down on startup innovation.

We talk about what's in store for the future of Japanese startups, and why opportunities in innovation are never quite what they seem at first.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
When it's time for a CVC to transition into a VC
 How Japan lost its lead in the mobile internet
 How DeNA went global in China and then in the US
 Why the first generation mobile advantage did not transfer to the second generation
 The different approach to retaining talent in Tokyo and San Francisco
 What Japanese founders need to bring back from San Francisco
 Which Japanese startups should move to Silicon Valley
 The reason there are still so few Japanese entrepreneurs
 How to get talented employees to leave and start startups, and why we'll see more of it
 The biggest thing holding back startup growth in Japan
 How Japanese employment law keeps startup valuations low
 Japanese enterprise and startups are developing more collaboratively that in the US

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about Delight Ventures

 Meet the team
 Learn how they invest [Japanese]

 Connect with Dai on LinkedIn

Leave a comment

Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me.
Mukashi mukashi, Once Upon a Time, but not so long ago, Japan was far and away the world leader in mobile internet innovation. But such times were not to last. The world changed, Japan changed, and today Japan is trying to catch up.
And, you know, they just might do it.
Today we sit down with my friend Dai Watanabe, co-founder and managing partner of Delight Ventures. And as you'll see from our conversation, Dai's career put him at the center of the entire arc from Japan's mobile internet explosion and crash, the current focus on startup growth and why Japan is now seriously rethinking the Silicon Valley model of startup innovation.
Dai and I dig deep into his work with METI and other agencies to help form innovation policy, how Japan's lifetime employment system is suppressing M&A activity, and keeping valuations low. And why Japanese mamas don't let their babies grow up to be founders.
But, you know, Dai tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.
 
Interview
Tim: So, we're sitting here with Dai Watanabe, the co-founder and managing partner at Delight Ventures. So, thanks for sitting down with me.
Dai: Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.
Tim: Dai, I'm so glad I finally have been able to get you on the show. We've been talking about these things for years now. So DeNA, it's mostly mobile, social gaming, networking, entertainment, sports, consumer facing content, that kind of thing. But Delight's portfolio seems to be much, much broader than that. So, what's your thesis? What kind of companies are you investing in?
Dai: So, the Delight Ventures is a VC fund that started as a spin out of DeNA, my ex-employer. But we are not CVC, so we don't do any strategy investment. We invest as independent VC. We set up some investment thesis at the beginning, which isn't necessarily aligned with DeNA's core strengths.
Tim: Is DeNA still your sole LP?
Dai: No, DeNA is one of the LPs. So, we are on fund two right now. The majority of the LP money is coming from Japanese financial institutions, some corporates banks.
Tim: So DeNA,

Startup success hinges on enterprise innovation

Fifteen years ago, University-run venture funds were all but illegal here in Japan, but today a higher percentage of major Japanese universities have VC funds than in the US or Europe.

Today we sit down with Kei Furukawa, a partner at the University of Tokyo IPC, a $300M venture fund, and we talk about the unique role these funds play in Japan, how they drive innovation in rural areas, and why he has to talk professors out of becoming startup CEOs.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
UTokyo IPC'a mission and investment strategy
 How the Japanese government is trying to accelerate university innovation
 Why the government plans to stop funding university VC funds
 The unique role of University funds in Japan
 How IPC is helping startups work with large enterprises
 Why Japanese CVCs are more founder-friendly than American VCs
 Why Japanese CVC investment increased during covid
 How to talk a professor out of being a startup CEO
 Can startup interaction reform Japan’s universities?
 The challenge in developing innovators outside of the major cities
 Which startup sectors are most promising in Japan
 How senpai culture is holding Japan back

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about UTokyo IPC
 IPCs 1st Round program
 Follow Kei on X @keisukefurukawa
 Friend him on Facebook
 Connect on LinkedIn

Leave a comment

Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me.
University Venture Funds play a much larger role in the startup ecosystem and in startup finance in Japan than they do in the US or Europe. Japanese university funds also operate differently, and fill a different niche than most of their Western counterparts.
Their oversized impact is all the more amazing when you consider that 15 years ago, it was basically illegal for Japanese universities to invest directly in startups, but now they've become a driving force.
Well, today we sit down with Kei Furukawa, a partner at the University of Tokyo IPC. A $300 million University fund, and we dive into how Japanese university VCs invest today and how that's going to be changing in the near future. Oh, and for our overseas listeners in this conversation at different times, Kei and I talk about the University of Tokyo and Todai and UTokyo. It's all the same place. It just goes by many names.
So Kei and I talk about how you can get investment from IPC, even if you're not a University of Tokyo student or faculty. The single biggest challenge to getting university professors on board with what's required to commercialize their research and how the different investment strategies in Japan are leading to a different kind of startup enterprise collaboration than we see in the rest of the world.
But, you know, Kei tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.

Interview
Tim: We're sitting here with Kei Furukawa, a partner at the UTokyo Innovation Platform or IPC. So, thanks for sitting down with me.
Kei: Thank you for having me on.
Tim: In the introduction, I gave a brief description of what IPC is and what you're doing, but could you explain a little bit more? So like, what's your thesis? What are you investing in?
Kei: So, we are a university of Tokyo Innovation platform company. In short, we are called in Japanese Todai IPC. I think there's three major points in our activities. Number one, we are a hundred percent subsidy of the University of Tokyo, which until a few years ago, it was a pretty rare case because national universities were not allowed to have, let's say, investment companies or let's say companies itself under the organization. But we were created for a more government policy point, we are a hundred percent subsidy, which is pretty, I think, unique model around the world that there's a venture capital right u...

Senpai culture is killing innovation in Japan

(sketch by Kaori Rei)Today we are going to sit down with an old friend.

It was over seven years ago when I first had Tim Rowe on the podcast, and we mapped out what we saw as the future of startup innovation in Japan. In today's short episode, we talk about what we got right. what surprised us, and what we think is next for Japanese startup innovation.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Leave a comment

 
Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, straight talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
I'd like to share a special short in between episode with you.
Last month I had a fireside chat with Tim Rowe, the founder and CEO of the Cambridge Innovation Center at the Global Venture Cafe's anniversary celebration in Tokyo. And I thought I would share it with you just as it happened. I first had Tim on the show about eight years ago, just before CIC opened their Big Tokyo collaboration space.
This time Tim and I talk about the changes to the Japanese startup ecosystem since then, what we are likely to see in the future, and we also discuss what might be a new model for startup ecosystems. As startups have become more and more accepted and more and more common. The old community playbook may not be as effective as it once was.
But Tim tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.

Interview
Romero: All right, Tim, it is great to be sitting down with you again. And as a bit of background for the audience. You and I back in 2017, we were sitting down over coffee in Tokyo and you were telling me about your plans to open Venture Cafe and CIC and I remember asking you like, how the hell are you going to fill 6,000 square meters of co-working space in Tokyo? And here we are. Venture Cafe is one of the driving forces in the startup ecosystem. CIC is over capacity. I have never been so delighted to have my doubts proven wrong, so congratulations on that.
Rowe: Thank you, Tim. Glad to be here.
Romero: Before we dig in, you've got ties to Japan. You've been working with Japan for a long time, so can you tell us a little bit about what was your involvement in Japan in the 90s and forward?
Rowe: Okay, so a bit of background. I'm from Cambridge, Massachusetts. My father was a professor at Harvard. My mother was a professor at MIT, so I'm one of those kids. And I was fortunate to be exposed a bit to the world. My grandmother had spent about a decade in Asia in the 1920s. And she used to teach me kanji when I was little. And so I didn't know much about Asia, but I thought this was really interesting. And I learned later that my great-grandfather arrived in Yokohama in 1919. He was then acting Surgeon General for the United States. And he was on a world trip to kind of build connections and relationships. So, we go back a little ways in Asia. My father, when I was in high school, did something that I think all the parents in the room should do. He said, look you should learn a little bit about the rest of the world. And he said, if you learn Japanese, I'll give you an opportunity to work in my company's Tokyo office for the summer. And I said, okay, deal. And I started studying Japanese. I didn't know the language at all, but it seemed like a cool opportunity. By the way, a generation later, I made the same offer to my oldest child. Actually, I made the offer to all my children, but my oldest child took me up and he came and worked in Tokyo also when he was 16.
Kihara-san, I understand that you did something similar. You were in school in Chicago and in Amsterdam when you were young. And clearly your English reflects that experience. I think all of us should have this opportunity to go out of our usual comfort zone and work in another country and learn about other cultures. But that's my background. So, I did a year at Dosha University later as an exchange student from Amherst College.

How to build a successful startup community

Today we are going to break down some startup stereotypes.

I sit down with Kunio Hara, co-founder and CEO of Beatrust and break apart the stereotypes of the uncreative Japanese enterprise and the young startup founder, and Kunio explains how Beatrust is already teaching old dogs new tricks.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
How Japanese enterprises are different from their US large counterparts
 Things to know when starting a company in your late 50s
 Why older founders lead to more successful outcomes
 Challenges in breaking the age-hierarchy in Japan
 Can software actually make people collaborate?
 What it takes to get Japanese firms to innovate and collaborate freely
 Does Japan's management style have to change or can innovation happen within it?
 Why American companies will also soon have to change their work styles
 What new founders need to keep their eyes on when starting a startup

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about Beatrust

 Follow Beatrust on X @jp_beatrust
 Beatrust on Note
 Get in touch with Beatrust

 Connect with Kunio on LinkedIn
 Friend him on Facebook

Leave a comment
Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
I didn't really realize what this episode was about until I finished the editing. Oh, don't worry. I'll be introducing you to an innovative founder in just a minute, and we'll dive deep into their business and their market.
But this episode is really about stereotypes, how much truth they really have and why they stay with us, and what we can do to change both the perceptions and the realities that underlie them.
Today we sit down with Kunio Hara, co-founder and CEO of Beatrust, a startup that's focused on getting Japanese enterprises to break from their hierarchical structures and let their employees collaborate. Listeners who have spent time in Japan know that this is not an easy task, but as we explore this subject, it becomes clear that both the reality and the solutions are not as straightforward as the stereotype suggest.
We also explore the stereotype of the young Rebel startup founder, and man that is a pervasive one. In 2007, a 22-year-old, Mark Zuckerberg famously declared that quote, young people are just smarter. Paul Graham explained in 2013 that investors tend to be skeptical of any founder who is over 32 years old.
However, if you take the time to look at the real world results, the data actually show that older founders are much more likely to have a large value exit than younger founders. Kunio started Beatrust in his late fifties, and we talk about the positives and the negatives associated with that.
But, you know, Kunio tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview.

Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Kunio Hara, the co-founder and CEO of Beatrust, who is modernizing corporate collaboration and culture in Japan. So, thanks for sitting down with me.
Kunio: Yeah, thank you, Tim. Long time no see.
Tim: Yeah, it has been a while since you're at Google. So Beatrust is focused on helping employees collaborate. This is important. Everyone agrees it's important. But it's hard. So what is Beatrust doing differently in this space?
Kunio: We call our service talent collaboration tools because we try to define the new space and compare with other HR tech, especially talent management. What we do is mainly to help large organizations drive and facilitate more autonomous collaboration like cross functions.
Tim: Okay. Yeah, that's challenging and in a bit, I want to dive deep into exactly how you do that. But before that, tell me about your customers. So, who's using Beatrust?
Kunio: Obviously, large enterprise customers. They want to transform the culture to more innovative oriented,

Software alone can’t make us work together

While American AI startups are dominating the headlines, one Japanese company has begun rolling out "AI employees" to famously cautious Japanese enterprise customers.

Today we talk with Shota Nakagawa the CEO of Caster and discuss their model of human-AI collaboration, why Japan is positioned to lead real-world AI deployment, and the big steps needed for Japan to catch up with the West.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
Caster’s new model for gig-workers
 Why almost 90% of Caster's workforce are women
 How remote work is evolving differently in Japan than in the US
 Can remote work really revitalise rural Japan?
 Why Caster uses full time staff rather than gig workers
 How AI employees could be the solution to Japan’s labor shortage
 How Caster makes extensive use of AI in their workflow today
 What is responsoble for the low level of trust that Japanese have in AI and how to fix it
 Which tasks AI agents will take over and which they will never do

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about Caster

 Follow Caster on X @caster_jp
 Friend Caster on Facebook

 Friend Shota on Facebook
 Follow him on X @nakasy000

Leave a comment
Errata

 Caster's percentage of female employees is about 87% not 95%.
 Caster was founded in Tokyo, later moved to Miyazaki, and then moved back to Tokyo after the IPO

Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
While American CEOs are competing to see how quickly they can leverage AI to replace both full-time employees and gig workers alike, one Japanese company is taking a different approach and they're already rolling out their AI workforce.
Today we sit down with Shota Nakagawa, founder and CEO of Caster. Now, Caster is a remarkably progressive and innovative Japanese company. They were a strong and vocal advocate of remote work years before the pandemic hit, and even after their IPO, their 800 person workforce remains fully remote with our corporate headquarters located in a shared office space in Tokyo.
Caster has now begun rolling out its AI workforce, and they're taking a very Japanese approach. Rather than leveraging a collection of flexible gig workers or freelancers, Caster continues to build a long-term full-time workforce who is co-developing and already working alongside their AI employees.
If history is any guide, Caster’s thinking today might tell us what the Japanese market will be thinking 10 years from now.
Shota and I talk about the long-term AI trends in Japan, how Caster solve the problem of corporate, Japan's deep skepticism about AI and whether or not AI can really provide a solution to the economic problems associated with Japan's declining population.
But, you know, Shota tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview.

Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Shota Nakagawa, the founder and CEO of Caster, who is creator of an outsourcing platform and a relentless advocate of remote work. So thanks for sitting down with me.
Shota: Thank you very much.
Tim: So, I explained very briefly what Caster did in the intro, but I think you can explain it much better than I can. So, what does Caster do? Why is it unique?
Shota: People are all work remote every day, every day.
Tim: So, the entire company is remote.
Shota: Yeah, yeah. All people.
Tim: That's pretty unusual. And we're here today actually sitting in a share office space to have this conversation. Well, actually let's talk about that in detail later. But first, let's talk a little more about Caster. So, what do you do for your customers?
Shota: BPO, business process outsourcing, client about SMB small business, want back office service.
Tim: So, what kind of back office services, is it like recruiting, accounting?
Shota: Many types.
Tim: So,

How AI employees are solving Japan’s labor shortage

Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan’s most innovative founders and VCs.
I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for joining me.
There is so much happening in Japan right now.
Startups and innovation are beginning to reshape Japan with the same dynamism we saw during the post-war boom or the Meji-era re-opening.
And I’ve been in the middle of this for a long time. I’m now a partner a JERA Ventures, but over the over 30 years that I’ve lived in Japan, I’ve started four startups here, worked at TEPCO Ventures, ran Google for Startups Japan, and, of course, I’ve been running the Disrupting Japan podcast for more than 10 years.
Every episode, I sit down with friends, VCs, founders, and leaders who are shaping Japan’s startup ecosystem to give you an inside look at what’s really happening here in Japan.
So, please subscribe and join me on this journey.
I’m Tim Romero, and thanks for listening to Disrupting Japan.

Welcome to Disrupting Japan (Podcast Trailer)

Japanese business loves paper.

From fax machines, to business cards, to massive project binders. Paper processes are slow to die in Japan, especially in industrial facilities.

Today we talk with Jumpei Yoshida of Kaminashi who explains why that's finally changing and how foreign workers are driving the transformation.

It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Show Notes

 
What is Kaminashi, and who is using it?
 Why it took Kaminashi four years to to gain traction
 The biggest challenge in digitizing blue-collar industries
 Advice for selling software to Japanese companies
 How foreign workers are driving digital transformation in Japan
 How to reach analog customers
 The sales cycle for SMB and enterprise software
 Why enterprise sales in Japan is fundamentally different from in the West
 Kaminashi’s global expansion plans
 Real innovation comes next

Links from our Guest

 Everything you ever wanted to know about Kaminashi

 ... and about their products

 Connect with Jumpei on LinkedIn

 

Transcript
Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs.
I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me.
Japan is unquestionably one of the most advanced nations in the world, and yet corporate Japan's love of paper processes and its resistance to going digital has become kind of a running joke even within Japan.
At the more traditional industries all over Japan, at corporate headquarters, regional offices and frontline facilities you'll still see people rushing about carrying thick three ring binders to prove to the rest of the office that they are busy and productive. It seems some things never change.
So, why?
Explaining this kind of thing is a cultural difference is a cop out. It doesn't actually explain anything. It ignores potentially valuable business opportunities. And more important, it overlooks the startups that are finally beginning to change things.
And so today we sit down with Jumpei Yoshida of Kaminashi - a name that literally means paperless - and he explains how Kaminashi is pulling factories, food processing, and other critical industrial processes into the digital age.
We talk frankly about why it's taken Japan so long to begin this transition and the recent trigger that has really kicked open the market. Jumpei also shares some great advice about how to sell innovation to conservative Japanese companies, the importance of foreign workforce to Japan's future prosperity and what to expect if you're a startup selling to SMBs in Japan.
But, you know, Jumpei tells that story much better than I can. So let's get right to the interview.

Interview
Tim: So, I'm sitting here with Jumpei Yoshida, the CFO of Kaminashi, who's digitizing frontline and field service work. So, thanks for sitting down.
Jumpei: Thank you for inviting me.
Tim: It's a pleasure to have you on. Now I gave a really high level explanation of what Kaminashi does, but I think you can explain it much better than I can.
Jumpei: Sure. Kaminashi is a company focused on providing SaaS solutions to empower frontline workers. Our main offering include tools that digitize and streamline paper-based workflows.
Tim: What is the primary focus? Is it mostly just checklists? Is it inspection comments, like approval, workflow? What kind of things does it cover?
Jumpei: The application itself is checklist, but there are so many variety of usage.
Tim: And what about the hardware runs on, is it iOS, Android, is it onsite terminals?
Jumpei: Initially it was only for iOS and iPad, but now our products can use any devices like Windows or Android. Now it's on the web-based software.
Tim: Now a bit later I want to get into more detail about the business model and the value you're providing beyond just the checklists. But tell me about your customers.
Jumpei: Regarding our flagship product Kaminashi report,

The catalyst (finally!) pulling industrial Japan into the digital age

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.

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Live from Stanford: Where are Japan’s Unicorns?

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