The Japan Venture Show

Japan tourism is booming and it is forecast to welcome some 40 million tourists by 2020, which is the double of 2015. At the same time, there is a massive shortage of hotel rooms available and this has led to huge opportunities in the house sharing market. Platforms like Airbnb... The post Ep 51 – On Automation, Property Management and the Real Estate Market – with Devin Norby appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

From a job on Wall street, to Ed-tech Startup, to VC. That’s the atypical career path of my guest this week. Allison Baum, is a Partner at Fresco Capital, a Venture Capital Fund focusing on global early startups that she co-founded in January 2014. Allison shares with... The post Ep 50 – On Starting a VC Fund and the New Education Paradigm – with Allison Baum appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Payment is becoming digital. While we’re still living in a world where we carry notes and metal coins in our wallets, the fast digitalisation of the economy foresees a cash less economy where most transactions will happen online. To foster that trend Stripe was founded... The post Ep 49 – Dominating Payments Online and Other Fin-tech Stories – with Daniel Heffernan appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Sensor network, Synthetic biology, 3D printing are all exponentional technologies that, according to Peter Diamandis, the founder of the X Prize, will change the world as we know it. And how about the conquest of space? What was before a monopoly of... The post Ep 48 – On Thinking Bold and How to Launch a Satellite into Space – with Aki Saarinen appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

So many people want to become an entrepreneur, yet the vast majority stays on the planning side and never cross the bridge to the execution side. My guest today never had any entrepreneur experience whatsoever just half a year ago. But after 6 months, she... The post Ep 47 – Half a Year as a First Time Entrepreneur – with Natali Jaafar appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Finding the right product-market fit is businesses’ toughest mission. This is usually where most entrepreneurs’ failure originate. It is therefore crucial to initially focus on listening to market’s feedback instead of counting on technology as a solution. Indeed, technology doesn’t solve problems in itself but is the vehicle to a... The post Ep 46 – On Product Validation and How to Learn from Customers – with Mark McFarlane appeared first on The Japan Venture... Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Information is probably companies’ strongest asset. Having a knowledge advantage in your industry, not only leads to better decision making, but it also makes it very hard for any competitor to catch up. But to get knowledgeable, one should not be afraid to say “I don’t know”... The post Ep 45 – On Traction, Partnerships, and The Knowledge Advantage – with Malek Nasser and Sach Jobb appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Pioneers Asia is coming this year to Tokyo to boost the local startup ecosystem. Its mission: Inspire, Empower, and Connect all actors, from start-ups, to corporates and help bridge Europe with Asia. My guest Andreas Tschas, initially launched a venture called StartEurope right after graduation in 2009,... The post Ep 44 – Pioneers Asia to Inspire, Empower and Connect Start-ups – with Andreas Tschas appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Starting a hardware company has so much more constraints than with software. You need a lot of capital upfront, and your first prototype might take months. That’s the reason why many such companies have relied upon crowdsourcing to kickstart their project. To talk about it,... The post Ep 43 – On Hardware Startups and How to Win at Crowdfunding – with Shinya Shimizu appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

In the 15th century, Gutenberg changed the world by bringing 2D printing to life with the printing press. Today, 3D printing is about to shake the economy with the same order of magnitude. From automotive to medicine, the technology will impact a wide range of... The post Ep 42 – On 3D Printing and Mass Customization – with Masahiko Inada & Yasuhide Yokoi appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

While most start-ups try to build the next big thing, my guests today rather focus on solving many small problems. Ben Watanabe and David Smith are the co-founders of 96problems, a small venture aiming to build several simple solutions for small problems. At 96Problems, they launch... The post Ep 41 – On Solving Many Small Problems – with Benjamin Watanabe & David Branson Smith appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

While charity and profits are often seen as antagonist concepts, my guest this week has found a business model to encourage people donating to good causes. Naoe Miyata, is the Founder and CEO of a Thailand-based start-up called CoinBack. Naoe initially started after winning Startup Weekend in Bangkok with... The post Ep 40 – On charity, business validation and Thailand start-up landscape – with Naoe Miyata appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

If you think that being funny is challenging, improv comedy takes the challenge to another level. You can’t really rehearse jokes. You have to deal with what the situation gives you. You can’t overthink. You just have to let go. My guest this week is Mike... The post Ep 39 – On improv comedy, cross-cultural communication and team building – with Mike Staffa appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

You may have the best product in the world but it won’t sell unless you know how to sell it. Far too many startups believe that best products always win. But the truth is that the best sales win. Products come second. The ability for a startup founder... The post Ep 38 – How to pitch your start-up business – with Masa Tadokoro appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Have you heard a few years ago about salaryman Sato? After his wife forbid him to buy a fancy electric shaver, he started a big movement to help other salarymen get free from their wives’ control over the family money! No, salaryman Sato didn’t really exist, but the movement... The post Ep 37 – Shaking up advertising or how to best communicate in Japan – with Marc Wesseling appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

There are usually two ways to acquire new customers online: either you try to reach them, usually through paid campaigns, or you let them find you, in which case you should be findable. This concept of “findability”has never been that crucial. You may have the best... The post Ep 36 – Findability or how to let your customers find you – with Ray Grieselhuber appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Masashi Takahashi was the very first user of Airbnb in Japan and has been hosting over two hundred travellers. Japan being a country where information in English is still very scarce, he was used to have guests asking him for recommendations of places to visit and... The post Ep 35 – Getting a competitive edge in a crowded marketspace – with Masashi Takahashi appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Did you know that Japan’s white collars have the lowest productivity level among the G7 countries? According to my guest, Hiroki Kudo, this may be explained by the extensive number of hours that salarymen stay at the office. But staying late at night at an... The post Ep 34 – Solving Japan’s productivity problem – with Hiroki Kudo appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

Some people dream to make enough savings during their work life so that they can finally travel to paradise destinations. Some others don’t wait to be old to live this freedom lifestyle. That’s the spirit of a nomad entrepreneur, or a Hobo-entrepreneur as my guest Chris Kirkland like to call himself.... The post Ep 33: How to live a Hobo-entrepreneur lifestyle – with Chris Kirkland appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com

One thing most entrepreneurs have in common is failing. When you start a business, it is extremely rare to get it right the first time. The problem is that the vast majority of entrepreneurs are too slow to fail, and ultimately end up shutting down their... The post Ep 32: How to fail fast and pivot – with Justin Clune appeared first on The Japan Venture Show. Read more on: http://japanventureshow.com