The Quiet Comeback


Book Description

The Quiet Comeback features in-depth interviews with the visionary founders behind 20 of Japan's most successful startups. This diverse cast of entrepreneurs is challenging the status quo of corporate Japan, setting the stage for the resurgence of the country's once great tech industry. These wide-ranging stories from the font lines of Tokyo's venture scene offer an inside view of how successful startups are built within Japan's unique culture and business environment. Peppered with practical tips and market insights, the conversations offer a broad snapshot of the Tokyo tech world. In their own words, founders share the struggles and strategies that went into their companies. How do you find funding —or investment targets— in Tokyo? How do Japanese tech founders differ from their Silicon Valley counterparts? What does it take to build a service that can thrive in both the Japanese and global marketplace? Where is the Japanese internet lagging behind or leaping ahead of the rest of the world? For those interested in creating a startup connected to Japan, or anyone curious about the multi-layered questions of Japanese business psychology, this book is the closest you can come to sitting in the same room with the brightest minds in the Tokyo tech scene today. 【Contents】 Introduction A word from the mayor 1. Kiyo Kobayashi, Nobot and Chanoma 2. Shinji Kimura, AdLantis / Angel Investor, Gunosy 3. Swimmy Minami, BizReach 4. Mari Murata, Founder and CEO, iemo 5. Yusuke Mitsumoto, Founder and CEO, Bracket 6. Yo Shibata, Founder, Spotlight 7. Matt Romaine & Robert Laing, Gengo 8. Taro Fukuyama, AnyPerk 9. Takahito Iguchi, Tonchidot, Telepathy and DokiDoki 10. Takehiro Kakiyama, MONOCO 11. Miku Hirano, Founder, Naked Technology and Cinnamon 12. Yuya Kuratomi,Founder and CEO, PandaGraphics 13. Yosuke Akiyoshi, Lancers 14. Toshiyuki Yamamoto, Chatwork 15. Shokei Suda, Buyma 16. Hikari Sakai, Interest Marketing 17. Shinichiro Kawabata, Interspace 18. Yukiko Muto, ProTrade 19. Kaoru Hayashi & Joi Ito, Digital Garage Acknowledgements




21st Century Innovation Systems for Japan and the United States


Book Description

Recognizing that a capacity to innovate and commercialize new high-technology products is increasingly a key for the economic growth in the environment of tighter environmental and resource constraints, governments around the world have taken active steps to strengthen their national innovation systems. These steps underscore the belief of these governments that the rising costs and risks associated with new potentially high-payoff technologies, their spillover or externality-generating effects and the growing global competition, require national R&D programs to support the innovations by new and existing high-technology firms within their borders. The National Research Council's Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) has embarked on a study of selected foreign innovation programs in comparison with major U.S. programs. The "21st Century Innovation Systems for the United States and Japan: Lessons from a Decade of Change" symposium reviewed government programs and initiatives to support the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises, government-university- industry collaboration and consortia, and the impact of the intellectual property regime on innovation. This book brings together the papers presented at the conference and provides a historical context of the issues discussed at the symposium.




High Tech Start Up, Revised And Updated


Book Description

This revised and updated edition of Nesheim's underground Silicon Valley bestseller incorporates twenty-three case studies of successful start-ups, including tables of wealth showing how much money founders and investors realized from each venture. The phenomenal success of the initial public offerings (IPOs) of many new internet companies obscures the fact that fewer than six out of 1 million business plans submitted to venture capital firms will ever reach the IPO stage. Many fail, according to start-up expert John Nesheim, because the entrepreneurs did not have access to the invaluable lessons that come from studying the real-world venture experiences of successful companies. Now they do. Acclaimed by entrepreneurs the world over, this practical handbook is filled with hard-to-find information and guidance covering every key phase of a start-up, from idea to IPO: how to create a winning business plan, how to value the firm, how venture capitalists work, how they make their money, where to find alternative sources of funding, how to select a good lawyer, and how to protect intellectual property. Nesheim aims to improve the odds of success for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and offers an insider's perspective from firsthand experience on one of the toughest challenges they face -- convincing venture capitalists or investment banks to provide financing. This complete, classic reference tool is essential reading for first-time high-tech entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs already involved in a start-up who want to increase their chances of success to rise to the top.







Recovering from Success


Book Description

How did Japan fall from challenger to US hegemonic leadership in the high tech industries in the 1980s, to stumbling giant by the turn of the century? What is it doing about it? This book examines the challenges faced by Japan's high tech companies through successful emulation of some of their key practices by foreign competitors and the emergence of new competitive models linked to open innovation and modular production. High tech companies were slow to respond, relying at first on formulae which had worked in the past, but in a new environment, some of these traditional strengths had now become sources of weakness. Stability and success, moreover, had decreased their appetite for risk. Early in the new century, however, there were signs of a more concerted response, which opened up past practices to scrutiny, and modification through selective learning and adaptation of the new models. The 'MOT' (management of technology) movement provided a vehicle for this change. It was linked, in turn, to efforts to change the national innovation system, giving universities a more central role, and encouraging spin-offs and startups. The book features contributions from Japanese and Western scholars and practitioners who have distinctive insights into the nature of these challenges and responses, with substantial introductory and concluding chapters. The result is a highly accessible account of innovation, technology, and change management in the world's second largest economy.




Innovation and Business Partnering in Japan, Europe and the United States


Book Description

Innovation studies and partnering/collaborative alliances are rapidly growing areas of interest. Originally combining the two areas, this book examines the role of business partnering as a pathway to innovation for small and medium enterprises – SMEs. This text outlines global and regional trends, focusing in particular on the role of Poland and Eastern Europe as an emerging region for new innovative ideas, how innovation is promoted in the United States, and how it is facilitated in Japan. It assesses the reasons why American SMEs are significantly ahead of their European counterparts in the fields of research and development investment and innovation, and demonstrates how business partnering can assist in increasing research and development investment, profit, finding new suppliers and aiding growth. In addition, the book shows how business partners can cut the costs of doing research for innovation and analyzes the threat that poorly constructed and over-burdensome regulation and bureaucracy pose to innovation. This book is a timely contribution to the literature on both innovation and business partnering in Japan, Europe and the United States.




Startup Guide Japan


Book Description

With a rapidly growing startup scene driven by collaborations between established corporations and startups, Japan's entrepreneurs are now seeking to solve the most complex social, economic and environmental challenges. Home to the world's third largest economy and a sophisticated market, Japan has become a launchpad for startups. According to a Nikkei Asian Review report, startup investment rose 150 percent between 2013 and 2017. Additionally, the country boasts a growing population of tech executives, students, and entrepreneurs intent on helping Japan compete with the likes of Silicon Valley and China. In 2019, StartupBlink ranked Tokyo as the 14th best startup ecosystem in the world. With a long history of industrial, cultural and academic assets, Kyoto has steadily increased its support for new entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, Fukuoka's growing economy, reasonable cost of living, and high rate of new business creation - the highest of any Japanese city - have helped put it on the map. There's no doubt that Japan's startup scenes are shifting the culture's traditional views on entrepreneurship. Startup Guide Japan, our second country book, takes a detailed look at the startups, founders, programs, investors and schools which are tackling important issues related to sustainability and social impact. The guidebook also provides advice, in-depth interviews with key figures and valuable resources to help you navigate the country's startup ecosystems.