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How Bespoke faked AI until it actually worked (w/ Akemi Tsunagawa) | E2320

Episode 2320 Published 1 month, 1 week ago

Description

This Week In Startups is made possible by:

Odoo https://Odoo.com/twist

Quo https://quo.com/TWiST

Northwest Registered Agent https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Today's show:

*Before Bespoke's "travel concierge" chatbot could actually hold a conversation, founder/CEO Akemi Tsunagawa and her team quietly answered customers themselves. That "fake it till you make it" strategy paid off. Bespoke landed Narita Airport as a customer based on the strength of their "chatbot" answers, and now the team runs three companies, and is expanding into shipyard robots.

In the fourth and final edition of TWiST Tokyo for Summer '26, Jason and Akemi discuss her thesis: "solve the labor gap first, [then] build the tech to math." Plus insights into Japan's tourism boom, how founders should consider the country's accelerating population decline, the economics and politics of importing foreign labor, and why AI may already be taking over more jobs than you think.

Guest

Akemi Tsunagawa on X: https://x.com/AkemiTsunagawa

Bespoke: https://www.be-spoke.io/

Bebot: https://www.bebot.io

BeTrained: https://www.be-spoke.io/en/be-trained

Relevant Links

Disrupting Japan: "Silicon Valley Has Chatbots All Wrong": https://www.disruptingjapan.com/silicon-valley-has-chatbots-all-wrong-heres-how-they-really-make-money/

CNN on Japan's population decline: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/07/asia/japan-biggest-population-decline-record-intl-hnk

Paul Graham: "Do Things That Don't Scale": https://www.paulgraham.com/ds.html

Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai/

TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/

KPMG on Japan's Business Manage Visa Reforms: https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/gms-flash-alert/flash-alert-2025-195.html