Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchHow Japanese Startups are Breaking into Silicon Valley – Ramen Hero
Season 1 Episode 69
More and more Japanese founders are moving their startups to San Francisco. It’s easy to see why. There is more venture capital, more startup know-ho…
9 years, 2 months ago
Why Ride-Sharing is Different in Japan – Ryo Umezawa – Hailo
Season 1 Episode 68
Ride sharing works differently in Japan. Hailo lost the global market-share war to Uber and Lyft, but Hailo won the battle in Japan. Today, Ryo Umeza…
9 years, 2 months ago
The Global Niche Startup Strategy – Cerevo – Iwasa Takuma
Season 1 Episode 67
Cerevo wants to be a “global niche” player. That makes sense for this Internet of Things company. The IoT has become so pervasive and so successful …
9 years, 2 months ago
How U.S. FinTech Stripe Broke into Low-Tech Japan – Daniel Heffernan
Season 1 Episode 66
Stripe’s Japan market entry did not go according to plan. Things worked out worked out well in the end, but they did not go according to plan. Strip…
9 years, 3 months ago
How to Make Startup M&A Work in Japan – Naoki Yamada
Season 1 Episode 65
Startup M&A is changing in Japan. In August, Naoki Yamada sold his startup Conyac to Rozetta for $14 million. It was an unusual journey of alternati…
9 years, 3 months ago
Dealing with the Bad Things First – Expedia Japan – Hidemaru Sato
Season 1 Episode 64
Expedia had a hard road to travel when they decided to come into Japan. The Japanese market turned out to be nothing like they had ever experienced b…
9 years, 3 months ago
What Airbnb’s Japan Problem Can Teach Your Startup
Season 1 Episode 63
This is a rather personal episode. We have no guests this time. It’s just you and me. From the outside, it looks like Airbnb is crushing it in Japa…
9 years, 3 months ago
How to Build a Market in Japan Without Localization – Derek Sorkin – GitHub
Season 1 Episode 62
GitHub entered the Japanese market under enviable conditions. They already had a strong corporate user base, solid brand awareness and product evange…
9 years, 4 months ago
Will Japan’s Geisha Survive the Digital Age? – Disrupting Japan
Season 1 Episode 61
You don’t usually think of Japan’s geisha as being an industry, but it is. In fact, strictly speaking, it’s a cartel. A cartel that is now being disr…
9 years, 4 months ago
How to Win Over Japanese Regulators – Jonathan Epstein – PayPal
Season 1 Episode 60
FinTech is one of the hottest startup sectors right now, but if you've been in the industry for a while, you know that FinTech is always one of the h…
9 years, 4 months ago