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Success via Humiliation

My Japanese is good, but far from what I consider fluent. Even so, I accept almost all opportunities to speak to an audience in Japanese – provided I have time to prepare. Things usually go well, but...

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VCs are (Still) Not Your Friends

I’ve written about this before, but the problem persists. Japanese society is unquestionably hierarchical. True peer relationships, either social or business, are rare. Advice and instruction from...

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Creators & Joiners

I was chatting with a Western manager at Google Japan about the differences between managing Japanese and Western staff.  He mentioned that he was baffled by the lack of drive and ambition among some...

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Dream of the Future. Plan for Tomorrow

In the startup teaching and mentoring I do, many-to-many marketplaces are one of the the most common business ideas my students come up with. Whether it is resultant recommendation sites, crowdsourced...

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Fire Walking for Startups

Against my better judgment, I somehow found myself barefoot, looking across 30 feet of burning coal. A tribal drumbeat pounded behind me and fellow participants chanted encouragement. Sweat dripped...

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Why Japanese Can’t Name Companies

I’m working on a number of new projects, and most of them have some tie-in to Japan. Naming them always turns out to be harder than you imagine. The problem is that most relevant Japanese words (and...

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Raising Money vs Earning Money

I’m sitting in the audience of one of the best-run startup events I’ve attended this year. Next up, a procession of startup CEOs will be introducing themselves and their companies to the audience. The...

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The Problem With Lawyers

Your quality of life is inversely proportional the number of lawyers you interact with. This is true even when all your interactions are with friendly lawyers like patent attorneys and general council....

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Do Teams Beat Kings?

I was in Fukuoka the other week speaking with Hashimoto of NuLab, and he explained a perfect metaphor for the transition that is happening among new startups in Japan. Traditionally, Japanese companies...

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We Never Really Grow Up

I attended several Tokyo developers meetups last month. I go to as many of these events as my wife and liver will permit. Talking candidly with developers founders over drinks is endlessly fascinating....

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