

Building a SaaS startup in one of the least hospitable places on Earth: Japan - ximi
http://beaconreports.net/ichiban-entrepreneur

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patio11
This story is _seriously_ worth your time, both if you have any desire of
selling things in Japan (I am in perpetual awe of people who can succeed at
that) and for the generic startup-y relentlessly resourceful "Well, if the
market is fundamentally irrational about how they buy this product, then let's
figure out how to work that to our advantage" rather than just giving up when
things seemed difficult. (Disclaimer: they're friends of mine and we work
together on stuff occasionally.)

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gbrindisi
Why "least hospitable"?

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patio11
A short list:

1) Japanese companies don't buy SaaS.

2) Japanese companies do buy software, but it is _overwhelmingly_ sold through
existing commercial relationships they have with individual salesmen, _even
for packaged software._ This is not an easy sales channel to just show up in
one day. (I am not exaggerating the following anecdote in the slightest
degree: my manager needed to invite a salesman out to drinks for us to procure
a license of _MS Office_ at my old day job.)

3) Japanese: occasionally tricky.

4) The problem domain for Japanese invoicing: potentially tricky, if you
weren't expecting things like "We need photographic reproductions of the
company seal on all our invoices. Naturally." to be hard requirements.

5) There's a sentiment among some members of Japanese society, including
occasionally ones who have input in purchasing decisions, that you can only
possibly understand Japanese language/culture/business practices if you are
Japanese, and therefore, if you are not Japanese, they might not be
overwhelmingly predisposed to doing business with you.

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w1ntermute
> my manager needed to invite a salesman out to drinks for us to procure a
> license of _MS Office_ at my old day job

Do you see the Japanese recognizing/fixing the massive inefficiencies in how
they do business any time soon? The Japanese economy's been down in the dumps
for the last 20+ years, and these sorts of things can't be helping. Peter
Drucker must be turning in his grave (he would be positively spinning if he
saw もしドラ).

When I see things like faxes still being prevalent because "my feelings and
passion come across better"[0], I wonder if the Japanese are really interested
in staying relevant in a global economy. I mean, come on, 59 percent[1] of
homes _still_ have faxes? How did these people miss the digital revolution?

0: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19045837>

1: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-japan-
fa...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-japan-fax-machines-
find-a-final-place-to-thrive/2012/06/07/gJQAshFPMV_story.html)

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cdavid
Funnily enough, Drucker is quite fashionable in Japan ATM (or more exactly was
when I was still in Japan 2 years ago):
<http://www.economist.com/node/16481583>

While a lot of those practices are clearly inefficient, let's not forget that
they have their plus as well. It is sometimes madening to see consensus
building in Japanese meeting, but people are less likely to be blinded by
their limited understanding as well. I can't find the reference, but a former
colleague of mine knew of some research that showed how Japanese were more
likely to know the actual decisions being taken after a meeting compared to
their European/American counterparts.

Also, caring about the content of the emails or doing faxes means you are not
as likely to answer them with a two letter words, which is just being
efficient at doing useless things I suspect the fax thing itself to be more of
an artefact of the average age of people in charge in Japan: my gf parents had
a fax, but nobody I knew in my own generation in Japan had one. There is also
most likely an early adoption paradox.

In the end, Japanese economic woes are mostly demographic I am afraid (GDP
growth per capita is closer to the US than most people think), and
inefficiencies should be considered with that in mind.

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w1ntermute
> Funnily enough, Drucker is quite fashionable in Japan ATM

Yeah, that's why I mentioned him and said he'd be spinning in his grave if he
saw もしドラ, because it's a quintessentially Japanese situation - everyone's
buying this book that discusses grand ideas and talking about it with one
another, but no one's actually applying any of those ideas to real life.

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DaviNunes
This is very interesting, I think it summarizes the story of most first time
entrepreneurs trying a saas startup, spotting a great opportunity, building a
mvp, knowing your competitors and learn all the basics of business, and there
is a crucial factor for a entrepreneurs in a foreign land: Culture, its all
about humans. Its a really nice read, and I think if you apply the same
universal strategic rules you are likely to succeed anywhere else

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minikomi
Oh man.. I used to work doing sales & managing inventory using Yayoi Kaikei...
It was a world of pain.

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kiba
What the hell is a "Ichiban Entrepreneur"?

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grose
Ichiban means "number one" or "best", but I don't think it quite matches what
the author of the article is looking for. Ichiryuu means "top class", maybe
that would be better? But my opinion is that they could have conveyed the idea
of "successful entrepreneurs in Japan" without the superfluous Japanese :)

