500 Startups Tour
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An overview of 500 Startups for a Japanese audience, as well as my experience starting GinzaMetrics in Japan and getting funded by 500 Startups. I close with some comparisons between Japan and Silicon Valley and provide some advice and observations to Japanese entrepreneurs.
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500 Startups Tour
- 1. 500 Startups Tour April 12, 2013 Ray Grieselhuber CEO, Ginzamarkets, Inc.
- 2. About 500 Startups • $60m+ under management • 20 people, 10 investing partners • Silicon Valley incubator • Presence in SF, NY, MEX, BRZ, IND, CHN, SE Asia • 800+ Founders, 200+ Mentors • Focus: Design, Data & Distribution
- 3. 500 Startups Investment Thesis Lots of small bets + quantitative approach
- 4. Notable Companies / Global Coverage • Wildfire • Twilio • SendGrid • TaskRabbit • MakerBot • 9GAG
- 5. Recent, Big Changes in VC • LESS Capital Required • Cloud drives down data center costs • Crowdfunding • More Customers via Online Platforms • Search • Social • Mobile • Media • Networking • Lots of Little Bets • 500 Startups,Y Combinator, Angel List
- 10. Risk Mitigation Through Diversification
- 11. Lots of Little Bets
- 12. Global Trends • Growth of global languages • Mandarin, English, Spanish, Arabic • Smart device proliferation • Internet Adoption • More Bandwidth = more social, more cloud, more mobile, more video • Wealthy Chinese & Indians • Global Payment Platforms • Reduce Startup Costs • Global Distribution Platforms
- 13. GinzaMetrics Team size: 10 people Offices: - San Francisco - Tokyo - NYC coming soon - Moscow coming soon Raised: $1.7m from Y Combinator, 500 Startups & more
- 14. Coming to Japan • Read a book when I was 9 about feudal Japan called Shogun • Studied Japanese in college
- 15. Toyama
- 16. Tokyo • Moved to Japan again in 2008 • Quit my job to start my own company • Started Firewatching Media in Tokyo • Starting building Ginzametrics in my pajamas. Almost ran out of money. • Learned about the Japanese enterprise market
- 17. Getting into Y Combinator
- 18. GinzaMetrics History: • Launched August, 2010 • Struggled to raise money initially because I was alone and B2B was not sexy • Mostly Japanese customers until late 2012 • Growing quickly now • Startups take a long time. Most people give up too soon. • Our goal: to be the leading SEO & Content Marketing platform in the world.
- 19. Differences / Comparisons Between Silicon Valley & Japan
- 20. In Both Japan and SV, Reputation is Everything http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulnichol/2056630217/sizes/z/in/photostream/
- 21. In Japan, People (Media, Companies, Event Organizers) Respect Investors More than Entrepreneurs
- 22. In Silicon Valley, those who can create are taking power
- 23. Advice to Japanese Entrepreneurs (and VCs) • Start thinking bigger! • Unsexy businesses are sexy • Focus on revenue, especially because investment in Japan is still weak • Choose big markets • Don’t underestimate difficulties of living / working in the US • Build in Japan + Asia • Learn how to be a global Asian, not just Japanese.
- 24. Advice to Japanese Entrepreneurs (and VCs) • Create stronger Japanese networks abroad. Look at Chinese and Korean networks. • There is no longer any excuse for not speaking English well. It is hurting growth. • Invest in building native Japanese IT / Software global powerhouses. Software is eating the world and Japan is still made out of things about to be eaten. • You are not safe. The young people of Meiji knew this and completely transformed their country in less than 30 years.
- 25. Thanks! B @raygrieselhuber M ray@ginzametrics.com f www.ginzametrics.com/blog