Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Revenue from Japan by Tom Sato
Similar to Revenue from Japan by Tom Sato (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (19)
Revenue from Japan by Tom Sato
- 1. HOW TO WORK WITH JAPANESE AND GENERATE LONG TERM REVENUE FOR ISRAELI STARTUPS BY TOM SATO TOMSATOMAIL@GMAIL.COM
- 2. INTRODUCTION TOM SATO • Launched Windows in Japan at Microsoft • Worked with dozen Israeli Startups to generate revenue in Japan • Currently BoD of Dimensional Mechanics (US AI Startup)
- 3. WHY JAPANESE ARE COMING TO TEL AVIV AND ISRAELI TO JAPAN? 5 years ago, Israeli Government sent a new Economic Minister with a mission to crack the Japanese market. The Israeli embassy in Tokyo’s Economic Mission was revitalized and the result of their effort is clear. Prime Minister Abe visited Israel with his large trade delegations in 2015 and since then, we are seeing major trade delegation from all Japanese industry. Not just ICT sector but from auto, manufacturing, life science, insurance, etc. It is now 2020 at the time of writing this presentation, we are seeing Japanese companies set up R&D centers and innovation offices in Tel Aviv while not a week goes by seeing Israeli trade delegations in all industry areas, visiting Japan for business talks.
- 4. WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ISRAELIS TO WORK WITH JAPANESE COMPANIES? Late Dec 2019, I was talking to a good Israeli friend of mine who decided to work for a Japanese company, just to find out how to do business with them. He was saying how hard it was to get the Japanese actually start business with Israelis. So I told him, it’s not just Israelis, just about everyone, starting with Bill Gate and Steve Jobs who found Japan to be difficult place to crack. So here is my shortened presentation on how to do business in Japan.
- 5. JAPANESE AND ISRAELIS ARE POLAR OPPOSITES Israeli Innovative Quick decision Fast action Investment oriented KPI Cash Japanese Careful decision making Consensus based Long term business Revenue oriented KPI Revenue
- 6. JAPANESE NEED INNOVATION AND TEL AVIV IS THE EASIEST PLACE TO GET IT • 6600 Startups and 1000 more every year, Israel is one- stop-shop for Japanese to procure innovation. • Israelis are quite happy to do business with Japan • Israelis have innovation while Japanese have the market This is not the case for Japanese in Silicon Valley.
- 7. FOR JAPANESE COMPANIES, “REVENUE” IS THE ONLY KPI WHICH MATTERS • Japanese are interested in product that can be shipped to their customers in Japan • Revenue is the only KPI that matters to Japanese management • Long term recurring revenue
- 8. GOING TO JAPAN? • If you want to come to Japan, joining Government sponsored trade mission is best • What you really need to do is to prepare to work in Tokyo to ship your product in Japan
- 10. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 10 Strategy Finding Business negotiation Agreement Product planning Localization Testing Marketing Launch 1. Strategy 2. Finding 3. Business negotiation 4. Distribution agreement 5. Product planning 6. Localization 7. Testing 8. Marketing 9. Launch
- 11. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 11 Strategy Finding Business negotiation Agreement Strategy − Do you want to be global business − Do you have enough VC money − Is your business model solid − Do you have the consensus of the BoD or Do you want to go to Japan to eat Sushi? • Understand the process • Be prepare to put in the work • Clear revenue goal
- 12. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 12 Strategy Finding Business negotiation Agreement Finding − Market condition, competition and size − Target Strategic Partners − Regulatory Climate − Human Resources − Legal Resource Do this • Join a trade mission to Japan • Do a seminar/pitch event in Japan • Find a partner that is right size for you • Hire highest quality international law firm Don’t do this • If someone says Mr. Son will invest in you, don’t believe it • Door openers are not worth the money • Don’t flout the law
- 13. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 13 Strategy Finding Business Negotiation Agreement Business Negotiation − Sometimes innovations are hard to understand − Who is the target customer − What is the business model − What is the deal? Distribution, Licensing… etc. − Marketing and development responsibilities − Sales Target spreadsheet Exactly who are you negotiating with? • Prequalify as soon as possible • Market size depends on the partner, not the market. • Identify the localization cost and cost of doing business in Japan
- 14. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 14 Strategy Finding Business Negotiation Agreement Agreement − You need a lawyer − Ask at the beginning if their corporate legal department is capable of expediting legal review − What kind of deal? Distribution, licensing, agency, purchase order…. − Negotiate cost of Japan specific development
- 15. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 15 Product planning Localizatio n Testing Marketin g Launch Product Planning − Technical Spec review − Japan Product Spec − Solution Architecture in Japan − Sales and Marketing strategy and plan Don’t do this • Don’t assume that your Japanese customer will read English • Don’t assume that the Japanese cloud resource is the same as US region Do this • Week in Tokyo with your partner • Involve your head of development • At the end you need to coe out with design spec.
- 16. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 16 Product planning Localizatio n Testing Marketin g Launch Localization − Japanese specific spec − Japanese development environment − Payment/billing product management system − Japanese regulation and compliance − Product Japanese translation − Documentation translation − Sales material in Japanese Japanese regulation • Term of use in Japanese • Japanese privacy law • Japanese E-commerce law • Japanese environmental law • Japanese PL Law • Japanese cooling off law • Financial Services Agency regulation • Consumer Electronics certification • Medical and Health device regulation Get a Japanese lawyer, right away
- 17. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 17 Product planning Localizatio n Testing Marketin g Launch Testing Japanese takes quality control and product liability law very seriously. No products are released without testing Must be done locally. What worked in your R&D may not work in Japan. − Product functional testing − UX/UI Testing − Japanese language check − Overall quality control − Compliance review
- 18. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 18 Product planning Localizatio n Testing Marketin g Launch Marketing − Mostly responsibility of Japanese partner − Join effort is required − Clear KPI needs to be defined − Action Plan agreed Lead Generation Qualification Presentation Closing Repeat
- 19. INNOVATION ROAD TO REVENUE 19 Product planning Localizatio n Testing Marketin g Launch Launch − Trade show − Press Release − Launch event − Demo
- 20. Once you and your Japanese partners start making money, you’ll find that Japanese will put in maximum efforts to maintain the revenue for a very LONG time. I guess that is the merit of working with Japanese. Tom Sato RESULT