My life as an entrepreneur in Japan for the past 10 years. Going through my failures and the lessons I learned. Plus some advice on how to start a company in Japan and the specificities of its market.

1. Entrepreneurship in Japan
Ugo Bataillard - 2020-12-01

2. Summary
- Who am I ?
- How did I get here?
- What did I learn on the way?
- How do you get here?

3. Who am I?

4. Ugo Bataillard
- Telecom Paris class 2010
- Engineering diploma in Software
engineering and Networks
- 10+ years in Japan doing Digital
Product Management
- 4x employee
- 3x entrepreneur
- Currently entrepreneur
- Father of 2

5. How did I get here?

6. Japanese
3rd language
Internship
6 months
Exchange Program
5 months 1st job

7. My career
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

8. What did I learn on the way?

9. Where I made all the mistakes

10. Fukupix : Fashion SNS mobile application
https://bit.ly/fukupix
Pitch
Get a feed of geotagged pictures and
find the most hidden fashion shops in
Tokyo!
Business model
Fashion shops pay to claim their
company page and have access to
advertising features

11. Lesson 1: Be lean!
Before talking to any potential customers we
had:
- 6 months spent to find a CEO
- 1 corporation
- 1 trademark
- 2 versions of the app
- 2 self maintained project management
systems
Your product is just a means to achieve your
business model

12. Lesson 2: Founders team is key
- Do not make a company with your friends
- Complementary skill sets
- Clearly defined roles
- At least 1 member from the industry
- Don’t split shares equally
- Get advisors
Frederic Peyrot
COO
(Market Analyst)
Myself
CTO
(Technical Manager)
Sophian Bensaou
CEO
(Business Analyst)

13. Lesson 3: Passion is powerful
- It’s the only way to work 7 days a week
- It’s contagious
- It opens a lot of doors

14. Where I’m trying to do better

15. : Market entry F&B consulting network
Pitch
Hire top F&B consultants to make your
entry in Japan successful without any
surprises thanks to clearly defined
budgets and deliverables.
Business model
Markup on consultants hourly fee and
support packages executed in house
directly billed to the customer.
https://www.gourmetpro.co

16. Lesson 1 - Be lean!
- GourmetPro started as a business
matching tech platform
- 3 months of market research and
interviews
- Pivot to consulting for a year
- Team full remote
- Use freelancers (Fiverr, Upwork)
- No-code tools (Webflow, Notion…)

17. Lesson 2 - Founders team is key
- No relationship before
- No skill set overlap (Technology vs F&B)
- Vincent has 15 years experience in F&B
- Clearly defined roles
- Myself: process definition, marketing, product
- Vincent: sales, operations
- Don’t split shares equally Oups!
- Get advisors => WIP
Myself
CEO
Vincent Nicol
COO

18. Lesson 3 - Experience is powerful
- It’s one way NOT to work 7 days a week
- It’s transferable
- It has already opened a lot of doors

19. How do you get here?

20. Starting a business in Japan

21. Where?
Tokyo
(Kanto)
Fukuoka
(Kyushu)
Kyoto
Osaka
(Kansai)
Sendai
(Tohoku)

22. Visa
Investor / Business Manager
Valid 1 year
Requirements:
- Physical, dedicated office space in
Japan
+
- 5 million yen capital
or
2 full-time employees
Startup visa NEW!
6 months to 1 year
Handled by prefectures
Based on business plan

23. Incorporation
- No minimum capital
- Costs ≃¥300,000

24. Running a business in Japan

25. B2C market
Privacy
Culture/Lifestyle
Gap
Less price sensitive

26. B2B market
Language barrierRisk averseLong sales cycle

27. Professional Networking

28. Investment
404KNOWLEDGE NOT FOUND

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