How startups use business cards differently

Western business people coming to Japan often confess that they find the importance placed on business cards here and the complex rules of etiquette and protocol surround their use utterly baffling. In Japan, business cards are considered as an extension of the people and companies who’s names they bear, and they are treated with the corresponding respect and deference.

In fact, the protocols are so important that most business conversations cannot even begin until all participants have exchanged cards and everyone knows exactly who they are dealing with.

One startup founder looked at this complex, tradition-bound web of protocol and saw opportunity. Chika Terada created SanSan, a SaaS CRM and business networking platform with a uniquely Asian approach — by placing the business card, rather than the individual it represents, at the center of the system.

And it’s clear that they are on the right track. While LinkedIn, based on the Western notion of business networking, has been slow gaining traction in Japan, Sansan has been growing at an amazing pace here, and they are now expanding into the US and southeast Asia.

Chika and I sit down for a frank talk about Asian business card culture and the challenges of moving into overseas markets.

For more podcasts about the startup scene in Japan, check out Disrupting Japan.

Image Credit: Clive Andrews