Taking risks ‘will make Japan great again,’ says Uber investor

Launch Partnerships founder Jason Calacanis / Photo credit: Tech in Asia / Michael Holmes

Last week, a conference room in downtown Tokyo was buzzing with excitement. The audience was waiting for Jason Calacanis, an American entrepreneur, author, and angel investor who’s best known for being one of Uber’s earliest backers.

Among those in attendance were Japanese entrepreneurs and investors as well as employees from big corporates and government officials. For many of them, their lives – both personal and professional – are anchored in a risk-averse culture.

But it seemed like Calacanis wasted no time in challenging that norm.

“Fear of failure is honorable here, but the culture of failure must come to Japan if it wants to make the society great again,” he said, mincing no words as he spoke onstage at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2018.

To corporates: Go global

Calacanis believes that compared to several decades ago, Japan’s corporate giants are taking fewer risks and international forays today.

“We don’t see too many Japanese companies coming to America – at least not like we used to,” the investor observed.

He continued, “There was a period of time when Americans were a little bit scared of how quickly Japanese products were coming to America: Sony, Nintendo, Honda, et cetera. And we’ve been so inspired by the Japanese people, culture, products, and the Japanese way of doing business, like kanban.” The term refers to a scheduling system for lean manufacturing and “just-in-time” production.

[T]he culture of failure must come to Japan if it wants to make the society great again.

By staying put, Japanese firms are letting opportunities slip away, according to Calacanis. While the US loves to export its culture like music and films, the Japanese don’t, even if Americans are in fact “obsessed with Japanese culture.”

“Whether it’s anime, video games, cars, or food… and fashion for sure. I think they are playing too conservative.”

Companies have more compelling reasons to go abroad today, he added, as building a global business “is now very easy because of the internet.” With a few clicks, one can advertise their products through global services like Facebook and Google, for example.

To the rich: Back startups

Reed Stevenson, editor, Bloomberg (L); Jason Calacanis, founder, Launch Partnerships / Photo credit: Tech in Asia / Michael Holmes

To founders: Think bigger