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【2021 Meet Taipei】NEXT BIG startups and Japanese organizations share Japan market entry resources and tips
Last month, National startup brand - Startup Island Taiwan, held the ceremony event in Taipei 101 to award the 9 startups that were selected as NEXT BIG. Going global is their primary mission, and the Japanese market might be their first stop.
Taiwan and Japan have similar cultures and good relations. Thinking of expanding to the overseas market, most Taiwan startups view Japan as the top choice. To help startups get to know more about the tips of entering the Japanese market, Startup Island TAIWAN teamed up with AsiaRocks and held two Japan market entry panels in 2021 Meet Taipei.
In the 2021 Meet Taipei open speech, President Tsai Ing-wen mentioned that in addition to increasing loans for youth entrepreneurs and improving the investment environment, the government launched the NEXT BIG project and formed the first batch of "startup national team” so that Taiwan’s innovation can be seen on the international stage, demonstrating the government’s expectation and support of Taiwan’s startup scene.
Japan Startup Ecosystem and Market Entry Panel
In the first session of the panel, four organizations from four Japanese cities: Shibuya, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Osaka, share their soft landing resources and project details for the foreign startups.
“Taiwan is more close to Japan geographically compared to other western countries,” says Yoshiro Tasaka, Director of Shibuya Startup Support. “Because of the proximity, Japan and Taiwan startups are working to solve similar issues, and solutions that Taiwan startups come up with would also apply to Japan”, Yuki Sakiyama adds, who is Secretariat of Fukuoka Growth Next. “Furthermore, Japanese corporations are actively outsourcing for innovation, creating good opportunities for startups”.
In the panel speakers also gave some advice to Taiwan startups that are looking to soft-land in Japan. “Language is the biggest challenge”, suggests Nakamura, “learn as much Japanese as possible to communicate with local partners and entities”.
“Japanese are the most punctual people in the world, so make sure you’re always on time,” said Nishikawa.
In the second session, three of the NEXT BIG startups: CoolBitX, iKala, and Pinkoi, share their experiences and thoughts on expanding into Japan.
Yi-Ling Yeh, COO of CoolBitX, shared that they got off to a good start in Japan because the investment from a major Japanese venture capital firm, SBI Investment, backed their credibility in the local market. Yeh suggests that the most important part to establish connections with Japanese is to be able to speak Japanese.
Keynes Cheng, Co-founder and COO of iKala, shared that when they first headed to Japan, they hired consultants to do business development in Japan from time to time, but found that it was inefficient because Japanese value partner’s commitments the most. He also recommended having an office in Japan first before approaching any opportunities. Having a local office can build trust quickly.
Abby Chiu, Pinkoi’s Global Brand Communications Manager, points out a common mistake Taiwanese companies usually made. Many Taiwanese companies think that they can expand to the Japanese market by simply translating their Chinese website into Japanese, but the grammar and context might not be the most accurate, leading to a lack of trust by the Japanese.
Amanda Liu, the Head of Management Office at Startup Island TAIWAN said that she hopes through these kinds of events and Startup Island TAIWAN’s resources, they can help startups explore the international market easier and accelerate their market expansion.
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