This story is seriously worth your time, both if you have any desire of selling things in Japan (I am in perpetual awe of people who can succeed at that) and for the generic startup-y relentlessly resourceful "Well, if the market is fundamentally irrational about how they buy this product, then let's figure out how to work that to our advantage" rather than just giving up when things seemed difficult. (Disclaimer: they're friends of mine and we work together on stuff occasionally.)
2) Japanese companies do buy software, but it is overwhelmingly sold through existing commercial relationships they have with individual salesmen, even for packaged software. This is not an easy sales channel to just show up in one day. (I am not exaggerating the following anecdote in the slightest degree: my manager needed to invite a salesman out to drinks for us to procure a license of MS Office at my old day job.)
3) Japanese: occasionally tricky.
4) The problem domain for Japanese invoicing: potentially tricky, if you weren't expecting things like "We need photographic reproductions of the company seal on all our invoices. Naturally." to be hard requirements.
5) There's a sentiment among some members of Japanese society, including occasionally ones who have input in purchasing decisions, that you can only possibly understand Japanese language/culture/business practices if you are Japanese, and therefore, if you are not Japanese, they might not be overwhelmingly predisposed to doing business with you.
There's a difference between "least hospitable on earth" and "harder than in the US". I'd rather sell SaaS in Japan than in Ethiopia or Uzbekistan. (This is still a good read though)
This is very interesting, I think it summarizes the story of most first time entrepreneurs trying a saas startup, spotting a great opportunity, building a mvp, knowing your competitors and learn all the basics of business, and there is a crucial factor for a entrepreneurs in a foreign land: Culture, its all about humans.
Its a really nice read, and I think if you apply the same universal strategic rules you are likely to succeed anywhere else
Ichiban means "number one" or "best", but I don't think it quite matches what the author of the article is looking for. Ichiryuu means "top class", maybe that would be better? But my opinion is that they could have conveyed the idea of "successful entrepreneurs in Japan" without the superfluous Japanese :)
[+] [-] patio11|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gbrindisi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patio11|13 years ago|reply
1) Japanese companies don't buy SaaS.
2) Japanese companies do buy software, but it is overwhelmingly sold through existing commercial relationships they have with individual salesmen, even for packaged software. This is not an easy sales channel to just show up in one day. (I am not exaggerating the following anecdote in the slightest degree: my manager needed to invite a salesman out to drinks for us to procure a license of MS Office at my old day job.)
3) Japanese: occasionally tricky.
4) The problem domain for Japanese invoicing: potentially tricky, if you weren't expecting things like "We need photographic reproductions of the company seal on all our invoices. Naturally." to be hard requirements.
5) There's a sentiment among some members of Japanese society, including occasionally ones who have input in purchasing decisions, that you can only possibly understand Japanese language/culture/business practices if you are Japanese, and therefore, if you are not Japanese, they might not be overwhelmingly predisposed to doing business with you.
[+] [-] Mvandenbergh|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DaviNunes|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] minikomi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kiba|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grose|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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