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Kaori-san: A new virtual assistant for busy people in Japan

Rick Martin 2013.09.03

The phenomenon of virtual assistants is one of the more fascinating developments of the internet age, in a world made flat by rapid communication developments. Such assistants, often working from some remote location, can be an invaluable asset to busy people. Japan is known for having an abundance of busy people, and one Tokyo startup is hoping that this translates into a direct need for virtual assistants in the country. Kaori-san is web-based virtual assistant that allows you to submit a certain amount of requests per month and get results back quickly. It’s amazingly expensive to try and hire part time staff in Japan, the fees are insane. This initiative is led by Ejovi Nuwere, who with a very small team of three (including himself) is running this new virtual service. It enlists the help of about a dozen bilingual, remote assistants in Tokyo and Osaka, typically former or part-time office ladies. I submitted a couple of Kaori-san requests using the free trial, and I was pretty happy with the results [1]. Given that the cheapest plan is 2,980 yen per month (about $30), one request works out to be about $6 – which I think is a pretty fair…

The phenomenon of virtual assistants is one of the more fascinating developments of the internet age, in a world made flat by rapid communication developments. Such assistants, often working from some remote location, can be an invaluable asset to busy people. Japan is known for having an abundance of busy people, and one Tokyo startup is hoping that this translates into a direct need for virtual assistants in the country. Kaori-san is web-based virtual assistant that allows you to submit a certain amount of requests per month and get results back quickly.

It’s amazingly expensive to try and hire part time staff in Japan, the fees are insane.

This initiative is led by Ejovi Nuwere, who with a very small team of three (including himself) is running this new virtual service. It enlists the help of about a dozen bilingual, remote assistants in Tokyo and Osaka, typically former or part-time office ladies.

I submitted a couple of Kaori-san requests using the free trial, and I was pretty happy with the results [1]. Given that the cheapest plan is 2,980 yen per month (about $30), one request works out to be about $6 – which I think is a pretty fair price for the work that was done. Other examples of Kaori-san requests include things like finding and booking a car to take you to the airport, or tracking down a photo studio under a given budget [2].

So who uses Kaori-san? While Ejovi couldn’t disclose any user numbers, he did say that it’s still under 500. But they do see a big opportunity in serving both small businesses and busy executives:

The small business market in Japan is one of the largest in the world. There is big market opportunity within the sub five-person startup. It’s a market totally ignored by large recruiting firms, but it’s our focus. And we really understand that market because we are that market! It’s amazingly expensive to try and hire part time staff in Japan, the fees are insane. Its almost like recruiting firms don’t want to work with startups.

When I tried the service, the interface looked very much like a tech support system, where you log a support ticket and it remains open until you get an answer. And just as with those systems, you can then provide feedback, or close the ticket if you are satisfied.

It’s all very, very simple.

So I was curious to read the claim on the Kaori-san website that “Using technology
we can provide a personalized experience for a reasonable price.”

But where is this technology? I mean, couldn’t this sort of simple ticketing be conducted with even a web form, a spreadsheet, and a group of competent Googlers? I asked Ejovi about this, and he elaborated about what happens behind the scenes:

From a technology standpoint as we have more customers we gradually build a database of common internal request, vendors related to specific request types, vendor reviews and communication tools that make our responses faster and more accurate with time. We also keep logs on customer preferences, so even with 100 assistants the experience for the customer will always feel personal. And the more the customer uses the service, the more personal it feels.

He also points out that Kaori-san features integration with services like Evernote and Gengo, and there is also a payments system that lets them pay third-party vendors on behalf of users. And there are even more integrations to come down the road.

If we can’t build something people are willing to pay for on day one, it’s not interesting to me

Currently Ejovi keeps office space at Venture Generation, noting he sold a small amount of equity to J-Seed and David Dacus as angels, since he valued their advice and wanted them involved. But he notes that he believes strongly in organic growth, saying “If we can’t build something people are willing to pay for on day one, it’s not interesting to me”. In the first three to six months, he adds, the only thing that is important is getting – and keeping – customers.

I’m told that in the future, they plan to increase the services they offer for startups and busy executives, with some new features on the way in the next three months. While he couldn’t elaborate too much on this, Ejovi noted that “assistants are only the beginning.”

As it exists right now, Kaori-san is an interesting offering. It may not be entirely obvious to some potential users how they might take advantage of the service, but if you are a busy person being slowed down by some tedious tasks, I encourage you to give it a try and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Using Kaori-san’s free trial, I made one request for a list of Japanese edu-tech companies and their URLs. This is actually something we’ve been looking into ourselves. The results were pretty quick, and turned up a few companies that we were not aware of. ↩
Currently Kaori-san is available with three monthly pricing plans: 2,980 yen for 5 requests, 8,980 yen for 15 requests, and 14,980 yen for 25 requests. ↩

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Japanese startup offers A/B testing for mobile push notifications

Takeshi Hirano 2013.08.08

See the original story in Japanese. CyberAgent subsidiary Sirok, the startup behind mobile photo app My365, announced yesterday that it has launched a tool for app developers to analyze user responses to push notifications. The service is called Growth Push, and allows you to conduct an A/B testing to measure user responses by implementing their SDK. The setup is free, and there is no monthly fee required for the first 50,000 notification testings. It is currently available (in Japanese) for iOS, but it will be coming to Android soon. This kind of growth hacking tool typically helps marketers increase their user base. In this space we’ve already seen AppSocially, which is now under the 500 Startups umbrella. We heard from the Sirok’s COO Yuto Mukoyama about their expectations for this tool. We learned that app developers need this kind of tool through our experience managing our apps My365 and Pipul (an avatar-based RPG). Developers need to focus on how they can efficiently retain users. Conventional web services typically have an e-mail notification feature, and a push notification is [the mobile] equivalent to that, and it is important in terms of keep users engaged in this mobile era. The startup tested…

See the original story in Japanese.

CyberAgent subsidiary Sirok, the startup behind mobile photo app My365, announced yesterday that it has launched a tool for app developers to analyze user responses to push notifications. The service is called Growth Push, and allows you to conduct an A/B testing to measure user responses by implementing their SDK.

The setup is free, and there is no monthly fee required for the first 50,000 notification testings. It is currently available (in Japanese) for iOS, but it will be coming to Android soon.

This kind of growth hacking tool typically helps marketers increase their user base. In this space we’ve already seen AppSocially, which is now under the 500 Startups umbrella.

We heard from the Sirok’s COO Yuto Mukoyama about their expectations for this tool.

We learned that app developers need this kind of tool through our experience managing our apps My365 and Pipul (an avatar-based RPG). Developers need to focus on how they can efficiently retain users. Conventional web services typically have an e-mail notification feature, and a push notification is [the mobile] equivalent to that, and it is important in terms of keep users engaged in this mobile era.

The startup tested this tool trying to improve the app launch rate of their game Pipul, and they confirmed that it had a positive impact. It lets you to conduct A/B testing to show different messages to both free users and to paying users. Mukoyama adds:

You can refine your app based on A/B test results and your measurement of the app launch rate or conversion rate. The tool primarily targets startups developing iOS-based gaming apps and community services. I believe we can help them improve user retention based on analytics.

Sirok was founded last year by many student entrepreneurs, and they went on to became a subsidiary of CyberAgent. The internet company helped them learn how to market app services, since the internet company has much experience launching its own apps in the past. Mukoyama elaborated on how his team foresees working with CyberAgent.

Ameba (CyberAgent’s blogging and virtual world platform) has released more than a few games, many with several million downloads. We expect to start acquiring users with this base. We’re aiming to have 1,000 apps using the tool worldwide in three months, sending out about 100 million notifications for their testings.

To date, photo app My365 has seen three million downloads, at a pace of about new 3,000 users a day. Their daily active users total reached 60,000 and is still rising.

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How ScaleOut plans to evolve Japan’s ad-tech market [Interview]

Takeshi Hirano 2013.08.06

See the original story in Japanese. There was a big move in the Japanese ad-tech market yesterday. Mediba, an ad-focused subsidiary of Japan’s second largest telco KDDI, announced its takeover of ad-tech startup ScaleOut. The purchase price was not disclosed but it’s reportedly worth more than 1 billion yen (10 million dollars). Some of our readers may recall that Mediba acquired smartphone-focused ad network startup Nobot back in August of 2011. ScaleOut’s CEO Daisuke Yamazaki previously worked with Yahoo Japan where he launched behavioral targeting and rich media ads. Yuzuru Honda, the founding CEO of competing ad-tech startup FreakOut is also known for having sold content-matching ad platform Brainer to Yahoo Japan. Yahoo Japan seems to have produced many men of talent in the space. There were very few platforms that could provide 10 billion monthly impressions when we launched our company When Mr. Yamazaki launched ScaleOut back in 2006, the market was not as mature as it is today. He explains: There were very few platforms that could provide 10 billion monthly impressions when we launched our company. Since the market has no concept about RTB (real-time bidding) advertising, we developed an ad distribution platform which can steadily provide…

IMGP0051 — From the left: Nobot CEO Kiyotaka Kobayashi, Mediba CEO Takashi Ohasa,
ScaleOut CEO Daisuke Yamazaki, and ScaleOut CMO Kenichi Sugawara

See the original story in Japanese.

There was a big move in the Japanese ad-tech market yesterday. Mediba, an ad-focused subsidiary of Japan’s second largest telco KDDI, announced its takeover of ad-tech startup ScaleOut. The purchase price was not disclosed but it’s reportedly worth more than 1 billion yen (10 million dollars). Some of our readers may recall that Mediba acquired smartphone-focused ad network startup Nobot back in August of 2011.

ScaleOut’s CEO Daisuke Yamazaki previously worked with Yahoo Japan where he launched behavioral targeting and rich media ads. Yuzuru Honda, the founding CEO of competing ad-tech startup FreakOut is also known for having sold content-matching ad platform Brainer to Yahoo Japan. Yahoo Japan seems to have produced many men of talent in the space.

There were very few platforms that could provide 10 billion monthly impressions when we launched our company

When Mr. Yamazaki launched ScaleOut back in 2006, the market was not as mature as it is today. He explains:

There were very few platforms that could provide 10 billion monthly impressions when we launched our company. Since the market has no concept about RTB (real-time bidding) advertising, we developed an ad distribution platform which can steadily provide ad impressions for media companies.

Subsequently we launched a RTB-enabled DSP (demand-site platform) service since the market trend was being shifting to RTB advertising. In terms of focusing our resources on our core business, we wondered if we should stop receiving outsourced business. Based on discussions with with Mr. Hiroyuki Watanabe [1], we made up our mind to concentrate on providing DSP services.

Scale Out was founded back in 2006, and launched DSP services back in 2012. That means they have been working on it for about five years. In terms of focusing on DSP services, B Dash Ventures helped them make the significant decisions. Yamazaki added:

Our system development didn’t proceed as expected, and we had some money problems. But Watanabe helped us a lot both mentally and financially. Up until we invited CMO Sugawara to our board, everything around our business was decided based on discussion with me and Watanabe.

Watanabe knows the ad-tech startup industry since he also helped other startups in this space, such as Nobot. Mr. Watanabe explained:

Prior to investing in the startup, I shared my perspective on the future of the Japanese ad business and ad-tech industry. Based on that, Mr. Yamazaki and I completed the startup’s management policy and business plan together. To bring more talent to the board, we invited Mr. Sugawara as a supervisor for sales and marketing.

Why has ScaleOut partnered with Mediba? Yamazaki raised the recent smartphone shift as a reason. He explained:

To date, online advertising has been targeting PC users, and smartphone ads have no big share in the market. A smartphone ad is typically placed in a limited space but shares much space on the screen. For users, you typically check information resources briefly with a smartphone, and maybe dig deeper on a PC.

If we can provide clients with solutions that allow them to see user behaviors across multiple platforms, that would be a significant differentiation point. For clients, in terms of drawing user attention, smartphones will definitely work better than PCs. We learned this after we’ve switched to DSP services, and also learned this meets the KDDI-Mediba ‘3M’ strategy [2]. That’s one of major reasons why we’ve partnered with Mediba.

To date, online advertising has been targeting PC users, and smartphone ads have no big share in the market.

We should also mention the company’s own technology called Data Management Platform, DMP for short. The startup formed a team focused on data analytics, and will launch an ad service using much accumulated user behavioral data. Yamazaki added:

I assume most ad networks will change ad distribution in the future. They will typically pick the best choice of available ads using behavioral data analytics. If we can launch a platform for ad distribution across multiple browsing devices, we can distribute the best ad optimization to every single user. Google is the biggest holder of big data accumulation, but KDDI-Mediba dominates the Japanese market in this space.

Ads may be noisy for users sometimes. And in order to provide users with ads that serve as useful information or recommendations, we need to evolve in partnership with KDDI-mediba.

Based on the analysis of enormous user data using the company’s DMP technology, their clients can distribute the best optimization of ads to their users through the platform.

Adtech startups don’t typically expose much about what they provide, but we’re glad to have a glimpse into that ScaleOut has in store. Let’s wait and see how this particular acquisition will impact the Japanese ad industry.

The CEO of B Dash Ventures. He invested in the startup and joined its board back in April of 2012. ↩
This represents KDDI-mediba’s business strategy, referring to multi-device, multi-network, and multi-media. ↩

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Monetizing mobile content is a piece of cake for young Japanese startup

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.08.05

Japan can be a great market for digital content, as the consumers in this country are very accustomed to paying for it. Our readers may recall our previous article about how there is a Japanese culture of paying for newsletters. One startup here in Japan is again proving there is opportunity in this space, with the firm belief that consumers will pay for good content. The platform is called Cakes, and the folks behind this mobile reading app are serving up some tasty stories to Japanese readers. We recently had a chance to briefly speak with Jun Haranaga, the CTO at Piece of Cake, the company behind the content platform, and he told us a little more about what they’re up to. Cakes launched back in June of 2012, and currently there are over 180 writers/creators on the site, with more than 2,500 posted to date. Back in April, the company nabbed three hundred million yen from two venture capital firms in Japan. In the future, the online media and traditional offline media will merge. This change is taking place already. Typical users of Cakes are of the bookworm variety, paying a weekly fee of 150 yen ($1.50) to read…

cakes-app — Mobile content platform ‘Cakes’ (cakes.mu)

Japan can be a great market for digital content, as the consumers in this country are very accustomed to paying for it. Our readers may recall our previous article about how there is a Japanese culture of paying for newsletters. One startup here in Japan is again proving there is opportunity in this space, with the firm belief that consumers will pay for good content. The platform is called Cakes, and the folks behind this mobile reading app are serving up some tasty stories to Japanese readers. We recently had a chance to briefly speak with Jun Haranaga, the CTO at Piece of Cake, the company behind the content platform, and he told us a little more about what they’re up to.

Cakes launched back in June of 2012, and currently there are over 180 writers/creators on the site, with more than 2,500 posted to date. Back in April, the company nabbed three hundred million yen from two venture capital firms in Japan.

In the future, the online media and traditional offline media will merge. This change is taking place already.

Typical users of Cakes are of the bookworm variety, paying a weekly fee of 150 yen ($1.50) to read all content available on the site. Some creators are well-known manga artists or novelists, and many of the up-and-coming creators have been carefully selected by Cakes. Cakes tries to provide the experience of being at a bookstore in an online environment, making lots of inspiring content available so you can always find something interesting on your book shelf.

Haranara explains the company’s take on the future of online media:

We think that the ultimate format of digital content is not ePublication, but rather the web. In the future, the online media and traditional offline media will merge. This change is taking place already. When this happens, we will see lots of ups and downs for all content and all players. We want to help those who write, and focus on building a cutting edge media platform.

For Cakes, writers, creators, and publishers are all potential clients, as these people all seek ways to market and monetize their content. One such initiative is the Million Seller Project, where the Japanese entrepreneur and internet tycoon Horie Takafumi began a column on Cakes. Those posts were put into a book, which was subsequently released by major publisher Diamond.

What was interesting about this new sort of ecosystem is that the book’s revenue was distributed to all involved parties, including editors and writers. Another book published in this way is called The Most Powerful Learning is Economics which so far has sold 250,000 copies.

Japan can be proud of its content and culture

Interestingly, Cakes sees potential for its business beyond Japan, and has set up offices in Singapore and Vietnam. Haranaga and his engineers are working from Singapore, and other development projects are in progress in Vietnam as well. He explains:

One of the things that Japan can be proud of its content and culture. So in the future, we definitely plan to distribute these things outside of Japan. Singapore is the hub of Asia, and we found that there are excellent engineers in Vietnam after we held an app development competition there. By establishing bases in other parts of Asia, we believe we can accelerate the development process for our platform.

Cakes released its iPhone app back in May of this year, and an Android version will be released very soon. The company is also working on its iPad app, which is expected to be released sometime between summer or fall.

Premium online content has been tried many times before, but it still struggles at times and is in need of further experimentation. There is certainly lots to learn from Japanese content ventures like Cakes, MaguMagu, or Magalry, a newsletter service operated by GREE. It will be interesting to see how Cakes will fare beyond its home country, so stay tuned to find out!

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Say Hi to beautiful location-based experiences

Rick Martin 2013.07.31

I like content presented on maps. And I’ve been a big fan of Hitotoki, developed by Craig Mod and the folks at Tokyo-based AQ, since a few years back. It was a great collection of geo-tagged stories, wrapped in the kind of beautiful design that great stories deserve. But looking back now, I think that this location-based content concept was a little ahead of its time. I asked AQ’s Chris Palmieri about the state of Hitotoki a few months back, and I was pretty excited when he told me that it would be relaunching. After a bit of a wait, the new service is now online and is known simply as Hi, living on the web at SayHi.co [1]. Like Hitotoki, it asks you to ‘sketch’ a moment from where you are, comprised of a photo and some text. The process is optimized for smartphones, geotagging your moment as you add it. Chris notes that Hitotoki and Hi began with the same goal of a 500-word moment, but points out that “how each [one] makes that happen couldn’t be more different.” I had a chance to take an early look at Hi, testing it out over the past few months….

sayhi-screenshot — A moment from Nick K on SayHi.co

I like content presented on maps. And I’ve been a big fan of Hitotoki, developed by Craig Mod and the folks at Tokyo-based AQ, since a few years back. It was a great collection of geo-tagged stories, wrapped in the kind of beautiful design that great stories deserve. But looking back now, I think that this location-based content concept was a little ahead of its time.

I asked AQ’s Chris Palmieri about the state of Hitotoki a few months back, and I was pretty excited when he told me that it would be relaunching. After a bit of a wait, the new service is now online and is known simply as Hi, living on the web at SayHi.co [1]. Like Hitotoki, it asks you to ‘sketch’ a moment from where you are, comprised of a photo and some text. The process is optimized for smartphones, geotagging your moment as you add it. Chris notes that Hitotoki and Hi began with the same goal of a 500-word moment, but points out that “how each [one] makes that happen couldn’t be more different.”

I had a chance to take an early look at Hi, testing it out over the past few months. So far my contributions are few and far between – both in terms of time and distance – but there’s a reason for that. While Hi doesn’t ask you to be overly meticulous in composing your moments, for me, the incredible design of the site implicitly demands a certain level of reflection before publishing. It makes me want take a weekend train out of Tokyo, and not come back until I have snapped the perfect selfie with a buddist zen master, and a compose a clever photo caption – preferably in haiku form – to go along with it.

[We] made the sketching tool as enjoyable to use as possible, because we want people to use it over and over and over again.

But interestingly, the publishing flow imposes some reflection by design. After uploading a moment, other Hi users may (or may not) ask you to expand on that moment. This ’Tell me more" request is both a reward for a good contribution, and peer encouragement to take it further [2]. It’s like the applause that encourages a speaker to keep talking with confidence when he’s on stage.

It turns out that the time gap between your initial sketch and your follow up elaboration is conducive to a better published piece. Chris explains that the first step is called a ‘sketch’ for a reason:

We named the initial act of creating with Hi “sketching”, but made the sketching tool as enjoyable to use as possible, because we want people to use it over and over and over again.

But the subsequent steps in the process lets you digest, process, and maybe come up with something you didn’t think of while you were in your moment. By breaking up the process in this way, it doesn’t feel like a process at all. More like a brief instant message session, or a FourSquare check-in that others might actually care about.

Craig Mod explains that the high-quality feedback loops that exist within Hi (the ‘tell me more’ and ‘thanks’ functions) have been effective so far:

It sounds a bit complex but in practice it’s proven to be quite a fluid little interaction model and has already produced over 80,000 words of content — the order of many of those words quite excellent! — in a little over 10 days.

I tend to notice more remarkable things when I travel, and so I find I use Hi more while on the road. But because I like Hi, I find that it’s also prompting me to look for remarkable things in my own neighborhood, seeing it in a slightly different light.

But at the same time, my own privacy concerns keep me from adding moments that are too close to home – so that greatly limits my use, although I expect that may not be as big of a concern for most people. Despite that concern, I really love it a lot and will continue to use it.

It’s clear that Craig and Chris and company love Hi a lot too. As far as websites go, this one is pretty immaculately groomed, and they really believe in the content format. And even though this is a labor of love, there are also hopes that it can be a business as well. Craig says:

This needs to be, at some point, sustainable. For now we’re testing hypothesis around engagement; if the core creative ideas don’t work then it’s pointless to consider the business side of things.

Craig has himeself written a great introduction to Hi over on Medium if you’d like to dive deeper into what it’s all about. Or if you’d like to sign up for it yourself, I have some invitations here (thanks Craig!) if any of our readers would like to sign up.

Personally I really hope that Hi does well, in much the same way that I’m rooting for time-machine app Yesterscape, which archives moments of today for tomorrow. I’m still dreaming of a web service that will do a better job of archiving our stories and culture, letting us scrub through a rich timeline of any given location. I think there’s a huge need for services of this kind, and I really hope we can see more spring up in the future.

The old Hitotoki still exists as Hitotoki classic if you ever want to browse those moments. ↩
If you don’t want to develop it further, that’s cool too. Just click ‘that’s all I’ve got’. ↩

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How StickerMe is riding the chat app wave in Asia

Rick Martin 2013.07.08

We previously featured the very clever StickerMe app, developed by the folks at Tokyo-based Motion Portrait. In the past the company has been best known for its fun facial modification apps like Zombie Booth or Sumo Booth. But interestingly their technological expertise in facial recognition has put them in the unique position of being able to make a great sticker creation app. Their app lets users take a picture of someone’s face and easily transform it into a customized sticker that can then be sent via Line, Kakao, or even on more traditional platforms like Facebook or email. Motion Portrait’s advantage is that the resultant stickers can even include changes to your face, like adding a smile to an unsmiling mouth, for example. Asia Loves Stickers So far the app has done extremely well in its first two months, picking up 1.8 million downloads during that span, mostly from around the Asia region. The countries that account for the most downloads are Japan, Thailand, and China, but it is also popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Of course that is all just on iOS so far, so there’s lots of potential for growth. To date, the platform…

We previously featured the very clever StickerMe app, developed by the folks at Tokyo-based Motion Portrait. In the past the company has been best known for its fun facial modification apps like Zombie Booth or Sumo Booth. But interestingly their technological expertise in facial recognition has put them in the unique position of being able to make a great sticker creation app.

Their app lets users take a picture of someone’s face and easily transform it into a customized sticker that can then be sent via Line, Kakao, or even on more traditional platforms like Facebook or email. Motion Portrait’s advantage is that the resultant stickers can even include changes to your face, like adding a smile to an unsmiling mouth, for example.

Asia Loves Stickers

So far the app has done extremely well in its first two months, picking up 1.8 million downloads during that span, mostly from around the Asia region. The countries that account for the most downloads are Japan, Thailand, and China, but it is also popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Of course that is all just on iOS so far, so there’s lots of potential for growth. To date, the platform that most favors StickerMe is Line with about 45% of total shares taking place on that platform. China’s WeChat is not far behind with 33%.

The app’s producer, Ryuhei Sadoshima, explained to us that that because most of the Asian countries interested in StickerMe are dominated by Android, they have even higher expectations for their upcoming Google Play release, set for later this month. Motion Portrait is targeting 10 million total downloads this year, with the hope of about 8 million downloads on Google Play.

The Next Step

motion-portrait-stickerme — CFO Takahashi Yoshimura, Producer Ryuhei Sadoshima

New stamps are on the way for StickerMe, and additional designs will be more frequent in the future. There are even plans for localized stamps for different regions, which is smart especially in places like China. A new dual/group mode is on the way too, where you can add faces of multiple friends to a sticker template.

In terms of monetization, I understand that so far in-app purchases have not performed so well – but the company is looking to do sponsored stickers in collaboration with certain companies. Motion Portrait has done lots of B2B business in Japan in the past, and they are planning to expand into sponsored stickers in the coming months.

It’s interesting to see a service like this one take advantage of the popularity of mobile chat apps on this way. And it will be really interesting to see what happens with StickerMe over the next year.

If you’d like to check out StickerMe for iOS, you can get it for free on the App Store. Or you can see our video demo of the app below.

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Why every startup needs an effective ‘explainer’ video clip

Junya Mori 2013.07.05

See the original story in Japanese. Here in Japan we’re seeing more and more startups taking the time to create a promotional video for their service. Of course, this is a trend the world over, as you can see on video showcase sites such as Startup Videos (US) or 500videos (Korea). For app developers, videos that effectively communicate the concept behind your application can be invaluable in terms of getting potential users to understand what you’re offering. We recently had an opportunity to hear from Hidetoshi Kobayashi, the CEO of Tokyo-based video production studio Wonder Graphics. The company is known for having made promotional video clips for many popular Japanese mobile apps, including music collaboration app Nana, or homescreen decoration app CocoPPa. Why did you start this production studio? We founded the company back in 2010 and started providing video production services in 2011. In the early days, we were involved in designing websites and producing music video clips. How do you differ from other video production studios? The biggest differentiation is speed. We usually produce a film with a small team, and make efforts to shorten the time of delivery. Our methods can contribute to improved efficiency in the…

See the original story in Japanese.

Here in Japan we’re seeing more and more startups taking the time to create a promotional video for their service. Of course, this is a trend the world over, as you can see on video showcase sites such as Startup Videos (US) or 500videos (Korea).

For app developers, videos that effectively communicate the concept behind your application can be invaluable in terms of getting potential users to understand what you’re offering.

We recently had an opportunity to hear from Hidetoshi Kobayashi, the CEO of Tokyo-based video production studio Wonder Graphics. The company is known for having made promotional video clips for many popular Japanese mobile apps, including music collaboration app Nana, or homescreen decoration app CocoPPa.

Why did you start this production studio?

hide-kobayashi — Wonder Graphics Hidetoshi Kobayshi

We founded the company back in 2010 and started providing video production services in 2011. In the early days, we were involved in designing websites and producing music video clips.

How do you differ from other video production studios?

The biggest differentiation is speed. We usually produce a film with a small team, and make efforts to shorten the time of delivery. Our methods can contribute to improved efficiency in the production process, reducing man-hours as well as production costs. For instance, with the promotional film for CocoPPa, we could finish it just two weeks after receiving the order from them.

Most production orders are for videos to be placed on websites, so we can delivery them in digital (rather than physical) form and thus complete it earlier. As a result, we can reduce man-hour costs and spend more effort to produce better outcomes.

As well as our our experiences producing music video clips or TV commercials, we’re making the most of the ease with which we can produce videos for websites.

Directed by: Tetsuya Ishida / Director of Photography: Seiji Ito
Director of Lighting: K. Hokari

What’s foremost in your mind when producing such clips?

The most significant thing is branding. We really focus on thinking what images will best describe the service or product. We usually spend time planning out of all the production processes, and think how to make people understand better the service.

An effective video clip is one that makes users understand the service as soon as they watch it. It is important to decide on the right actors or storyboards. For users, scenes in the clip have to make you envision how the service will work.

Directed by: Tetsuya Ishida / Director of Design: Mai Kobayashi

In the CocoPPa clip, we made it clear that the app is intended for high school girls. We even rented a real house to shoot in.

Filming equipment used be too big to carry inside a real house, but these days, even a DSLR camera is good enough to shoot professional video, and we actually use LEDs for lighting because they generate less heat and are easier to use in a tiny room. So we don’t need a film set but can actually rent a real building to shoot various scenes.

Why should startups make such a promotional video?

For startups, creating such a video clip will not only help your users learn about your brand, but it also helps your team sort out their own thoughts. What people use your service? How do you expect them to use it? Based on these considerations, we will choose actors to complete a scenario.

For startups, the production process gives your team a chance to reflect on the value of your service. In an interview before the video shoot, we usually hear from the client on this.

So creating a video clip confirms the value of their product in a way?

I think so. For startups, what’s important is telling viewers how they can change themselves by using a certain service. By highlighting the changes before and after using the service, viewers can learn the real value that a product provides. This is the moment when they confirm the product’s value.

Wonder Graphics has produced many promotional video clips, not only for introducing services, but also companies. The video below is an introduction for Sansan, the Tokyo-based startup providing business card-based contact management services. You can see how it works by confirming the overall concept of the company.

Directed by: Tetsuya Ishida

In addition to serving other startups by producing these video clips, WonderGraphics is itself a startup that recently received funding from investors. Earlier this week, they partnered with Minna-no-Wedding, one of Japan’s leading wedding venue portals, and started providing married couples with videos of their wedding ceremonies.

Many companies (not just video production studios) can learn a lot from what the Wonder Graphics team is doing. By making the most of a small team with efficient video production methods, I think there’s a brilliant future ahead for this startup.

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Aviary knows photos are big in Japan

Rick Martin 2013.06.14

Read a Japanese translation of this piece here Last week we heard that Aviary, an image editing platform provider, would be making its first international expansion by coming to Japan. The company has already seen significant success, especially in recent months, with over 50 million monthly active users in May [1]. The company now boasts more than 4600 partners that have integrated Aviary into their systems. Mixi is perhaps the most prominent ones (that we know of) in Japan, as Aviary has has helped them created and implement their own custom stickers for their app (pictured right). I had a chance to meet with Aviary representative Archie Archibong this week to find out a little more about the why the company is here in Japan. He explained: The demand we were getting from Japan, we get a lot of people reaching out to us asking how they can best leverage our product. And it became very evident that we should put a presence here. Archie noted the importance of meeting partners face-to-face, and trying to find out what kind of things they need. In this way, he explains, it helps Aviary figure out its own roadmap as well. So far…

aviary_archie_small — Aviary’s Japan rep Archie Archibong

Read a Japanese translation of this piece here

Last week we heard that Aviary, an image editing platform provider, would be making its first international expansion by coming to Japan. The company has already seen significant success, especially in recent months, with over 50 million monthly active users in May [1].

The company now boasts more than 4600 partners that have integrated Aviary into their systems. Mixi is perhaps the most prominent ones (that we know of) in Japan, as Aviary has has helped them created and implement their own custom stickers for their app (pictured right).

I had a chance to meet with Aviary representative Archie Archibong this week to find out a little more about the why the company is here in Japan. He explained:

The demand we were getting from Japan, we get a lot of people reaching out to us asking how they can best leverage our product. And it became very evident that we should put a presence here.

Archie noted the importance of meeting partners face-to-face, and trying to find out what kind of things they need. In this way, he explains, it helps Aviary figure out its own roadmap as well. So far meetings in Tokyo tend to result in further introductions and further meetings, and that’s the sort of thing that you just don’t get conducting business from afar over email or Skype, he adds.

The company is planning to hold its fifth Photo Hack Day in Tokyo in the fall, which should be a great event for the community, especially for the many startups involved in photo app development [2]. That kind of event not only helps local developers, but it also raises Aviary’s profile in terms of spreading awareness of the sort of services they offer.

Establishing a presence in the country is a smart move for Aviary, given the abundance of quality photo apps in Japan. A recent report from Flurry Analytics indicated that Japanese mobile users are more likely than any other country to use photo apps, both on iOS and Android (see chart below). If that’s the case, we expect Aviary will find lots of opportunities here.

That figure was announced by Aviary on May 28th, referring to “the last 30 days”. So we can say approximately May. ↩
The previous event (Photo Hack Day 4) was held at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park back in April. At that event, Archie – who has a computer science background – even made his own iOS app. ↩

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Could the next wave in mobile messaging be video? 500 Startups’ Unda hopes so.

Rick Martin 2013.06.04

Mobile video has always been a somewhat perilous space for startups. I was a big fan of Seesmic back in 2008, which at the time proposed a sort of video equivalent of Twitter, with the capability of publishing short videos to a public timeline. Of course that service fizzled. But it looks like times have changed, with Twitter’s own video offering Vine racking up 13 million users in its first four months. One young startup hopes that there’s room for a mobile video messaging service too, and their app Unda is about to be released on the app store soon. But perhaps more interesting than the challenge that lies ahead of them is the story of how they got to where they are now. The startup was created by two Mexican and Japanese co-founders, a unique international collaboration that has led to Silicon Valley where they are now part of the 500 Startups incubation program. Oscar Yasser Noriega (from Mexico) and Nao Tokui (from Japan) originally met in Japan a few years ago. Eventually they decided that they wanted to do something together. Oscar had previously worked on a top Latin American video game site, but he liked the process…

unda-team — L to R: Luis Lopez, Oscar Yasser Noriega, Nao Tokui

Mobile video has always been a somewhat perilous space for startups. I was a big fan of Seesmic back in 2008, which at the time proposed a sort of video equivalent of Twitter, with the capability of publishing short videos to a public timeline. Of course that service fizzled. But it looks like times have changed, with Twitter’s own video offering Vine racking up 13 million users in its first four months.

One young startup hopes that there’s room for a mobile video messaging service too, and their app Unda is about to be released on the app store soon. But perhaps more interesting than the challenge that lies ahead of them is the story of how they got to where they are now. The startup was created by two Mexican and Japanese co-founders, a unique international collaboration that has led to Silicon Valley where they are now part of the 500 Startups incubation program.

Oscar Yasser Noriega (from Mexico) and Nao Tokui (from Japan) originally met in Japan a few years ago. Eventually they decided that they wanted to do something together. Oscar had previously worked on a top Latin American video game site, but he liked the process of incubating new ideas within the company. Nao had been the founder of Qosmo, a mobile development company doing apps for big clients. Oscar proposed the idea of doing a video messaging app, but Nao was a little bit hesitant at first. Was there really room for this kind of product, especially as so many video startups had already failed so hard?

Taking the plunge

Eventually Nao came around to the idea. And when he did, he jumped in head first. He wanted to to meet up with Oscar, who was at that time in Mexico — so he flew straight over, and within two weeks had a prototype going. That was in December. And that’s when they thought that they might really be on to something.

After some interest from investors, the company’s third member and current chief creative officer, Luis Lopez, suggested that they should explore some more options. They took their idea to 500 Startups’ Mexico branch, and venture partner Cesar Salazar liked it a lot. Coincidentally 500 Startup’s founding partner Dave McClure had a talk in Mexico around that time, so they pitched the idea to him as well, and he loved it too. That was on a Wednesday, says Oscar, and they were on Silicon Valley by the following Monday. That was a little later than the most recent batch of startups, but great step forward for the young company.

As for the product itself, I personally have yet to see it. But from what I’ve heard, I’m optimistic. I’m told the UX/UI breaks with tradition, with no text, emoticons, or stickers — just video. They have focused on making the experience a good one even on slow networks. So of course while they plan to push this app in mature Asian mobile markets like Japan or Singapore, they will also target emerging markets in the region, as well as in Latin America — leveraging the advantage of having founders from both regions.

And hopefully unlike the video startup failures we’ve seen in the past, maybe the time is right for a service like Unda. Oscar explains:

Back around 2008 the timing was not right. Phones were fast, but not fast enough for a seamless experience. Networks weren’t so fast either, and there were less phones with front facing cameras. The timing was tricky for services back then. But now there are great examples of mobile video booming – not just things like YouTube and NicoNico Douga, but shorter format services like Vine, which is just six second videos. That’s a great signal that the market is embracing this right now.

So how will the market respond to Unda? It’s hard to say without seeing it first, but my initial impressions are that this is a pretty strong team, so I don’t think anyone should underestimate them. They did after all, make the cut for 500 Startups, a good indication that they’re on to something promising.

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Building a new business from snapshots of old Japan

Rick Martin 2013.05.30

I was a little surprised a few weeks back when I stumbled across OldPhotosJapan.com, a site featuring remarkable photos from an era that most people would think predates photography itself. Many of the pictures collected are from the Meiji and Showa periods, some going back as far as the 1860s. The site was created by Tokyo-based, Dutch photojournalist Kjeld Duits, who I had a chance to catch up with yesterday to find out more about this project. What I discovered out was that this endeavor is more than just a pet interest or a hobby, but in fact, its actually a business too. Kjeld also operates MeijiShowa.com, a site where interested parties and clients can license these photos. While a lot of the photos are accessible to those who want to dig for them, Kjeld’s value add is that he can go out and acquire interesting old photos at auctions or other sales, and then license in much the same way that he used to license his own photos. He elaborates a little more about how this who idea initially came about: I had no idea there were photos of Japan from that period. I fell in love with the…

oldphotosjapan_kjeld_duits — a photo from the 1890s on OldPhotosJapan.com

I was a little surprised a few weeks back when I stumbled across OldPhotosJapan.com, a site featuring remarkable photos from an era that most people would think predates photography itself. Many of the pictures collected are from the Meiji and Showa periods, some going back as far as the 1860s.

The site was created by Tokyo-based, Dutch photojournalist Kjeld Duits, who I had a chance to catch up with yesterday to find out more about this project. What I discovered out was that this endeavor is more than just a pet interest or a hobby, but in fact, its actually a business too. Kjeld also operates MeijiShowa.com, a site where interested parties and clients can license these photos. While a lot of the photos are accessible to those who want to dig for them, Kjeld’s value add is that he can go out and acquire interesting old photos at auctions or other sales, and then license in much the same way that he used to license his own photos.

He elaborates a little more about how this who idea initially came about:

I had no idea there were photos of Japan from that period. I fell in love with the photos, but I thought that’s something you only see at museums. It didn’t even occur to me that I could buy them. […] I later found a book with these kinds of photos at a temple in Kyoto, and as my new year’s resolution that year, I decided to find out if it would be possible to buy these photos. ¶

And after just a few days I had already found a way; I found a place and started buying them. It was only later that I realized, “Hey, I license my own photographs, maybe I should start licensing these photographs.” Most of the places that do these are large agencies like Getty Images, or museums who tend to be bureaucratic. ¶

Subsequently he built the OldPhotosJapan site to see if there was any public interest. And sure enough, people bought them.

So far Kjeld’s strategy is to use OldPhotosJapan to drive traffic to the licensing site, MeijiShowa. And while the traffic is still relatively modest at 1000 unique views per day, ostensibly those who find the site arrive there due to a very specific keyword search. Kjeld declined to disclose any sales figures, but he is making a living from this and his other web endeavors.

I was surprised to find that he actually handles the web development and design on his own (he’s self-taught), and for MeijiShowa in particular this looks to be an impressive feat. The database of photos is rich with meta data, easily sortable and browsable with related items listed for convenience.

So far Kjeld says that his clients come from both Japan and overseas, ranging from documentary film companies (the BBC is a client, for example), to restaurants who want an interesting backdrop on their wall. Kjeld also cited the example of a client from Sweden who licensed one of the photos to use on his bedroom wall (see photo below).

OldPhotosJapan originally began back in 2007, with MeijiShowa following in 2010. and Kjeld says he plans to make a Japanese version of the latter available soon, most likely in the fall of this year. Considering that about 60% of his clients currently come from Japan, this should certainly be a big help for business.

Readers here in Japan might be familiar with some of Kjeld’s other work, most notably JapaneseStreets.com, another photography project, but with a fashion focus. Currently his company, DUITS, functions as a licensing company that oversees three branches: the aforementioned OldPhotosJapan and JapaneseStreets, as well as focusing on more traditional journalism as well. He notes:

[The first two are] small niche markets that aren’t really of interest to large or even medium-sized companies. They’re just big enough for a small company like ours. But selling to tiny markets like this is possible now because of the internet.

It’s really encouraging to see this kind of entrepreneurial activity in the journalism space, especially here in Japan. Kjeld has put forth a pretty big effort, and it will be interesting to see how the business progresses in the future.

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