The key to everything is to take action. It all starts from there.

Fail fast, fail cheap, and fail smart. Episode #32

I wrote about moving GGC from Singapore to Tokyo (establishing a Japanese entity) in my newsletter yesterday, but today something pleasant happened.

I was reviewing the applications of people who applied to GGC's first program, the "Co-founder Matching Program.” I was pleased to see that there are many exceptional people beyond my imagination. I felt excited for the first time in a long time.

And, when asked what they wanted from a co-founder, almost everyone said, "I want to meet co-founders who are not set on a specific idea (wish to explore new ideas together)".

I was delighted to learn that there is demand for a co-founder matching program.

There may be some people who know me directly or indirectly on LinkedIn. Still, GGC Singapore went through the dissolution procedures without being able to take any action. The Japanese entity has just been registered, so although we haven't had anything yet, we've already received applications from highly talented and young individuals, including Ph.D. holders. I thought it was good that I mustered up the courage to start.

However, there are very few Japanese applicants and even fewer female applicants, so we are still accepting applications.

It is often said that Japanese people are "risk-averse," but I think there is a bigger problem: the "wall of English."

However, if you genuinely want to achieve something, you can learn a language.

I have never lived abroad, but I have become able to express my feelings in English and even talk in my sleep in English (LOL).

Foreign entrepreneurs, investors, and professors that I am close to all say in unison that "Japan should open its doors to more and more foreigners, but they should understand ‘Japanese culture’ and become Japanese."

That shows how much they respect Japanese culture, and we Japanese need to become increasingly open to the world.

When I remember the English I used the first time I spoke to a foreigner at Tokyo Tower on a school trip in my third year of junior high, and when I talked to a foreigner selling accessories on the street in Kyoto on a school trip in my second year of high school, I feel like my face is going to burst into flames lol.

The key to everything is to take action. It all starts from there.