Startup founders know that going from zero to one means not only making mistakes, but also asking for help. Unfortunately, in Japan asking for help has traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness.  In both professional and personal life you are expected to be either a confident leader or an obedient follower.

Such attitudes tend to crush innovation and entrepreneurship.

One startup founder thinks she has figured out how to bypass this social stigma via spot consulting, and Eiko's not the only one who thinks she's onto something. Her customer's include some of the most conservative companies in Japan and her backers include the Japanese government.

We also talk about Eiko's transitions from housewife, to single mom, to MBA, to startup founder and her personal approach to taking risks and standing out from the crowd.

Show Notes for Startups

Why large Japanese firms are starting to trust small ones
Why independent consulting used to be considered a career risk in Japan
A critical change occurring in the way large Japanese companies work with small ones
Why Steve Job's "connecting the dots" speech has a special resonance
Building team loyalty while fighting with engineers
The outrageous questions that Japanese VC's ask female founders
Three advantages of being different in Japan
Why innovation is a process, not a technology

Links from the Founder

Visasq Home Page
An explanation of spot consulting services
Follow Eiko on Twitter @eiko_visasQ
Eiko on LinkedIn

 Leave a comment
Transcript from Japan
[INTRO]

Welcome to Disrupting Japan straight talk from Japan successful entrepreneurs. I am Tim Romero and thanks for listening.

Today, we get a chance to sit down and talk with Eiko Hashiba of Visasq. Visasq is a Spot Consulting or a Micro Consulting Platform that matches up companies that need very specific questions answered with individuals that have that particular knowledge or set of skills.

There are a few companies that do this in the west. But, here in Japan in addition to the Chicken and Egg problem that faces all new multisided markets hoping to match buyer and seller Spot Consulting faces two unique Japanese hurdles.

First, asking for advice has traditionally been seen as a sign of weakness in Japan, both personally and professionally. You are expected to be a confident and fearless leader or an obedient and loyal follower. With not a lot of room for much else, and as you might imagine this is not really the ideal atmosphere to foster innovation.

The other problem, is that the experts the would-be consultants don't generally make themselves known here. Resumes are considered highly confidential documents, and speaking with outsiders about your expertise is something to be cautiously considered at best. And, viewed as a form of betrayal to your company at worst.

Eiko explains how she tackled both of these problems head on. And, also talks about her journey from housewife to single mom to MBA to entrepreneur. She is one of those rare individuals who is letting nothing stand in the way of her vision. And, I think we will learn a lot from her.

So, here we go.

[Interview]

Tim: So cheers.

Eiko: Cheers.

Tim: Thanks for sitting down with me. I am sitting here with Eiko Hashiba Visasq. Well, before we get too far into this I want you to introduce your company and tell us about it. And, from what I understand it is a crowd sourced Spot Consulting Program.

But, that is quite interesting. I haven't run across that very often, so maybe you can explain it in a little more detail.

Eiko: Okay. It's an expanded work service.

Tim: Okay.

Eiko: Which because I use to work for private ADD Fund, where we used this kind of expanded work service. Where we can meet people who know the insides of industry, inside of the business.

Tim: So, is this something like Gerson-Lehrman?

Eiko: We call it spot consulting. It's for primary research.