The promise of AI is easily understood by anyone with an imagination, and for 40 years, venture capitalists have been enthusiastically investing in that promise. - However, it's been significantly harder for founders to turn that investment into susta...

Education is very hard to disrupt. - That’s both good and bad. Education is so important to both individuals and society, it should not be changed on a whim, but over time it seems that our institutions of higher education have drifted away from meeti...

Ad-fraud is one of the most profitable activities for organized crime today. The scammers are sophisticated, disciplined, and numerous, and they might be using your IoT devices to rip people off. - Over the past decade,

The robotics ecosystem in Japan is amazing. And confusing. - It's a collection of crazy ideas, odd creations, and true breakthroughs. And despite the combination of fawning prise and snide skepticism that Japanese robotics evoke in the international p...

Those of us who spend our lives working with startups live in a bubble. Whether you spend your days programming at a startup or investing in new ventures, you and I see things differently than “normal” people. - It happens to everyone to some extent.

I’ve got a special bonus episode for you this week. - Last month I was part of a panel discussion hosted by Stanford University and the Japan Society of Northern California. It was part of this year’s Japan-US Innovation Awards,

Startup founders claiming their company is going to “change the world” has become a cliche. But rarely do we see a product that could clearly and significantly make someone’s life better. D-Free is one of those products. However...

Japanese university and government venture funds play a much larger role in Japan than in the West. - I've always considered this difference to be, on balance, neutral, today's guest makes a convincing case that these funds are actually hurting the st...

Startups and venture capital work differently in Japan. - The rounds are smaller, the priorities distinct, and while the same terms are used, people quickly discover that the definitions are often subtly different.

Startup culture has crazy and contradictory views about failure. As founders we are told to fail fast, but also to never give up. We are told to follow our vision, but be ready to pivot. Somehow this macho-bullshit culture of “I never really fail and ...