ENTREPRENEURSHIPIN

3-month, full-time internship in Tokyo, Japan as part of the New Colombo Plan Scholarship Program.

Plug into the startup ecosystem of Tokyo working with successful serial entrepreneurs at J-Seed Ventures, Inc. a venture incubator that solves customer problems with innovative solutions.

PACEACTIVITY

SIGNIFICANCEPrime Ministers Tony Abbott and Shinzo Abe signed the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA) on 8 July 2014 and it entered into force on 15 January 2015.

Japan is often regarded to be a country of the future: high-tech, innovative, advanced. Yet its students are risk-adverse, change-resistant and reluctant to confront challenges, harbouring perhaps one of the most conservative mindsets in the world

Percentage of students across OECD Countries who reported they “agree” or “strongly agree” with the following statements:

NEW COLOMBO PLAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

6361

32

AustraliaAverage

Japan

“I seek explanations for things.”

3133

19

AustraliaAverage

Japan

“I like to solve complex problems.”

MY

My objectives for my internship were set out prior to commencement with the CEO/Supervisor, Jeffrey Char:- Gain indepth understanding of the Japanese startup ecosystem- Understand the core activities and work life of an entrepreneur- Contribute meaningfully and insightfully to Venture Generation- Take initiative to work beyond the scope of delegated tasks- Develop and diversify existing skills and experiences.- Develop a more innovative and critical entrepreneurial mindset

Who will drive Japan to tackle its greatest challenges – aging population, disaster management (earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear melt down), declining fertility rate, declining economy?

Entrepreneurs will lead the quest to reimagining Japan.PISA 2012 results: Ready to learn—students’ engagement, drive and self-beliefs (volume III), OECD, December 2013.

OBJECTIVES

These objectives subsequently shaped how I approached my internship at J-Seed Ventures, Inc and also prior to it – building up my startup network from first arriving in Tokyo by volunteering for SLUSH Asia, then #SVFT: Skyland Ventures Fest Tokyo, and a range of #HiveShibuya events.

This active engagement in the startup ecosystem continued during my internship, where I also volunteered for Tech in Asia Tokyo.

INTERNSHIP AT J-SEED VENTURES, INC.

Work directly with the CEO to facilitate client meetings and prepare pitches and workshops

Business development, marketing, graphics design and brand management for the annual Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific (MCAP) 2015-2016 competition partnered with GSMA Mobile World Congress: mobile-asia.com

Organise networking events to bring together the J-Seed Ventures and Venture Generation community.

Market research to create datasets for client consulting in expansion and M&A strategies. Research analysis to investigate potential investment and business opportunities in light of market changes within Japan.

Apply Lean Startup methods to take internal projects from ideas to MVPs; focusing on problem identification, and qualification of the customer in order to build a business model.

Create teaching material and teacher assistant for the Waseda University Graduate course on Entrepreneurship taught by Jeffrey Char (CEO).

Startups by definition are high risk and (ideally) high growth business ventures.

But, as Eric Ries put it:

“Startup success can be engineered by following the process, which means it can be learned, which means it can be taught.”

Particularly in my consulting aspects of the role, I was able to apply the Lean Startup Methodology to real ventures – stressing the importance of clarity regarding vision and customers, and through this, constantly validating assumptions through experiments, and innovation accounting. Entrepreneurship is management – and it was these principles that I applied to all aspects of my role as an intern, irrespective

of whether it had direct relevance to building a business, or if it was creating materials of teaching, workshops and market research.

More importantly, I put the theories of reflection as a means of translating experience into learning into practice. Critical reflection, for me, is the “deconstruction of taken-for-granted assumptions that underpin knowledge, values and beliefs to enable critical enquiry, aimed at positive social change and transformation” (Das & Anand 2014, p. 110).

I therefore felt that the strategy best relevant to my own reflective practices, is “peer learning and support,” something that

I have begun to do more by engaging further with other New Colombo Plan Scholars interning in Japan (Das & Anand 2014, pp. 113-114).

I also engaged in reflecting through alternative mediums, creating a 60 × 50 cm painting as a gift for my boss, and for J-Seed Ventures. The painting was of a nebulae – the birthplace of stars. J-Seed Ventures is a nebula, because it is the chaotic, seething cloud of dead stars where failures, experience, passion and grit eventually gravitate into clumps of uncertain masses of minimal viable products and short term projects. Time, effort, lean startup methodology and the uncertainty of high risk until a fusion reaction begins, and a star is born.

FINDINGS: THEORIES IN PRACTICE

Where stars are born. | Acrylic Painting on Canvas | 60.5 x 50 cm

Japan and Australia may differ greatly in culture, geography, mindset, economy and life style. Yet entrepreneurship, innovation and disruption is a universal language for change that will enable both countries to continue to flourish, develop and more importantly, play a greater role in positively impacting the world.

This internship undoubtedly fulfilled all of my learning objectives and more - offering me a range of different opportunities to learn more about entrepreneurship, startups and creating businesses. It has taught me important principles that I know I will continue to apply throughout my career, and helped me create the network to support it.

CONCLUSIONS

LOOKING FORWARD

Drop my Law Degree

Graduate

Explore opportunities

Build-Measure-Learn

Ask ambitious yet actionable questions.

Solve problems.

Through the opportunity of the New Colombo Program, the mentorship of Jeffrey Char (CEO, J-Seed Ventures, Inc.) and the guiding structure of this FOAR300 PACE unit, I now have a clear plan of what I want to pursue as my career, and the best methods to do so.

CINDY HUANG | 43269206