Silicon Valley and Startups Founded by Students

June 10th 2014, Kyoto University

Kenshin Fujiwara

Venture Partner, Miyako Capital

My first job. Software Engineer at Sony PlayStation  

Director at Founder Institute Kansai  

About Founder Institute

•  Silicon Valley based startup accelerator

•  3 months part-time program

•  One session per week

•  20 hours assignment and workshop

•  Need to register your company to graduate

•  Exclusive military bootcamp for entrepreneurs

Mentors at Founder Institute

Adeo Ressi Founder Institute  

Robin Chase Zipcar  

Peter Vesterbacka Rovio  

Jeffrey Paine Golden Gate Ventures  

Aaron Patzer Mint.com  

Phil Libin Evernote  

Top CEOs & Founders as Local Mentors

Hiroyasu Koma, GLM   Norio Murakami  

Hitoshi Tanii, Synergy Marketing   Allen Miner, SunBridge Group  

So Silicon Valley…

Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital: "Target Big Markets” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN-abRJMEw

Some People Started Their Business While in University And Become World Class

“Very few went to Stanford business school.”

by Don Valentine, Sequoia Capital

(laugh)

•  He started SAT prep company

called Accolade while in school.  

•  Kept working at various startups

since then.

•  And eventually founded Dropbox.

Drew Houston  

He didn’t start Dropbox while in University but …  

Why he became successful?

No simple answer, of course, but…

•  He created the service out of his frustration. = He was easting his own dog food. Important.

•  He challenged everyone’s big problem. = This led his company go after big market. Important.

•  He was able to bring his product to the market. = Because he was a hardcore engineer. Important.

•  He moved to Silicon Valley and raised capital. = He was accepted by Y Combinator. Important.

And, the product must be superior

•  Super easy-to-use.

•  Simple interface.

•  Strong viral feature built into the product. (Invite your friends and get extra storage for free.)

•  First one in the market.

•  Innovation in online storage space brought by AWS & S3.

When you do startup as a student:

1.  Focus on a problem that you care most.

2.  Build a product or service for yourself.

3.  Surround yourself with right people (not friends.) (Co-founders, engineers, advisers, mentors, etc.)

4.  Release initial version asap and then iterate.

5.  Join a startup accelerator or incubator.

Can I join a startup accelerator or incubator without quitting school?

Remember?

Founder Institute is a part-time program. You can join it without quitting school at all.

http://fi.co/apply/kansai

There are alternatives too.

http://startupweekend.org

Startup Weekend is:

•  54 hours events to launch your startup.

•  Developers, designers, marketers, startup enthusiasts.

•  Pitching idea, forming a team, doing customer validation, and release MVP (Minimum Viable Product.)

•  Lots of benefits and awards such as a free ticket to Silicon Valley and privilege to pitch to top-tier investors.

•  Best place for students to learn startup by doing.

Successful Startups out of Startup Weekend

Startup Weekend Companies:

•  Startup Weekend Los Angeles. •  Raised $1M right after the event. •  Raised $15M in total.  

•  Women 2.0 Startup Weekend. •  Raised $3.75M in total. •  Acquired by OpenTable for $10M.  

•  Four of teammates joined the company full-time in the following week.  

Startup Weekend Kyoto

http://kyoto.startupweekend.org/

August 8th at Kyoto Research Park  

Wrapping up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDc4zjAdp5A

http://kenshinfujiwara.com

https://www.facebook.com/kenshin.fujiwara

https://twitter.com/ensnk

http://www.slideshare.net/kenshinfujiwara

Places where you can reach out to me

Thank you.