Startup Japan: What Japanese Accelerators Still Do Better

The Accelerator Conundrum is a multipart series that challenges the prevailing wisdom of the tech startup ecosystem that entrepreneurs should Blitzscale out of the gate. Written by Sramana Mitra, the Founder and CEO of One Million by One Million (1Mby1M), the world’s first global virtual accelerator, it emphatically argues that a better strategy is to Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later, focus on customers, revenues and profits. 1Mby1M’s mission is to help a Million entrepreneurs reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond. Sramana’s Digital Mind AI Mentor virtually mentors entrepreneurs around the world in 57 languages. Try it out!

To be fully balanced, there are areas where Japanese accelerators retain advantages or possible gaps where 1Mby1M must catch up or adapt:

• Local regulatory, legal, and sector-specific knowledge: For some domains (e.g. healthcare, biotech, medical devices, regulated energy, manufacturing), knowledge of domestic regulation is critical. Local accelerators often have domain experts, regulatory agencies, and networks. 1Mby1M may provide strategy but may be less deep in Japanese statutory/regulatory practice.
• Physical presence and in-market networks: Japanese accelerators are well placed to connect founders with domestic corporations, government programs, customers who are interested in buying in Japan, supply chain partners, local manufacturing and facilities. These can be hard to replicate purely virtually.
• Cultural mentorship, trust, and social capital: In Japan, relationships, trust, reputations matter greatly, and having mentors who are known in Japan, who understand the local norms, who can introduce you properly, can be extremely important. While an AI Mentor or global virtual mentorship helps, local mentorship and network still matter.
• Funding size, follow-on investment: For startups needing heavy capital to scale (manufacturing, hardware, etc.), the challenge is getting sufficient capital domestically, or convincing international investors. Accelerators tied to corporations or local investors might help there more directly than a virtual curriculum alone.

Why This is a Turning Point for Japan

In “The Accelerator Conundrum,” I’ve argued that accelerators must be evaluated not by their prestige, their demo-days, or how many alumni they have, but by how they help founders achieve velocity: how fast can you go from idea to market traction; from revenue zero to sustainable income; how capable are you of being fundable if you need to scale; and how can you retain control, preserve equity, and avoid succumbing to external pressure that derails your focus.

Japan is at a moment where its government, corporations, universities, and entrepreneurs are waking up to global competition. Innovation, speed, and international scale are increasingly valued. But some of the existing systems—while improving—still carry legacies: of risk aversion, of slow approval processes, of top-down decision making, of language and major hub concentration.

1Mby1M, especially with Digital Mind AI Mentor in Japanese, has the potential to shift many of those levers. It can:

• democratize access to high-quality startup strategy and mentoring across Japan;
• permit founders to move with velocity even when local physical or institutional resources are constrained;
• help founders build business models that are more likely to attract global funding if desired, or sustain themselves locally if not, given Japan’s large domestic market;
• change expectations of what acceleration, mentorship, and acceleration program offerings should include.

In short, the introduction of a strong, scalable, accessible accelerator alternative that respects founder equity, demands business rigor, supports strategic thinking, and delivers in Japanese can be game changing. If even a critical mass of founders use this model, it can catalyze a virtuous cycle: better founders, better expectations, more ambitious startups, more capital flowing, more global competitiveness, more ecosystem maturity.

In fact, the local accelerators can also learn and implement the 1Mby1M methodology. I am certain it would yield orders of magnitude greater success.

Photo Credit: Walkerssk from Pixabay

One Million by One Million (1Mby1M) is the first global virtual accelerator in the world, founded in 2010 by Silicon Valley serial Entrepreneur Sramana Mitra. It offers a fully online entrepreneurship incubation, acceleration and education resource for solo entrepreneurs and bootstrapped founders working on tech and tech-enabled services ventures. 1Mby1M does not charge equity, offers an AI Mentor in 57 languages, and offers a distinct advantage over other accelerators including Y Combinator.

This segment is a part in the series : Startup Japan