500 startups tour

500 Startups TourApril 12, 2013

Ray GrieselhuberCEO, Ginzamarkets, Inc.

• $60m+ under management

• 20 people, 10 investing partners

• Silicon Valley incubator

• Presence in SF, NY, MEX, BRZ, IND, CHN, SE Asia

• 800+ Founders, 200+ Mentors

• Focus: Design, Data & Distribution

About 500 Startups

500 Startups Investment Thesis

Lots of small bets + quantitative approach

• Wildfire

• Twilio

• SendGrid

• TaskRabbit

• MakerBot

• 9GAG

Notable Companies / Global Coverage

• LESS Capital Required

• Cloud drives down data center costs

• Crowdfunding

• More Customers via Online Platforms

• Search

• Social

• Mobile

• Media

• Networking

• Lots of Little Bets

• 500 Startups, Y Combinator, Angel List

Recent, Big Changes in VC

Venture Funding Ecosystem

Risk Mitigation Through Diversification

Lots of Little Bets

• Growth of global languages

• Mandarin, English, Spanish, Arabic

• Smart device proliferation

• Internet Adoption

• More Bandwidth = more social, more cloud, more mobile, more video

• Wealthy Chinese & Indians

• Global Payment Platforms

• Reduce Startup Costs

• Global Distribution Platforms

Global Trends

GinzaMetricsTeam size: 10 people

Offices:- San Francisco- Tokyo- NYC coming soon- Moscow coming soon

Raised: $1.7m from Y Combinator, 500 Startups & more

Coming to Japan

• Read a book when I was 9 about feudal Japan called Shogun

• Studied Japanese in college

Toyama

• Moved to Japan again in 2008

• Quit my job to start my own company

• Started Firewatching Media in Tokyo

• Starting building Ginzametrics in my pajamas. Almost ran out of money.

• Learned about the Japanese enterprise market

Tokyo

Getting into Y Combinator

GinzaMetricsHistory:

• Launched August, 2010

• Struggled to raise money initially because I was alone and B2B was not sexy

• Mostly Japanese customers until late 2012

• Growing quickly now

• Startups take a long time. Most people give up too soon.

• Our goal: to be the leading SEO & Content Marketing platform in the world.

Differences / Comparisons Between Silicon Valley & Japan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulnichol/2056630217/sizes/z/in/photostream/

In Both Japan and SV, Reputation is Everything

In Japan, People (Media, Companies, Event Organizers) Respect Investors More than Entrepreneurs

In Silicon Valley, those who can create are taking power

Advice to Japanese Entrepreneurs (and VCs)

• Start thinking bigger!

• Unsexy businesses are sexy

• Focus on revenue, especially because investment in Japan is still weak

• Choose big markets

• Don’t underestimate difficulties of living / working in the US

• Build in Japan + Asia

• Learn how to be a global Asian, not just Japanese.

Advice to Japanese Entrepreneurs (and VCs)

• Create stronger Japanese networks abroad. Look at Chinese and Korean networks.

• There is no longer any excuse for not speaking English well. It is hurting growth.

• Invest in building native Japanese IT / Software global powerhouses. Software is eating the world and Japan is still made out of things about to be eaten.

• You are not safe. The young people of Meiji knew this and completely transformed their country in less than 30 years.

@raygrieselhuber

ray@ginzametrics.com

www.ginzametrics.com/blog

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Thanks!