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The Coral Capital Podcast

The Coral Capital Podcast

Coral Capital
Business

Welcome to the Coral Capital podcast, where we discuss startups, technology, and the future through the lens of Japan and Asia broadly. This is your typical VC podcast, with an atypical cross-cultural and multilingual flair. よろしくお願いします！

14 - #14: Jonathan Shih of Keyrock Capital Management on Finding Growth in Japan
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  • 14 - #14: Jonathan Shih of Keyrock Capital Management on Finding Growth in Japan

    Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, where we delve into the world of startups, technology, and venture capital with a focus on Japan and the broader Asia region.

    Our guest today is Jonathan Shih, Managing Partner at Keyrock Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based investment management firm specializing in emerging growth companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Keyrock is an active investor in Japan, with portfolio companies such as LayerX, Zeroboard, Nealle, and Timee, alongside public investments in companies like MoneyForward. Jonathan brings a wealth of experience in finance, having started his career at Lehman Brothers before moving on to roles at TVG Capital Partners, McKinsey, Ward Ferry, and Tybourne Capital.

    In this episode, we discuss:

    The history of Keyrock Capital Management Keyrock’s investment into Timee How Keyrock initially identified growth opportunity in the Japanese market Whether companies should raise in the private markets or IPO Best practices for managing investor expectations and IR for private vs. public companies Contrasts in management communication styles between Japan and the US Key questions startups should address before going global Keyrock’s investment thesis and strategy Japan’s overlooked growth potential

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    For founders building Japan's next legendary companies, reach out to us here:

    ⁠https://coralcap.co/contact-startups/⁠

    Coral Capital is also hiring on the investment team!Details can be found here:

    ⁠https://coralcap.co/careers/

    Mon, 18 Nov 2024 - 34min
  • 13 - #13: Kaizen in the Digital Era: How Kaminashi is Empowering Japan’s 39 Million Frontline Workers

    Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, a show about startups, technology, and venture capital with a focus on Japan and Asia broadly.

    In this episode, we chat with Jumpei Yoshida, CFO at Kaminashi - one of Japan’s most closely watched startups. Kaminashi provides a one-stop, cloud-based solution to manage workflows for “deskless workers” in industries like manufacturing, food services, and retail. Despite 60% of Japan’s workforce being frontline employees, many still rely on outdated processes and lag behind in tech adoption.

    Japan is known for its operational excellence, particularly the Kaizen philosophy, with Toyota’s production lines often cited as an example. However, many frontline workers still operate with pen and paper—imagine clipboards with messy handwriting and employees spending valuable time finding a manager just for sign-offs. These industries have missed out on advancements in tech and AI, but that also means the market is still ripe for change.

    In this episode, we explore:

    The current state of Kaizen in Japan How Kaminashi is empowering frontline operations through innovative software and hardware solutions A comparison between Kaminashi and Samsara How founder Hiroto Morooka’s firsthand experience on the frontlines inspired the creation of Kaminashi Forces pushing traditional frontline industries towards digitization How AI is transforming Kaminashi’s product offerings Kaminashi’s customer-centric approach to product development

    -----

    For founders building Japan's next legendary companies, reach out to us here:

    https://coralcap.co/contact-startups/

    Coral Capital is also hiring on the investment team!Details can be found here:

    https://coralcap.co/careers/

    Sun, 20 Oct 2024 - 23min
  • 12 - #12: Upfront Ventures' Mark Suster on Overrated Unicorns and Other Startup Truths

    Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, a show about startups, technology, and venture capital with a focus on Japan and Asia.

    In this episode, we chat with Mark Suster, a Partner at Upfront Ventures. Upfront is one of LA’s most prominent venture capital firms, renowned for backing companies like Ring, GOAT, Overture, and even Starbucks back in the day. Mark was previously the founder & CEO of two successful enterprise software companies, the most recent of which was sold to Salesforce.com. Prior to being a founder, Mark was a software developer at Accenture where he lived and worked in Europe, Japan and the U.S. 

    In this episode we discuss:

    How Japanese startups can win globally Uncovering the truth about unicorn companies Top VC firms reducing the size of their funds 50% of seed funds disappearing Advice for startups considering fundraising Love decay - how entrepreneurs and investors can nurture "love"


    Tue, 05 Dec 2023 - 41min
  • 11 - #11: Grab President Ming Maa on Mission, Growth and Hyper-localization

    Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, a show about startups, technology, and venture capital with a focus on Japan and Asia.


    This episode is a fireside chat with Ming Maa, the Group President of Grab. Initially established as a taxi-hailing app in Malaysia back in 2012, Grab has evolved into the leading super app in Southeast Asia and the region's first decacorn. It empowers the region's economy through a diverse range of services, including transportation, delivery, and finance. As President, Ming is responsible for corporate development activities, such as strategic partnerships and investment opportunities at Grab. Ming has over 12 years of experience in private equity investment at Softbank Group, Ancora Capital Management, and Goldman Sachs. During his tenure at Softbank, based in Tokyo, he oversaw investments in the ridesharing and e-commerce sectors, including Softbank’s Series D and Series F investments into Grab. 


    In this episode, we discuss:

    How Grab started as a for-profit, social enterprise What is a super app and how Grab approached its super app strategy What differentiated Grab from Kuaidi Dache and OlaCabs How hyper-localization wins customers and markets How Grab hyper localized to beat Uber Experimenting and measuring platform success Concentrating on the North Star Strategic investments through Grab Ventures


    Sun, 09 Jul 2023 - 27min
  • 10 - #10: a16z General Partner Andrew Chen on The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects

    Welcome to another episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, a show about startups, technology, and venture capital with a focus on Japan and Asia.

    In this episode we chat with Andrew Chen, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he invests in games, AR/VR, metaverse, and consumer tech startups. He is on the boards of Clubhouse, Substack, Z League, Sleeper, Snackpass, All Day Kitchens, Sandbox VR, Reforge, Maven, Practice, and others.

    He is a prolific writer on user growth, metrics, and network effects at andrewchen.com and has been cited on Wired, WSJ, and The New York Times.

    In this episode we discuss a broad range of topics focused on his book, The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects, which was just published in Japanese. We cover:

    What motivated Andrew to write a book on “network effects” The power of network effects and and real-world examples Why it’s critical to identify the “hard side” of a network How Tinder solved the cold start problem Why Google+ didn’t take off despite enormous distribution channels What are the key metrics that signal network effects What was going on behind the scenes when Clubhouse went viral

    If you enjoy this episode, please make sure to follow us onSpotify,Apple Podcasts, orGoogle Podcasts.

    Tue, 20 Dec 2022 - 36min
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