Mistakes Startups Commit–Entrepreneurs tell us all!

While there is enough gyaan on mistakes startups commit, nothing beats listening to real mistakes committed by real entrepreneurs.

“@bhaveshdhupar: we’re in double stealth mode – the public doesn’t know what we’re building and neither do we #startupmistake”

“Akshay Tyagi: #StartupMistake : Underestimated the gestation period of a startup, from prototype to launch.”

“Aditya Prasad: Letting team miss deadlines, then becomes a habit hard to come back from. #startupmistake”

“Akshay Hartalkar: Not managing Financial, Legal, Corporate compliance from day 1 #startupmistake”

Yesterday, we ran a Twitter contest (which was trending) and we were amazed to see the response it generated! Don’t believe us?

Check out these curated tweets from #startupmistake contest.
[View the story "#startupmistake" on Storify]

#startupmistake

Mistakes startups commit. Curated by Pluggd.in team.

Storified by Pluggd.in Team · Thu, Jun 28 2012 22:37:47

"Who is your target audience?""Everyone!"#startupmistake cc/ @UoPEnterpriseNathan Hornby

“Trying to start a tech company and still looking for the GENIUS tech co-founder” #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgRahil Bhansali

Killer “@bhaveshdhupar: we’re in double stealth mode – the public doesn’t know what we’re building and neither do we #startupmistake”Sameer Guglani

"We don’t have any competitors. We’re completely unique." #startupmistakeUoP Enterprise

All my product users will be using Google Chrome :) #startupmistake http://www.unpluggd.org/Vasanth Sampathkumar

Media coverage = Business validation #startupmistake http://UnPluggd.orgashish sinha

Buying designer furniture after seed funding #startupmistakeSanjay

Asking mentors to handle sales and marketing #startupmistakeSanjay

Max Speed VS. Control? #startupmistake http://UnPluggd.orgashish sinha

Planning a baby and a startup together in a tough financial situation #startupmistakeSanjay

Not talking to customers much earlier #startupmistakeSharat Potharaju

So true focus on your core and revenue "@beingpractical: Losing focus and getting distracted with the fund-raising process. #startupmistake"Mehul Mukati

Too many decision makers #startupmistakeRahul Sanghi

Go fast and end up nowhere #StartupmistakeSubodh Kolhe

Dont care about what the market is leading to #startupmistakeSubodh Kolhe

Go fast and end up nowhere #StartupmistakeSubodh Kolhe

When we spend money we don’t have – to provide services customer doesnt need – to compete with companies we dont like. #startupmistakeIshan Vyas

Asking developer to work without salary for 3 month..#startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgkunalkantsen

@kunalkantsen @cnha #startupmistake outsourcing or cutting cost on user experience and design.tneogi

#startupmistake thinking flipkart = website business http://Unpluggd.orgashish sinha

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither..#startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgkunalkantsen

#startupmistake http://yfrog.com/gzueiybjNaveen

#startupmistake- Forgetting that your Employees can be your biggest PR asset! And more.Arpita Phukan Biswas

when you ask about your startup to lot of people and thinking that your are right or wrong. #startupmistake Just do it.Semil Shah

Not have a fine for using jargons in discussions #startupmistakedivyaraghavan

#startupmistake not knowing when to pitch to VCs.Lalit Bhise

#startupmistake when the first paragraph in your project plan is about projected earnings!Johnny Mastana

Making a ppt before making the product #startupmistake http://www.unpluggd.orgPratyush

#startupmistake Starting up thinking of making an Apple.Chirag Jethmalani

Letting team miss deadlines, then becomes a habit hard to come back from. #startupmistakeAditya Prasad

Spending hours and hours on a simple problem and trying to deduce the solution all by myself #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSuneel Mohan

Analysis Paralysis on current market trends and M&A eating up so much of productive time in a day. #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSuneel Mohan

#startupmistake – Not talking to multiple VCs at the same time. No one is a friend or foe in this industry.Pratyush

Media coverage = Business validation #startupmistake http://UnPluggd.orgashish sinha

Having a Plan B #startupmistakeVikrant Bhushan

#startupmistake not able to manage even 10 employees(resources) and thinking to become APPLEAmit Kumar Mishra

Business plan is not that much important before launching a product. #startupmistake http://www.unpluggd.org/Vasanth Sampathkumar

#startupmistake making cloud SaaS services but not buying/using any(applies to everything).like making paid mobile apps but not buying any.Lalit Bhise

Having a swanky office space in $hit locality #startupmistakeNadir Hashmi

Not having a lead generation process right from day 1 #startupmistakeVikrant Bhushan

"Our product/service/idea is so good that it’s going to market itself with Word of Mouth." #startupmistakeUoP Enterprise

"Who is your target audience?""Everyone!"#startupmistake cc/ @UoPEnterpriseNathan Hornby

Quitting too late with one #Startupmistake reduces chances for another #StartupmistakeAdi

ignore user comments #startupmistakeAditya Prasad

Valuating startup before even acquiring that first customer and day dreaming about how I would be #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSuneel Mohan

#startupmistake paying peanuts and wants quality wrkAmit Kumar Mishra

Not applying gut feel and user feedback together #startupmistakeAditya Prasad

Not speaking up socially #startupmistakeAditya Prasad

Not following up with the current users registered and not taking feedback on features already present #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSuneel Mohan

Venturing into too many things with very few #startupmistakeAditya Prasad

Preparing rough notes on what to speak when FB or G comes to M&A with my company :P #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSuneel Mohan

Start working on something new with only 1 user feedback (B2C) #startupmistakeAditya Prasad

#startupmistake when the first paragraph in your project plan is about projected earnings!Johnny Mastana

Spending hours and hours on a simple problem and trying to deduce the solution all by myself #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSuneel Mohan

Making a ppt before making the product #startupmistake http://www.unpluggd.orgPratyush

forgetting what you came here to do in the first place and doing everything else #startupmistakedivyaraghavan

"Instagram/Twitter/PickUrs never worried about monetizing either…" #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSameer Shisodia

trying to do everything myself – fixing the bloody printer too #startupmistakeRishi Kar

I wish I didn’t waste time building that perfect UI and a few more features that delayed alpha launch #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSoumitra Paul

Thinking colleagues make trustworthy co-founders, after a few ‘after work’ cups of coffees #startupmistakeAneesh Khanna

#startupmistake: expecting the customer to "understand the situation". The only thing a customer understands is the promise you made to ‘em.Pranav Sapra

#startupmistake compromising the quality in hiringManish Garg

I AM the end user #startupmistake http://UnPluggd.orgashish sinha

#startupmistake Think you can do everythingdivyaraghavan

First get a NDA signed and then show the prototype to a VC. #startupmistake @pluggdinViren Bhandari

Too many ideas for too long #StartupmistakeAdi

Hunting for co-founder without focus on execution #StartupmistakeAdi

Waiting too long to make a ‘perfect’ solution,before talking to clients #startupmistake & not networking enough #startupmistake 2Runa Desai Dalal

Clients will know where to click. #startupmistake @pluggdinViren Bhandari

First put in all the features and then release the product. #startupmistake @pluggdinViren Bhandari

Sales guy is the CEO is the Prod Mgr #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgSameer Shisodia

We don’t need an intro video, our faq’s r more than enough and the clients will read them for sure. #startupmistake @pluggdinViren Bhandari

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence..Understanding this was#startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgkunalkantsen

#startupmistake > Kinky is using a feather. Perverted is using the whole chicken.Paul Dueman

Find a "hot" industry -> think up an idea in it -> startup is wrong #startupmistake Stumble upon problem, feel u MUST solve it is right.Sameer Shisodia

Democracy in decision making is the worst!!!#startupmistakedivyaraghavan

Outsourcing technology #startupmistakedivyaraghavan

#startupmistake "they have been doing this for 2 years, they know better.. why bother getting customer data and feedback"divyaraghavan

#StartupMistake Idea NarcissismSalil Punalekar

Not reading ERIC RIES, LEAN START UP #startupmistakemunima_coolbaby

Spending too much time building the product before getting customer feedback. #startupmistakeVijay Ramachandran

#startupmistake discounting the value of your product early on to woo in customers to fast. If you ate good, they will payVivek Lath

#startupmistake Trying to do all things by yourself and not employing staff at the right timeLiju Thomas

"Chasing moving targets" #startupmistake #unpluggdSampad Swain

#startupmistake Poor Investor Management You have to manage your investors.You shouldn’t ignore them, bcoz they may have useful insights.Themis

#startupmistake ignoring the small revenues that comes form unlikely places which might later add to the core idea of the businessLiju Thomas

#startupmistake Ignoring feedback from your well wishers about the mistakes you have doneLiju Thomas

Asking friends and families for feedback on product! #StartupMistake http://UnPluggd.orgashish sinha

delaying infrastructural decisions #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgashish sinha

#startupmistake Going for the looks !Rakesh Hari Das

“Underestimating a job and hiring anyone who could fog a mirror for that, instead of a specialist” #startupmistakesachin vashishtha

Thought of making money from the first day itself, slowed down the growth tremendously #startupmistakeJai Anand

Ignoring importance of meeting customers. #startupmistakeAkshay Hartalkar

we’re in double stealth mode – the public doesn’t know what we’re building and neither do we #startupmistakebhavesh

Assuming customer needs and adding features while not having the capability to execute all that in given time. #startupmistakeShashi Shekhar Singh

#StartupMistake : Underestimated the gestation period of a startup, from prototype to launch.Akshay Tyagi

Sticking with technology stack I knew and being hesitant to learn new stuff #startupmistake #bigoneperhapsShashi Shekhar Singh

Not taking backups #StartupMistake @Punch_a_TantraAnkita

Getting distracted with other ideas and losing focus from the core idea. #startupmistakeKulin Shah

#startupmistake ignoring new revenue streamsSir.Blogsworth

Emphasis on the planning and ignoring the execution. #startupmistakeeminemence

#StartupMistake helping other startups w/ business development while not focusing on fundraising for my own startup. Lost Genesco deal alsoQuintin Adamis

#StartupMistake Allowed cofounder to hire web designer I wouldve objected to. Months of agonizing over lazy App user w/ no coding knowledgeQuintin Adamis

Sticking with technology stack I knew and being hesitant to learn new stuff #startupmistake #bigoneperhapsShashi Shekhar Singh

Innovation, UI, PR all r important. But "Dhanda" (read revenue) is all that matters most. Realized this little late #StartupMistakeSagar Bedmutha

Trying to do more better things instead of doing one thing best #startupmistakeVijay Basrur

Not managing Financial, Legal, Corporate compliance from day 1 #startupmistakeAkshay Hartalkar

"We like your product idea & team. We *can* invest" #VCSaid And we thought they’ll really invest #StartupMistakeSagar Bedmutha

Losing focus and getting distracted with the fund-raising process. #startupmistakepj

"Did not take salary for many many months assuming it is my own business, the money is just in company pocket" #StartupMistakeSagar Bedmutha

took long time to finalize on collaboration tools/project management tools #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgashish sinha

Lack of communication within the team. #startupmistakeAkshay Hartalkar

Delay in taking corrective actions #startupmistakeAkshay Hartalkar

Trusting wrong people #startupmistakeAkshay Hartalkar

@cnha outsource the product development ;) #startupmistakeRabi Gupta

lack of focus on design/UX #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgashish sinha

Told my idea to a friend and then he started the business. #StartupmistakeIshan Vyas

Believe everything what #VCsaid #StartupmistakePratyush

We went with dumbass service companies to code our app. Always hire inhouse. #StartupmistakePratyush

took a long time to learn the good-cop-bad-cop phenomena in sales #startupmistake http://unpluggd.orgashish sinha

Raising too much funding too early to enable going back into comfort zone (of "development") #startupmistakeSameer Shisodia

have seen a lot of startups focusing on VC/funding even before the product is ready #startupmistakeashish sinha

Thought friends would make best employees in your startup #startupmistakePrateek Panda

We plan to do something similar (irrespective of whether its a contest or not) and have your insights – so please share some of the core issues where you want insights/experience from fellow entrepreneurs.

As far as winners are concerned, you all will be DMed by today late evening.

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WP8 to Bring Marketplace and App Hub to More Countries: Here’s the Asia List

Now that the world knows that Windows Phone 8 (WP8) will roll out later this year, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also keen [1] to let people know that its app store is expanding globally as well. An official Microsoft blog has just announced that its Marketplace is expanding three-fold to cover more than 180 nations by the time WP8 arrives.

In Asia, it’s good news for the likes of Indonesia and Cambodia, which will get the Marketplace – for downloading free and paid apps and games – for the first time. There’s an even bigger list (see below) of Asian countries where developers will now be granted access to the WP App Hub so that they can submit and sell their apps. Newcomers to the App Hub will include Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Here are the new additions in Asia to both the App Hub and the Marketplace. If a country isn’t mentioned at all, that’s because it already has either or both these services, such as the big WP launch and push into China earlier this year. Here are the newcomers:

• Newly-launched Marketplace in Asia, for local WP users to download apps:
  Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao SAR, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Outer Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan.

• Newly-launched App Hub in Asia, for local developers to submit apps:
  Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macao SAR, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Outer Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Microsoft has already been active in Indonesia, way ahead of its App Hub starting there, in order to encourage local developers. Earlier this year we attended a Windows 8 Bootcamp in Bandung where Indonesian app devs got a practical and technical intro to the mobile OS.

How are readers using Windows Phone enjoying it so far? Fire away in the comments!

[Source: Windows Team blog - which includes a full global listing]

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1. Microsoft is not so keen, however, on everyone realizing that none of its current WP7 phones will get the WP8 update when it arrives. That’s because the new version will be fundamentally different. This could cause a big fall in sales.  ↩

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KDDI’s Subsidiary Wire And Wireless To Offer Free WiFi At Starbucks, Starting From Tokyo

Wire and Wireless (wi2), a subsidiary of Japan’s second largest cellphone carrier KDDI, announced [J] its new free WiFi program at Starbucks Coffee chain-store in Japan.

Free WiFi at cafe? If you have ever tried to find free WiFi in Japan, you know this is a news.

The free WiFi program, “at_STARBUCKS_Wi2″, is sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Japan. What you need to provide is your mail address, when you use at registration. Although Wi2 is a KDDI company, there are no carrier restriction, which you might face at the many Japanese shops/restaurants where posting “free WiFi” stickers.

Wi2 offers English site and customer service besides Japanese, this seems reasonable as in Japan, visiting foreigners are the most likely people who need free WiFi.

They are to install the service since July 2, first from 200 stores in central Tokyo (out of 227), then by the end of this year, 850 of 955 shops nationwide will have it, according to the release. You will be able to search the free WiFi Starbucks here.

via ITMedia [J]

KDDI’s Subsidiary Wire And Wireless To Offer Free WiFi At Starbucks, Starting From Tokyo

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Windows Phone 7.8: Is it a big deal?

On June 20, consternation struck the crop of existing Windows Phone owners watching the Windows Phone Summit held in San Francisco: there would be no update to Windows Phone 8 for their phones.

All we’ll get is a bump up to Windows Phone 7.8. Microsoft hasn’t revealed entirely what this update will contain, and but all existing signs point to only the new Start Screen

But a 0.2 bump in version number with just one new feature? That doesn’t sound right.

Vendors who are less invested in the platform might not have much cause for concern. Companies like HTC and Samsung have always been more focused on their Android products.

Nokia, on the other hand, has gone all in with Windows Phone, and it absolutely has to do well on that front or it’s history.

But the Lumia phones have barely been pushed out of Nokia’s factory doors, and all of the sudden they’re legacy devices! That’s already left a bad taste in many people’s mouths, especially many a Nokia faithful who wholeheartedly bought into the company’s new smartphone strategy.

Tech-savvy consumers will understand that companies severing their existing hardware from the latest and greatest software isn’t new, and mostly inevitable. Apple has been systematically doing that to its iOS products year on year. Usually, they tell us the software needs new hardware to work.

It’s the same situation on the Windows Phone 8 front. The update will bring much-needed support for additional hardware – such as high-definition screens, chips with multiple cores, and NFC capability – and there’s no point bogging down existing handsets with unused lines of code, so hey, no Windows Phone 8 for you.

But what about software features, such as Internet Explorer 10 and SkyDrive integration? These aren’t dependent on new hardware, and I can’t think of any reason not to include them in 7.8.

Nokia is trying to make up for the shortfall by introducing some interesting apps which will be rolled out over the next few weeks, but the damage is done and people are upset. A Windows Phone fan group even started a petition asking for non-hardware dependent features to be included in in the 7.8 update.

Perhaps Microsoft and Nokia should have told everyone that Windows Phone 8 will be available for everyone less certain key features which require new hardware to work.

But that’s not really going to work either. Windows Phone 8 has a completely different core than Windows Phone 7, and apps written specifically for the former will not work on the latter.

I’m really hoping that there will be a lot more to WP7.8 than just the Start Screen, and the lack of news on what else is included could mean good news. Nokia especially cannot afford to alienate any more of its core user base, and the sooner Microsoft firms up the exact details of Windows Phone 7.8 the better.

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PPTV Tops Video Streaming in China With 34 Million Unique Daily Users?

Surprised? While most of us believe that Youku or Tudou is the top dog for video streaming in China, iResearch’s findings seem to suggest otherwise. iResearch tracked users — both on web and clients — across the major video streaming service companies for the month of May based on a 200,000 sample size.

The results suggest that PPTV came out on top for May with 34 million unique daily users. Youku and PPStream came in second and third, recording 33 and 32 million daily unique users respectively. Those numbers are pretty close…but I would certainly take these results with a grain of salt. Here’s why.

The statement explains that the boost in traffic is due to PPTV’s having the Euro 2012 soccer tournament streamed on its platform. But since the results come from tracking done in May, the tournament couldn’t explain the traffic spike experienced because Euro 2012 didn’t start until June. So the explanation given in the findings statement is seriously flawed. The soccer tournament began on June 8, but iResearch stated on its chart that the survey was done from May 28 to June 3.

We have reached out to PPTV and will update if we hear from them.

I do agree that PPTV is pretty popular and perhaps one of the iPad apps that I find myself frequently using. It has great content, thanks to the $250 million funding it received from Softbank last February.

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Uniphore partners with Nuance to offer voice biometrics to banks

IIT Madras incubated Uniphore has partnered with Nuance to offer voice biometrics to banks (currently running pilot projects), enabling banks to identify the accountholder within a fraction of a second as he/she speaks on the phone.

The system will identify/validate the accountholder and post validation, the application will process the entire transaction through the use of speech-based navigation. To perform a transaction, customers can simply call the system and authenticate their identity through Voice Biometrics. Then, using Speech Recognition, the system engages the user in an interactive conversation to process their requested transaction. The platform supports ISO 8583 for banking integrations, enables float and limit management, and runs on the a robust infrastructure in Tier-IV data center.

The Uniphore Mobile Voice Banking application is powered by Nuance Vocal Password, a service that verifies a speaker during an interaction with a voice application.  Nuance application is language and accent independent and can be easily deployed with existing IVR and VoiceXML platform.

Voice Biometrics

Voice biometrics typically work by recording one’s voice signature – i.e. a combination of frequency, pitch, tone and a private passphrase. Importantly, voice biometrics is also dependent on handsets being used (handsets have their own acoustic characteristics and speech transformations model) for recording signatures.

While it’s too early to say that deploying voice biometrics for banking transaction will be successful or not, countries like Philippines and Australia have embraced voice biometrics (over 1.5 million pensioners in Philippines use voice biometrics for accessing and transacting).

But given India’s varied accents, there surely is a bigger challenge to crack (even Google launched its voice based search in India and shut it down later).

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Why Cyfler might be a better option for your business than creating a Facebook Page

Businesses must be aware of a fundamental truth about many social networks: They are built for people, not brands.

Creating a business profile page on Facebook serves no purpose if you can’t attract people to it with a compelling social media strategy. And that requires a lot of resources and patience.

As such, B2B businesses that don’t interest consumers are better off looking elsewhere. Cyfler might be one destination.

In essence, Cyfler is a B2B social network based in Singapore that connects one company to another. It sets itself apart from Facebook and LinkedIn by being designed from the ground up to help B2B companies get customers.

Putting it another way, it’s a web billboard (think Craigslist, but more visual) with social network features tacked on.

You can create a profile page for your business which acts as a showroom for what the company does and the products and services you offer.

Cyfler also has an “Intelligent Discovery Engine” that links your company’s needs to others that can meet them. You’ll be able to see and bookmark businesses that can address an unmet need in your startup.

So if you’re a mobile development company looking specifically for a freelance web designer, or a photographer seeking assignments in the corporate world, Cyfler could be an effective tool.

The founder, Anton Widodo, highlighted a story of a construction company that found an architecture company in Vietnam, and sourced for overseas products using the social network.

“The person finds our algorithm of suggesting businesses from the same industry and deal room messaging feature useful,” he said.

Anton sees a lot of growth potential in Southeast Asian markets, and that region will be a key focus of Cyfler going forward.

Company profile

Launched: November 2011

Traction: 3,000 registrations, with 6,000 unique visitors in a month, and 33,790 pageviews. Traffic mostly from the United States, followed by Indonesia.

Funding history: Bootstrapping, currently looking for seed funding

Team: 

Anton Widodo (co-founder, marketing director): Comes from a marketing background in the consumer goods industry

Wilson Wang (co-founder): Background in IT in NUS

Cheryl Chong (creative director): Overseas layout, logo, infographics, and videos

Teddy Tanzil (developer): Experienced in managing Enterprise Resource Planning system for companies.

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Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani on his Company’s ‘Englishnization’ [Live blog]

At the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Rakuten (JSD:4755) CEO Hiroshi Mikitani gave a talk on the progress of his company’s ‘Englishnization’ program. Below are his comments, recorded as accurately as possible, but not quite verbatim.

#12:39: Usually I talk about the internet, but today I’d like to talk about our ‘englishnization’ program.

#12:44: From day our our vision was to become a number one global internet company. But as we moved on I felt we were missing something. We had to use translators to talk to employees for our foreign subsidiaries. And then I had an ah-ha moment that we everyone could speak English. But some thought it was too difficult, to hard to enforce. But one thing that pushed me to move forward, was our experience with our foeign employees in Japan. We hired foreign, Chinese or Indian employees, and they learned Japanese in three to six months sometimes, becoming very fluent. I thought, why can’t Japanese people do this. And I thought if we could communicate in English for a substantial amount of time then we could do it.

#12:48: The objective of the program is how to ensure our best practices can go worldwide, and how to bring our benchmarks world wide. [...] Would would also like to hire global talents. 30 percent of our fresh graduate hires are foreign employees. Some from Japanese universities, some from overseas universities. [...]

#12:53: Up until the middle of last year, we were pretty confident about this. Harvard Business School ran a case study about this, and the discussion was very hot — some students got emotional about it. So many employees are struggling, and are stresses. So felt we needed to help them. We provided classes, part of their official assignment — not for after work.

#12:54: In my ‘Englishnization’ book I wrote about the challenges we faced. It was not easy for me, not easy for my employees. They have worked very hard and overcome many challenges. I’m hoping this is the beginning of a trend. I’m going to donate the income of my book to Tohoku people, and I hope this book will be of some help to open up the eyes of Japanese business community and Japanese society.

#13:00: I’m surprised that many Japanese bureacrats are reluctant to speak English. [...] I would encourage people to not be afraid to speak in front of others regardless of their English level.

#13:04: (On Chinese language) I’m learning Chinese, I’m struggling the tones are difficult. I think Chinese and English are fundamentally different. Chinese people are learning English too, their level is much higher than the [average] Japanese people. If Chinese later becomes the standard for English, then of course, we will need to switch.

#13:06: Before this project we had to select employees who could travel overseas. But we don’t need to do that anymore.

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