Jason Reacts To Japanese Founder Pitches + Fireside Chat With Yuki Shirato

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Today’s show:

AssetHub built an AI agent that recreates licensed characters in 3D while respecting copyright rules... But Jason says he needs to think BIGGER. 11 founders pitched their companies to Jason and Yuki Shirato of Techstars Tokyo at our Osaka event this week, and neither investor held back.

Find out why Jason says Seekr feels more like a vitamin than a painkiller, and needs to ditch the press mentions from their deck. Plus, a vital lesson for founders: if everyone already knows about the problem you're solving, investors expect a tight solution and business plan. Truly novel business ideas get more leeway. Japan's startup community is booming, with many recent grads bailing on lifelong gigs at major corporations to start companies. But here's why Yuki says the fear of failure is still holding back progress.

Guests:

Yuki Shirato on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yuki-shirato

Techstars Tokyo: techstars.com/accelerators/tokyo

Founder Pitches:

Seekr: seekrai.global/product

Arabat: arabat.it

AssetHub: assethub.io

CRAZIA: crazia.co

JuJuJuu: jujujuu.com

JAPANMEDIA: lp.japanmedia.ai

Tsuin AI: tsuin.ai

Rumi Light: rumilight.jp

GENCHI: toraru.me/en

TattvaSilicon: tattvasilicon.com

Mimi AI: nihongo-chat-ruby.vercel.app/onboarding

Relevant Links:

Founder University Japan, Jason's pre-accelerator program with JETRO → japan.founder.university

Techstars Tokyo announces its Class of 2026 → techstars.com/newsroom/techstars-tokyo-acceler…

Yuki Shirato on why Japan should be on every founder's radar (Techstars) → techstars.com/blog/insights-and-trends/should-…

How Techstars Tokyo is helping make Japan a global startup hub (The Japan Times) → japantimes.co.jp/2025/12/25/special-supplement…

VidiLabs, maker of the Seekr indoor positioning platform → seekrai.global

Density, the people-counting sensor company Jason has backed for a decade → density.io

Arabat, recovering critical minerals from batteries with citrus and farm waste → arabat.it

AssetHub raises a $2M seed for its AI 3D platform (The Bridge) → thebridge.jp/en/2025/08/aix3d-production-platf…

Seedance 2.0, the ByteDance AI video model Jason says fans are using to make Marvel shorts → seed.bytedance.com/en/blog/seedance-2-0-offici…

Bending Spoons, the company Jason cites for buying apps and running them with tiny AI-powered teams (TechCrunch) → techcrunch.com/2025/10/31/what-is-bending-spoo…

Burning Chrome by William Gibson, the source of “the street finds its own uses for things” → amazon.com/dp/B00ICMWZH4

Timestamps:

Jason's first trip to Japan and the food crawl

Why everyone in Japan acts like a founder

Founder University comes to Japan

Techstars Tokyo and Japan's push for global founders

Why Japanese startups stay on the island

Parents, lifetime jobs, and the fear of failure

How Japan mastered product market fit

Lightfield: Name one person who's ever enjoyed updating a CRM. Exactly. Lightfield's AI agent does it for you - it even prospects and books your meetings. Used by thousands of startups. Free at lightfield.app

The white lab coat and the man who named his daughter Cinnamon

Seekr: centimeter-precise indoor navigation

Why investors want the business case, not the press

Rippling: Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business.

Arabat: recovering rare earths with orange peels

Getting from free pilots to paid pilots

Upwork: Upwork helps businesses find highly skilled freelance professionals for specialized work. Post your job for free at upwork.com

AssetHub: AI 3D models for anime and game IP

Come for the tool, stay for the marketplace

CRAZIA: turning customer conversations into growth

JuJuJuu: giving alternative protein the structure of steak

JAPANMEDIA: AI manga and anime at a fifth of the cost

Tsuin AI: AI twins that think and act like you

Picking the layup and the wild card

Rumi Light: faster data paths inside AI servers

GENCHI: a local avatar that shops Japan for you