Supporting J-Startups
We had a privilege to work with J-startup companies to prepare them for SXSW. J-Startup is an initiative by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan, selecting Japanese startups which have the high potential to scale globally. JETRO, a Japanese trade organization under METI, sets up exhibition spaces for J-Startups and support their efforts to expand business in the US. Our program this time, in collaboration with Klaus Wehage at 10x Innovation Lab, is designed to help J-Startup companies to be ready to pitch their products and services to the attendees at SXSW and cultivate relationships which will lead their business expansion to the US.
Exhibition Booth Strategies
For international founders, interacting with people at fast-paced exhibition spaces at large conferences can be challenging. They need to 1) be able to precisely describe their business and its value, 2) be engaging, 3) be able to qualify the leads, people you are talking to at the booth, quickly. For them to do so, they need to prepare their short statement of their businesses, easy to understand marketing materials, practice the engaging conversation and know what type of questions they need to ask to qualify people who come to the booth.
Our program this time was in 3 parts and 2.5 months in length. 1) Bootcamp in Japan focusing on communication strategies and marketing materials, 2) Online individual coaching on the topics covered in 1), and 3) Exhibition booth and pitch event support on-site. We were there with the founders all day every day observing their booths, giving them feedback, helping them with the conversations with the visitors. We moderated the pitch event featuring the participating J-Startups at Japan Island as well.
One thing we focused on during the program is to identify each company’s current challenges and help them set the goals for SXSW. Some companies are looking for customers in the US, other companies are looking for feedback to iterate their product and services for US market expansion. Depending on the goals they have, their strategies at the booth should be different and continuously being conscious about their own goals help founders tremendously to stay focused during the very busy days at SXSW.
We are very happy to see participating companies gained customer leads and quality feedback from the attendees at SXSW. Please take a look at our compilation video below to see how fantastic J-Startup companies are!