Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo
Featured Member - Jeff Char

Interview - June 2004

Profile
Jeff Char is the president of J-Seed Ventures Inc., a Tokyo-based venture incubator. Jeff also serves on the boards of directors of Sozon (www.sozon.com), an online marketing venture, Robert Leonard Consulting (www.robertleonard.jp), an executive recruiting firm, Bell Circuits (www.bellcircuits.com), an electronics components company, and Seer Insight Security Corporation (www.seerinsight.co.jp), a network security venture. Jeff co-founded SSK Technology, Inc., a printed circuit board company he sold to Suzuki Manufacturing and Pario Software, a network security software company he sold to Lucent Technologies Inc. Jeff's experience with start-up companies also includes earlier careers as a corporate attorney and an investment banker. Jeff has a B.S. in Economics from Sophia University in Tokyo and a JD from Boalt Hall School of Law (University of California, Berkeley).

Services
J-Seed Ventures, Inc. is a Tokyo-based venture incubator. The company's main business lines consist of incubation, management and IT consulting, outsourced staffing and systems integration.

Interview with Jeff:
1. When did you start your first business? What was it? What lessons did you take away from that experience?
I started Pario Software, a network security software venture in January 1997 in Silicon Valley. I was fortunate to have 3 great partners and we all worked hard to build Pario Software into the leader in its field.   In the beginning, I focused too much on our technology and didn't realize that the thing that really made us successful was our team, especially my 3 partners. Sounds like a cliche´, but this is probably the most important lesson that I learned.

2. What are some of the challenges you have faced in starting your business and how did you overcome them?
J-Seed is my 4th venture and by far the most challenging to date. I started my first 3 ventures in the US and many things seemed to get progressively easier.   However, starting up in Japan was much more difficult than I expected. Much of the infrastructure (and mindset) that supports start ups in the US, especially Silicon Valley, is simply not readily available in Japan.   Finding and attracting talented people with initiative is undoubtedly the single hardest challenge at J-Seed. I've been lucky so far and managed to find great partners like Tomoko Yoneyama, Carl Kay, Joanna Pysden and Amir Ayalon. The way I deal with this challenge is by getting out and meeting as many people as possible and always being on the look out for talented individuals who have a lot of initiative. However, this is a challenge that I don't think we will ever “overcome.”  

3. How did you form your business? (Yugen Kaisha, Kabushiki   Kaisha, etc.) How long did the start-up process take?
I've spent much of my career helping other people set up their businesses so it was relatively easy for me to incorporate J-Seed as a kabushiki kaisha in 2000. I believe it took us a little less than 1 month.

4. Where do you see your business in 5 years?
I hate making predictions. Things rarely turn out the way I expect them to.   All I can say is that I am very optimistic about the prospects for the ventures that we are working with, and therefore, I am optimistic about our prospects at J-Seed.

5. Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Why?
Yes, I'm definitely an entrepreneur. I start, manage and assume the risk for a number of business ventures. I love starting new ventures as well as helping others to do so. I don't think I could ever go back to investment banking or practicing law full time.

6. What is your definition of an entrepreneur?
To me an entrepreneur is someone who is not satisfied with the status quo and takes the initiative to do something about it.

7. What piece of advice would you give to a person wanting to start his or her own business in Japan?
It's all about people.   Make sure that the deck is stacked in your favor by surrounding yourself with a team of trusted and talented individuals with lots of initiative.

8. Can you recommend any resources such as books, websites, or support centers for entrepreneurs in Japan?
I think the EA-Tokyo website already provides a lot of useful links and resources. I typically use Google ( http://www.google.co.jp/ ) to start researching any topics that I am working on. Two other sites that are worth looking at are:
http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/starting_business/index.php
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/

9. Who are your mentors in business?
Jim Clark, the found of Silicon Graphics, Netscape and a number of other successful ventures is someone I respect highly. I've also learned a lot from the people I've worked with in the past like Katsuzo and Mariko Suzuki and Greg Sudderth. They all have styles and talents that are very different from mine so that's probably why I've learned so much from them. I guess I try to learn whatever I can from everyone I meet.

10. What makes you happy?
That's an easy one; working with talented people to start new ventures.