Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo
Featured Member - Steve Brown
Interview - May 2006
 Steve Brown - Zergsoft
President & Founder
1. When did you start your first business? What was it? What lessons did you take away from that experience?
I was about 10. My father owned several ice cream trucks and I used to buy boxes of popsicles and bring them to school and sell them. I always sold out before school started so it was in many ways a successful business. From this experience I learned that it is really possible to work for yourself. It may sound trite, but knowing this and actually experiencing it are very different.
2. What are some of the challenges you have faced in starting your business and how did you overcome them?
Two of the largest were language, and customers that didn't want to risk doing large projects with a relatively new, small, untested company - especially in a city as conservative as Nagoya.
For language, studying and finding bilingual staff certainly helps, but it is definitely a disadvantage if you have to hire a translator for each employee. We have been able to turn this to our advantage by finding niches where our specific skills (language and software) are required.
For the trust issue it has just been a matter of always going the extra mile for the customer. In the long run, this is far cheaper and more effective than spending the same resources on advertising.
3. How did you form your business? (Yugen Kaisha, Kabushiki Kaisha, etc.) How long did the start-up process take?
I started as Ao Iro Shinkoku (sole proprietorship) and then changed to Yugen Kaisha. Our accountant recommended someone to do it for us. I think I paid around 300,000 yen and they handled it.
4. Where do you see your business in 5 years?
We will be larger and branching into some other areas of work, but for the most part we will still be developing the best software on the planet.
5. Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Why?
Definitely. I am always looking for new needs to be met and ways that we can meet them.
6. What is your definition of an entrepreneur?
Someone who finds a need and tries to meet it.
7. What piece of advice would you give to a person wanting to start his or her own business in Japan?
Two things.
First, Japan is a great place to start a business. It has been easier for me to start a business here than it was in the US. Particularly as a foreigner in Japan there is a wealth of products and ideas that can brought from abroad or exported from Japan.
Second, in the words of Winston Churchill, "never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense"
8. Can you recommend any resources such as books, websites, or support centers for entrepreneurs in Japan?
EA Tokyo and the ACCJ have been very helpful. Some books that have been useful are:
Communicate or Die (SelectBooks, Thomas Zweifel):
Monday Morning Leadership (CornerStone, David Cottrell):
The One Minute Manager (HarperCollins, Ken Blanchard, Spencer Johnson) :
First Things First (Franklin Covey Co, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill):
Built to Last (Collins, Jim Collins, Jerry Porras)
9. Who are your mentors in business?
I have a lot of role models, but two people in particular are Robert Roche and Mike Alfant.
10. What makes you happy?
Other than building software, I like working on philanthropic causes, sports and spending time with my family.
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