Ventures and Large Corporations, the Future of Technology: TomyK Interview with Tomihisa Kamata, Part 2

Continuing from last time, we speak again with Tomihisa Kamata of TomyK Ltd. We hear fascinating insights on what tech ventures need to succeed and how media and devices are transforming through technological innovation.

To scale, a bridge between startups and large corporations is essential

Nakajima: TomyK currently has about 10 startup partners. What areas are you interested in supporting going forward?

Kamata: After about two years of operation, we're exploring how to scale this up. Since there are limits to what one person can do, we're also considering forming a team to advance this systematically. Areas we find interesting but haven't yet engaged with include energy, environment, and healthcare/medical fields, which require long-term support. We're very interested, but these are challenging areas if not handled properly. We're also interested in AI-related fields, but these are areas that need to be combined with something else. We also believe agriculture will see significant innovation in the future.

Regardless of the field, the ideal scenario is for large corporations to take an interest in startups, leading to collaborations or M&A, so that more people can use our startup products. Dentsu Inc., as an advertiser, has connections with large corporations and, as an advertising outlet, also connects with end-users. I hope they can serve as a bridge in various aspects.

Nakajima: We've been actively pursuing initiatives to bridge startups for the past year or two, and we're finally starting to see concrete examples emerge. We began with the understanding that open innovation is something you have to try to truly grasp, and we've learned that the most important thing is to adopt technology by actually using it. We're seeing more of this kind of movement within Dentsu Inc. itself.

Our team is also greatly inspired by the technology and capabilities of startups, and we want to work together starting from the point of expanding that technology. As collaboration with startups will definitely increase going forward, I believe it's crucial to engage with them from an early stage. While Dentsu Inc. has traditionally assisted through advertising placements and promotional strategies, service trends shift rapidly. Consequently, we increasingly find ourselves partnering from the initial stages, supporting them through their growth phases.

It's not just about impactful technology; the team's vision is key.

Nakajima: Changing the subject, I feel like the ventures Mr. Kamada supports often have members you just want to root for.

Kamada: I have two key points when making angel investments: one is the technology itself, and the other is the team and the people. Regarding technology, as mentioned earlier, I look at whether it has the potential to create social impact. I assess whether, based on the current stage and its extension, it's conceivable that people and large corporations will increasingly adopt it as costs decrease and performance improves.

Regarding the team and the people, since it takes time to commercialize the technology, it's crucial whether they are the kind of people who can persevere without giving up. Before investing, I always ask, "How do you envision the most successful future?" If that founder answers with a business worth around 1 billion yen, that's the best they can achieve. If someone has a big goal and can paint a picture of the product being used and its future vision, even if it might not turn out exactly that way, I feel like taking a chance on them.

Nakajima: Given the impact of technology, without a grand vision, it simply doesn't fit the larger context of creating a new industry.

Kamata: Exactly. Since I invest at the founding stage, there's no business plan yet—it's all about potential. That makes the scale of that potential and the height of the founder's vision critical. Reflecting on my own experience, reality never surpasses what I initially imagined, so I'm interested in how they think about that. That said, I'm still far from the success I envisioned back then myself (laughs).

Nakajima: You mentioned earlier that you've had various failures.

Kamata: I made mistakes when I lacked experience in hiring people. As the team grew, I wanted someone who could properly manage the organization, so I hired someone with experience at a large corporation. I felt uneasy about their management style, but they said, "This is standard practice at big companies," and I realized our standards differed. Ultimately, considering our compatibility, I reluctantly had to let them go. It's tough to let people go, but fundamentally, I lacked discernment at first. I repeated this process several times to develop my eye for talent.

Regarding products, I often made mistakes by getting the timing wrong. We tried things like internet TV 20 years ago, but it was too early and a major failure.

Nakajima: Of course, there are cases where productization succeeded. Did you succeed by simply throwing a lot of ideas at it, or did you believe in the potential and push forward?

Kamata: You won't get hits unless you step up to the plate a lot, so getting at-bats is crucial. Also, you can't hit a home run without the power, and you can't aim for one either. Various environments, factors, and timing are important, and you need to build the power to hit when those chances come.

On the other hand, if you have the power and persevere, the moment for success will inevitably come. So, I think it's crucial not to give up, even if you step up to the plate many times and strike out. For services or apps, raising funds at the right moment and going all out is a valid business approach. However, for tech ventures, I believe it's vital to thoroughly master the core technology and be able to envision that "moment" when it will come.

How will media evolve as touchpoints with devices and humans diversify?

Nakajima: Mr. Kamata, you have deep involvement with the i-mode browser and Dentsu Inc., and you've worked on interfaces like the channel selection screen for terrestrial digital TV. You've long observed media platforms. From that perspective, how do you see the future of media and advertising marketing?

Kamata: That's an area I'm personally very interested in. From a media perspective, it boils down to what constitutes the point of contact with people. Television became a massive point of contact, a powerful platform for disseminating information and advertising. Now, new points of contact between people and information are emerging one after another, like smartphones and wearable devices. I believe we're heading toward a world where these points of contact will continue to increase, becoming more dispersed and diverse.

Particularly as IoT (Internet of Things) devices proliferate, the challenge lies in how to leverage them as media. As methods of delivering information diversify beyond just displays and sound, this presents a significant opportunity and holds the potential to be a game-changer.

As mentioned earlier, it's still unclear which of these diversifying devices will survive and become mainstream. Perhaps we'll see the practical application of technologies that bypass traditional media or devices altogether, instead communicating directly with human memory, the brain, or the senses. I sense we're at the very beginning of such a shift.

Nakajima: While device and media diversification progresses, some argue that television remains more efficient if you require a certain scale for marketing. What are your thoughts on that point?

Kamata: Television is remarkably efficient, and I believe it's quite difficult for any other medium to surpass it. However, I feel that the number of products desired by everyone watching television is decreasing, and it's shifting towards a collection of niche needs. For example, if there's a product desired by around 1,000 people, the question becomes how to find those 1,000 people and deliver information to them, and what kind of device would be most effective for that.

Nakajima: The design approach will likely change depending on the scale—whether it's 1,000 people, 10,000, 100,000, or 10 million.

Kamata: There's a sense that such a world is coming soon, so I think media companies will also start exploring by testing the technologies of leading new ventures.

Nakajima: We're watching with anticipation as TV stations and media companies start investing in new ventures through their corporate funds. At Dentsu Inc., we also want to collaborate more to build marketing communication services that leverage such technologies.

The key to success lies in business-savvy talent who can support technology groups from a management perspective

Nakajima: Your activities, Mr. Kamata, are mainly centered in Tokyo and Japan. Do you not plan to expand into Asia or the U.S. West Coast?

Kamata: We only invest in Japan, but we want the companies we invest in to succeed globally. They don't necessarily have to be Japanese ventures.

Nakajima: How many companies do you plan to support in 2015?

Kamata: Rather than focusing on a specific number this year, our challenge is how to scale up our support and nurturing of technology ventures going forward. We want to make concrete progress on this. Ensuring the success of the companies we support is also crucial. We also hope that their success will inspire people to nurture the next generation of ventures.

Nakajima: I imagine most readers of this article lean more towards marketing than engineering. Could you share a final message?

Kamata: For a venture founded by a group of engineers to become sophisticated, it is important to have people who understand business join the team. For example, James Dyson, the founder of Dyson, is strictly the founder and chief engineer, and he has achieved success by entrusting the management to people he brought in who understand business.

It would be great if more people from the business side would join the technology team with the attitude of "I'm going to make this big." Looking at Google, for example, with people like Eric Schmidt, I think successful tech ventures always have business and management specialists, so I would be happy if you could take an interest in the startup industry from that perspective.