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Stanford Seminar: Changing the World through Innovative Advising and Investing

1,362 views · Published 9 May 2017 · 1:15:42 · Indexed 16 October 2026

Channel: Stanford Online · 2017 · Education

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EE402T: Entrepreneurship in Asian High Tech Industries 
Entrepreneurship in the Boardroom: Changing the World through Innovative Advising and Investing
Speaker:  Ray Hatoyama, Sozo Ventures

Large Japanese firms have been increasing the number of outside board directors in recent years, but the expectation often appears to be that the outside directors would just come to the board meeting, sit quietly, and then go home.   Our seminar this week discusses the rise of activist outside directors in Japan as a type of entrepreneurship dedicated to “changing the world.”   We also explore the importance of the emergence of advisors and mentors for startup companies from the investment community, their impact on the quality of how entrepreneurs build their business in Japan or the U.S., and the roles of mentors in helping startups seek international business ties at earlier stages of development.

About the Speaker:
Mr. Ray Hatoyama is formerly a managing director at Sanrio, where he oversaw the development of the Hello Kitty brand in some 130 countries, thereby contributing to an increase in the market cap of the company from $500 million to $3.5 billion in the seven years after he joined the company in 2008.  Ray currently serves as an independent director for publicly listed companies such as LINE Corp. (the largest SNS in Japan), Pigeon Corp. (a leading childcare and nursing products company), and Transcosmos Inc. (a leading provider for Business Process Outsourcing).  He has served on the board of DeNA Co., Ltd.   In addition, Ray is a Venture Partner with Sozo Ventures, a VC fund that focuses on assisting early-stage US-based technology startups in global expansion.  Ray has also his own consulting firm, Hatoyama Studio Corp. which helps develop global strategies for small and large companies.

To learn more about the Entrepreneurship in Asian High-Tech Industries seminar course, visit http://asia.stanford.edu/?page_id=7818

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