[No. 235] Tatsuro Shimada

I am truly honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the "Jukuin Raio" of the Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology. I hope that my experiences will provide some hints for the careers and learning of the students who will lead the future, as well as those aiming to enter Keio University.

I have built my career as an entrepreneur and software engineer. My learning at Keio University served as a solid foundation for that. In particular, the ability to logically analyze complex problems and derive solutions was indispensable in my subsequent path as an entrepreneur and my career as a technician.

I always keep my antenna up for the latest technological trends and feel the importance of learning by doing. I am convinced that this spirit of inquiry and practical learning attitude were cultivated through my experiences at Keio University. As mentioned in the contributions of other Keio University alumni, intellectual curiosity and the experience of taking action on one's own at university often become an important cornerstone of one's subsequent career.

Like many of my classmates, I had the option of joining a large company as a new graduate, but I founded Connehito Inc. while still a student at Keio University. One of the main reasons was that I felt I could grow more because I could work with a sense of ownership.

Of course, it was not an easy road. As a founder, I was unpaid for two years, and I repeatedly created and scrapped services. Fortunately, "mamari," a service for families, took off as a business, and I experienced an M&A four years after founding the company. After that, I continued to be involved in business development as a director of a KDDI subsidiary, and in total, I devoted about eight years to the growth of the business.

After the M&A, while continuing to serve as a director at Connehito Inc., I returned to the Doctoral Programs as a working student and obtained my Ph.D. (Engineering) in 2018 while working.

At that time, conducting research using data from the field was a very good experience. I was also able to realize the reality that the field often lacks a research perspective, and researchers often do not have actually meaningful data.

Although it was research activity while working, I feel that the perspective unique to a startup, where I oversaw the technology field and could move flexibly, and the perspective as a researcher were able to have a positive mutual influence. Through such activities, I was able to contribute to a journal called Digital Practice and present my results at international conferences.

After that, since I was able to take the No. 1 spot in a specific field in Japan, I wanted to aim for the world next, so I traveled around the world to decide on the theme for my next challenge.

I was surprised when the person who guided me through the slums of Kenya asked, "Do you know the manga Parasyte?" and I felt the potential of Japanese culture firsthand. I gained a strong conviction that "this is the only area where I can compete as a Japanese person," and decided to create a business for the world based on Japan's proud culture, such as anime and manga.

It was a tough itinerary, visiting about 40 countries and 60 cities within a year (I lost 3kg through the trip), but it was a very fulfilling period.

After returning to Japan, I started my second business in the Virtual Character IP business. Then, in 2022, I experienced a valuable second exit by selling it to Sony.

Currently, I have founded AnotherBall Pte. Ltd. as my third startup and serve as the Chief Technology Officer.

I am putting particular effort into the development of "Avvy," an app that allows anyone to become a VTuber in one minute. This app is already being used worldwide, and the trial version gained 200,000 users in just 10 days without any promotion, creating 30,000 pieces of UGC (User Generated Content) on TikTok and X, receiving a great response.

Unchanged from the first company I founded during my student days, I am working on the business straightforwardly, enjoying new challenges every day and utilizing my past experiences to aim for success on a larger scale than the first and second times.

Your time at Keio University is a precious period that shapes your future. Not only your studies, but also club activities, interactions with friends, and sometimes looking abroad—all these experiences will become your assets.

Search for where your interests and passions lie and dig deep into them. And encounter something that you personally feel is "worth spending the time of your life on," and take on new challenges without fear. Due to technological evolution, led by AI, the world situation is changing at an accelerating pace. Rather than fearing change, enjoying change and continuing to evolve will be important elements in the future, no matter what path you take.

I sincerely support your brilliant future.

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