Japan’s Business Card Giant Explains Why Business Cards Are Disappearing

If you've ever done business in Japan, someone probably walked you through the intricacies of Japanese business card culture. Chika Terada, the founder of Sansan, created one of Japan's most successful startups around the business card protocol. And even though Sansan has been expanding quickly and is on track for an IPO, Chika thinks that Japanese business card culture will soon disappear. Chika and I talk about the challenges of rapidly scaling a company, and how the IPO market in Japan will change in the next few years. We also talk about what Chika learned as his company expanded into other markets and how even B2B business is really a complex mix of business and culture. It's an interesting conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why business cards are not data, but an event marker Why Sansan wants to replace business cards How to save the corporate culture when you are committed to things that don't scale How stock options should be (and are) used at Japanese startups Why marketing is so hard to disrupt in Japan How Japan's business card culture extends overseas How big company attitudes towards startups re changing in Japan How to teach innovation in Japan