Post 4. GROWTH NEXT

View our behind-the-scenes Vlog 1.1

Terminal 2, internal internal flights… Ok, that’s the stop we almost missed yesterday. Three suitcases, three laptops, two cups of Starbucks coffee, a few slow blinks and a hat. I still have no idea where the hat came from. But we had all what we needed.

I checked the left pocket of my jacket for business cards. I was running dangerously low on mine, but my right pocket was swelling with those of the people I met. The Japanese pay special attention to the protocol when exchanging business cards. We were actually trained quite a bit on this interaction well before heading out for the first presentation.

David exchanging Business cards with one of the participants on the Growth Next event in Fukuoka.

We were returning from Fukuoka, a rapidly growing city, which is fast-evolving into the Silicon Valley of Japan and driven by the youngest ever mayor, Soichiro Takashima. The evening before our departure, we had the unique opportunity to present at the Growth Next Event, co-organized by the Fukuoka Engineer Lab. You can check out some video clips from the event on our official imusify YouTube Channel.

The entrance to the Growth Next Startup Hub

The smaller crowd and venue gave the event a more personal vibe. We could interact with about 150 participants after the presentation, and many of them had some pointed questions. “Will you also allow for downloads”, asked one of them. “We will”, I replied. “Doesn’t this devalue your streaming model”, he continued. “It may seem so, but downloads are actually good for us”, I said. “Yes”, said Marc; “ if you download a song you store it, and by storing it, you are inevitably sharing it with others on our network”, he continued. “This helps our Crowd Cloud to function”.

3,2,1, It’s ramen time!

I zoned out for a second. My eyes closed. The train stopped again. I looked up, at the green display. It’s our stop — Gotanda. David, Marc and I jumped of the train. Three suitcases, three laptops, two empty cups of Starbucks coffee… Damn, I forgot the hat.

…TO BE CONTINUED…