There’s something bubbling in Kobe... and it’s not just the waters of the Arima hot springs. In partnership with the government of Kobe, Japan, 500 Startups is launching a new pre-accelerator that will be coming to the city this summer. The pre-accelerator is a 6 week program which will focus on bringing entrepreneurial advice, growth hacking techniques and members of 500’s team to emerging companies while boosting Japanese and international entrepreneurial presence in Kobe.
This opportunity is open to both Japanese startups as well as startups from all around the world.
You’ll get access to mentors from 500 Startups global team and partners. Mentors will be available for 1:1 meetings and can share wisdom from the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial experience.
Lectures from members of the 500 team and notable guests in marketing, monetization, product design and more.
Work with your team as part of a carefully selected community of awesome startups!
To further economic development in Kobe, the city has been actively engaged in programs to support the proliferation and growth of startups capable of driving social innovation.
Kobe has partnered with 500 Startups on the pre-accelerator to help bring a flow of young companies from Japan and all over the world to Kobe and to strengthen its reputation as a great incubator for entrepreneurs.
Zafer founded The Online Project & Modern Media. Endeavor Entrepreneur. Oasis500, Astrolabs, and Flat6Labs Mentor.
Soaib leads the 500Design program in India. He’s been a founder, designer & investor in the both the US & Indian startup ecosystem for the last 5 years. At the Kobe program he’ll be helping companies understand how to leverage design to succeed – making better products and memorable experiences for their users.
Meghan ran accelerator operations in San Francisco accelerator for 2 years prior to joining the Business Development Team. She’s looking forward to joining everyone in Kobe and facilitating a successful pre-accelerator program.
Andrea is an entrepreneur (step-founder @inDinero), sales nerd and pitch coach (@SlideChef.io).
Nemo helps startups grow profits—fast. Previously, he led marketing at Bloomfire (acquired 20 months after launch) and then, at KISSmetrics, while building a 7-figure eCommerce side business from scratch in 1 year.
Started an ad tech company called LaunchBit (accelerator Batch 2 at 500) that was Acquired in 2014. Now Elizabeth runs the Mountain View Accelerator.
When he’s not helping 500 companies grow through sales & marketing automation, he’s probably eating a delicious meal or telling a bad joke.
Marvin works with awesome startups across the globe and at the SF accelerator program. He’s a recovering executive from Yahoo! and is very happy to be part of the revolution.
James co-founded the “Medium.com of Japan” before covering venture investments for DeNA, based in Tokyo. He now heads the 500 Startups Japan fund.
Mat helps startups through customer acquisition, metrics and testing, and previously worked at General Assembly, Charles River Ventures, Grockit and Socrata.
Neil oversees all investments at 500 StartUps and manages a portfolio of over 1,300 companies. Prior to 500 Startups, he represented companies as large as King.com (creator of Candy Crush) to investors in Silicon Valley like a16z and Accel. At the Kobe Pre-Accelerator, he looks forward to providing insight on how to do deals the Silicon Valley way, and how to bring its best practices into deals you do in Japan.
His marketing friends call him Tommie Traffic because he uses his SuperPowers to help companies build their brand and grow their audience with paid advertising online. When he’s not pouring over data and driving tons of traffic on the interwebs, he’s probably somewhere hanging out with his family. He’s also a former NASA Space Grant recipient and sports fanatic, particularly of Football (American).
Just a nuclear engineer turned hacker turned banker turned researcher turned venture capitalist. Yohei sources deals and wins hackathons over at 500 Japan.
Dave uses his uncanny ability to function without sleep and frequent flyer miles to uncover geeks around the world. His ominous past includes work at Founders Fund, Facebook fbFund, PayPal, Mint.com, & Simply Hired.Dave’s ominous past includes work at Founders Fund, Facebook fbFund, PayPal, Mint.com, & Simply Hired.
The Kobe Pre-Accelerator is not an investment program. While we aim to prepare all of the batch companies to be credible and appealing to investors, we neither provide investment nor promise it as an outcome of the program.
Application are now open to Japanese and international startups in the seed stage. Funding is not provided, so companies must be able to procure outside funds. Having a working product and necessary team members already is recommended.
The application is available in English and Japanese. Instruction will be in English with a Japanese translator for all sessions.
The deadline to apply is July 1, 2016.
Due to the high volume of inquiries we receive, we are unable to respond individually at this time.
Please submit your application and we will be in touch.
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