Event report from the global conference "CREATE" hosted by Keisuke Honda's "X&KSK"

Strengthening support for startups

In his opening remarks at the beginning of the conference, Shibuya Ward Mayor Ken Hasebe stated, "We will focus on supporting startups based in Shibuya.

We will do this for both domestic and foreign businesses, and will be proactive in issuing visas, providing housing, and issuing visas to investors."

What would you do if you were 25 years old now?

In the first session, Keisuke Honda, General Partner at X&KSK, the organizers of the conference, and Susumu Fujita, CEO of CyberAgent, held a session on the theme, "What would you do if you were 25 years old now?"

Honda, a former Japanese national soccer team member and also known as a businessman, has also achieved outstanding results in business investments.

In 2016, he launched the "KSK Angel Fund" and invested in many businesses, including marketing support company AnyMind Group, crowdfunding company Makuake, and popular restaurant chain GoGo Curry.

Three of these companies have undergone IPOs. The KSK Fund's profits are said to be more than 5 billion yen.

In 2018, he launched the "Dreamers Fund" with Hollywood star Will Smith and others, raising 10 billion yen from both domestic and overseas funds, and in 2022, he founded the "KSK Mafia" fund, which invests in student entrepreneurs.

In 2024, he founded the 15 billion yen fund "X & KSK."

During the session, Honda spoke about the challenges of athletes' second careers, saying, "It is true that many athletes don't even think about money because their bodies are their capital."

He also pointed out that "the longer I lived abroad, the more I liked Japan, but at the same time, I felt a sense of crisis that Japan was becoming complacent with peace."

"At that time, I participated in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and witnessed the poverty in the world, and I wanted to eliminate inequality in the world. For example, everyone should have the opportunity to play soccer from an early age. I wanted to give children dreams, and I wanted to make money from it and contribute to them," he continued.

On the other hand, Fujita founded CyberAgent 26 years ago at the age of 24.

At that time, the Internet bubble was just beginning, and it was a good time to start a company, he said, "In a situation like today where there are not many industries that startups can penetrate, I would consider starting a business overseas."

It was also impressive that he mentioned the possibilities of anime and music.

When asked what kind of startups he would invest in as an investor, Honda said he looked at the "founder."

In response to this, Fujita said from experience that if you invest in a company that starts up in a basically growing field, you can't go wrong.

What is important to consider when assessing a founder?

After the session, Keisuke Honda held a press conference with the media. When asked what he looks for in a founder when investing in a business, he answered, "The important thing when assessing a founder is whether the services or products they provide match the problem solving problem that they are trying to solve through their business.

Furthermore, how much can they devote themselves to the business they have started? More than anything, founders need passion and drive."

He continued, "I teach soccer to young boys, and when I ask them if they want to become professional players, everyone says they want to. When I go further and ask them how many times a week they practice, many of them answer, "two or three times." There's no way they can become professional players that way. You can't become a professional unless you practice every day. I think the same can be said for startups. I don't think you can succeed unless you spend all your time on your business."

A distinguished lineup of speakers

CREATE also held a closed session for the media, with speakers including David Ha of Sakana AI, an AI startup funded by the NTT Group, KDDI, and Sony Group, and Russel Cummer, founder of Paidy, as well as VIPs such as Jeremy Howard, a data scientist renowned for developing the AI ​​system ULMFiT (Universal Language Model Fine-tuning), Hollywood star Simu Liu, and popular YouTuber Hajime Syacho.

Yasuhiro Kurokawa, Executive Officer and General Manager of the Shibuya Development Department of the Urban Business Unit of Tokyu Land Corporation, a sponsor of the conference and an investor in Honda's fund, explained Tokyu Land Corporation's urban development and startup support in Shibuya, stating, "We will create a 2.5% radius of Shibuya Station as the Greater Shibuya Area, and build one of Japan's largest startup communities, bringing together key players from Japan and abroad," and expressed his enthusiasm for making a major contribution to startup support.

They also revealed that they will open the "Shibuya Deep-tech Accelerator" in the fall of 2024 in a program collaboration with MIT Industrial College.

In the second half of the session, titled "The First Year of Startup Growth," Honda and House of Representatives member Kobayashi Fumiaki took the stage.

Kobayashi detailed the "Five-Year Startup Development Plan," revealing that the Cabinet has decided to secure approximately 1 trillion yen as the largest budget measure ever for startups.

In particular, they have implemented reforms to the stock option system and tax reforms for reinvestment. They emphasized that reinvestment of 2 billion yen will be tax-free.

At the end of the conference, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio took the stage as a special guest.

After giving a congratulatory speech on the holding of "CREATE," he commented on the five-year plan to support startups that was approved by the Cabinet under his administration, stating, "Speed ​​is important in these efforts. We will work on a budget of more than 1 trillion yen to support startups, and also address the tax system regarding stock options. In order to support startups that take on the world, we will create a campus to build an ecosystem from the research stage."

He added, "Japan was once known as a technology-based nation. Honda and Sony also started out as startups, but spread their wings and wings to the world. Even today, there are entrepreneurs with the potential to spread their wings and wings to the world. Now, with record stock prices, capital investment, and wage increases being talked about, the trend after the collapse of the bubble economy is changing. In order to ensure that trend, it is essential that startups play an active role."

Throughout this conference, it was clear that the nation is working to establish a support system to encourage the growth of domestic startup businesses. This event raised hopes that the increasingly well-established environment and ambitious entrepreneurs will create a synergistic effect, and Japan will once again take on the world.