JP EN

COLUMN

[Founder Interview #3] Ayumi Fujimoto (Startup Ecosystem Association) – Part 2

  • Interview
2026.04.02

From Startup to Scale-up:
Mutual Growth and Realization of an Advancing Ecosystem

For this article, we interviewed the Startup Ecosystem Association’s President Ayumi Fujimoto, a leader who shares our vision for Japan’s entrepreneurial future. (This interview was conducted in January 2026.)

See Part 1 of the interview here.

◆Impact and Diversity: Over 500 Attendees Gather at the “Startup Ecosystem Summit”

Sugihara:
It’s true that while national and local governments make a big deal about startup support, there are legal complexities that make it difficult for local governments to invest directly in startup equity. However, providing support in the form of recruitment is a very practical workaround. I also find it impressive when financial institutions go beyond just providing capital to actually running alongside startups to assist with sales and business development.

Regarding your three courses of action, I’m particularly interested in the second one, eliminating information inequality. Could you share some specific success stories or milestones from your activities overall?

Fujimoto:
I would say the Startup Ecosystem Summit is our most significant achievement and a prime example of our impact. We have held it for four consecutive years now, and last year, we introduced our first “Global Roundtable”. While many international ecosystem stakeholders were visiting Japan, there were surprisingly few opportunities for them to gather in one room and collaborate, so we created that space for them.

Last year, the Summit drew between 500 and 600 participants. Players from every corner of the domestic market mingled together, and I believe that sheer diversity is a tangible manifestation of the ecosystem itself.

Sugihara:
Just gathering hundreds of people from so many different sectors in a single venue is itself quite a feat.

Fujimoto:
It really is. I feel like the scope of the event expands every year. We started with about 100 people, mostly just the supporters. From that point, we started to hear feedback like, “Actually, startups should participate too,” “We should exchange information with regional governments,” or “Every single government ministry should attend.” The sense of connectedness is growing, and the diversity increases every year.

Our philosophy is that rather than just repeating the same thing, the Summit should be a place where participants can actually experience the growth of the ecosystem. That’s why we aim to challenge ourselves with something different every year.

We’re grateful that those who attend can feel that the scale is truly growing and the diversity is deepening. While it’s almost like a kind of class reunion for the industry, our ultimate goal is for it to be a place where you can feel the evolution of the ecosystem and where startups can find every piece of new information they need.

One way we are currently expanding our activities is by utilizing the Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB) in Yurakucho, which is supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and collaborating with them on the operational side.

◆Overseas Collaboration: Where Supporters Connect on a Global Stage

Sugihara:
Since the Startup Ecosystem Association is a non-profit, your activities feel very pure and ambition-driven as opposed to being motivated by profit. I also get the impression that your team is incredibly high-caliber, with members coming from prestigious backgrounds like Google.

Regarding the previous Startup Ecosystem Summit you held last October, I saw on your website that your association was deeply involved in organizing it together with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Could you tell us more about the global perspective of that event and the reception it received?

Fujimoto:
Last year’s event was particularly successful in its global focus. While other events hosted by VCs or massive government initiatives like “SusHi Tech Tokyo” attract many international visitors, there are actually surprisingly few opportunities for startup supporters to have deep, substantive conversations with each other.

For our event, we invited supporters and people in charge of operating large-scale facilities or acceleration programs from different countries within Asia, the US, Europe, and other places. Hearing directly from them about the current trends among Singapore’s startup supporters or the transitions happening in France was incredibly meaningful.

Also, I like trying new things every year, so last year, we introduced the “Triangle Session” format: three speakers and one moderator. We picked specific themes such as legal affairs, accelerators, or entrepreneurship education, and limited the time per session to just 15 minutes, to keep the speakers focused on sharing what initiatives they were undertaking.

In previous years, we had larger panels with about ten speakers, but the content often became too broad. Participants told us they wanted to dive deeper into specific niches and hear how three different companies handle the same challenge.

When I first proposed a 15-minute limit, neither the speakers nor the Tokyo government officials could imagine achieving anything in such a short window, so they were skeptical. But it turned out to be a massive hit. The goal wasn’t to tell the whole story on stage, but to provide just enough essence to spark a direct conversation or a follow-up later. Creating that spark was the major development of last year’s Summit.

Sugihara:
That 15-minute format sounds like something that could be applied to many other types of conferences.

Fujimoto:
Absolutely. I’d love for others to adopt it. Over the past year, our association has been continuously conducting an “Ecosystem Survey”, and we’ve visited roughly 20 countries to study their local scenes. There’s no point in us keeping that knowledge to ourselves. Whether it’s a unique conference format, a workshop style, or a specific program we saw abroad, we want to share those ideas. Even if we don’t implement them ourselves, it’s important that someone else is able to do so.

Sugihara:
I imagine that it must be intimidating to reach out to a lot of very busy leaders for these events, but is that process usually smooth?

Fujimoto:
I think this is a testament to what we’ve built over the years. Most people seem to trust that “if the association is doing it, it’s going to be worthwhile”. Rather than saying “Hmm, we’ll think about it”, they usually say “Let’s do it!” almost immediately. I believe this is possible precisely because everyone, including our founding supporters, recognizes the necessity of this activity.

I also believe the fact that we operate as a non-profit is a major reason why people are so willing to accept our requests. We aren’t looking to turn this into a profitable business, but acting purely for the sake of the ecosystem. Our hope is that the association’s events serve as a catalyst for what each participant is working on to be shared with the wider world. If this were a request for cooperation coming from a specific private company for their own business interests, I don’t think things would go nearly as smoothly.

◆Global Trend: From Startup to Scale-up

Sugihara:
I’ve read the association’s reports as well, and I’d love to hear about the major global trends you notice during your travels. Among those, you pointed out a transition from startup support to scale-up support. Is this a shift that is happening right now?

Fujimoto:
It sure is. Over the last two years, the term ‘scale-up’ has exploded globally. Previously, it was lumped into the general category of startups, but now startups and scale-ups are being treated as two distinct nouns. Currently, many countries are discussing startup policies and scale-up policies separately, as well.

Sugihara:
Why has it become necessary to differentiate the two?

Fujimoto:
Take France, for example. They began enacting startup policies about ten years ago and have since seen the emergence of rapidly growing companies called ‘unicorns’. From a government perspective, if you are investing tax dollars to maximize employment and tax revenue, you eventually need to help those companies grow to a certain size.

While startup initiatives are about broadening the supporter base, scale-up initiatives are about building higher, aiming for the scale of a company like Google. Because the support required for these two phases is entirely different, they are now being discussed as separate entities.

Sugihara:
Is this a different nuance from what we typically call “growth” companies in Japan?

Fujimoto:
The term ‘growth companies’ is used in Japan, but the difference between that and the global definition of scale-up lies in the trajectory of the growth. While growth company often implies linear progression, scale-up refers to non-linear, J-curved growth. Rather than just growing slowly over a long period, it’s the argument that we need to create scale-ups that grow at explosive speeds, right now.

Over the past year, to the degree that the terms are different, Japan has begun to realize that building higher carries the same degree of importance. While it hasn’t been fully codified into policy yet, Japan is poised to change by following the examples of leading nations.

Actually, in one sense, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government was ahead of the curve here. When they announced their strategy last October, they were already beginning to distinguish between the terms startup and scale-up.

◆How a New Company Was Established: Japan’s Globally Competitive Sense of Speed

Sugihara:
That’s great! To focus specifically on scale-ups, you recently co-founded a new company called FoundersNation with Mr. Nagura. How is this new company segregated from the Startup Ecosystem Association?

Fujimoto:
The Startup Ecosystem Association does not provide individual support to specific industries or companies. After all, we’re structured to develop the ecosystem as a whole, and focus on the big picture.

However, as we were continuing our work, we were receiving more and more requests for help from individual startups or specific industries. From the association’s standpoint, I had to decline these requests because we must remain neutral, but I constantly felt the dilemma about being unable to act on these specific needs.

This sense of urgency became even stronger as the scale-up trend took hold. Laying the soil where an ecosystem can grow takes a very long time. While we can eventually build an ecosystem that produces scale-ups organically, I felt that if we simply waited for that to happen, Japan would lose its competitive edge on the world stage.

Right now, the number of players we have in this specific niche is overwhelmingly small, and we don’t have the luxury of time. I decided that we needed a separate, for-profit entity specifically dedicated to supporting scale-ups. That is why we established a new company.

~To be concluded in Part 3~

Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara.

Startup Ecosystem Association

President: Ayumi Fujimoto
Address: 15F Toranomon Hills Business Tower, 1-17-1 Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo
Established: March 30, 2022
Website: https://startupecosystem.org/home-en

In the third and final part of the interview, we discuss:

・The Joy of Creating Something from Zero Learned at Google
・Resolving the Gender Gap
・Japan’s Future Strength: Turning Technology into Business and Communicating It
・Defining a Startup Ecosystem
・And other topics

Be sure to check it out here:
https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/startupecosystem-part3/

Related Articles

[Founder Interview #4] Tsuyoshi Tateishi (SpeakBUDDY) – Part 3
The Challenge for an AI English Conversation App: Creating a Language Acquisition Technology to Globalize Asia In this final part of our three-part series, we look back at the greatest crisis SpeakBUDDY faced in its 13-year history. President Tateishi shares how he navigated a dire situation, with only three months of runway left, by being brutally honest with his employees. We also discuss the company’s unique organizational culture, where a multinational team of over 10 nationalities balances autonomy with discipline, and explore his grand vision for leading Asia’s globalization. Finally, we reveal how their partnership with D-POPS GROUP is accelerating SpeakBUDDY’s ambition to become a unicorn company. (This interview was conducted in January 2026.) See Part 1 and Part 2 of the interview here. ◆Understanding How Long a Year Can Feel to an Entrepreneur Sugihara: It has been exactly 13 years since you founded your company. During that time, you’ve navigated various shifts, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking back over these 13 years, what were the major turning points or obstacles that you encountered, both personally and as a company? Tateishi: While the company was founded quite a while ago, for the first three years, I was developing non-AI English learning apps and operating solely on my own personal capital. The situation changed dramatically around 2016, when we pivoted fully to AI-driven English conversation and began receiving investment from venture capitalists. In that sense, it has been a long road. One thing that surprises you when you become an entrepreneur is that one year feels incredibly long. You’ve likely heard of Janet’s Law, which suggests that time feels like it passes faster as you get older. By my seventh year at the investment bank, my colleagues and I would often say, “This year is already almost over!” I think that happened because I had mastered most of my tasks, the work had become routine, and there were fewer new stimuli. However, when you start a business, new challenges appear one after another, day after day. Each time, you have to acquire new skills or come up with fresh solutions. This density of experience makes a single year feel exceptionally long. Doing that for over a decade has been a very lengthy, yet fascinating process. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, AI English conversation benefited a lot from the stay-at-home environment at first. However, as the period of restricted travel dragged on, Japanese people sadly stopped studying English. With no business trips, no international visitors coming to Japan, and no overseas vacations, their opportunities to think about English virtually disappeared. The entire English learning industry slumped, and it was a very difficult time for us. Fortunately, demand has now fully returned. ◆The Ultimate Crisis: An Honest Confession with 3 Months of Runway Left Sugihara: Of all the situations you’ve faced over the years, if you had to pick one, what was the biggest hurdle? And more importantly, how did you manage to overcome it? Tateishi: It was undoubtedly the period during the lead-up to our funding round, when our runway (the time left before we ran out of cash) was nearly gone. In a startup setting, you’re constantly accelerating hiring to fuel growth. When the pressure to raise capital hit at the same time as the need to keep the organization unified, it was incredibly intense. Developing AI services is a marathon. At first, the tech can’t quite match human performance, so you go through years of not being able to amount to much. But then, you hit a tipping point where the AI suddenly starts outperforming humans, and growth just takes off. 2019 was that turning point for us, and it was also our hardest year. We were right on the cusp of our Series A, but we only had about three months of cash left in the bank. I was running myself ragged trying to secure funding, while the team seemed—at least to my eyes—a bit too relaxed. Eventually, I couldn’t bear the stark contrast between my stress levels and their composure any longer. Until then, I had kept our financial numbers and cash flow concerns private because I didn’t want the team to worry, but I had finally hit my limit. I called everyone together and told them honestly, “This is exactly how much cash we have left, and this is how much we burn every month. If you do the math, we have three months. Our payday is the 25th, so I can pay you this month, but three months from today, I won’t be able to pay you any more.” I knew the risk that everyone might jump ship. But I couldn’t keep going with that emotional disconnect, so I decided to put all the cards on the table. While one person did choose to leave, the remaining ten members said, “Let’s find a way to push through this together,” and they really worked hard. That moment erased the inconsistency I had been feeling, and seeing them commit gave me the courage to keep going myself. First, I went to my former boss and humbly asked for a bridge loan to extend our runway by another three months. Then, during those three months, a new feature we developed became a massive hit. Our KPIs skyrocketed, and revenue went up as well. People started telling me, “Since you’ve come this far, I’ll throw in my investment.” We successfully raised about 300 million yen in our Series A. That was the most grueling time of my life. Since then, I’ve made it a point to share the details of our company’s expenses and exactly how much cash we have on hand. Sugihara: By doing that, I imagine the employees feel like they are truly in the same boat. Tateishi: Exactly. At the end of the day, you can’t reach the same decision if you don’t have the same information. I believe that if you make that information open to others, you’ll eventually reach a shared understanding. ◆A Team of 10+ Nationalities: The Strength and Struggle of True Diversity Sugihara: SpeakBUDDY is a remarkably global company. About a third of your employees are non-Japanese, representing over ten different countries. What are the benefits of this multinational team, and what challenges have you faced? Tateishi: It’s a bit of a chaotic mix, ha ha. ‘Diversity’ sounds great as a buzzword, but in reality, managing it is incredibly difficult. Everyone has different perspectives and values. It’s a constant challenge to keep everyone aligned. However, the upside is that it naturally brings in ideas we never would have had otherwise. We can flexibly adopt global best practices and viewpoints that aren’t bound by Japanese common sense. Plus, since we are a language company, many of our Japanese hires join specifically because they studied English and want to work in an international environment. For them, working in a cross-cultural team is a source of genuine professional fulfillment. From a management standpoint, it’s a huge strength. For specialized roles where the domestic talent pool is small, such as engineers and designers, widening our search to include global talent allows us to hire elite performers. Although, running all-hands meetings in both English and Japanese with simultaneous interpretation can be rough, ha ha. ◆Encountering D-POPS GROUP Sugihara: You recently attended our business briefing and social gathering. What were your impressions? (Click here to read more about the event.) Tateishi: I was primarily struck by the sheer number of people in attendance, since they were all executives! It made a deep impression to see leaders of that caliber listening so intently to our story, asking sharp questions, and offering collaboration ideas on the spot. During the formal briefing, I felt a bit of a distance, but once the drinks started flowing at the social gathering and we got into our personal stories, I felt like I was immediately accepted as a companion. I really felt that D-POPS GROUP is a company with a strong family vibe. Actually, we have a new feature currently in the R&D stage that hasn’t been released yet. When I shared the idea at the briefing, the reaction from the audience was overwhelming. Afterward, our Executive Officer Morimoto and I were talking about it, and we’re pretty sure that idea is going to be a hit. Having that kind of validation from a room full of entrepreneurs gave us the confidence that we’re heading in the right direction. Sugihara: SpeakBUDDY already has many supporters and investors. Why did you decide to accept our investment, and what has the experience been like so far? Tateishi: The biggest reason was that President Goto, and you as well, really listened to us with such sincerity. It made us really want to grow alongside you. D-POPS GROUP is a very unique organization, and there are many elements of your company that make me think, “This is the kind of company I want to build.” When we were raising the funds, I told my team, “I want entrepreneurs whom I truly respect to become our shareholders. I want us to aim to become a company like D-POPS GROUP, so I absolutely want to accept their investment.” My thoughts at the time were, “I want us to learn from you, so please invest in us!” ◆Building a Great Company that Balances Autonomy and Discipline Sugihara: Regarding our company’s aim of realizing a Venture Ecosystem, are there any parts of that vision that resonate with you? Tateishi: Above all, I deeply resonate with your commitment to developing unicorns. To be honest, I’ve never been the type of person to put stickers on my laptop, since I always felt, “I don’t want to ruin a machine that I’m trying to keep clean!” However, since the D-POPS GROUP unicorn sticker has a genuinely cool design, and more importantly, it serves as a constant reminder of your ambition for us to reach unicorn status, I decided to put that sticker on my laptop. Sugihara: We really appreciate that, especially since you don’t even put your own company’s stickers on it, ha ha! Now, where do you see SpeakBUDDY in 5 to 10 years? Tateishi: Over the next five years, our vision is “to become the AI language acquisition startup driving Asia’s globalization”. And in ten years, we want to fully realize our mission: “Open a world of opportunities by achieving true language acquisition.” Lately, one thing I’ve been consciously trying to pursue is “to build a truly great company”. This may be an abstract goal, but I want SpeakBUDDY’s very existence to make people say, “I’m glad this company exists.” To achieve that, I feel like we really need to return to the roots of our mission, vision, and values. Organizationally, we spent the last year significantly strengthening our discipline. Startups are often free-spirited, autonomous environments, and we ourselves operate on a hybrid model centered on full-remote work. I’m personally someone who didn’t originally like to create rules, but as we grew past 60 employees, errors and accidents inevitably started to occur. So, I decided to steer us toward a culture that strongly asks for discipline and accountability. I recently read that “only by balancing autonomy and discipline can one create a great company”, and it struck a chord. Autonomy without discipline is chaos, but discipline without autonomy is stagnation. I want both at a high level. Sugihara: Autonomy and discipline seem like opposites, but they are actually two sides of the same coin. At companies like Google, the environment looks free, but the governance and the focus on achieving goals are incredibly intense. You are free to choose how you work, but you are also held totally responsible for the mission. Both aspects co-exist. Tateishi: Very true. That’s directly related to the recent moving of our office and us paying closer attention to the culture we’re building. ◆From Asia to the World: Leading Global Integration Sugihara: Do you have concrete plans or an outlook for expanding into the market in Asia and the rest of the world? Tateishi: We do. While we’ve temporarily paused our efforts to enter the Taiwanese market, we’re looking at opportunities to move into East Asia first, followed by Southeast Asia. Ultimately, we want to expand to Europe and the rest of the world. Sugihara: Right, since Southeast Asia alone has a population of over 600 million. Tateishi: It is a remarkably attractive market. There are billions of people worldwide struggling with English, so we want to provide our services to them, for sure. First, we’ll focus on succeeding in Japan, and then scale up from there. ◆A Message to Readers: “A New Way to Master English” Sugihara: Finally, do you have a message for our readers? This column is read closely by executives, entrepreneurs, and investors who have a real eye for professionalism. Tateishi: Everyone can feel the staggering pace of AI evolution every day. In an era like this, I believe we are being asked to question traditional methods and try something new. For English learning, too, I encourage everyone to try different methods from what you’ve done before. At the risk of sounding biased, I believe English is only going to become even more important for business professionals as AI makes international collaboration easier. We are seeing an increasing number of young people for whom English fluency is a given. We hope the professionals currently leading our industries will also take advantage of SpeakBuddy to brush up on their language skills, develop their own unique English style, and not get left behind by the younger generation. Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. SpeakBUDDY, Ltd. President and CEO: Tsuyoshi Tateishi Address: 3F +SHIFT Nihonbashi Sakuradori, 3-14-3 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Established: May 2013 Website: https://www.speakbuddy.com/en
  • Interview
2026.04.28
[Founder Interview #4] Tsuyoshi Tateishi (SpeakBUDDY) – Part 2
Design Concept that Combines SLA Theory and a Sense of Companionship to Truly Teach Japanese People to Speak In Part 1, President Tateishi shared the story of how 5,000 hours of studying led to his mission of utilizing technology to tackle the challenge of learning English. In Part 2, we delve into the core of SpeakBUDDY’s rapidly growing AI English conversation service, which has been adopted by over 300 companies. What is the decisive difference between SpeakBUDDY and major competitors like Duolingo or Speak? Beyond simply being available anytime, anywhere, for anyone, President Tateishi discusses their unique Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory and meticulous design philosophy that enables Japanese learners to achieve true fluency. (This interview was conducted in March 2026.) ◆The Four Pillars of SpeakBUDDY’s Competitive Advantage Sugihara: Now that we’ve heard the particulars of how SpeakBUDDY came about, could you explain to our readers about your company’s AI English conversation service that has come this far? Tateishi: SpeakBUDDY is an English conversation service where you practice with AI characters, which we call “Buddies”, rather than human instructors. It’s not just a back-and-forth exchange with these Buddies, though. The service is designed so you learn essential expressions through immersive storylines. These expressions are categorized by level, allowing users to master key phrases suited to their specific proficiency in each lesson. There are four key reasons why this approach is superior to face-to-face lessons. The first is that you can learn anytime, anywhere. The second is that it is significantly more affordable than hiring human tutors. The third is particularly relevant for Japanese learners, who often feel embarrassed about making mistakes or intimidated by talking to foreigners. With an AI, those barriers vanish, so you can make mistakes and learn with total confidence. The final reason is learning efficiency. AI-driven analysis allows for a more effective learning cycle than a human teacher can provide. AI English conversation excels in these four places. Sugihara: The anytime, anywhere aspect is a big one. How long does a typical lesson take? Tateishi: A single lesson is completed in about 15 minutes. We’ve heard from many users that even online video lessons can be a hassle because they feel they have to dress up, do their hair, put on makeup, etc., before jumping into a call with a human instructor. Our app eliminates that friction, allowing people to learn whenever they have a spare moment without any preparation. ◆Where SpeakBUDDY Differs from Duolingo and Speak Sugihara: Recently, we’ve seen a rise in similar services like Duolingo and Speak. Could you walk us through where SpeakBUDDY excels and what makes it unique compared to those other players? Tateishi: We have immense respect for Duolingo as a service. However, we view them more as a comprehensive learning platform focused on vocabulary and grammar rather than specialized for speaking. Because they prioritize gamification, they are an excellent entry point for beginners to engage with a new language as if they were playing a game. In contrast, we are hyper-focused on speaking. For the Japanese people who have studied English to some extent in middle and high school but still find themselves unable to speak, SpeakBUDDY is the more effective fit. Regarding Speak, the US-based AI app that also focuses on verbal expression, I believe we have the edge in two areas. The first is ease of use. Our UI and UX are meticulously crafted to be intuitive, making it easier for users to build a daily habit. The second is our scientific foundation. We’ve integrated rigorous Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories into the very core of our design to ensure users achieve actual fluency. The fusion of these two elements is where we stand out. Sugihara: I’ve noticed the app can be quite persistent with having me review expressions right when I’m about to forget, ha ha. Tateishi: That’s the idea! Our review system is based on Ebbinghaus’ “forgetting curve”. We ensure that learning is reinforced through spaced repetition to guarantee retention. Packaging such high-level pedagogical expertise into an app is one of our greatest strengths. The other differentiator is in the name itself: the “Buddy”. While apps like Speak can feel like you’re talking to a somewhat mechanical interface, SpeakBUDDY is built on storytelling and rich character development. We’ve created a world where you interact with human-like IP (original characters) within realistic scenarios, and that fundamental philosophy sets us apart. Sugihara: The character design is certainly distinct. You encounter characters like a boss with a realistic Indian accent, which makes the conversation feel grounded in the real world. The entire app feels like one cohesive universe. Is this design aesthetic a point of particular focus for you? Tateishi: Absolutely. We are a company that is obsessed with design, and I take great pride in our incredibly talented design team. We even received the Good Design Award in 2021. Actually, our entire design team currently consists of international talent. I’ve always personally loved the type of UI/UX aesthetics found in the West, so having international designers lead the creative process is a defining characteristic of our product. At our core, we believe that consistency is key to language acquisition, and the key to consistency is enjoyment. Internally, we often use the terms ‘Buddy-ness’ or ‘Buddy sense’ to describe how we want every aspect of our app experience, from the characters to the interface, to embody a sense of companionship and rapport. ◆Over 300 Clients: Rapid Growth in the Corporate Market Sugihara: Have you been putting a lot of effort into developing your corporate client base? What kind of companies are adopting your services, and what are their primary objectives? Tateishi: We have focused heavily on corporate expansion over the last three years. Due to the increasing need for communication driven by corporate globalization, we have now surpassed 300 corporate clients. Most companies implement the service as part of their self-improvement programs or employee benefit packages. In terms of industries, while we naturally serve global enterprises, we’ve seen a recent surge across all sectors due to a recent trend towards management of human capital. More companies want to support their employees’ self-development through paying for our services. After all, there are people who genuinely want to improve their English in every company. We see a particularly high rate of adoption in the IT, manufacturing, and customer service industries. We already provide sector-specific content, and we plan to further strengthen our corporate-oriented curriculum moving forward. Sugihara: What kind of feedback are you getting from these companies? Tateishi: It’s incredibly rewarding to hear from HR managers that their employees no longer feel a resistance to speaking English or that they have begun participating proactively in international meetings. We often hear from HR and training coordinators that they have never seen such a positive internal response to an English training program before. Sugihara: I see, so the employees themselves are reporting their satisfaction back to the HR department. Tateishi: Right, and then the number of applicants for the program is often multiple times higher than the original estimated number of applicants. Apparently, the turnout has been up to ten times higher than for in-person English conversation training. I’m pretty sure the fact that you can start so casually, with such a low barrier to entry, must be a big factor. We’re also seeing significant adoption in the hospitality sector, such as hotels. With the rise in inbound tourism, SpeakBUDDY is proving very effective in lowering the so-called “English allergy” barrier for staff when international travelers drop by their shops or hotels. ◆More Employee-Friendly than Traditional English Training Sugihara: In many large Japanese corporations, English training often comes with rigid requirements, like having to achieve a specific TOEIC score. Tateishi: That’s true. Traditional corporate English training usually felt like a burden…you had to hit a certain score, or you might even have to pay for it yourself if your attendance was too low. SpeakBUDDY’s greatest strength is its ability to be offered to a wider range of people at a lower cost. Instead of a mandatory chore, it becomes an employee benefit that people want to take advantage of. Sugihara: That approach is only possible because so many of your customers study consistently. Is the corporate segment still growing at this point? Tateishi: Yes, it’s continuing to grow very rapidly. If there are any companies out there struggling with their English training programs, please do introduce them to us, ha ha! ~To be concluded in Part 3~ Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP’s advisor Genta Sugihara. SpeakBUDDY, Ltd. President and CEO: Tsuyoshi Tateishi Address: 3F +SHIFT Nihonbashi Sakuradori, 3-14-3 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Established: May 2013 Website: https://www.speakbuddy.com/en In the third and final part of the interview, we discuss: ・Gathering all employees together for an honest confession of short funding ・Building a great company that balances autonomy and discipline ・Creating an AI language learning startup that will drive globalization in Asia ・And other topics Be sure to check it out here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/speakbuddy-part3/
  • Interview
2026.04.21
[Founder Interview #4] Tsuyoshi Tateishi (SpeakBUDDY) – Part 1
From 280 Points on TOEIC to a Perfect Score and 5,000 Hours of Studying, Forming a Belief in the Necessity of AI English Conversation In December 2025, D-POPS GROUP invested in SpeakBUDDY Ltd., the developer and operator of the “SpeakBuddy” AI English conversation app. (Read more about it here.) How did someone who was once considered the worst English student in his grade go on to build a cutting-edge, AI-powered English conversation service? In this three-part series, we look into the entrepreneurial journey of SpeakBUDDY’s founder Tsuyoshi Tateishi and the future he envisions for language learning. In Part 1, we explore his incredible transition from a low TOEIC score of 280 to 5,000 hours of dedicated study, his experiences at a foreign investment bank, and how a trip around the world sparked the idea for AI-driven English conversation. (This interview was conducted in March 2026.) ◆“Worst at English in the Entire Grade” Sugihara: To start off, could you tell us what gave you the initial push to develop the SpeakBuddy app? Tateishi: First of all, the biggest reason I chose the field of English was because I was actually terrible at it during my student years. English requires consistent, cumulative effort, but I hit a wall in my first year of junior high school and just couldn't keep up with my classes after that. By high school, my teacher told me I was "the worst at English in the entire grade." Sugihara: So the student who was the worst in his grade became the CEO of an English conversation app company, ha ha! Tateishi: Exactly. That was my reality in high school, but the turning point came during my job hunt in university. I received a tentative offer from a foreign investment bank, and starting my career there was what finally forced me to start learning. Sugihara: It was a foreign-owned firm, so didn't they interview you in English? Tateishi: Oh, they did. The final interview was in a boardroom with the then-CEO of Citigroup Global Markets Japan and a row of executives from various departments. At the time, they were testing whether candidates could handle that kind of pressure. Since investment banking is a business where people are the only real assets, they were looking for character. That 10-on-1 interview was mostly in Japanese, but at the very end, the HR Director said, “Alright, I’m going to ask you a question in English, so please answer in English.” Up until that point, all the interviewers were Japanese, so they were probably assuming, “He graduated from Keio University, so he can probably handle it.” But in fact, my English was non-existent. My TOEIC score was only 280, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to understand any questions if they asked me in English, so I had prepared exactly one response in my head: “I can’t speak English. But I will study hard. So, no problem!” I said it with total confidence, but in fact, that single sentence was the only English I had learned. Back at that time, just memorizing that one phrase had been a struggle for me! The entire room of interviewers froze. Everyone was like, “Wait, what? You applied here with that level of English? This is a foreign firm…what are you expecting to do?” However, this was during my third year of university, so I told them, “I still have one year until I graduate.” At the time, I had just become the youngest person that year to pass the CPA exam at age 20. I was studying 14 hours a day…other than study and sleep, I would spend only two hours a day to shower, eat, and commute. I was used to finishing an entire textbook in a single day. So, I truly believed it when I told them, “I have a year, and that’s enough time for me, seriously.” At the time, I figured if I could get a 750 on the TOEIC, I would be basically fluent. Compared to the CPA exam, where if you fail, you have to wait another year, I felt no pressure at all. When I said, “I’ll start tomorrow”, they looked at me and said, “You do look like the type of guy who would actually do that.” Still, I walked out thinking I had definitely failed the interview, since it was a global firm and I couldn’t speak a word of English. But later that day, someone from their HR called me. Apparently, the CEO had been my biggest advocate. He told them, “Hire that guy.” The HR worker asked me, “What on earth did you say to the CEO?” Now, what I had told the CEO was this: “I might not speak English now, but through my CPA studies, I realized there isn’t that much difference in the capacity of human brains. It’s all about having grit. I know for sure that if I put my mind to something, there’s nothing I can’t achieve, and I will absolutely get this done.” The CEO decided, “Let’s hire one interesting guy like this”, and that’s how I got the job. ◆The Problem for Japanese Who Study English for 5,000 Hours Tateishi: Over the following years, I reached a perfect score on the TOEIC, passed the Eiken Grade 1 (the highest level of Japan’s most popular English proficiency test), and logged a cumulative total of approximately 5,000 hours of English study. Through those 5,000 hours, I had a painful realization: learning English would be far more difficult than I thought it would be when I was job hunting. I realized that this might be the single greatest challenge facing the Japanese people. I struggled with it while at that foreign-owned firm, and even after I moved to a Japanese brokerage, I was stationed in Hong Kong where I had to use both English and Chinese. If you can't use the language, you simply cannot do the job. I learned enough Chinese in Hong Kong to handle daily conversation, but if people ultimately can't understand what you're saying, you can't conduct business. Japanese people are excellent workers, but just because their English isn't great, my compatriots were being looked down on by people from headquarters or other overseas branches, and I couldn't stand it. During global training sessions and such, Japanese participants may not be able to speak English at all, but when it comes to the actual work output, they are consistently the best. Changing the reality that Japanese people are brilliant but are dismissed because they can’t communicate in English became my core motivation. I spent 5,000 hours to get there, but that’s not a realistic path for everyone. I want to use the power of technology to drastically shorten that time. This is the fundamental reason I chose the field of English education and began developing SpeakBuddy. ◆Making a “Doraemon” Who Can Speak English at Home Sugihara: Did you always have the desire to be an entrepreneur, even as a student? Tateishi: I did. I remember asking during my job interviews, “If I work at this investment bank, will it help me when I start my own company later?” But after seven years of intense, high-pressure work, I had completely forgotten that dream. However, as my desire to create a service that truly helps society grew stronger, I remembered, “Oh right, I actually wanted to start a company!” So, I quit as soon as I returned from my overseas assignment. I decided to quit first, and think of a business plan later. So, with my back against the wall, I finally went on the world tour I had always wanted to do, and I mapped out my business plan while traveling. While hopping from country to country, I was also teaching myself app development. The English learning app I built during that trip actually reached number 1 in the overall App Store rankings. Sugihara: Hitting an overall ranking of 1 is incredible! Was that app the prototype for what SpeakBuddy is today? Tateishi: Yes, I’d say that was the prototype. During my world tour, I also did a short-term study abroad program. Even when you are overseas, you find yourself wanting someone to practice English conversation with. But making friends in English out of thin air is incredibly difficult. People always say, “Just get a foreign boyfriend or girlfriend”, and I actually tried to do that while I was abroad, but it’s not as easy as it sounds, ha ha! While I was abroad, I thought, “If only I had a Doraemon* at home who could speak English with me, that would be enough.” That desire to create a Doraemon who speaks English was the starting point of our service. *Note: ‘Doraemon’ is a beloved character from a Japanese children’s cartoon who always helps the other characters with their various problems. I included a voice recognition feature in that first app, and I’m proud to say it was likely the first app in Japan to feature English voice recognition. However, back in 2014, the accuracy was still quite low. But over the next year or two, I felt the technology improving at an exponential rate. I became convinced that in the future, I would be able to create a real AI English conversation partner. In 2016, I stopped everything else I was working on and focused all my resources on AI English conversation. ◆The Problem with AI-related Branding in 2016 Sugihara: When you released the precursor to your current app back in 2016, were you already using the word ‘AI’? Tateishi: Yes. Even at the 2016 launch, we were calling it ‘AI English Conversation’. Since we had no capital at the start, we began with a crowdfunding campaign. It went surprisingly well—we raised about 4 million yen—and we were already positioning it as an AI-driven service even then. Sugihara: The speed of AI adoption and evolution lately is staggering. While language models have developed explosively in the last year or two, you were really at the forefront. Tateishi: We were the only ones in that space back then. But honestly, the immediate aftermath of the release was a struggle. People in 2016 were very vocal with their skepticism, asking, “Where exactly is the AI in this?” They’d complain, “I’m talking, but this doesn’t recognize my voice at all!” Back then, AI conversation meant little more than speaking to a character with an electronic voice. The conversational AI was still in its infancy, with a simple tree structure where we programmed specific responses to specific phrases. You couldn’t engage with it via truly free conversation like we have now. In the end, because we were getting so many reviews asking “Where’s the AI?”, we actually removed the word ‘AI’ from our branding around 2017. Having AI in the title seemed to raise expectations so high that it led to people leaving 1-star reviews, so we decided to take it out for a while. Then, around 2019, speech recognition technology started to improve dramatically. We also built our own proprietary speech recognition engine, which boosted our accuracy significantly. From that point on, the quality of our conversational AI was able to truly shine. Sugihara: When I try using features like BuddyChat now, the AI responds naturally even if I say something completely random or trivial. It clearly isn’t just simple pattern recognition anymore. Tateishi: Yes, it can handle tangents and keep the conversation going. I feel like I can finally say “This is AI” with my head held high. Back in 2015 and 2016, we were right in that peak of inflated expectations on the hype cycle, which was followed by a valley of disillusionment. During that valley, people kept telling me, “AI is a joke; it’ll never work.” But gradually, it became the real deal. Sugihara: For someone who has been working on this for a decade, do you feel like it's about time for the AI boom to finally sweep across the world? Tateishi: In a way, yes. It feels like things are moving exactly as I expected, though there’s a bit of a time lag in terms of when the world finally noticed. To be honest, even with GPT, we were looking at GPT-2 and saying, “This is going to be incredibly useful.” So by the time GPT-4 arrived, our reaction was like, “Well, it’s already been impressive since the beginning.” It’s only been in the last few years that speech recognition, Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and Personalized Learning Logic have finally synced up. Because the level of inference has jumped so significantly recently, we can now provide high-level free talk like BuddyChat. It feels like the times have finally caught up with SpeakBUDDY. ~To be continued in Part 2~ Interview conducted by D-POPS GROUP's advisor Genta Sugihara. SpeakBUDDY, Ltd. President and CEO: Tsuyoshi Tateishi Address: 3F +SHIFT Nihonbashi Sakuradori, 3-14-3 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Established: May 2013 Website: https://www.speakbuddy.com/en Next, in the second part of the interview, we discuss: ・The four pillars of SpeakBUDDY's competitive advantage ・Where SpeakBUDDY differs from Duolingo and Speak ・Rapid growth in the corporate market and feedback from business clients ・And other topics Be sure to check it out here: https://d-pops-group.co.jp/en/column/speakbuddy-part2/
  • Interview
2026.04.15
Back to COLUMN