Hiroki Kudo: Dream, imagine, and change

  When I came to Vancouver I was trying to figure out where I should live and one of the important pieces of information was where are all the companies located? Photo by GeoJango Maps / Unsplash I did some research but couldn't we find a map of where all the startups were located. Time pasted, and I've already settled in renting a house but I remembered that problem, and thought that it would be helpful to create such a database and map. I know that CrunchBase has a huge database which includes startups not only from Vancouver but all over the world. I've no intention to compete against CrunchBase but just want to create something useful for people in Vancouver and people who are interested in Vancouver. So I pulled out Airtable to create a form so that people can use it to enter information regarding startups that they work or know. That was pretty straightforward. Then I thought, it would be great to visually see where all these startups and tech companies are loca...

So after battling with WeVideo (btw I love WeVideo! It is just that I haven't gotten used to it, and combining it with other software made it a bit more tricky!) I have finally uploaded my YouTube video on "Vancouver Startups" channel! Please comment! Let me know what you think! And if there is anything that you want me to talk about, let me know! (And if you subscribe to the channel, that would be awesome!!) (This has been migrated from Ghost and originally written on Jan 2nd, 2022)

  I've been creating videos using WeVideo it's a new tool that I've been exploring and I want to talk a bit about it. When I started creating videos I started off using iMovies because I am a Mac User. iMovies was pretty simple and it was easy to use but quickly I hit it’s limits. It's really hard to put text on top of videos. For example if you were to put the script on the bottom of the video, that would require a lot of work. (A lot of Japanese YouTube videos have the script in the video.) Or adding new pictures on top of videos. It was frustrating and trying to get the script onto a video was very hard, so eventually outsourced the video editing process. But since I'm doing a new project, I've decided to start on my own and see what I can do. Doing a little bit of research I found a few tools that seem to be very useful. Davinci Resolve VN Video Editor Filmora Final Cut Adobe Premiere Pro WeVideo For the research this YouTube video from Justin Brown - Primal...

  Vancouver is an exciting city to start a business. It is also a city that offers the right ingredients for entrepreneurs looking to start their own business. Let's take a look! Corporate tax is extremely low In Canada, corporate tax is a combination of federal and for each province. For small businesses (income below $500,000) Federal is 9% and BC (British Columbia, this is the state that Vancouver belongs) is 2%, so in total only 11%! In Japan it is more than 30%, in the US it is 21%. If you go to Alberta it is even lower, but you can still say Vancouver has a nice low corporate tax rate. Vancouver's Strong Economic Growth According to Wikipedia Vancouver's economy is one of the most vibrant in Canada From a logistic perspective, Vancouver is a major hub of Canada. As for sea route, it is the official gateway to the Pacific Rim, a major port. Also for land route, it is the main western terminus of transcontinental highway and rail routes. Based on Vancouver Economic Com...

Since I landed in Vancouver on July 14th 2021, I tried to join the startup community. It was difficult to find where everyone was. Especially due to COVID-19, there were no physical meetups/events. So for those who are looking for communities and news sources, here I have made a list. And please let me know if there is anything I should add! What I have found to be very helpful Vancouver Tech Journal https://www.vantechjournal.com/ Founded in 2017 by William Johnson.Now joined by James Matthews, with a team of contributors. Wonderful news source! And they host a casual meetup every Tuesday 8AM. I have met with so many interesting and nice people there. To sign up for the meetup, please use the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNO9dBkqDpsJKUudHo4e12b1bFMYfhIHuZvylW3mm5B3a2Ow/viewform e@UBC (University of British Columbia) https://entrepreneurship.ubc.ca/ One of the best universities in Canada and the world. Large network. One drawback is that it is rather closed...

  To reduce carbon emission is one thing, but there is another way to cope with Climate Change. To expand the carbon sink. The earth has natural carbon sinks: Land sinks Costal & Ocean sinks (There are other ways to categorize/group them such as plants/waters/soil.) From : Project Drawdown (btw, I love all the content that is organized in this website.) There is a whole video about this. To work on the remaining 59% from the above chart, we need to increase the current natural sinks, and also find technology that can be carbon sinks. There seems to be 3 major categories. (It is always difficult to find a MECE category..) Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Direct Air Capture (DAC) Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) As far as I am researching these solutions are a combination of: Energy: low energy needs or using a renewable energy source The technology: Could be electric/chemical or a combination of both to extract/remove CO2 (carbon) Storing: Keeping the carbon in a form that it w...

Photo by Precondo CA / Unsplash My path to becoming an investor Entering 2024, I decided to transition to become more involved in innovation other than being an entrepreneur. A startup takes 10 or so years to become a solid business. With my remaining life, I would be able to do 1 or 2 more successful startups. It would make more sense to share my experience, knowledge and skills for the greater good. But while working with more than 30 startups, I realized that I was lacking something. I need to have more skin in the game. I need to show more commitment. Finding Material Change Institue Finding a way to achieve my goals seemed complicated. I had very little investment experience. Also, I wanted to have a large portion of my investment in climatetech, but I didn't have much experience in the industry. So, I went out to seek advice. I talked to my friends who were either in startup investment or in the climate change industry. After talking to many helpful friends who extended th...