Hey Hey, It’s my birthday!

Disrupting Japan is 10 years old today! This is a simple thank you rather than a full episode. Thanks for listening! Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan, Straight Talk from Japan's most innovative founders and VCs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. This is a very short and very special episode. It's not an episode really, more of a personal message. You see, ten years ago today. I released the very first episode of Disrupting Japan. And I just wanted to say thank you. I really mean that. Independent podcasting is an incredibly personal medium and it depends on there being a real connection between the host, and the guests, and the listeners. Commercial talk shows spend a fortune creating the illusion of that connection. And being in the center of that in real life is an honor and it’s amazing. It’s become a cliche when the host thanks their audience and reminds them that the show would not be possible without them, but it’s different at Disrupting Japan. You really do create a big part of the show’s value. Let me explain. It’s not about download numbers or affiliate link-clicks. I don’t sell anything and my guests aren’t selling anything on Disrupting Japan, so those metrics don’t matter much to me. However, my guests often comment on the surprisingly high quality of inbound contracts they receive after appearing on the show. These connections have resulted in a lot of new hires, and a handful of investments have been made as well. That community, the engagement and overall quality of the listeners is a big part of the show’s value. In fact, over the years, four Japanese startup founders have told me that listening to our guests’ tell their stories on Disrupting Japan gave them the confidence to start their own startup, and that’s pretty awesome. So, thank you! Ten years ago I never imagined how big Disrupting Japan would become. Honestly, it kind of freaks me out sometimes. But here we are. Ten years and well over 200 episodes later, and we have over 9,000 listers in more than 150 countries around the world — including one listener from Vatican City. Now, I have no way of knowing for sure exactly who that listener is. I mean, it could be anybody. But I like to think of it as a testament to the influential nature of Disrupting Japan’s listeners. Building Disrupting Japan is an honor and a joy. I love putting the show together, and despite having a fairly demanding day job, I always make sure Disrupting Japan is released on schedule and is a quality show that woth the time you put into listening to it. The show takes up a lot of weekends and evenings. I’ve done pre-interview research while in the hospital for a minor surgery. I’ve done post production editing in so many different airport lounges, and twice I’ve made a little pillow-fort in my hotel room so I would have decent acoustics to record the intro and outtro. So, whether you are a new lister or have been a part of Disrupting Japan ever since episode 1 was released 10 years ago, thank you for taking this journey with me. Startup innovation is really starting to flourish in Japan, and we have exciting times ahead. And most of all, thanks for listening and thank you for letting people interested in Japanese startups and VCs know about the show. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for listening to Disrupting Japan.