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I’m an entrepreneur, writer, teacher, and translator. I’ve been the founder, cofounder, or seed investor in several companies, including Ideogram and TKAI, which had a successful exit in 2000, and I serve as a limited partner in the Oregon Sustainability Fund and several other Northwest private equity partnerships.
On the writing side of things, my articles and editorials have appeared (mostly through sheer, dumb luck) in the New York Times, Asiaweek, and a number of other publications. My books include The Prosperous Peasant, The Swordless Samurai, and Saying Yes to Japan: How Outsiders are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market (co-authored by Carl Kay). Saying Yes was published in Japanese by Nikkei in July 2006, a real honor, believe you me. Previously I authored the monthly Japan Entrepreneur Report and Japan Internet Report, and I'm currently serving as contributing co-author and editor of a new book on business model innovation.
Today I’m working on a new venture while researching international business model portability through Hitotsubashi University’s doctoral program, where my advisers are Michael Korver, Tish Robinson, and Yoshi Fujikawa. I also teach graduate-level entrepreneurship courses at Portland State University (PSU), where I love my students and try to help them balance fortune and fulfillment. In my spare time I play the guitar, serve on PSU’s Center for Japanese Studies advisory board, and work on Soul Shelter, a blog co-authored by novelist M. Allen Cunningham.
Portland, Oregon is where I make my home with my wife, two children, and a Corgi named Pepper.