From College Hill to Series A – Liberal‑Arts Minds Powering Japan’s Startup Wave
at Google for Startups Tokyo · presented by the Brown University Club of Japan
Japan’s five‑year startup strategy sets an ambitious target of ¥10 trillion in annual venture investment and 100,000 new ventures by fiscal‑year 202. Even amid global market turbulence, startups in Japan attracted ¥779 billion in equity funding during 2024—up 3 percent year‑on‑year. To understand how founders convert that momentum into sustainable companies, the Brown University Club of Japan is proud to convene three entrepreneurial alumni, Matthew Romaine, John Shields, and Jacob Sullivan, each at distinct stages of the journey—exit, scale‑up, and pre‑launch—for a candid discussion of lessons learned and roadblocks ahead. The event will be moderated by BUCJ President Adam Komisarof, with assistance from Lucas Pham, a current Brown undergraduate.
Doors open 18:00; event begins 18:30
Venue
Google for Startups Campus, Shibuya
Program
18:30 – 18:42 Opening remarks
Prof. Adam Komisarof (President, BUCJ) & Lucas Pham ’27
18:42 – 18:45 Greetings from the GFS
Sunshine Burri, Google for Startups
18:45 – 19:45 Panel discussion: “Building in Japan – Brown Alumni Perspectives”
Johnny Shields – Founder & CTO, TableCheck
Matthew Romaine – Founding Partner & Director, Shizen Capital; co‑founder and former CEO of translation platform Gengo
Jacob Sullivan – Technology entrepreneur in the pre‑founding stage
Moderators: Professor Adam Komisarof, Keio University; Lucas Pham, Brown University
Networking reception to follow
Speaker Bios:
Matt Romaine invests in Japan’s next generation of founders as a founding partner and director at Shizen Capital, a METI‑authorized venture fund pooling capital from individual investors eligible for tax incentives. He previously co‑founded and led Gengo as CTO and CEO and holds a B.A. in Computer Science and Music Theory from Brown University.
John Shields is Founder & CTO at TableCheck, Japan and Asia’s leading booking and guest management system serving over 13,000 restaurants. After obtaining a degree in B.S. in Electrical Engineering With Honors at Brown University in the United States, John worked at Nomura Securities Japan (formerly Lehman Brothers Japan) as Vice President in Equities Algorithmic Trading before founding TableCheck in 2013.
Jacob Sullivan is a software engineer and part-time founder currently developing autonomous drone technology. Originally from California, he graduated from Brown University in 2022 with a degree in Economics. He began his career in Japan as a medical researcher at Kyoto University before transitioning into tech. Jacob is an active member of the Tokyo developer community, serving as a facilitator for OKTech meetups and an active member at Tokyo AI.
Adam Komisarof is a professor of intercultural communication at Keio University and president of the Brown University Club of Japan. He has run workshops in intercultural communication for 28 years (in Japanese and English) in dozens of major multinational companies and government organizations. He is also president emeritus of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, a global organization of scholars of intercultural relations.
Lucas Pham is a rising third-year undergraduate at Brown University, concentrating in Modern Culture and Media. He is currently a Junior Associate at Asu Capital Partners, a seed-stage venture capital fund, where he supports investment research and strategic initiatives.