We interviewed Seiya, one of the Co-Founders of V-KAIWA, an EduTech startup, and had a peek into his startup journey.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT V-KAIWA
V-KAIWA is a virtual reality language learning startup. We contextualise lesson plans through an immersive virtual reality environment. The teacher and students are placed in different scenarios to facilitate learning – for example, in a restaurant or on a safari. To break it down – V-KAIWA is a combination of Virtual Reality and the Japanese word for communication which is “KAIWA”. So we connect you to a different language and help you learn how to converse in a totally new way.
HOW DID YOUR INTEREST IN CREATING AN EDUTECH STARTUP BEGIN?
At a very early stage, I always knew that I wanted to do something business related.I have worked at Telstra, Microsoft, Caitre’d and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Ihave also taught Information Systems and Marketing at 4 major universities in Sydney.I love technology and educating others – so you can imagine that EduTech is a passion of mine – leading to the creation of my current job – working as the co-founder of V-KAIWA.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR PEOPLE FEARING THE VOLATILE AND EXTREMELY CHALLENGING NATURE OF STARTUPS, ESPECIALLY IN SOFTWARE?
If you want to start out knowing more about startups, the best way is to work for a small company. A lot of start-ups now are digital so you are able to test out a lot of different digital skills – from design, to analytics, to operations. You won’t be a cog in the market – you will be an engine and you will be able to make decisions that you may not have the autonomy to do so in a corporate setting. On top of that – working in a company will allow you to understand the founder’s dream, and you will learn how to validate what you want to do and what you don’t want to do. Now if you want to build your own startup, there are four main boxes you must tick. 1. Do you have the foundational skills to learn and develop?2. Do you have a high curiosity for the problem you are trying to solve?3. Will people pay for your service/product?4. Does the world benefit from it?
Thanks for that Seiya and V-KAIWA! Keep a lookout for them in the startup space and watch their dream become a reality.
Find out more about V-KAIWA:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vkaiwa/
To hear more determined and driven entrepreneurs, don’t miss out on a ticket to StartCon 2017!
