Team
Serend is a US-based consulting firm specialising in market entry to Japan and Asia, a region where the market landscape and business practices present many challenges. Serend can help you smoothly navigate the landscape and build a successful business in Asia. We provide comprehensive market entry support through our years of experience in the region and an extensive network of both enterprise-level customers and startups in the US and Japan.
Our team of experts works together on a project-by-project basis to provide clients the capacity and expertise required.
Founder and Principal
Miyoko Oki
Miyoko Oki has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, covering broad areas from enterprise software to mobile applications. Throughout her career she has consistently managed projects in business development and execution between the US and Japan. Miyoko has an in-depth understanding of both American and Japanese business practices, developed through many years of hands-on experience supervising international marketing and technology projects.
Prior to coming to the US, she was responsible for channel marketing at IBM Japan Software group. In Silicon Valley, she has held global business development positions with IT companies such as Itochu Technology Inc. and Symantec. Based on her years of industry experience, she joined venture firm SunBridge Global, where she helped many Japanese startup companies develop their US-based business efforts.
Advisor
Kaz Terada
Kaz was formerly a managing director and a board member of ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc. (ITV), a venture capital firm based in Tokyo. Prior to joining ITV in 2006, Kaz was responsible for the business development and strategic investment of ITOCHU’s ICT & Media Group mainly in the U.S. and Japan. Kaz has led Venture Investment efforts in the US, investing in early-stage Silicon Valley technology companies since 1997 and established ITOCHU’s first U.S. technology venture capital fund, Horizon Ventures in 2000. He is currently the President & CEO of A2O, Inc., a management consulting firm based in Tokyo, a founding board member of TiE Japan and a board member of Macnica Fuji Electronics Holdings, Inc. (TSE:3132).
Advisor
Robert Eberhart
Robert N. Eberhart directs research at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where he studies entrepreneurship and how it shapes society. He earned his Ph.D. in Management Science from Stanford University and his academic publications span topics such as new theoretical constructs on how institutional change has complex effects on new firms and how entrepreneurship is changing society.He served as the Vice Chairperson of the U.S. Dept. of State and METI’s Japan-US Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council.
Before his academic career, Dr. Eberhart was a partner at Pacific Rim Partners, a San Francisco based venture capital firm and he was the Founder and CEO of WineInStyle KK in Tokyo, Japan. Prior to founding WineInStyle, Dr. Eberhart was an executive with semiconductor and electronics hardware companies.