Introduction to “Eric’s Corner”

Welcome to Eric's Corner

Hello everyone, my name is Eric Koslow. I’m a serial entrepreneur most recently based in San Francisco, and I moved to Tokyo in January 2025. I’m best known as one of the co-founders of Lattice, an HR tech startup I co-founded in 2014.

Here at TeamFirst, we’re starting a regular series where I’ll share my thoughts on Japan: its startup scene, tech industry, venture ecosystem, and unique culture. My aim is to take some of the lessons I learned in Silicon Valley and apply them to my new home here in Tokyo. I want to spark conversations, share ideas, and hopefully contribute in some small way to the growth of Japan’s startup scene and broader economy. Ideally, some of the thoughts I share here will also be helpful to aspiring entrepreneurs in Japan.

But for this inaugural post, we thought an introduction would be the best place to start.

Who is Eric?

I grew up in Connecticut on the East Coast of the U.S., and my experience with Japan started early. I went to a special high school focused on studying Japan, a place called “The Center for Global Studies” (CGS). It was a magnet school in my county where I took Japanese language classes, studied Japanese history, celebrated Japanese holidays, hosted Japanese students in America, was hosted by a family in Japan, and generally dove deep into Japanese culture.

Why CGS?

To be honest, back in high school I was pretty nerdy (and still am today), and Japan just seemed cool. Anime, manga, games, and Japan’s distinctive culture all gave it a special allure that many Americans can probably relate to. But through my studies, I went from being a surface-level fan of Japan to someone who better understood the country, both its triumphs and its failures.

Rochester or Tokyo?

When it came time for college, I was presented with a choice: go to Sophia University in Tokyo and continue my Japanese studies, or go to Rochester Institute of Technology and follow the programming path, my other love at the time. Ultimately, I left it to fate. I flipped a coin: heads was Japan, tails was Rochester. It came up tails.

From that coin flip, my entire startup and tech career blossomed. But it also meant that Japan always felt like the life I never got the chance to live. That was until a couple of years ago.

What's the next move?

In the spring of 2024, I shut down my second (and much less successful) startup, VStream, after running out of funding. For five months, I took a break and tried to figure out what I wanted to do next. Start a new company? Join someone else’s? I was presented with many opportunities, but none of them felt quite right for the next stage of my life.

That’s when my now co-founder, Chris Gamble, approached me with his own startup idea. After the pitch, I thought, “Yeah, that could work…” but I wasn’t 100% convinced it was the opportunity I was looking for. Then he said the words that changed my life: “Well, I’m also thinking about moving to Japan to do this. Would that change your calculations?”

Finally finding himself in Japan

Suddenly, the path I never took came back to me 17 years later. This was my chance to use the Japanese knowledge I had gained so many years ago and live the dream a younger version of me once had. It took six months to figure out the visa situation, but in December 2024 I sold my house and all of my possessions, except for what fit into three suitcases. And on January 3, 2025, I moved to Japan.

While restarting my life in a new country has not been easy, it has been extremely rewarding. I’ve met so many wonderful people and have built a great quality of life here. I now want to give back to my new home and become a proper 社会人 – a contributing member of society. Getting involved in the startup community and helping out where I can is how I’m planning to do just that.

どうぞよろしくお願いします。