Helpfeel CTO Hiroki Akiyama to Speak at University of Tokyo/Globis Joint Lecture "Visionary Startup"

Helpfeel Inc. (Headquarters: Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture; CEO: Isshu Rakusai; hereinafter "Helpfeel"), which accelerates the social implementation of AI through the power of knowledge, is pleased to announce that its Executive Officer and CTO, Hiroki Akiyama, spoke at the lecture "Visionary Startup ~Theory and Practice of Entrepreneurship~" (jointly organized by the University of Tokyo and Globis Capital Partners; hereinafter "the Lecture"), held at the University of Tokyo Hongo Campus.

Akiyama engaged in a discussion with Shogo Kawada, co-founder of DeNA and an angel investor who has supported Helpfeel since its early stages. The theme was "Startup Business Building and Product Development in the AI Era." Many undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to start businesses gathered at the University of Tokyo Hongo Campus, the venue for the event.

Overview of the Lecture

The Lecture is a practical course jointly offered by the University of Tokyo and Globis Capital Partners since 2022, aimed at fostering entrepreneurs. From fiscal year 2024, it has been positioned as a course for which graduate students and others can receive academic credit. It focuses on nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs, with lectures delivered by CEOs of unicorn companies, startup founders, and venture capitalists, covering themes of organization, business, and finance.

<Past Speakers>

Tomoko Namba, Representative Director, President and CEO of DeNA Co., Ltd. Yuka Iwasaki, Representative Director and President of YOUTRUST Inc. Noriyuki Matsuda, Director, President and CEO of POKETALK Inc., among others.

Content of the Day's Presentation

1. Decision-making that Captures the Impact of Rapidly Falling Generative AI Costs in Real-Time

Responding to the lecture's theme of "Startup Business Building and Product Development in the AI Era," Akiyama looked back to 2023 when OpenAI released the GPT-3.5 API at the low price of $0.002 per 1,000 tokens. Akiyama viewed this event as "democratization of technology" and shared an episode where he started writing code during a meeting and released a new service on the same day.

He spoke about the importance of decision-making during a paradigm shift, stating, "I felt that the next wave of opportunity of this magnitude would not come for another 30 to 40 years. We issued a press release the next day and started serving enterprise customers the following week. As CTO, that was the only time I gave such strong top-down instructions, driven by the urgency not to miss this chance."

2. The "Reality" of PMF -- The Field Teaches You Before the Definition Does

Furthermore, regarding the moment of PMF (Product-Market Fit), which is crucial for startups to gain traction, Akiyama mentioned, "When sales are non-existent, and we lack the support staff, yet there are customers eager to sign contracts."

He shared his real-life experience, emphasizing that the true signal of PMF is not the textbook definition but the wave of demand felt through "staff shortages" in the field.

3. "Crossing Over" Between Engineers and Business Accelerates Business Growth

With the advancement of AI, everyone can now benefit regardless of their specialized knowledge.

At Helpfeel, cross-functional movements are actually happening, such as sales representatives creating demos for customers using Vibecoding (*1) and engineers visiting customer sites to improve products. Akiyama highlighted the changes in the workplace where job boundaries are blurring, stating, "The era where 'engineers don't need to meet customers' or 'salespeople don't need to understand code' is changing. It's about expanding what you can do while bringing people together. Modern business creation requires both aspects."

*1: A style of development where code is generated by instructing AI in natural language.

4. Data Dormant Within the Company Becomes Competitive Advantage in the AI Era

As technological advantages become harder to establish, Akiyama argued, "Competitive advantage in the AI era lies in a system that can continuously accumulate and update data unique to the company."

For example, major AI platform providers are strong in the vast general data available on the web, but they do not possess closed information such as "unique business rules" or "specialized customer support know-how" that each company holds. In contrast, Helpfeel, through its support for over 900 implementations, has accumulated unique data that structures tacit knowledge scattered within companies into "official and accurate knowledge." He explained that especially in the enterprise domain, where accuracy and reliability are paramount, leveraging such company-specific data is crucial for solving practical business problems with AI.

Mr. Kawada, who participated in the discussion, commented on Helpfeel's current position: "Through years of sincere effort in solving on-site challenges, Helpfeel has unintentionally established a unique position where official corporate knowledge is accumulated. As the social implementation of AI accelerates, the value of that data is higher than ever before."

The video of the presentation has been released today and can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7JzTU4oO_s

Speaker Profile

Hiroki Akiyama Executive Officer, CTO, Helpfeel Inc.

Graduated from the Graduate School of Policy Science, Keio University. He has been active as a software artist since the age of 11, receiving the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at a programming contest in 2005. He was selected for the 2008 Unmet Software Creation Project. During his graduate studies, he researched user interfaces and interaction design. After co-founding startups and working at large corporations, he joined Nota, Inc., the predecessor of Helpfeel Inc., in 2015. After serving as VP of Engineering, he became CTO in 2022, where he is involved in managing the development team and building the organization.

Seeking New Colleagues to Promote "AI-Ready" for Autonomous AI Operation

Helpfeel is a knowledge technology company that acts as a "context layer," converting all of a company's data into knowledge that AI can utilize.

We are looking for colleagues to join us in our challenge to promote AI-Ready for companies and elevate the AI implementation of Japanese businesses to a global standard. We are currently hiring for multiple positions, including engineers developing AI products, Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) who support AI implementation at customer sites, and business development personnel with a view to global expansion.

For details, please visit our recruitment site: https://recruit-engineer.helpfeel.com/

About Helpfeel Inc.

Founded: December 21, 2007 (Japanese subsidiary established on December 4, 2020)

Representative: Isshu Rakusai, Representative Director and CEO

Kyoto Office: Kawamoto Building 5F, 110-16 Gosho Hachimancho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, 602-0023

Tokyo Office: Sumitomo Fudosan Yaesu-dori Building 4F, 2-14-1 Hatchobori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0032

URL: https://corp.helpfeel.com/

Helpfeel is a knowledge technology company that optimizes vast amounts of knowledge assets accumulated within companies into an "AI-Ready" knowledge base that AI can instantly utilize. It acts as the "context layer" that influences AI accuracy and performance, supporting the creation, accumulation, analysis, and utilization of knowledge data in an integrated manner. By continuously enhancing the value of knowledge assets, it supports AI accuracy improvement and autonomous utilization. The company offers comprehensive solutions to support companies' "AI-Ready" transformation, centered around the following three products:

AI Knowledge Data Platform "Helpfeel" that strengthens corporate AI

Knowledge Base "Helpfeel Cosense" that cultivates AI

AI that remembers images and videos on your behalf, "Gyazo"