The Coral Capital Podcast How This VC Brought Coinbase, Square & Palantir Into Japan | Phil Wickham
On this episode of The Coral Capital Podcast, Founding Partner James Riney and Investor Tiffany Kayo were joined by Phil Wickham, co-founder of Sozo Ventures—a globally-minded VC firm that’s backed breakout U.S. companies expanding into Japan, including the likes of Coinbase, Square & Palantir.
Philip shares rare, behind-the-scenes insights from decades spent bridging Silicon Valley and Tokyo, explaining why Japan is suddenly hot again for global startups—and how to navigate its famously complex corporate and cultural terrain.
Topics explored:
- The four pillars that make Japan a high-margin & high-loyalty market worth cracking
- Lessons from backing companies like Palantir, Square, Coinbase, and Need in Japan
- Why corporate money on your cap table can be more risk than reward—especially in Japan
- What founders consistently get wrong when entering Japan, and how to avoid wasting years
If you're working on something ambitious, we’d love to hear from you at Coral Capital!
00:00 Trailer
00:48 Introduction
03:06 Selling Japan to Startups
06:21 The Challenges of Entering Japan
09:01 First Steps for Expanding into Japan
13:02 Case Studies: Coinbase & NEED
16:06 Palantir’s Unique Approach to Japan
20:03 The Role of Corporates in Startup Growth
23:42 Targeting the Right Partners in Japan
28:06 Joint Ventures vs Independent Expansion
39:12 Keeping Options Open in Japan
51:05 Japan’s Global Competitive Edge
Connect with Phil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pwickham/
Connect with James:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesriney
Connect with Tiffany:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanykayo/
Learn more about Coral Capital
This episode was produced & distributed with the help of our friends at Atomik Growth.