This Year's Most Interesting Job

This Year's Most Interesting Job

Every now and again I join a gathering of other venture company CEOs in a group called the YEO (Young Entrepreneurs Organization). It's always interesting hearing what my innovative and "hip" Japanese colleagues are dreaming up for their latest service or product attack on the leaders in their respective markets. The YEO is a mixed bag of technologists, service industry types, and food and entertainment moguls. Last night, I got a lift back home from the meeting with the CEO of an entertainment group called Culture of Asia, Shige "Dragon" Ohara. You might know Club Asia as the first, and still the coolest, house music club on Love Hotel Mountain (Maruyama-cho) in Shibuya.

Ohara-san is one of my favorite Japanese CEOs, larger than life and always working on some new idea or trend. Ever since I've known him, he's been trying to break into the big time in either entertainment - partly achieved through his club - and the Internet. Driven by heart and personality, he isn't the kind of guy who goes out and advertises for employees. Instead, he recruits people he meets in his normal working day. So I was surprised when he asked me if I could recommend any bilinguals, foreign or Japanese, who love music and would like to surf the Web finding club and indie music producers around the world to license content from.

Here is a job that goes beyond the ordinary. Ohara-san wants someone who can think for themselves and who has genuine enthusiasm to build a business out of imported/licensed house and indie music. It would be a freewheeling position with the ability to approach and negotiate with interesting labels globally - all found through the Internet and referrals. As an entrepreneur, I sometimes stay up late at night looking at the Internet for new services and ideas to bring back to Japan. It's exciting, fun, and strangely addictive to approach people you've never met before over the Internet and elicit a productive response that leads to real business. Certainly the world of content, licensing, and intellectual rights has changed drastically in the last 3-4 years.

Anyways, working for "Dragon-chan" would be no cinch. He is a driven, very hyper entrepreneur who is looking for a similarly driven partner/employee to reach out to the outside world. I'm sure that the hours would be long, but for anyone interested in music, the Internet, research, and creating business - what an opportunity! You can find out more about the Dragon's quest for a cyber business researcher/development person at DaiJob.com: http://www.daijob.com/wij/