A Day at Impact HUB Tokyo

Archive date: February 22, 2018

Impact HUB Tokyo hosts a variety of events every week. Why do we bother doing so many though? It’s because these events have a huge impact on ordinary businesses and are the wellsprings for new ideas and collaborations. Every event organized by Impact HUB Tokyo has a clear purpose and goal. We’ll introduce some of them below.

Fostering a culture of learning through failure with Fuckup Nights”

It is often said, “We learn more from failure, not from success.” Yet, society continues to sell the idea that there is a secret method to success. We rarely get the chance to ask predecessors about their failures or learn from them. Talks are often filled with success stories.

At Impact HUB Tokyo, we want to create an community culture where members can learn from each other’s failures. We introduced “Fuckup Nights”, which originated in Mexico and has spread to Impact HUB’s all over the world. In Japan, people rarely speak about their experiences, making sharing “failure stories” an even higher hurdle to jump over. For that reason, we localized an English event which encouraged direct communication, “Failure Sucks, but Instructs”, and ran our first event.

Our first Fuckup Night had people sharing stories of failure that turned them red from head to toe, but was a great success. Despite the topic of the night being all about failure, the atmosphere was filled with optimism and warmth. This is one of the Impact HUB Tokyo’s most popular events that is held regularly in both English and Japanese.

The Fuckup Nights (https://www.facebook.com/jointhefunintokyo/) transformed our community. Increasingly, there were casual moments where members would share little failures, discuss them, and learn from them. One time, a member came in after making a proposal to a client and started a conversation with “I screwed up” while sipping his cup of coffee. That opened the floor to a hold a small revision meeting. Even as we were learning from our peers’ failures, we were able to help these demoralized members by renewing their energy to tackle their next challenge. As a result, our community adopted a positive culture where “failure does not invite more failure, but is a stepping stone.”

“Spark Plug”: a pitch event where one can question the impact and ask, WHY?

“Spark Plug” has been a popular event ever since Impact HUB Tokyo opened. This pitch event with a special focus on asking the key question “why” and with a focus on overall impact of initiatives was spearheaded by our co-founder, Potier, who has been to pitch events all over the world. Based on the belief that “people are not just service providers; they are connected by empathy”, the entrepreneurs who take the stage at the events passionately share, “Why did I become involved in this?” and “What do I hope to show with my results”?

Spark Plug (https://hubsparkplug.doorkeeper.jp/) is part of Impact HUB Tokyo’s identity. This is where we challenge the current status quo and start ventures that will create an impact–where an exciting level of tension and peer pressure can be brought constructively into the community.

Creating controlled chaos.

At Impact HUB Tokyo, we also hold fun non-business-related events. One of them was a “Gyoza Making” event for our anniversary. This event, which held the theme “Make our own, Do it Together”, was very hands-on and required participants to make the gyoza skin and fillings all by themselves. Over 50 Hubbers and their family members gathered for that one day where we all focused on making gyoza with determination. Together, we did something we’d never tried before, prepped the ingredients, wrapped the gyoza, and created a gyoza production line. Every now and then, we would work together with someone new. We spoke with members we hadn’t seen in a long time while covered in flour, we ate gyoza with our families, and the day flew by.

Our event organizer and Impact HUB Tokyo co-founder, Shino, reminds us, “Even in a space like this, it is important to continue nurturing a vibrant community”. There are times when a community can move unrelentingly towards a vision, which can cause friction and tension. In those moments, it is essential to inject a controlled chaos in to the community to shake things up. The gyoza making has its inherent meaning, the Impact HUB Tokyo adapted it to the organization’s style.

Into the future of coworking spaces–Community is a new Laboratory.

Impact HUB Tokyo has since evolved from its original model as a coworking space. What we are focusing on now is continuing our own personal development. We observe the community, observe changes, and take in news before introducing experimental initiatives.

Recently within the kitchen space we’ve introduced a new accelerator program, “Kitchen Lab Course”, aimed at entrepreneurs who are thinking of launching food related businesses (such as lunch, dinner, catering or bento deliveries). In addition, we have a scholarship program, “Entrepreneur In Residence”, for seasoned entrepreneurs who have experience setting up a number of businesses, and “Startup In Residence” for startups which are in the process of establishing their business model. Impact HUB Tokyo’s founder has also continued challenging new ventures that will allow us to learn through the management of this space, develop new concepts, and implement new visions.

Here at Impact HUB Tokyo we believe that “community” is a new laboratory. The various challenges and experiments, and the discoveries and changes we make will not develop from an environment that has its heart locked up. We also cannot say that it is sustainable to depend on a single superstar “entrepreneur” for innovation. Here at Impact HUB Tokyo, we will continue to look out for future signs and evolve with the community.

This piece is a translation from Impact HUB Tokyo’s original post “Vol. 3 Impact HUB Tokyoの日常” with permission.

Writer/Editor: Ishikawa Koumei (石川孔明) Translator: Levana Lam