Yohei Nakajima

Category: Startups

  • Introduction to A/B Testing

    Don’t know what A/B testing is? It’s when companies test a hypothesis, for example, by randomly displaying two versions of a home page and testing to which results in a higher sign-up rate, or a conversion rate. To understand how A/B testing works, take a look at this article, a single case study of how […]

  • Cost of Online Ads

    Average cost of pay-per-click ads over time (source: Hochman Consultants) Global Average Cost per Click data by Industry (source: SEOmoz) Finance    —     $3.09 Jobs & Education   —  $1.80 Business & Industrial —  $1.67 Computers & Electronics  —  $1.39 Internet & Telecom  —  $1.11 Beauty & Fitness   — $1.11 Autos & Vehicles  —  $0.97 Home […]

  • Making Life Better

    My girlfriend was feeling a little down today, so I drew her this notecard and explained to her how even when you’re doing everything just right, you can still sometimes be in a bad mood. Making life better, isn’t that all we want? We might disagree on what we consider a better life, but let’s […]

  • LEEAP: Los Angeles Startup Ecosystem [Video]

    My friend Simon Walker is doing a project called LEEAP where he travels the world’s top 10 startup ecosystems and interviewing prominent individuals to get a sense of how the cities differ from each other. He stopped by LA a few weekends ago and put together this 20 minute video for us: *featuring yours truly […]

  • Coloft Academy

    For those of you who don’t know this yet, I joined the Coloft team as their Academy Program Director just over a month ago. My day-to-day job is to identify and connect with amazing individuals who have the desire to share the knowledge they’ve accumulated with the tech startup community of Los Angeles. We host […]

  • Chicken or the Egg? Team or Idea?

    Which comes first, the team or the idea? A person with an idea, passion, and determination, can collect a team, then rock out, yeah? But as the seasons change, so does the idea, and the path of the idea is set by the team. But the team is also shaped by the idea, because the […]

  • Artificial Intelligence, How Prevalent Is It?

    It’s out there, but not everywhere. Within 10 years, we’ll see it applied to most businesses. Want to see if it’ll apply to your business? Hit up Instadat, an Artificial Intelligence startup in Los Angeles. Yeah, you heard that right. Letting the Machines Decide (Wall Street Journal) – New wave of investment firms look to […]

  • Aromatherapy for Entrepreneurs

    Need to focus, concentrate, or memorize things? Surround yourself with Rosemary. Want to get a room to start thinking creatively? Use Clove Oil, which stimulates the mind, and combine it with citrus aromas, which elevates mood. While there doesn’t seem to be many large scale studies that “prove” the effectiveness of aromatherapy, we do know […]

  • A Few Thoughts on Crowdsourcing

    Crowdsourcing is such a vast and interesting topic! Where to start… Crowdsourcing is basically asking people to help you do something. You could say barn-raising is crowdsourced construction. Wikipedia is my favorite example of a crowdsourced knowledge base. 99 Designs is one of the bigger websites where you can crowdsource design work. Crowdfunding is another example of […]

  • MicroVentures is a Securities Broker and Crowdfunding Platform

    The crowdfunding law was just passed, but MicroVentures has been raising money for startups through a similar process for over a year. They’ve successfully raised money for funds that invest in larger tech startups on secondary markets. For example, they raised $300,000 for Facebook last year. Other portfolio companies include Yelp, 500 Startups, and Tech […]