A conversation with Akio Nuernberger, ex-Microsoft and now a full-time creative problem solver building something new.
Welcome to Antler, Akio! First things first, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
For starters, I grew up in a German/Japanese family in Tokyo, Japan. I attended a German school, but was inspired to move to Germany and grow in a new environment. I was looking for an interdisciplinary course that combined mechanical engineering with business, and I found that at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). I’ve always been curious about understanding how things work and how to design things to optimize them, whether they’re in a technical domain or even in a political or business domain. You could point to my father, an engineer, and my mother, who is more of a generalist, as the sources of my broad range of interests.
How was the transition moving from Japan to Germany?
It’s funny because when I was in Japan, I thought I was in a German environment, but it was only until I moved that I realized how different that environment was from actually being in Germany. People may speak the same language, but that doesn’t mean they will act the same. It was a bit of a challenge, but that’s just a part of growing up.
Was there anything in particular that stood out to you?
Japanese culture is much more collectivist than German culture, which tends to air on the more individualistic side. People often tell me that German and Japanese culture are very similar, and on the outside one can draw these parallels because both cultures are stereotypically more reserved, always on time, etc., but I have found that although the output is the same, the intention behind it is different.
I was also a bit shocked to see a hesitation towards innovation in Germany. In my experience, I found that people were skeptical about implementing new products or technologies. For example, I found novel payment systems was generally not a topic of interest in Germany, whereas in Japan I saw the widespread adoption and excitement that came with the introduction of ticketless payment systems for the subways in the early 2000s.
Can you tell me a bit about your past work experience?
During my studies I did an internship with Deloitte in Japan, where I worked closely with a German client. This experience gave me further insights into these two cultures because I had a bit of an unfair advantage given my background. I found that I excelled at being the glue between the two cultures.
Upon finishing, I decided that I wanted to do something completely different from traditional consulting. Joining Microsoft was just that. Seeing the impact digital technologies have on business propositions sparked my curiosity to learn more about IT, and my role at Microsoft challenged me by having to learn from ground zero. From understanding the elements of cloud infrastructure to leading strategic initiatives with a network of over 150 German CTOs, it’s safe to say that I accomplished my goal of learning something new during my time at Microsoft.
Why did you decide to make the switch to entrepreneurship?
I always had the itch to found. Even in university, friends and I would discuss different ideas late at night that we would like to bring from Japan to the rest of the world. In my professional life, it became increasingly obvious to me that I am happiest when I am trying new things or working on new projects. The challenge of what is unknown fascinates me because it opens the door to find creative solutions. I found that I was always being pulled into projects centered around building new things, so I thought why not make the switch to do something like that full time?
How did you find out about Antler?
By chance, I was connected with one of Antler’s previous cohort members through my wife. At the time, I had heard of Antler through friends, and was curious about the cohort so I thought a chat would not hurt. While applying, I was impressed with how engaged and ambitious everyone on the Antler team was. You could feel the energy during the interviews, and I could tell that everyone at Antler is proud of what they do, and that is something I look to surround myself with.
We’ve just wrapped up the first month of your cohort. How has the experience been so far?
In one word, engaging. Reflecting back on the first day, everyone was eager to pitch their idea, but now you can see that founders are focusing on the people and their values. I’ve enjoyed seeing how that dynamic has shifted through the weeks. Inspiring is a second word to describe the past month because of the people in the cohort. These aren’t people who need to rely on picture-perfect CVs because they have experiences doing things that are extremely interesting. Being able to talk to people from a wide range of backgrounds and hear their perspectives is energizing to say the least.
The first two weeks were all about getting to know the people and their backgrounds through working in different group challenges. From there, I tried to narrow down possible co-founder matches with an Excel sheet. But in the end, the gut feeling based on the group challenges played a large role in my decision-making. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual and I have been working exclusively with another founder since the end of week four. We are now looking into different problem spaces and currently trying to validate different hypotheses. If all goes well, we will find a large enough pain point that we can use to start building a solution.
Starting something like Antler is one of the few experiences where you are able to stand at the starting line and hit the ground running together at the same time. Yes, there is some competitiveness, but there is a mutual acceptance that we are all in the same boat. This is helpful because founding is hard enough as it is, so having a peer group of people going through the same struggles is powerful.
What are you looking forward to?
One of the most important things for me is to have quick learning experiences. After pairing up with my co-founder, I’ve been enjoying the quick successions of learnings during the process of ideating something that you can actually build and market. Failure is always a possibility, but I think that as long as you’re learning quickly, you will still be moving forward. Even with the upcoming pitch sessions, I am actually looking forward to getting feedback from the partners — the harsher the better. At Antler we have the opportunity to learn from people who have achieved so much, so why wouldn’t I take advantage of that?
Want to join Akio and other exceptional founders? Applications for the Antler Berlin cohort starting January 16, 2023 are still open.
