Rakuten Technology Conference 2019

1. How to Engage Your AI Researchers
Cinnamon Inc. CEO Miku Hirano
2019/11/9

2. Miku Hirano
CEO Cinnamon Inc.
• MSc AI at University of Tokyo
• Founded Naked Tech (2006)
• Naked Tech was acquired by
Mixi (2011)
• Founded Cinnamon (2012)
• Mother of 2 very! cute babies

3. We are changing
the future of work

4. 17 goals to transform our world
3Ref：https://www.globalgoals.org/

5. Cinnamon contributes 4 goals
4Ref：https://www.globalgoals.org/

6. About Me

7. 2006:
22 yrs old

8. Complex Networks

9. A couple of PhD’s in
Complex Networks
started a business
Ref：https://www.itmedia.co.jp/enterprise/articles/1001/25/news015.html

10. PageRank Algorithm by
complex network theory

11. Page
Rank
Algo
Search
$800B
Google

12. Tech
Actual
Usage

13. Miku
(22 yrs old)
I want to make
company like
Google!
That’s
good ：)
Hajime
(23 yrs old)
My friend

14. 2006: Founded
Naked Technology

15. I was just a student,
didn’t know business

16. But tried!

17. Started to sell AI

18. Nobody was
interested in AI

19. Failure

20. But persisted!

21. Everyone
used
feature
phones

22. UI was
horrible

23. Mobile UI should be
as advanced as pc!

24. Created mobile
middleware

25. Acquired by Mixi Inc.
(2011)

26. My regret

27. We couldn’t go global

28. Go global!

29. US or Asia?

30. Decided to move to
Singapore!

31. 2012:
28 years old

32. Smartphone Era

33. Huge Impacts

34. Started
communication app
targeting Asia

35. Visited Vietnam

36. Fell in love
with Vietnam

37. Miku
(28 yrs old)
I want to live
in Vietnam!!
What???
Hajime
(29 yrs old)
Co-founder

38. Had to persuade
my co-founder

39. Miku
(28 yrs old)
There is so
many tech
talents in
Vietnam!!!!
That’s
good :)
Hajime
(29 yrs old)
Co-founder

40. Couldn’t speak English
No friends in Vietnam

41. But tried!

42. Started Cinnamon
in Singapore/Vietnam

43. Trial and Error for 3 yrs

44. All Failed

45. Restructure

46. But persisted!

47. 2 years
after all the failures…

48. Dramatic Changes
Restructure
Almost bankrupt
200ppl
Raised $16M

49. Cash balance
2012/2
Raised $1.5M
for the app
business
2017/6-12
Raised $1M
from angel
investors
2019/2
$15M for
Series B
2017/4
Released AI
products
2016/4-2017/4
System development
(Less than $100!)

51. Raised $1M
from angel
investors
Cash balance
2012/2
Raised $1.5M
for the app
business
2019/2
$15M for
Series B
2017/4
Released AI
products
2016/4-2017/4
System development
(Less than $100!)
2018/3
Second child born
2017/2
First child born

53. Had 2 babies
2 yrs old boy 1 year old girl

55. Our goal is to remove
all the repetitive tasks
from the world
to make people happy!

56. About Cinnamon

57. Enable AI-empowered Enterprise
with Unstructured Data Understanding

58. What we do
57
Transform unstructured data to actionable insights
DARK DATA
STRUCTURED
Spreadsheets, Databases, CSV files
SEMI-STRUCTURED
Invoices, Purchase Orders, Receipts
Medical Expenses
UNSTRUCTURED
Emails, Images, Voice, Video,
Free texts in Databases
20%
Visible
80%
Hidden

59. Three research areas to realize unstructured data understanding
58
Digitize Structure Understand
AI solutions with business impact by combining elemental technologies

60. Use Case
59
Digitize Structure Understand
Visualize sales calls and recommend actions at an investment bank
Transcribe speech
Classify content of each
call
Visualize differences
between good and bad
sales calls
Recommend actions

61. Customers
60

62. Offices
61
Japan
40ppl
US
3ppl
Taiwan
15ppl
Hanoi
70ppl
HCMC
70ppl
Dan
ang
5ppl
6 Offices in 4 countries, 200ppl globally

63. AI Engineer vs AI Researcher
62
AI
Engineer
AI
Researcher
People who make AI librariesPeople who combine AI libraries
↑
100 AI Researchers

64. Social
challenges in
developed
countries
AI talents in
emerging
countries

65. Global No.1 in Business AIGlobal No.1 in Business AI

66. How to Engage Your AI Researchers

67. 1000 AI researchers
in 2025

68. What happened in the last 1 year
67
Last year Now
20 researchers
100+ researchers

69. What happened in the last 1 year
68
Last year Now
20 researchers
100+ researchers
Crisis

70. Tough
deadline
No
research
time
Bad
allocation
No time to
learn
No vision
So many complaints…

71. I want to
resign
I want to
resign
I want to
resign
I want to
resign
I want to
resign
Half of researchers wanted to resign

73. AI Lab
powered by happiness

74. 3 important elements for happiness
73
Flow Meaning Relationship
I have
something to
truly enjoy that
I forget time
I am doing
something very
meaningful
Happy to be
surrounded by
other members

75. 2 important skills for AI researcher
74
People
Management
Business
Understanding

76. Grade 2 Level
75
Basic logic
IDEA
report
MECE, Formula, Funnel,
Framework, Pyramid principle etc
Input and Output
(details in the next page)

77. IDEA report
76

78. Example of ”Distillation”
77

79. IDEA report
78

80. 3 important elements for happiness
79
Flow Meaning Relationship
I have
something to
truly enjoy that
I forget time
I am doing
something very
meaningful
Happy to be
surrounded by
other members

81. Business Understanding Type
80
Revenue model, Channel, Cost,
Business Model Canvas, KPI,
Product-Market-Fit,
Post-Product-Market-Fit, UX
Audience, Itch, Storyline, Matrix,
Design, Speech
Business Presentation

82. Post Product-Market-Fit
81

83. Peter Thiel’s 4 rules
82

84. 3 important elements for happiness
83
Flow Meaning Relationship
I have
something to
truly enjoy that
I forget time
I am doing
something very
meaningful
Happy to be
surrounded by
other members

85. People Management Type
84
Four zones, Motivation type, Door opener,
Psychological Safety, Expectation, Problem mining,
Problem interpretation, Action Planning
Mentorship

86. What is community?

87. Customize mentoring by motivation types
86
Tough project.
Short deadline 
Type 5: Helper/Giver
Fear: I don’t want to annoy
other members
Mentoring: Let’s think how to
minimize the inconvenience for
other members
Tough project.
Short deadline 
Type 3: Achiever
Fear: I don’t want members to
think I’m useless
Mentoring: How about proposing
make the scope smaller to sales?
Having GRIT could be the biggest
contribution in this tough situation

88. Mentoring sheet to understand other researchers
87
Interest
Career Goal
Motivation Type
Complains
AI, ML, Product management, User Experience) research
Helper/Giver (with reasons)
Short-term career goal: AI-product tech lead
Long-term career goal: AI Technology Entrepreneur
Tough project. Short deadline.
Actions
Try to think how to minimize the inconvenience for other
members. Recommend books about xxx

89. 3 important elements for happiness
88
Flow Meaning Relationship
I have
something to
truly enjoy that
I forget time
I am doing
something very
meaningful
Happy to be
surrounded by
other members

90. AI Lab
powered by happiness

91. We are changing work
for the next generation

92. Thank you!
contact@cinnamon.is