Global Corporate Venturing Rising Stars Awards 2016: Jay Onda

“In the collision between consumer technology, cloud computing and cars, the legacy auto companies are lacking key ingredients for the future of the automobile.”

This start to an article by David Pakman, a VC at Venrock, former CEO of eMusic and co-founder MyPlay and Apple’s Music Group, pinpoints the main concerns around innovation for carmakers, including something as simple as hiring the best staff.

But it might be too soon to write them all off, judging by some of the talented arrivals in their corporate venturing units, including Jay Onda, director of strategic investments for Yamaha Motor Ventures and Laboratory Silicon Valley (YMVSV).

Onda joined Yamaha’s Californian corporate venturing unit in August to focus on robotics, vehicles and connected services, a month after it was set up by Hiro Saijou, the divisional manager of new venture business development at Yamaha Motor Company.

Saijou said: “I met him in January at CES, a global consumer electronics and consumer technology trade show held in Las Vegas, and was very impressed about his smartness to create value in business.

“Also, he has great experience in VC and entrepreneurship in his career especially in user interface and user experience. He also has experience in mobile communication.”

This experience came from 15 years working for various startups, notably at Apprion and QuinStreet until 2012, fulfilling various roles as part of co-founding teams. For three years before YMVSV, he worked with Japan-based phone operator NTT Docomo’s research and development laboratory in Palo Alto, California, and then switched to Docomo Capital, where he first entered into the corporate venture capital (CVC) industry.

Onda said: “As a gadget geek, my passion afor linking technology, music and design has created a strong foundation for where I am today.

“In my spare time, I am a mentor and adviser for various accelerators and innovation groups around the world. I’ll be a first-time father soon and am looking forward to tinkering with technology with my little sidekick.”

On the shift from startups to venture investor, Onda reflected the changing impressions in Silicon Valley. “I have been intrigued by the world of venture capital since my startup days. However, early in my career, we saw corporates more as an enemy than as an ally. As the tech sector matured, however, I saw the value of what corporates can bring to the table.

“With the boom of CVCs coming to the valley over the past decade, I saw many firms creating positive outcomes by providing strategic value to both parties by accelerating growth and bringing new innovations to the market. I saw this as an opportunity to bridge the agility of creative innovation built by startups and the ability to execute on growth and scale with corporate support. Connecting the synergy between the two ecosystems is what I find the most exciting in the CVC space.

“One of the biggest challenges is to gain the trust and support not only from the executive team but with the members of each business units as well. The reasons vary. Some are completely risk averse. Some do not believe collaboration with startups is necessary because they can build it themselves, while others do not see the disruptive innovation and business models that are surfacing on the horizon.”