Bespoke: Scaling Through Human-in-the-Loop AI
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the gist
Akemi Tsunagawa explains how Bespoke used 'fake' AI—human-powered customer service—to validate product-market fit before building the actual technology, a strategy that helped them solve labor shortages in Japan's tourism and industrial sectors.
The 'Fake It' Strategy for Product Validation
Akemi Tsunagawa, founder of Bespoke, emphasizes that the most effective way to build AI products is to solve the labor problem manually first. In 2015, when investors were skeptical of chatbots, Tsunagawa and her team manually answered customer queries while pretending to be a bot. This 'human-in-the-loop' approach allowed them to gather the necessary data to build a functional, automated system. By the time they secured a contract with Narita Airport, they had already proven the utility of their service, effectively following Paul Graham’s advice to 'do things that don’t scale.'
Solving Japan’s Labor Gap
Japan’s demographic decline—losing nearly one million people annually—has created a critical labor shortage. Bespoke has pivoted from its initial tourism-focused chatbot (Bebot) to broader industrial solutions, including training foreign workers via smart glasses (BeTrained) and moving into shipyard robotics. Tsunagawa argues that founders should identify these macro-societal shifts and build technology that specifically addresses the resulting labor gaps, rather than building tech for its own sake.
Cultural Integration and Over-Tourism
As Japan experiences a tourism boom, the country faces significant friction between local customs and foreign visitor behavior. Tsunagawa notes that successful integration of foreign labor and visitors requires a deep understanding of Japanese social norms, such as noise levels, tipping etiquette, and reservation systems. Her company’s software acts as a bridge, automating communication to reduce the stress on local service staff who are often overwhelmed by the influx of non-Japanese speakers.
The Reality of Founder-Parenting
Beyond technical strategy, Tsunagawa shares the logistical realities of being a single founder and mother in a country with limited childcare infrastructure. Her approach involves integrating her child into her professional life, including bringing him on international business trips and utilizing local childcare services in host countries. She suggests that startups, through wealth creation and flexible work models, may eventually provide the economic stability needed to make family-building less of a luxury in Japan.