Career Journey
After studying Law and Economics at an Australian university and qualifying as a lawyer, Osawa began his career at a strategy consulting firm, where he worked on large-scale government projects involving infrastructure development and transportation policy. He later joined a major Australian bank, where he was involved in corporate strategy. In 2024, he moved to Japan and gained experience at a startup before co-founding Yodo Labs in March 2026.
With a diverse career spanning consulting, finance, and entrepreneurship, Osawa shares what inspired him to choose Japan as the stage for his next challenge, as well as his vision for the future he hopes to create through Yodo Labs.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset — Engaging Directly with Customers
Q. What experience first inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
A. My entrepreneurial journey began when I was 13 years old. I taught myself how to build websites because I wanted to run a gaming blog. Once I learned how to create websites, I started thinking, "Maybe this skill could be useful to other people." That led me to offer affordable website development services to small businesses. By the age of 15 or 16, I had launched my first business and gained firsthand experience acquiring customers. Of course, I faced many challenges along the way. I didn't always know how to properly validate my ideas or how to scale a business. But those early experiences taught me an important lesson: Rather than just thinking about an idea, it's essential to take action, put it in front of real customers, and test whether it actually works.
Q. How do you define failure?
A. To me, the real failure is doing nothing. When taking on something new, it's natural to feel uncertain or anxious. You might wonder, "What if I fail?" or "Am I really capable of doing this?" Sometimes, those doubts can make it difficult to take the first step. But simply hesitating doesn't create anything, and nothing changes if you don't take action. Even if things don't turn out the way you originally hoped, every challenge brings new discoveries, valuable lessons, and experiences that can lead to future opportunities. On the other hand, if you never take action, you never even give yourself the chance to discover those possibilities. That's why I believe in taking the leap rather than regretting what I never tried. You don't need to have all the answers from the beginning. What matters is taking action, learning along the way, adjusting your approach when necessary, and continuing to move forward. Looking back on my life, some of the most meaningful experiences and connections have come from stepping into unfamiliar territory. Each of those experiences has helped shape who I am today. Failure is proof that you tried. Doing nothing is what truly limits your potential. I want to keep challenging myself, embracing the possibility of failure, and taking steps toward new opportunities.
Starting a Business in Japan — Bringing Different Strengths Together to Create Something New
Q. What inspired you to start a business in Japan?
A. Japan has always held a special place in my life. I spent part of my childhood here and continued visiting every year during my student days, so I have a strong personal connection to the country. After building my career in Australia, I felt a growing desire to take on a new challenge. In 2023, I began seriously exploring business opportunities in Japan. What particularly caught my attention was that Japan is already facing many social challenges ahead of the rest of the world, including an aging population, a declining birthrate, and labor shortages. I saw an opportunity to leverage my experience to address these challenges and create new value for society. That ultimately inspired me to start a business in Japan.
Q. What made you decide to co-found Yodo Labs with Pan?
A. Pan has a deep understanding of technology and exceptional development capabilities. What stood out to me most when we started working together was how naturally our pace and approach to business aligned. He primarily focuses on technology, while I take the lead on the business side, but we have great respect for each other's areas of expertise. I'm also personally eager to deepen my understanding of technology, which makes our partnership even more effective. Most importantly, we're both able to take initiative and work independently while sharing the same level of passion, ambition, and speed. By combining our different strengths and moving forward with a shared vision, we've been able to make significant progress in growing the business in a relatively short period of time.
Preserving Expertise Through Technology — Connecting Skills and Knowledge to the Future
Q. What potential do you see in Japanese industry and society?
A. I believe one of Japan's greatest strengths is its deeply rooted culture of workplace safety and commitment to established procedures. In some countries, safety can remain more of a slogan than an everyday practice. In Japan, however, I've found that it is genuinely embedded in day-to-day operations. At the same time, I believe there are challenges when it comes to the speed of decision-making and implementation. That said, we're beginning to see a shift. More companies, including large corporations, are recognizing the urgency of labor shortages and other industrial challenges, and they're becoming increasingly open to adopting new technologies and embracing change. Japan's aging population and declining birthrate are also challenges that many other countries will eventually face. If we can develop solutions in Japan that successfully combine safety and automation, those technologies and insights could be applied around the world. **That's where I see enormous potential.**Q. Is there a discovery that has stood out to you as you've built the business?
Q. What has been one of the most memorable discoveries you've made while developing the business?
A. One of the most striking things I've learned through testing our solutions in real-world industrial environments is just how difficult it can be for people to detect subtle changes and make objective comparisons. For example, experienced workers who have spent years at the same facility can often recognize abnormalities or potential risks from an unusual sound or even a slight visual change. However, passing down that kind of experience and intuition in a way that others can consistently replicate is far from easy. As experienced workers retire, the loss of their knowledge and expertise can have a significant impact on workplace safety and risk management. That's why I believe there is tremendous value in building systems that continuously collect and store data from industrial environments, allowing us to objectively and quantitatively visualize what has changed and how it has changed.
Q. What motivates you to keep challenging yourself, even in difficult situations?
A. What keeps me going, even when faced with challenges, is a strong belief that "I can do it." Above all, being able to do work that I genuinely love, and truly believing in its value and potential, is what drives me forward. When I encounter a difficult challenge, I actually feel excited. I believe that if everything comes easily, there is a limit to how much we can grow. Challenges help me recognize things I may have overlooked and areas where I still need to improve. I find great meaning in the process of overcoming those obstacles, one step at a time. Even small problems can turn into major setbacks later if we fail to address them early on. That is why I see challenges not as obstacles that hold me back, but as opportunities that lead to better outcomes. Even if things don't turn out exactly as I had hoped, I know I won't have regrets as long as I can honestly say that I gave it my all.
The People Behind Yodo Labs
Q. What do you admire about your team members, and what qualities do you look for in the people you work with?
A. What I admire most about our team members is their determination to keep searching for solutions, even when they face unfamiliar challenges or difficult situations. Instead of simply saying, "We can't do that" or "It's never been done before," they actively explore possibilities, make use of AI and the latest tools, and take the initiative to learn whatever is necessary to turn ideas into reality. They're willing to step outside their areas of expertise, acquire new knowledge independently, and put that knowledge into action. I have tremendous respect for their intellectual curiosity and persistence. I don't believe people need to know everything from the beginning. What matters most is having a genuine interest in your field and the challenges you're working on, along with the natural curiosity to ask, "I want to learn more" or "What else could we achieve with this technology?" I value people who are motivated to explore those questions and take the initiative to find answers.
Q. What kind of future do you hope to create through Yodo Labs?
A. I want to create a future where robots and drones can effectively collect, store, and utilize data from real-world industrial environments, enabling them to work more intelligently alongside people. Over the next five to ten years, I envision a world where new technologies significantly improve workplace safety and help bridge the gaps in knowledge and experience created as skilled workers retire. Our goal isn't to completely replace people with AI or robots. Instead, we want technology to complement human capabilities, making industrial environments safer and more productive. To make that vision a reality, we aim to build the data infrastructure for Physical AI through Yodo Labs. Ultimately, we want to establish a global platform originating from Japan, contributing to solutions for industrial challenges around the world.
Final Thoughts
Q. What kind of people would you like to see join Yodo Labs?
A. I'd love to work with people who have strong intellectual curiosity and the ambition to create something truly innovative in Japan that can make an impact on the global stage. We're not simply looking to expand existing systems or follow established approaches. We want to create entirely new value from the ground up. I'm excited to work alongside unique, energetic individuals who are passionate about building something new and who genuinely enjoy taking on ambitious challenges.
