Fukunaga, Ledford, and Greenfield

I've decided to take a break from the depressing topic of piracy this week and talk about something else. Since I'm working on obtaining my Entertainment Business Masters currently, why not talk a little bit about the origins of two of the most well known companies in the anime industry?

One of the most successful anime franchises in the United States is, without a doubt, Dragon Ball Z. Brought to the United States back in 1996, even today it remains one of Funimation's best selling series. The man who brought it to America was Gen Fukunaga, the President of Funimation Entertainment.

Gen Fukunaga was born in Japan, and grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana. Fukunaga spent his entire 8th grade year in Japan, where he became enamored with the Japanese style of animation. Years later, he would remember the cartoons he saw in Japan and would form a company with the sole purpose of bringing those shows to the United States.

Fukunaga's uncle was one of the producers for the hit series Dragon Ball, in Japan, and approached Gen about bringing the series over to America. Gen had been intent on starting his own company in order to bring Japanese animation to the United States, and Dragon Ball seemed to be a great starting point. Having drafted up his business plan for the company that would become Funimation, Gen began to meet with investors.

There was one particular investment group that was interested in Gen's business plan. Several years earlier, that had invested in another company bringing Japanese content over to the United States. That company, Nintendo, had done phenomenally well, so they were very interested in things coming over from Japan.

Fukunaga had all sorts of data about anime, which he laid out for the investors. However, they weren't all that interested until he mentioned one fact. Dragon Ball was the "#1 video game in Japan, and other territories." Once they heard that, they were hooked. They were convinced that regardless of whether or not the show succeeded or failed in the US, their investment would be saved by the video game.

They were, of course, in correct about that. While the video games have done will in the United States, their success pales in comparison to the success of the anime.  However, when you are trying to get investors, you have to get their attention, and Gen succeeded in doing that. While not an integral part of his plan, the video game was able to hook his investors enough to get the funding for what he really wanted to do: which was the anime. In order to get investors, you need to have some tidbit that really catches their interest, even if it's not your main focus. As long as you get their interest, it doesn't matter how.

Matt Greenfield

John Ledford

Funimation isn't the only important company in the history of anime. ADV, while no longer in existance, was once the leader in the North American Anime market. The company was started by John Ledford and Matthew Greenfield, with their release of Devil Hunter Yohko.

Ledford and Greenfield started the company by themselves, doing the majority of the work in David Williams living room. Initially they only gave the shows subtitles, but several years later began dubbing the shows into English.

The first show they licensed was Devil Hunter Yohko, which they licensed from the Japanese distribution company Toho for $100,000. Toho reluctantly licensed them the show, unsure whether or not they would be able to handle it. Ledford and Greenfield made their money back within three months.

While not initially looking for investors, Ledford and Greenfield needed to convince Toho to license them the show. Although Toho was skeptical about whether or not ADV could handle the distribution, nevertheless they did end up licensing them the show. Once they had succeed with the license, it was much easier for them to get additional licenses in funding, eventually culminating with a partnership with the Japanese investment firm Sojitz.

This just goes to show that the best weapon entrepreneurs have when trying to convince investors is success. If your business plan has proven sales, especially if they are as promising as ADV's were with their first license, that is something that investors want in on. The are almost guaranteed to make back their money, and more, which is what investors are looking for. Success is what investors want, so that's what you want to give them.


Sources: Interview with Funimation's Gen Fukunaga, Why Grow Up? - Forbes.com, ADV Teams up with Sojitz