Mochio Umeda

One of the most well-known commentators on IT and Web 2.0 issues in Japan, Umeda is also the author of the best-selling book "Web Shinkaron (Theory of Web Evolution)." He is a Japanese IT enterprise management consultant, the president and founder of the Silicon Valley-based MUSE Associates, and has served as a board member of Hatena Co. Ltd. and Ricoh Company, Ltd. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Keio University and a Master of Information Science from Tokyo University.

Umeda studied at Keio University, Tokyo, from 1979 to 1983, where he studied Engineering, and then went on to study at Tokyo University, where he received a Master of Information Science. Upon his graduation, he joined Arthur D. Little, an international management consulting firm, and served as a strategist for Japanese IT companies. In 1994, he moved to Silicon Valley as one of the Founding Directors of the Arthur D. Little Silicon Valley office. In 1997, he left the firm and founded MUSE Associates, a strategic consulting company catering to high-tech businesses for both Japanese and Silicon Valley companies, in Palo Alto, CA. In 2000, Umeda established Pacifica Fund, a Silicon Valley venture fund specializing in early investments in select, emerging information technology, energy, and materials companies.

In 2006, he wrote "Web Shinkaron," in which he elucidated the rapid changes then happening in the IT industry, mainly from Silicon Valley. He successively went on to write "Web Jidai wo Yuku (2007)" and "Web Jidai 5-tsu no Teiri (2008)." The trilogy sold more than 800,000 copies in total, and Umeda's voice and insights regarding the IT industry remain most valued in Japan.