By Chris Betros

Executive Impact May. 10, 2010 - 05:00AM JST ( 3 )

TOKYO —

These days, there are so many social utilities on the Internet, such as Facebook, Twitter, Mixi, that it is hard to keep up with them all. A new online community has been created by two enterprising young men in Tokyo to help users easily arrange their schedules, plans and life goals in a clear and easy format.

LIFEmee (www.lifemee.com) helps users consolidate all the important information in their lives on just one homepage. Whether you want to organize your schedule, express your ideas, take notes, share pictures and keep up to date with recent news, you can get everything done on your own personal page. You no longer need to open so many windows to live your daily life. You can even plan a will and notification to next of kin in case something happens to you.

The interface includes the option of posting just once on LIFEmee and then automatically pushing these posts on to your Facebook and Twitter profiles. There is also the option of scraping all your Facebook status updates and Twitter tweets to your LIFEmee page. This makes it easier for an SNS user to update their status or feelings just once and have their comments automatically posted in other chosen SNS sites. 

The brains behind LIFEmee are Jun Hasegawa and Kenny Lum. They currently work for Alpha-Do Inc, an advertising and import-export company, which is the parent company of LIFEmee.

Japan Today editor Chris Betros visits the pair at their office in Hatchobori to find out more about LIFEmee.

Kenny, what is your background?

Lum: I was born in Malaysia but moved to Vancouver when I was 4 and grew up there. After finishing university there, I came to Tokyo and taught English for a year. I met Jun’s mother who was a student. She helped myself and another teacher open our own school which we ran for two years while she trained me in the import-export work. That’s what I have been doing at Alpha-Do for the past five years.

Jun, how did you come up with the idea for LIFEmee?

Hasegawa: I first started thinking about it two years ago. I thought how convenient it would be to have a homepage where you can focus just on your life. Many people keep a life log by using Facebook, Twitter, Mixi, to have a memory and share it with their friends and family. We wanted to bring all that together in a controlled site. It took a while to pitch the idea to my parents. But last year, we finally got started. LIFEmee is a separate company but angel funded by Alpha-Do, which owns 10%.

When did you officially launch LIFEmee?

Hasegawa: It was launched last September at TechCrunch 50 in San Francisco. It was a great experience to be part of this competition where all the top IT companies were present.

What was the initial response?

Lum: In the beginning, it was way too complicated. The hard-core users got onto the site and told us there were too many buttons and icons. The version we launched in San Francisco was our alpha version. We simplified it more in November and just recently, in March, we launched the simpler beta version at Japan TechCrunch.

How do I join LIFEmee?

Lum: You need to register. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you can automatically just connect it. It will move over your account information such as your user name, email address and password.

How private is LIFEmee?

Hasegawa: I still use Facebook and Twitter because my friends are still there and I want to keep in touch, but what I put on LIFEmee is more private because it is a personal life management system. You can control the users with whom you share that information. For example, every time you enter your private information, you can choose your privacy settings from options such as: Publicly release your information, Release only to family, Release only to friends, Release only to networks or Don’t publicly release.

How does the so-called last will and testament work?

Lum: It’s not really a will, even though we call it that. It is more like your legacy which will be emailed to your family members. Should anything happen to you, your website will be sent off to whomever you decide. Every one or two months, there is a countdown and if you don’t reset it, it will automatically get sent out.

How many users do you currently have?

Lum: About 2,000 at the moment. They are mainly in Japan. Around 40% would be Japanese.

How do you market LIFEmee?

Hasegawa: IT events like TechCrunch have been most helpful in getting the word out. We promoted LIFEmee on Facebook as well.

How secure is the site?

Lum: Very secure. Someone tried to crash us down but we fought it off. We have three servers—main, web and database servers. The web server has separate layers, so if someone did manage to hack into a server, they would only have your first name, for example, and no other information.

What fine-tuning are you currently working on?

Hasegawa: We are still getting many suggestions from users. They want a mobile function which we will soon launch. To do that, we’re working with a company that helped us standardize our desktop version and they are working with Apple. That will push our user base up a bit more. We have just launched the iphone application for LIFEmee. You can download it from the Apple store.

What is your business model for monetizing the site?

Lum: We have redone our business model 4 or 5 times. Basically, we wanted to create a symbiotic relationship between our users and large companies to help everyone maximize their profits. Our users’ information and records would provide large companies with focused marketing resources on their likes, dislikes, hobbies, favorites etc. As a result, companies can use this valuable information to send out focused advertising to specific customers.

By connecting large companies to target customers, LIFEmee can collect handling and marketing fees from companies. Large companies can also provide users with campaign information, cash rewards and bonus points related to their brands. This would be a win-win situation for both the user and companies. As the company only advertises to customers interested in their products, those using these companies can receive added discounts, extra points or even cash rebates.

Users will also have the option to upgrade their LIFEmee account to a Premium version. They would pay an extra yearly fee that would give them a wider range of options such as larger server storage space, daily health management tips, personalized proposals and advice related to the user’s likes and interests. Premium account users would be able to receive additional discounts from selected companies. The final income source would be from basic per click advertising. With every click, LIFEmee would make a minimal profit.

This business model depends on how much we would be able to receive in Round A funding. For example, if we raised a substantial amount of funding, we would be able to approach larger and more credible companies to run our business model on a larger scale.

How did venture capitalists respond at the beginning?

Lum: After we came back from TechCrunch in San Francisco, we met all the venture capitalists like Mizuho Bank and Softbank Capital. They were willing to fund us but the percentage and conditions didn’t match our expectations, which is why we are holding off. We are still trying to decide whether we should grow on our own or take funding from venture capitalists to expand.

One of the things we found in talking to investors is that they hesitate because they don’t know how long we will last. If you are not backed by a big company in Japan, you won’t be taken seriously, which is why we are talking to some Japanese companies in the mobile industry, like Docomo and KDDI. If we can team up with them, then we will have the resources to build a business model.

How hectic has it been since you started LIFEmee?

Hasegawa: In the beginning, it was crazy. We hardly got any sleep. We had to apply for TechCrunch 50 early last year, so from January to December, it was hectic. Things are starting to get more normal now.

How do you guys balance your Alpha-Do duties with your LIFEmee work?

Lum: Nights, weekends and whatever other time we have, we are working on LIFEmee. Right now, Alpha-Do is really busy, so that takes up most of our days. In future, we hope to work on LIFEmee full-time.

What motivates you to work such a schedule?

Lum: LIFEmee has opened up new doors for me to learn about the IT industry. That is a fantastic experience and opportunity.

Hasegawa: If this site succeeds, we will have created a personal portal site that can change its users’ lives. That motivates me.

For more information, visit www.lifemee.com