Benjamin Joffe

CEO of +8*, the leading cross-market strategic consultancy covering the 3 most actives mobile and Internet countries in Asia: China, Japan and South Korea.

Clients include telecom, Internet and mobile service companies, investment firms, media and advertising companies. China and Korea invented movable types hundreds of years before Gutemberg, what would your business look like with a few years advance on services concepts or business models?

+ Leading expert on Japan/China/Korea for mobile & Internet services and innovations with over 9 years continuous experience in the 3 countries.

+ Regular Keynote/Panelist/Moderator in industry events (ITU Asia, eComm, Ad-Tech, Red Herring, Asia Venture Capital HK, China Mobility Conference, etc.). Over 20 speaking engagements in 2008.

+ Selected among "China's TOP 100 Mobile Industry Influencers" in 2007 and 2008.

+ Recent presentations:
http://www.slideshare.net/plus8star/slideshows

+ Frequently quoted in various online and offline media (The Economist, CNN.com, AdAge, Asian Business Leaders, YLE, Interfax, etc.)

+ Recent videos:
http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=38179 (Facebook vs. Asian SNS @ Media08 conference in Sydney)
http://cn.chinaontv.com/video_player.php/video/8852 (China's Internet innovations @ ChinICT conference in Beijing)

+ Others +
- Founder and organizer of Mobile Monday Beijing
- Senior expert for the European Delegation to China
- Published the first detailed study on QQ and Cyworld, respectively China's and Korea's leading online communities.
- Monthly columnist on Asian innovation in the Chinese business magazine "Asian Business Leaders"
- Speaks fluently: English, Japanese, French and some Mandarin, Korean and Spanish

Benjamin Joffe’s Specialties:

Asian innovation, SNS, mobile, Internet, business models that work, stereotypes deconstruction, cross-cultural innovation, techno-anthropology, social networks, virtual worlds, FMC, Web 2.0 in Asia, 3G services, mobile TV, cyworld, mixi, mobile game town, sk telecom, tencent, qq

Benjamin Joffe’s Experience

Partner

CMUNE

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

December 2007 — Present (2 years )

CMUNE is the "third place" we lost somewhere in the modern world. I direct demo videos, water plants and work on biz models, human network and distribution.
Co-Founder & Organizer

Mobile Monday Beijing

(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

September 2005 — Present (4 years 3 months)

Founding and organizing of China's leading monthly information and networking event for mobile industry professionals.

Mobile Monday Beijing typically gathers 100~200 participants around 3~5 speakers on a given wireless-related topic.

Since its start in March 2006, membership grew over 2,000 members and 1,000 companies.

Join us at www.mobilemondaybeijing.com !
Founder & CEO

+8* | Plus Eight Star

(Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

September 2003 — Present (6 years 3 months)

Leader cross-market innovation consulting company for mobile and Internet services in Asia.

We identify mobile & Internet best practices in advanced markets (JP/KR/CN), strip them from their cultural layer and use them to accelerate our clients' business in their home market.

Clients: Telcos, Internet & mobile players, media & ad agencies, VCs and entrepreneurs (e.g. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, China Mobile, Adidas, Sands Capital, etc.)
Independent Professional

Keynote speaker (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Internet industry)

September 2003 — Present (6 years 3 months)

++ Regular Keynote / Speaker / Moderator / Panelist in mobile & Internet events (Red Herring Asia, China Mobility Conference, Mobile 2.0, China Web 2.0 Conference, Ubiquitous Computing Conference, etc.)

++ Senior expert for the European Delegation to China on mobile, Internet and e-commerce to support the evolution of Chinese regulations.

++ Selected among "China's TOP 100 Mobile Industry Influencers" in 2007
Owner & Chief Editor

+8* Publishing

(Online Media industry)

August 2003 — Present (6 years 4 months)

+8* | Plus Eight Star offers unique insights into the best practices of digitally advanced markets such as Korea, Japan and China.

Published case studies:

(1) Inside QQ | Lessons from China's leading online community
300 million accounts, 523 MUSD revenues in 2007
PDF, 185 pages, 3,000 USD

(2) Inside Cyworld | Lessons from South Korea's leading social network
20 million accounts, 200 MUSD in 2007
PDF, 190 pages, 2,000 USD

(3) Mobile Music Best Practices from Japan & Korea
PDF, 150 pages, 3,000 USD

Free samples ("sharing is caring")
http://www.plus8star.com/Inside_QQ_Sample.pdf
http://www.plus8star.com/Inside_Cyworld_Sample.pdf
Partner

Comteg

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry)

August 2003 — Present (6 years 4 months)

Partner for China for the Online Media consulting expert Comteg.

COMTEG.COM is a consultancy focused on Online Advertising, Media Measurement and Publishing. COMTEG's consulting services are Strategy Formulation, Market Entry and Industry Political Initiatives. We operate in Europe, The Middle East & Asia. The I-COM (International Conference on Online Media Measurement) is a global initiative in the form of a conference, aiming to solve the Media Measurement issues facing the Online Media Industry via international cooperation, information sharing and solutions.

Specialties:

Online Media Measurement (see blog http://comteg.com/omblog), Online Advertising, Online Publishing, Association Leadership, Board Representation, Business Strategy
Representative for Korea/Japan

Newt Games

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

September 2003 — December 2004 (1 year 4 months)

Pioneering location-based entertainment services for mobile phones
Business development and strategy for Japan and Korea.
Still awesome product and idea today.
Market Analyst

France Telecom Japan

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

September 2001 — August 2003 (2 years )

Market, Technology, Strategy analysis on the Japanese and Korean mobile markets.
Technology Licensing Manager

France Telecom Japan

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

September 2001 — August 2002 (1 year )

Responsible for France Telecom patent and software portfolio in Japan. Major contract concluded for Video over IP software and codecs.
Consultant - Team Leader

Jitex

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Market Research industry)

December 1999 — August 2001 (1 year 9 months)

Market and technology reports on various sectors in Japan, including transportation (railway, automotive), energy (fuel cells, wind turbines), IT (mobile and internet services)

Benjamin Joffe’s Education

Beijing Language and Culture University

Mandarin Chinese 2005 — 2006
ETP Korea

EC-sponsored Korean Business and Language Course (9 months) March 2004 — November 2004
Institut national des Langues et Civilisations orientales

Japanese language and culture (2nd year level) 1999 — 2000

Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2 in Dec. 2000
Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1

MS , Acoustics , September 1998 — September 1999
Ecole Centrale de Lyon

MS , Engineering , September 1994 — September 1999

Activities and Societies:

Major: general engineering
Minor: corporate strategy and Japanese language