After returning to the US, Joshi, whose parents moved to the US from India when he was 3 years old, attended graduate school at Dartmouth College, and earned an MBA and a master's in computer engineering. Myself, Mikael Berner and Kevin Stone, three of BeVocal's four founders, were part of this program. It was primarily in software, because that was where there was a shortage of skills in Japan. I was an exchange student in high school, and had lived and gone to school in Japan for a semester. The biggest challenge, initially, was just to find out what was going on.
Japanese companies have a lot of hierarchy and levels.
Just understanding who was responsible for what, how work got done, what the responsibilities were very difficult initially. Over time, the challenge was building working relationships with the right people in the company to get things done. I lived in downtown Osaka, and the headquarters were in the suburbs, so I had a reverse commute. It was a great experience, being able to interact with so many different people. I made a lot of friends.