Schyler Cole

Venture Capital | Policy | Ecosystem building

Hi, my name is Schyler! (Pronounced like "sky".)Thank you for stopping by.I'm a proud Memphian dedicated to creating and growing culturally and socially competent investment and innovation ecosystems.

My Guiding Star

My goal is to invest in and support diverse ideas, people, and organizations allowing people to have improved lives and livelihoods. I’m most excited about and committed to people and companies creating solutions that give real people more financial, temporal, physical, and/or mental agency over their lives.

A Few Things About Me

🇯🇵 Venture Capitaist @ Incubate Fund🔨Co-founder of Startup Co-Creation Community🍛 Social entrepreneur in the food and health space🌲 Stanford University c/o 2018 and former cheerleader🗼 The University of Tokyo, Master of Public Policy c/o 2021🧘🏽♀️ Yoga Teacher and Movement Coach👩🏽💻 Former Data Analyst🎙 Podcaster🥕 Level 1 Turnip Farmer3 things I love: seeing the people I love laugh, trivia, and old moviesInterested? Get in touch!See my professional experiences here.Check out my projects!Speaking Engagements/Interviews

About Schyler

〽️ I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee in the United States. I am grateful to consider Memphis and Tokyo my homes and have places I feel safe all around the world.🌲I graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Economics. I concentrated in health and behavioral economics, which directly led to the founding Health Through Heritage. While on the farm I was a cheerleader and Class Cabinet member.🗼 I earned my Master's of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo in 2021. I pursued the Economic Policy, Finance, and Development track, and my concentration was Strategy for Mission-Driven Investment and Innovation.🧰 I'm building my toolkit as a capital allocator. This is not limited to financial capital but also social and human capital. Currently, I am responsible for global fund strategy and am always on the lookout for interesting startups and entrepreneurs in Japan, the US, and Europe at Incubate Fund. Previously I was an Associate at Guerrilla Capital. I also strongly believe in offering a range of financial tools to meet the needs of diverse businesses and am building my capacity to deploy different financial tools. I'm particularly bullish on revenue-based investing.🍛 Using the results of my undergraduate thesis examining food behaviors and perceptions of personal health in African Americans across income levels, I founded Health Through Heritage (HTH), a social enterprise dedicated to creating a marketplace for culturally and socially competent food and health resources.♟I have worked in startups, a think tank, and venture capital firms in the US and Japan. I have experience in data analytics and visualization (Python, STATA, GIS, HTML), machine learning including natural language processing (NLP), strategy, project management, and working with diverse teams across time zones, seniority, and specialty. I have worked in the pharmaceutical, nutrition, food procurement, deep tech, and research spaces.🤸🏽♀️ I am a 200-hour registered yoga teacher, movement coach, dancer, and founder of Schyler Cole Yoga and Movement, LLC and Honor Your Flex brand. I am also Yoga Lead for SOGO Fitness, one of the largest fitness communities in Japan. Our bodies are innately made to move, adapt - be mobile. Through private coaching, signature programs, and community-centered offerings, I help my students finally achieve their flexibility, mobility, and other movement goals on their terms using an efficient, research-based approach.🥕 Being a Level 1 Turnip Farmer reveals that I am both a video game nerd and desperately trying to grow my own plants at home. (Please send help!)💡 I'm open to finding synergies and collaborating on projects. I do content creation, marketing strategy, writing, and performing. Feel free
to reach out.Check out my projects!Shhhh, it's exclusive.

projects

Here are some of my current and previous projects. Check back often for the latest updates!Interested? Get in touch!

Startup Co-Creation
Co-Founder, Strategy & Partnerships LeadSCC exists to provide meaningful connections, expertise, and genuinely exciting opportunities for members of the English-speaking startup ecosystem in Tokyo.
We are working toward this vision by curating, sharing, and creating startup knowledge and hosting events that result in real-world social connections between our members.Within SCC, I created and lead Fitness League and our curated dinners.

Founder Institute JapanThe world’s largest pre-seed acceleratorSince 2009, over 5,000 companies have used the Founder Institute to build global businesses, solve big problems, raise over $1.5 billion in funding, recruit a team, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more.In the upcoming Japan Virtual 2022 Program, you can work directly with our team to build your business, no matter where you are.

GloballyA collaboration to connect highly-motivated foreign and globally-minded university students, recent graduates, and young professionals with exciting roles in startups, venture capital firms, and ecosystem players in Japan.Inaugural event June 25, 2022

Master of Public PolicyMaster of Public Policy - Economic Policy, Finance and Development Track
Concentration in Strategy for Mission-Driven Investment and InnovationThesis: Catalyzing Innovative Investment in Small and Medium Enterprises: Revenue-Based Financing Fund Proposal and
Recommendations for Investors and Policymakers; Advisor: Masaru Yarime

Health Through HeritageA social enterprise dedicated to empowering minority communities by providing a marketplace, toolset, and educational resources on culturally relevant nutrition, health, and built environment choices.

Vital Connections Media
(VCedia)A podcast dedicated to inclusive, actionable dialogue on funding and building a better future, By being purposefully inclusive in terms of guest demographics and discussion topics we will bring together everyone hungry to build a better world.

Schyler Cole
Yoga and Movement LLCI am a yoga teacher and movement coach on a mission to maximize my students' potential through research-driven and systems-based flexibility mobility-focused movement practice.

Farm WayzeAs a member of the Legacy Foundation Japan, I am leading We Farm, a cross-cultural farming initiative in collaboration and solidarity with local farmers in Gunma prefecture to provide farming opportunities and preserve local legacies.It is not every day that individuals and families living in urban areas have the opportunity to be directly connected to where their food comes from. We Farm creates that opportunity for people to be intimately connected to the soil of the land. Participants will see not only where their food comes from but also learn how to grow, harvest and give back to the land and community through cross-cultural and volunteer opportunities. We Farm is creating a platform for food production, social engagement and education, in a farm-centric community.

Publications and
Research OutputsOne of my superpowers is having a "researcher's mindset".Check out my new newsletter Innovation X!

Let's Chat

I'm open to meeting new people and having engaging conversations. If anything you've read resonates with you, please reach out below!

Thank you for reaching out!

I'm looking forward to talking with you soon.

Back to My Projects

Publications and research outputs

Catalyzing Innovative Investment in Small and Medium Enterprises: Revenue-Based Financing Fund Proposal and Recommendations for Investors and Policymakers; Advisor: Masaru YarimeA First Step Toward Increased Use of Natural Language Processing in Video Games - Term Paper for Data Science and Machine Learning at The University of TokyoFood Behaviors and Perceptions of Personal Health: Differences Among African Americans Across Income Levels; Advisor: Dr. Jayanta BhattacharyaHartle, J. C., Cole, S., Trepman, P., Chrisinger, B. W., & Gardner, C. D. (2017). Interdisciplinary food-related academic programs: A 2015 snapshot of the United States landscape. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development.

Globally June 2022

I love sharing actionable information.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of events where I've been a speaker and interviews:

Speaking Engagements

Globally (MC)
Founder Institute Japan - "Equity& Funding" (Mentor)
500 Global, Shibuya Startup Support - International Startups x Tokyo Investors (Panelist)
Founder Institute Japan - Pitch Your Startup Idea to Japan Investors & Experts (Panelist)
Moon Creative Lab International Women's Day (Speaker)