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Name: Sheridan Tatsuno
Age: 47
Company Name: Dreamscape Productions
Company Address: Aptos, California
Type of Business: Multimedia/Internet research & consulting, Film/video production, Web publishing (The Dreamscape Network -- soon!)
Years Incorporated: 7
Previous Job: Senior semiconductor analyst at Dataquest
Education: BA, Yale Political Science/Urban Studies, '72; Coro Foundation Public Affairs Intern '73; Masters in Planning and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, '77

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1. What is your official job title? Is there a more whimsical description that might be more accurate?

Official title: president. Real role: corporate brainstormer and video dreammaker. I help companies visualize future business scenarios and dream teams to create dream multimedia/Internet products and services. Our Dreamscape logo is: "We have a dream."

2. What was the inspiration for starting your own business?

After spending 12 years in corporate America, I wanted more freedom to pursue my own dreams and goals: to travel, write, help companies reposition, and make films/videos. I hated stuffy bosses, office politics, commuting, and working in a lousy cubicle all day. Glad I quit. And it pays a lot more too!

3. What makes your company unique?

I'm known as a U.S.-Japan visionary who looks at new technologies and how people in both cultures use them. I've written two books which were made into TV documentaries. "The Technopolis Strategy" (Prentice Hall, 1986), about Japan's technopolis high-tech park program, was made by Central Independent Television plc in London in 1991 as "Japan Dreaming" (the inspiration for our company name). "Created in Japan" (Harper Row, 1990, $10 paperback available from Dreamscape, 408-685-8818) was used in the four-hour "The Creative Spirit" PBS series which was sponsored by IBM. I helped with the research and shooting in Kyoto, which I really love. In fact, I'm writing a virtual romance screenplay based on the Tale of Genjji, which was inspired by a Buddhist statue restorer we interviewed. I'm planning to make it into a film and CD-ROM game.

4. How did your college major / graduate school degree help prepare you for your career?

Doing research and writing reports were the most useful things I picked up in school. I highly recommend learning to write knock-out reports with depth and insights. It's the most useful thing you'll learn.

For entrepreneurs, learning to hustle is key. Besides taking 7 courses each semester (5 for credit), I worked 10 to 20 hours a week at every campus job imaginable. I was a master of time management. It was rough because Yale and Harvard really pile on the assignments.

I love traveling and walking through cities, so I majored in Political Science/Urban Studies, Urban Planning, Public Policy and Environmental Planning. I taught English and helped in community development in a barrio in Caracas, Venezuela, taught English in Okayama, Japan for two years to study local urban planning and learn Japanese, then spent four months at the Sorbonne and Val du Marne new town near Paris to study urban planning. I was going to study law, but it looked boring so I followed my heart. Glad I did! I got to work in Venezuela for Bechtel, travel to Japan and France often for Dataquest, get invited to international science park meetings around the world, and help make TV documentaries of my books.

City planning is also a great background for market research, multimedia applications (lifestyle research), and virtual 3-D world design. It will come in handy when I start writing screenplays for 3-D worlds for my Dreamscape Network Web site.

5. What necessary career information was missing from your studies? How did you pick up those skills and information?

Professors usually know little about the real work world, so you have to talk to working people. Find an area you love and ask lots questions, read lots of books, and work or volunteer to learn about it.

I loved city planning, so I studied Spanish, Latin American history and cultures, and cultural anthropology, then worked for a year in a Venezuelan barrio through the Presbyterian Church. We converted an open sewer into a park for kids. It was satisfying seeing the happy faces of kids and their parents; preventing kids from dying of dysentery; and playing on the local basketball teams. Later, Bechtel hired me to plan cities in eastern Venezuela for its oil sands project because I knew a lot about how Venezuelans think and live.

Books, mentors, and real life are the best ways to learn.

6. What difficulties did you encounter starting your business?

Starting a business is the easy part. The real challenges are marketing and overcoming isolation. Since word-of-mouth is the most effective approach, you've got to constantly mingle with people, join professional and community groups, use e-mail, organize projects, and just help out others. You can kill two birds with one stone, but you've got to take the long view. I've noticed that people who give do better than the takers who usually bail out quickly. Their notoriety precedes them. Unfortunately, our colleges and companies are creating a generation of "takers" who only think short-term. We need more entrepreneurs who are patient and give of their time and efforts. It's hard given daily pressures, but it's the only way to long-term survivability.

7. How many hours do you work in a typical week?

40-50 hours. I don't take long holidays. Rather, short vacations with my family and sightseeing on overseas business trips.

8. What three things are most frustrating about an entrepreneurship?

• clients who nickel-and-dime you (I usually pass)
• people who make empty promises (very common)
• always worrying about the future of the business

You've got to sit back and see the big picture. Why am I here? What are my business goals?

9. What three things are most rewarding?

• freedom to travel, write, and create new products and services
• meeting interesting people
• helping companies reposition to avoid layoffs

10. What three things are most fun?

• seeing cultural events on overseas business trips
• brainstorming with companies
• making videos and films

11. How do you handle work stress?

I run on the beach or ride though redwood forests everyday for one to two hours.

12. How big a role does technology play in your career path?

E-mail is the greatest thing since sliced bread since 90% of my business is international. My PowerBook gives me the freedom to work anywhere. I'm putting up the Dreamscape Network site soon on the Web and will show my newsletter, videoclips, and commentaries on three topics: multimedia computing, multimedia city planning, and digital filmmaking. I think digital cameras and camcorders will be useful for making Web sites and other new media.

13. How do you distinguish yourself from others in your work?

By following my own vision and passion with zest, I find that I'm naturally different from others. Each of us is unique. The challenge is to cultivate, develop and share that uniqueness with others.

14. What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?

"Follow your bliss" (Joseph Campbell), create value, help others, and have fun! And don't forget to keep your promises and give thanks.

15. Which popular song best describes your working life?

"California Dreaming"