Why Frogs?

We are sometimes asked about our name. We translate it to Chinese as 佳孵蚪伴, the characters within which literally mean Good Hatch Tadpole Partner while also capturing many of the sounds of the English letters J, F, D and I. Stooges have spread malicious rumours that our name derives from a vulgar American expression. We understand that the polite version is Just Focus and Do It. Shame on the house of these imperialist running dogs 走狗 ! Truly, these motherless goats of all motherless goats (羔羊中的孤羊) have added feet to the drawing of a snake (画蛇添足). In fact our name is rooted in both noble mythology and science.

https://youtu.be/pd00Q3g0pX4

Around the world, myths associate frogs with transformation. That is what we do.

Ecologists have observed two contrasting approaches to reproduction in nature. Animals like human beings have a small number of offspring and care for every one of them deeply. Trees shed thousands of seeds knowing that most will never make it. Frogs too. As entrepreneurs and investors, we’ve found that you have to take a portfolio approach to launching new ideas.

In Ancient China, the frog-spirit Ch’ing-Wa Sheng was said to bring healing and good fortune to business. This lives on in Feng Shui, where a three-legged golden toad called Jin Chan (金蟾) is said to appear during full moon near houses that will receive good news. Therefore, we make sure that frog souvenirs which friends kindly bring us face our office working area, rather than the front entrance, so that abundant ch’i (气) energises us. If they faced toward the front entrance, the frog-power would escape through the door.

Finally, an old story known in many parts of the East tells of a frog, prideful of the beauty at the bottom of his well, and ignorant of the world beyond. We have met many small companies that hold themselves back, never feeling brave enough to seize a greater opportunity. We help them make that joyful leap.

There was a frog that lived in a shallow well. “Look how well off I am here!” he told a big turtle from the Eastern Ocean. “I can hop along the coping of the well when I go out, and rest by a crevice in the bricks on my return. I can wallow to my heart’s content with only my head above water, or stroll ankle deep through soft mud. No crabs or tadpoles can compare with me. I am master of the water and lord of this shallow well, What more can a fellow ask? Why don’t you come here more often to have a good time?” Before the turtle from the Eastern Ocean could get his left foot into the well, however, he caught his right claw on something. So he halted and stepped back then began to describe the ocean to the frog. “It’s more than a thousand miles across and more than ten thousand feet deep. In ancient times there were floods nine years out of ten yet the water in the ocean never increased. And later there were droughts seven years out of eight yet the water in the ocean never grew less. It has remained quite constant throughout the ages. That is why I like to live in the Eastern Ocean.” Then the frog in the shallow well was silent and felt a little abashed.

Frog sounds around the world:

Afrikaans	kwaak-kwaak		Italian	cra cra
Arabic (Algeria)	gar gar		Japanese	kerokero
Chinese (Mandarin)	guo guo		Korean	gae-gool-gae-gool
Dutch	kwak kwak		Russian	kva-kva
English (USA)	ribbit		Spanish (Argentina)	berp
English (UK)	croak		Spanish (Peru)	croac, croac
Finnish	kvak kvak		Swedish	kvack
French	coa-coa		Thai	ob ob (with high tone)
German	quaak, quaak		Turkish	vrak vrak
Hebrew	kwa kwa		Ukrainian	kwa-kwa

Five Fabulous Frog Facts

1. Frogs are diamagnetic and so can be levitated, alive and unharmed, in strong magnetic fields.
2. An Iraninan proverb says: “When the snake gets old, the frog gets him by the balls.”
3. Pathological fear of frogs is termed Ranidaphobia.
4. Crunchy Frog is the name of a fictitious confectionery in a Monty Python skit of the same name.
5. An Ancient frog-goddess named Heget was sometimes depicted as a frog on the end of a phallus to indicate her association with fertility.