[Interview with Jun Kato, Executive Officer of AlphaDrive Co., Ltd.] Aiming to Support Clients’ New Business Development While Cherishing Their Drive and Passion for Challenges

AlphaDrive supports clients in developing new businesses. The company provides side-by-side support throughout the entire journey — from nurturing the concept of a new business through to its growth as an established enterprise. As many companies search for new ventures, what kind of support does AlphaDrive offer as its defining strength? What kind of members, with what kind of experience, accompany clients through the process of commercialization? And what kind of talent is AlphaDrive looking for? We spoke with Jun Kato, Executive Officer at AlphaDrive, about the values the company holds dear and the kind of people he wants to work with.

Cultivating a Company Culture That Values the Feelings and Convictions of People on the Ground

— Could you tell us about AlphaDrive’s business?

We primarily operate a business that supports new business development at large enterprises. We provide end-to-end support across the “0 to 1” phase — supporting everything from concept through to launch — and the “1 to 10” phase — growing a business that has been launched.

In the “0 to 1” phase, for example, we frequently begin by supporting the development of the systems and processes needed to manage new businesses. By building the right systems, we help raise the reproducibility of new business creation — in other words, we create an environment in which anyone, regardless of who they are, can proceed through the process of turning an idea into a business in the right way. Embedding these systems within the client’s organization is our role.

In the “1 to 10” phase, meanwhile, we walk alongside clients through the planning and execution of every kind of measure — from product development support for web services and similar offerings, to test marketing to gauge whether a service can achieve market recognition, to full-scale marketing and sales initiatives aimed at building broad awareness and generating revenue. We have specialist teams with deep expertise in each type of initiative, enabling us to make detailed proposals and provide granular support — from identifying the features a product needs to planning the measures most likely to deliver results.

— When you engage with a client on new business development, who do you most often end up talking with?

It varies depending on the situation — senior management, middle management, front-line staff, and others. In our case, we often start by supporting the development of the systems and processes needed to generate new businesses, and it is not uncommon to work closely with senior executives and the heads of the divisions driving new business development to build out the vision from scratch. In the “1 to 10” phase, on the other hand, since the work involves taking action to accelerate the business, we tend to discuss specific initiatives more closely with front-line staff. We adapt our engagement to whoever the right person is, depending on the current challenges, the situation, and the objectives going forward.

— Are there other businesses you run as well?

We also operate a specialized subsidiary focused on the process of developing new businesses through open innovation with external companies and research institutions, as well as a business that supports the process of producing entrepreneurs and new businesses from regional areas. While large-enterprise new business development remains our core, our business domains are gradually expanding.

— Were the open innovation and regional support businesses there from the beginning?

Both came about organically, driven by the intentions of the key members who lead those subsidiaries, and were then organized into formal business activities. Our company has a deeply rooted culture of valuing the feelings and convictions of employees. While we put forward a strategically driven business model as a consulting company, we also have a side that respects what people on the ground want to do and connects that to the business. This dual nature is one of our defining characteristics.

— How did the culture of valuing people on the ground come about?

I think the conviction that we should value people’s feelings grew naturally out of daily engagement with clients’ new business projects. What I have come to feel through involvement in all kinds of engagements is that projects where someone has strong conviction always move forward. This is a fundamental principle of new business development. In other words, a project where someone approaches it with an unshakeable determination to make the new business succeed will always produce some kind of outcome. The single most important key to driving a new business forward is the strength of a person’s will.

Through interactions with people like that, we came to believe that nurturing people’s feelings and motivation — not just building systems — is what truly matters. It seems such a waste when someone with deep conviction has their passion extinguished. Many of the companies working on new business development struggle precisely because no one within the organization steps forward with that kind of strong will. Having seen many clients in that situation, I believe it is what cultivated our culture of respecting the drive of employees who approach their work with genuine enthusiasm.

Applying the Know-How Gained from Supporting Clients’ New Business Development to Employee Development

— I’d like to ask about your hiring. What kind of people are you looking to bring on board?

We recruit broadly, from people who can contribute immediately to those with limited experience. When hiring for immediate contribution, there are three conditions we require.

The first is depth of experience in business development. There is not a single person at our company who has built their career purely as a consultant. Our members include, for example, people who drove new business projects as the responsible party, people who carried some form of accountability as members of a new business project, and people who have founded their own companies. We are better described as a business development organization than a group of consultants — our team is filled with people who are deeply versed in new business creation. How high a resolution a candidate has around business development is what determines whether they are the right hire.

The second is an understanding of large organizations. When working with large enterprises — companies with enormous influence over society and consumers — the rational argument does not always land. Large corporations are a world where even the most reasonable case made by consultants often fails to resonate. The solution to a challenge a large enterprise faces frequently requires the longer path, even when a shortcut exists. Being able to genuinely understand the “dynamics” unique to large organizations, and then engage with them on that basis, is what our staff are expected to do.

The third is consulting capability. While we are a company that supports new business development, there are many situations where we need to engage with clients wearing the face of a consulting firm. Our staff naturally need to possess the skills required to consult.

These three conditions are what we require of someone joining as an immediate contributor. However, for Associate-level hires in a support role, meeting all three is not necessary. No prior new business development experience is required, knowledge of large enterprises is not essential, and consulting capability that isn’t yet fully developed is fine too. Anyone with the potential — the motivation and genuine drive — will be actively considered.

— Your company currently has around 70 employees. What roles make up the majority?

Approximately 50 are consultants. Around 10 are in cross-functional departments such as our own marketing and system development, with the remainder being members involved in administrative functions or in support roles. The average age of staff is in the late thirties, but we also have employees in their fifties who have been involved in large-enterprise new business development for many years. Our youngest team member, meanwhile, is 27. For younger staff, we don’t immediately hand them sole responsibility for an engagement upon joining. We first have them build experience as Associates. For that reason, people in their twenties who join the company are in principle hired as Associates.

— Could you tell us about the structure in place for developing the young Associates who join?

Through our involvement in clients’ new businesses, we also support the development and training of client employees. As a result, we have built up a rich library of content related to employee education, which we also apply when developing our own younger staff. In a significant number of cases, we accompany clients closely and provide hands-on support as their businesses develop. The experience of growing a business alongside a client is, above all else, an invaluable one for younger staff. The ability to develop oneself through practical experience is one of our unique strengths.

— How many people typically work on a single project?

It is not unusual for us to support multiple new businesses simultaneously within a single client organization. In the case of one client, more than 300 business ideas are generated every year, and we provide end-to-end support from evaluating those ideas through to actual commercialization — with approximately 60 new business proposals currently in progress. In a case like this, in addition to an overall lead, a team of more than ten members each handles their respective projects. It is common practice at our company for one person to handle multiple projects simultaneously — in principle, no one is dedicated to a single specific project. Even for smaller-scale projects, at least two people are involved, and two to five is the typical range, depending on the situation.

— I’d like to ask about how people work at your company. Do your staff often work on-site at clients’ offices?

No. As a matter of principle, we have decided not to have staff stationed on-site at clients. When a client requests on-site presence, there is often an underlying intention to effectively hand off the new business development in something close to a fully delegated manner. New businesses developed in an environment where our staff are stationed on-site — while the client lacks a genuine sense of ownership — will not succeed, and even if they do reach commercialization, they won’t take hold. When a client expresses a preference for on-site staffing, we make a point of carefully explaining that risk.

— Doesn’t the lack of in-person interaction among staff lead to weaker communication and affect work quality?

Remote work accounts for ninety percent of how we operate. Interactions with clients are in principle conducted online, and staff work remotely from home. When clients request in-person, face-to-face contact, we use those occasions at important milestones — for deepening the relationship or attending internal meetings as evaluators to help decide whether to invest in a new business venture.

On an irregular basis, we hold offline meetings and run social gatherings that double as information-sharing sessions, finding one reason or another to create opportunities to come together. Perhaps precisely because we don’t see each other regularly, when we do gather the communication tends to be especially rich and substantive.

Rather than people who focus on internal relationships, we want staff who naturally look outward — toward clients, the market, and the wider world. We actively hire for this mindset. As a result, the team doesn’t fail to come together or projects fail to move forward simply because internal communication is limited. That said, if our recruitment strategy shifts significantly in the future — such as a more aggressive push to bring in younger talent — we may need to reconsider this approach.

— Personally, what kind of people do you want to work with, Mr. Kato?

I want to work with people who can speak their mind directly to me as well. In other words, people who can put their thoughts into words regardless of hierarchy or tenure. At AlphaDrive, the views of those with long tenure tend to be accepted as simply correct, without anyone offering an alternative perspective. But isn’t that a bit boring? Every single employee must arrive at their own considered conclusion about things. I’d be glad to have people around who can voice those views without hesitation. Even if I say “let’s go with this,” I want to work with people who can look me straight in the eye and say “I disagree.”

Making “Whether You Can Grow” the Criterion for Choosing a Company

— Could you walk us through your career to date?

After graduating from university I joined SoftBank. The main reason was that I felt it was a place where even young employees could take on challenges if they raised their hand. After joining I worked in the corporate sales division, proposing ICT solutions to clients. Alongside that, I proposed new businesses to clients and there were cases that actually reached commercialization. At the time I was also attending “SoftBank Academia,” the company’s internal school for learning management and business — I was running at full capacity, completely absorbed in work and study.

At the same time, I started to feel a sense of anxiety: “If I stay here, won’t my rate of growth start to slow?” That led me to decide to make a move — to put myself in an environment surrounded by talented people and build experience there. I thought that being in an environment where I was behind the people around me would push my own level higher. The conclusion I arrived at was DeNA. I narrowed my search to DeNA alone, without asking about which division I’d be placed in or what the conditions were.

When I joined DeNA, it was exactly the environment I’d imagined — demanding and exhilarating in equal measure, day after day. I was assigned to the media business, which was expected to be a core pillar over the medium to long term. But less than a year after joining, a major issue arose and the company’s entire media operation was forced to suspend. For several months afterward, the days were spent apologizing to customers and business partners. Once the situation finally stabilized, it was decided to launch a joint venture using the media I was responsible for, and I took on the task of rebuilding the business from scratch.

But as the business started to find its footing, I began to feel there was a limit to how much further I could grow there, and started to think about moving on. I was 27 at the time, and I felt that if I was going to challenge a different industry, now was the moment. After researching various sectors, the path I chose was consulting. I had been building skills in sales and marketing throughout my career, but a desire to also engage in upstream processes drew me toward the consulting world.

— What made you choose AlphaDrive from among all the consulting firms out there?

It started when I happened to come across a social media post from my current boss, Hisashi Furukawa, saying he was joining AlphaDrive. I already knew Furukawa, and it made me curious — “what kind of company is AlphaDrive, that someone of his caliber would choose it?” There were no open positions at AlphaDrive at the time, but through Furukawa I got the chance to meet the founder, Aso, and conveyed my enthusiasm directly — which led to me being brought on as a member.

— What about AlphaDrive appealed to you?

When I looked at AlphaDrive’s website, I found myself resonating with everything on it, one item at a time. There was a great deal that aligned with my own thinking — the kind of impact AlphaDrive intended to have on Japanese society and the economy, the approach it would use to generate that impact. I also felt that achieving those goals would demand the skills I wanted to develop, at a high level — and that this level of expectation would simply be the norm in that workplace. The prospect of being in an environment that would push my own growth was something I was strongly drawn to. I believe business development is “mixed martial arts” — and the appeal of being at a company that supports it, working across a wide range of functions including product development, sales, marketing, and finance, was also something I found deeply motivating.

— Listening to your career journey, I get the sense that your drive to grow is exceptionally strong.

I don’t necessarily have a specific vision of “I want to be like this in the future.” But I have always been thinking about how to develop my capabilities as a business professional. Constantly searching for what I needed and what I was missing to achieve that, I concluded that AlphaDrive was the most fitting environment.

What I feel strongly since joining AlphaDrive is that this is an environment where I have absolutely no need to hold back from giving everything I have. An environment where you can pour everything into what you want to do is not easy to find no matter how hard you look. Being in a place like that, able to give my all, is something I feel genuinely grateful for. I believe it is precisely because of AlphaDrive that I can raise my own level and accumulate experience, skills, and know-how at a fast pace.

— Could you share AlphaDrive’s direction and vision going forward?

Looking at the vast new business market as a whole, I have to admit our influence is still limited. We want to evolve the business so that our impact on the market continues to grow. By strengthening our team — including the people in it — we want to make the company stronger than it is today.

At the same time, I want to make the careers of the people who choose to join AlphaDrive genuinely brilliant. I want to build a situation where working at AlphaDrive makes you more valuable in the market than working at a major consulting firm. To achieve that, we have to keep winning in the marketplace, and we have to earn more trust from clients than our competitors. Rather than accepting the status quo, we want to keep challenging ourselves and aiming higher. Without that attitude, we can never become a company that produces exceptional talent. I want to evolve the people who work at AlphaDrive through the evolution of the business itself — and I am building a company where that vision can become a reality.

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【Post-Interview Note】

AlphaDrive Co., Ltd. — Company Information

Company Name	AlphaDrive Co., Ltd.
Founded	February 23, 2018
Capital	¥30,000,000
Representative	Representative Director & CEO: Yoichi Aso
Business Activities	1. Consulting and solution provision for new business creation and regional revitalization 2. SaaS product development and media service provision
Locations	Head Office / AlphaDrive Studio 〒100-0014 Kurusu Building 1F, 2-17-3 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo AlphaDrive Kansai 〒530-0002 WeWork Midosuji Frontier, 1-13-22 Sonezaki Shinchi, Kita-ku, Osaka AlphaDrive Tokai 〒460-0008 Nadia Park 4F NAGOYA INNOVATOR’S GARAGE, 3-18-1 Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Ryukyu AlphaDrive 〒905-0011 Community Park coconova, 1004 Miyazato, Nago City, Okinawa

AlphaDrive Co., Ltd. — Job Listings