Alphakt Inc. specializes in DX consulting and is growing its presence primarily serving clients in manufacturing, construction, and logistics.
We interviewed Eita Sasuga, Representative Director, who honed his skills with entrepreneurship in mind from his student days and founded Alphakt just four years after graduating from university. We asked about the company’s strengths, the kind of person who thrives there, and the vision for the future.
Eita Sasuga
Representative Director
While attending Waseda University, he worked for three years at a sales-focused venture company as a new business sales representative. He subsequently gained further sales experience as a contract employee at a startup, and also worked as an engineer and PM. After graduating, he joined an IT mega-venture. He drove results in advertising product sales in his first year and went on to be involved in the launch of advertising products and media businesses as well as M&A. He founded Alphakt Inc. in 2017, operating as an expert team-based consulting firm. He is committed to solving clients’ management challenges.
Pivoting to DX Consulting in Order to Capture Global Market Share
— Could you tell us about Alphakt’s business?
We operate a consulting business primarily supporting DX promotion in industries such as manufacturing, construction, and logistics. We provide end-to-end support — from new business strategy formulation, through requirements definition for the systems that underpin that strategy, to organizing requirements from the field and system implementation. We also handle talent development, product development, and anything else we determine the client needs.
— What led you to develop a consulting business specifically focused on DX?
When the company was first founded, it was in digital marketing. As the business developed, when I thought about “building a company with a large global market share,” I reached the conclusion that there are virtually no Japanese companies in the marketing space with a corporate value exceeding ¥10 billion.
So I read the financial statements of 4,000 listed Japanese companies, and then went deeper into the materials of the 1,000 that were growing. The conclusion I arrived at — the domain I identified as having room to expand as a business — was DX in the construction, manufacturing, and logistics industries.
When it came to entering that space, the choice was between a recruitment placement business and consulting. I concluded that taking on client challenges with intellectual curiosity was more likely to generate the kind of added value unique to our company, and pivoted to the DX consulting business between 2019 and 2020.
— Could you tell us about how actual projects are structured?
We typically approach projects with a team of up to around ten people, from concept formulation through to concrete project execution. A team might consist of three to four project managers and consultants, two to three assistants, and two to three engineers. Sometimes two to three teams are involved with a single company, with multiple projects progressing in parallel. The average project duration is one and a half to two years. When beginning work with a new client, we may also start with a single consultant who delivers value and builds the trust relationship before gradually expanding the project scope.
— Are there characteristics, skills, or experiences that are unique to Alphakt?
There are two major characteristics. The first is that we are actively building an environment that makes it easier to leverage cutting-edge technology and deliver high added value as a consultant. We have introduced systems that allow anyone to easily create proposals and materials, preventing outputs from becoming too dependent on individual know-how. This increases the number of engagements each person can handle, which in turn makes it easier to accumulate experience.
The second is that it is easier to build experience on projects that are specialized by industry. Because we are involved from upstream concept formulation all the way through to system construction, the ability to understand industry challenges comprehensively is a strength of our consulting approach. Many people are also attracted to the fact that they can gain experience not just in consulting, but in creating businesses themselves.
We are also in the process of developing clear career paths. Titles such as Analyst, Consultant, Senior Consultant, and Manager are standardized in line with other firms, so that people transferring from other companies can start in a role that suits their career level without disruption.
The Keywords Are: Altruistic, Action-Oriented, and Self-Transforming
— What kind of person thrives at Alphakt?
My aspiration is to build an organization that has a management perspective and is thoroughly committed to client success. With that in mind, I believe people who hold three particular values will thrive. The first is people who can work altruistically — those who can genuinely prioritize solving industry and client challenges above all else. The second is people who can sustain a high volume of action. The more time spent in dialogue with clients, the more rounds of discussion, and the more hypotheses proposed and tested, the better the outcomes and the closer to success. The third is people who can transform themselves for the sake of clients — those with a genuine willingness to learn whatever clients require, the ability to constructively challenge their current self, and the drive to keep learning and updating themselves. These are the people I believe can thrive at our company.
— What skills and experience are required at Alphakt?
In terms of background, people who have built a track record at companies where only hard work allows you to advance tend to be a strong match. For example, having experienced promotion from consultant to senior consultant is a plus. Alternatively, even without prior consulting experience, people who have consistently approached their work with a strong sense of the problems that need solving are also a good fit. People who have realized that they can’t drive change on their own and are motivated to take on industry challenges as a consultant are particularly welcome.
— Could you tell us about your career background, President Sasuga?
I had founding my own company in mind from the moment I entered university. Believing that building strong sales capability was essential to entrepreneurship, I started working in sales at a sales-focused venture company from my first year. I then built further sales experience as a contract employee at another startup.
After that, a period of sick leave became an opportunity for me to also gain engineering experience. As a new graduate, I joined an IT mega-venture. In my first year I delivered results in advertising product sales, and went on to experience launching advertising products and media businesses and involvement in M&A, before going independent and founding Alphakt in 2017.
— What led you to choose the company you joined as a new graduate?
Working backward from the goal of starting my own company, I decided I wanted to develop IT skills — and I was attracted to the prospect of building new businesses from scratch. The company I joined as a new graduate was known for having many people who built new business experience there before going independent, and it had a high rate of alumni going on to list their own companies — both of which were factors in my decision.
— How did you decide when the time was right to go independent?
I had set three conditions that needed to be met before I would go independent. The first was to deliver results on a scale that would rewrite the company’s history. Being recognized as “an overwhelmingly exceptional result” in a roughly twenty-year company history gave me the confidence I needed. The second was to generate revenue of over ¥1 billion with operating profit of over ¥100 million. The third was to leave properly, with a genuine sense of gratitude returned to the company. After deciding to go independent, the handover to my successors took about a year and a half — and to this day I still have a business relationship with the company I joined as a new graduate, now as a client.
Transforming the Organization to Compete on a Global Stage
— Could you tell us about the origin of the name “Alphakt”?
It is a coined word combining “alpha” and “olfact” — carrying the aspiration to “pursue the rare number one in the world.” “Olfact” carries the meaning of the sense of smell, expressing the idea of detecting and resolving only the most important challenges from among the many — applying a kind of instinctive sense. The name also embodies the aspiration to be an organization that keeps thinking about things that can lead to social transformation — using that instinctive sensibility to make Japanese society even slightly better. I have a personal conviction, based on my own experience, that applying that instinct — narrowing focus rather than spreading wide — is how I have delivered results, and I want to build a company that delivers results by staying sharply targeted.
— You mentioned social transformation. Could you tell us about your vision for the future, President Sasuga?
In running this company, I have defined three transformation phases. The first was the shift I described earlier — from digital marketing to DX consulting.
The second transformation phase is an IPO within the next three years. To achieve that, we have set ambitious targets of ¥10 billion in revenue and over ¥3 billion in operating profit. After that, we plan to raise approximately ¥20 billion in funding and execute a significant leap in business scale from 2030 onward.
Finally, I have set the third transformation phase for 2030. The budget invested in DX in the manufacturing, construction, and logistics industries is projected to exceed ¥2 trillion by 2030, with the associated consulting market estimated at ¥200 to ¥400 billion. Our goal is to capture over 20% of that market and become the number one player. Building a powerful team of consultants with a management perspective — professionals in the fullest sense — is the medium-term vision for achieving that.
By combining new businesses with our DX, sales, and marketing capabilities, we want to become a global company that takes on the world.
【Post-Interview Note】
What struck me most in the interview with Representative Director Sasuga was the grand ambition — meticulously calculated — of aiming to become number one in DX for manufacturing, construction, and logistics by 2030. The company is not merely an advisor; it is also a “team that pushes technology to its limits,” pursuing its own productivity through initiatives such as automating materials creation. What I want to convey to prospective applicants is an organizational culture that is altruistic yet unafraid of self-transformation — stoic and intensely passionate.
The experience of combining deep, industry-specific expertise with cutting-edge AI to rewrite the structure of the industries that form the backbone of Japanese society will bring market value that cannot be found elsewhere. The environment where you can follow in the footsteps of a founder who rewrote history as a new graduate will be the ultimate source of stimulation for highly ambitious people. For anyone with the passion to step beyond the consultant’s role — to build businesses themselves with a management perspective — I truly want you to experience this exhilarating pace firsthand.
ConsulNext Senior Consultant
Masahito Tsukada
Alphakt Inc. — Company Information
| Representative Director | Eita Sasuga |
| Founded | December 1, 2017 |
| Address | Shibuya Hikarie 33F, 2-21-1 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8510 |
| Employees | 105 (full-time employees + contractors) |
| Capital | ¥20,000,000 |
| Business Activities | DX consulting |
