A consulting firm with strengths in supporting clients’ new business creation and digital transformation (DX) promotion, while also being a business company developing and operating its own services. With unique features unmatched elsewhere, Ignition Point Inc. has achieved solid growth.
The company’s philosophy is “Sparking moments for richer lives.” The company aims to support innovation creation throughout society through client support, contributing to forming a society where each person can feel richness, and to “become a platform for innovation.” This time, we asked Representative Director and President Takafumi Suemune about the background of the business model conception and his passion for the business.
Takafumi Suemune
Graduated from Keio University’s Faculty of Economics. After working at Accenture Inc. and Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC, he founded Ignition Point Inc. in June 2014 and became Director, Vice President, and COO. Engaged in many cases including new business launches and digital transformation as a management consultant and head of consulting business, while leading Ignition Point Group’s management and consulting business expansion. He achieved 7 consecutive periods of revenue growth from founding. Became Representative Director and President in May 2022 (current position).
Working on both consulting and business, aiming to be an innovation creation platform
——President Suemune, you founded Ignition Point Inc. in June 2014.
Influenced by my father who was a manager, I had wanted to start a business for a long time, and I joined Accenture and Deloitte to learn management and IT. While gaining experience there, I conceived the current business model and launched our company.
The business model of doing consulting while also creating our own products and services is very unique, but the capabilities needed to manage consulting companies and business companies are completely different, and we faced struggles. Still, while hiring members and accumulating various trial and error, we’ve built a company seriously committed to both.
——Could you tell us the origin of the company name “Ignition Point”?
We want to deliver “sparking moments for richer lives” to each person in society and to each employee working at our company. This is our company’s philosophy. We see this “spark” as an “ignition point” and made it our company name.
And our vision is “to become a platform for all innovations that create richness.” We want to make a society where each person in society and each employee can feel richness, and we believe innovation is one of the important means to that end. So we want to create richness in the world through innovation and realize a better society. To do so, we want to become a platform and keep lighting the fire of innovation. The meaning of the “ignition point” that lights that fire is also embedded in our company name.
——To realize that vision, you run consulting, innovation, and investment businesses.
The consulting business supports client companies’ innovation creation, with many new business creation and digital transformation (DX) projects. Our strengths are the know-how cultivated through experience and our collaboration system where not only consultants but professionals in each area like data scientists and engineers work together to run alongside customers.
The innovation business becomes a hub for diverse players such as companies, government, academia, and non-profits, promoting new business creation through ecosystem formation coordination. The investment business aims to solve social issues by investing in startups and supporting their growth. Combining these three businesses, we want to support clients’ new business creation, transformation, and growth, and contribute to society.
——What kind of companies and organizations are your clients?
Most are major corporations, and we receive inquiries from a wide range of industries. We also support startups. Startup growth directly leads to innovation creation, which connects to the activation of innovation throughout Japan, so we hope our support can boost their growth even a little. Additionally, we handle many government cases and sometimes receive inquiries from local governments.
——Could you tell us specific examples of cases you’ve handled?
In the consulting business, new business cases account for nearly half, but we also provide consulting services supporting sales enablement implementation aimed at sales force strengthening and productivity improvement. In this area, we supported the sales strategy reform of GA technologies Inc., which operates the online real estate investment service brand “RENOSY,” contributing to performance improvement such as achieving a 40% increase in service usage rate.
In the innovation business, we established a venture company together with Professor Seiichi Ozawa of Kobe University and EAGLYS Inc., conducting initiatives such as developing AI-based special fraud monitoring based on Professor Ozawa’s research on privacy-protecting data analysis technology, aiming for fundamental resolution of special fraud.
In local government support, we began supporting the development and growth promotion of Tokyo Shibuya Ward’s startup ecosystem hub, which develops startup support business. Specifically, we support ecosystem formation centered in Shibuya Ward in areas such as global entrepreneur business support, incubation hub operation, and industry-academia-government collaboration consortium operation.
Now is the “Second Founding Period.” We seek talent who aggressively aim for and realize growth
——We heard the current employee count is 371 group-wide (as of December 2023). Do you also do new graduate hiring?
Yes. We want to make about 10% of the organization new graduate hires. This year we hired 27, and next year we’ll hire about 30 new graduates. For further growth, we envision becoming a 1,000-person organization by fiscal 2028, and we’re actively conducting recruitment activities.
——This time you’re recruiting talent for the consulting business. For mid-career hires, are they consulting experienced people?
While there are many hires with experience, we don’t limit to only experienced people. For example, we also hire to some extent those who engaged in new business development or DX promotion at operating companies, or those who accumulated IT-related knowledge and experience at system integrators.
Also, with over 300 employees now, we’ve newly established the “Innovation Platform Unit” that builds and operates innovation ecosystems through industry-academia-government collaboration, and the “Industry Focus Unit” to strengthen industry capabilities. So we’d like to actively consider hiring those with deep knowledge and experience at operating companies, mainly in fields like telecommunications, healthcare, and finance, if they show potential in that area.
——What kind of talent are you seeking?
Supporting clients and achieving results is of course important, but we also value the awareness of creating innovation through that support and making society better. So for those who want to work together sharing the desire to make society better and apply their cultivated knowledge and technology to social contribution, I think the work at our company is something they can engage in with fulfillment.
Also, our company has approached its 10th year since establishment, and thanks to continued steady growth, we’ve built the foundation of an innovation platform. Going forward, aiming for a better society, we want to continue building up the innovation platform and step on the accelerator for even greater growth as a company. The 1,000-person organization I mentioned earlier is part of that image. We hope to have people who, in this so-called “Second Founding Period” phase, aggressively orient toward growth and head together toward our envisioned form and realize it.
——Could you share points about “what makes working at your company interesting”?
Our major point is that we’re not just a consulting firm. Running consulting, innovation, and investment businesses is a unique characteristic of our company.
In the investment business, we operate multiple funds and want to accelerate innovation through financial support for startups. In the innovation business, we not only create products and services ourselves but also create joint ventures through multi-company collaboration and create new systems in partnership with local governments—we aspire to co-create innovation while bearing risk ourselves.
And in the consulting business, we support clients’ new business creation and business transformation, aiming to be an “innovation partner” that supports clients’ innovation creation through that. You can have diverse experience as a consultant, but you can also do diverse work not possible at typical consulting firms, and there’s an environment where you can build diverse careers through that experience.
Making the broad career paths opened from consultant experience a “spark for a rich life”
——Could you tell us in detail about diverse career formation at your company?
Typical consultant career paths aim for higher consulting professional positions like Manager, Senior Manager, and Partner. At our company too, building such a career is of course possible, and some people apply aiming for consultant career advancement.
Beyond that, there are also many who apply and join with various aspirations like wanting to become a head of product/service business, wanting to start their own company and become a manager, or aiming to be a venture capitalist. One of our company’s characteristics is providing opportunities and environments where such people can form diverse career paths.
First, you gain experience as a consultant and hone expertise. After that, various options open up: you can act as a product/service business head yourself, master expertise as an engineer or data scientist, join as a member of a joint venture’s management team, or join fund operations and aim to be an investor.
——Your company has group companies including Ignition Point Venture Partners Inc. Can people request transfers from the consulting business to group companies?
Yes. There are cases where employees who served as consultants become CXOs of group companies and participate in management. We also have a “CXO Challenge System,” where employees aiming to launch new businesses can become CXOs involved in business launches, establish joint ventures and become their CXOs, or join investee management teams.
Given the nature of our business, we often launch new businesses, establish group companies, and support startups, so opportunities for employees to challenge themselves as CXOs are more abundant than at other companies.
——For a typical consulting firm, having opportunities to engage in such a wide range of work that you couldn’t experience without transferring to an operating company is very attractive for workers.
Providing each employee with a “spark for a rich life” is our company’s philosophy. As a result, if talented people can be active at our company for a long time, that’s what we hope for.
And if that becomes a social contribution through innovation creation support, it’s also a plus for society.
——How does your team work?
We’ve adopted a flextime system without core hours, and after COVID-19, we’ve actively introduced remote work, leaving work locations and times to employee discretion.
Our stance is that while “properly responding to customer requests” and “maximizing performance” are prerequisites, we want each employee to realize a work style that suits them.
——Your company has been selected for the Great Place to Work Institute Japan-certified “Best Workplaces” ranking for 7 consecutive years, receiving high evaluation in work style reform and well-being organization building.
Our philosophy “Sparking moments for richer lives” applies not only externally but also to employees.
We want employees to enthusiastically engage in fulfilling work, but also to value work-life balance and lead rich lives.
I believe all these things—producing results as individuals and ultimately as a company—can be established simultaneously. Considering these things constantly, we work on personnel systems and culture/climate building.
——Finally, please give us a message.
In an era when society continues to change dizzyingly, to continue sustainable growth as a company, we also continue to actively change. Those who want to experience that process together can enjoy working in our environment.
Collaborating with our members to support clients, contributing to society through innovation activation throughout Japan. We sincerely hope that the diverse experiences gained through work at our company will become a “spark for a rich life” for you as an employee.
[Interview Postscript]
I was impressed by the stance of seriously pursuing the philosophy “Sparking moments for richer lives” not only for customers but also for employees. What’s surprising is that diverse career paths—not just honing expertise as a consultant but launching businesses as CXOs or transforming into investors—are established as systems.
Through the interview, I felt the heat of the “Second Founding Period” where they continue updating themselves rather than settling for the status quo. With flextime without core hours, they maximally respect employee discretion while placing well-being organization building at the core of management. For those greedy people who want to tackle social issues as professionals while making their own lives colorful and rich, this is the best platform to give shape to their dreams. Won’t you share the joy of illuminating the future together and making society better as “ignition points” of innovation here?
ConsulNext / Senior Consultant
Masahito Tsukada
Ignition Point Inc. Company Information
| Company Name | Ignition Point Inc. |
|---|---|
| Location | Headquarters: Shibuya Property Tower 8F, 1-32-12 Higashi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Kansai Office: Nakanoshima Festival Tower West, 3-2-4 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka |
| Officers | Representative Director and President: Takafumi Suemune Directors: Yuichi Toyoda (non-executive), Kosuke Kato (non-executive) Auditors: Takeshi Nakagawa, Kaori Araki (non-executive) Executive Officers: Tomoki Tashiro, Teppei Yasuda, Wataru Ishida, Yusuke Saiki |
| Founded | June 4, 2014 |
| Group Employees | 369 (including group companies, as of January 2024) |
| Main Phone | 03-6434-1412 |
| Business | Consulting Business | Innovation Business | Investment Business |
| Group Companies | Ignition Point Force Inc. Ignition Point Venture Partners Inc. MIRARGO Inc. Tera Axon Inc. |
