[Interview with Shinji Sato, Director & Executive Officer of ZIGExN Co., Ltd.] Unveiling the New Growth Strategy: Tackling Industry Challenges Through M&A and Diversified Management

Zigexn Co., Ltd. operates an internet-based platform business model under the purpose statement “UPDATE YOUR STORY — Taking You to the Future.” Through M&A, the company handles multiple domains and businesses, continuing its daily transformation and growth.

We interviewed Shinji Sato, Director and Executive Officer at Zigexn Co., Ltd., about the circumstances that led him to decide on an M&A with Zigexn for the company he was running, and Zigexn’s vision going forward.

Focusing on M&A and Making Diversified Management a Strength

— Could you tell us about Zigexn’s business?

We operate an internet-based platform business model across multiple domains. Our services are broadly organized into three categories: the Vertical HR domain — HR businesses specialized in specific sectors such as the beauty industry, manufacturing, and logistics; the LivingTech domain — covering rental housing, renovation, energy, and similar areas; and the LifeService domain — covering travel, automotive, and related sectors. All of these are businesses that connect something with something else — users with companies, for example — and the means of connection spans a wide range, from media to agent services.

Another characteristic of our company is that we have completed M&A transactions with a cumulative total of 31 companies and businesses, giving us a large number of group companies and business units operating as a portfolio-managed organization.

— What synergies and benefits do you see M&A bringing?

There are numerous synergies and benefits — accelerating entry into new domains and driving faster growth in existing businesses, to name just a few. While every collaboration is different, the most clearly visible form of mutual synergy tends to be when each party’s areas of strength complement the other’s — allowing both Zigexn and the partner company to cover each other’s weaknesses and increase growth speed efficiently. For example, a company with strong sales capabilities but weaker client acquisition or marketing can grow significantly when Zigexn provides support in marketing and engineering.

While we work alongside partner companies to complement each other’s capabilities and grow together, our policy is to respect the independence of the companies that join us through M&A.

— Could you be more specific about what maintaining independence means in practice?

We describe it internally with the phrase “culture conglomerate” — the stance of respecting each company’s own culture rather than imposing Zigexn’s culture on them by force.

Since the company’s founding, Zigexn has had many employees who aspire to be entrepreneurs and business builders — but companies that join the group through M&A do not necessarily share that culture. “Conglomerate” refers to integrating multiple companies across different industries into a group management structure, and we are applying that concept to culture as well.

Companies that join the group through M&A range from startups to long-established businesses with deep histories. Each company has its own distinct characteristics — some are specialized by industry or region, for example. We do not believe that painting everything in Zigexn’s colors and making everything uniform is necessarily the best approach. For that reason, our policy is to support joining companies in terms of financing and human resources while respecting each company’s good culture and management philosophy, and allowing them to operate their businesses with autonomy.

Looking for People with Strategy Consulting Backgrounds Who Can Take a Cross-Functional, Bird’s-Eye View of the Business

— Could you tell us about the kind of people you are looking for?

We are looking for people with strategy consulting experience. Because we are advancing a diversified management approach, the ideal is someone who can take a bird’s-eye view across multiple businesses and move in a cross-functional, project-based way. More specifically, we envisage people engaging in portfolio organization, strategy formulation, business-level strategy development, and M&A strategy across the group as a whole. We also see a career path in which, after being initially involved horizontally across the whole group, people can move on to engage in management on the business side of the domains where their interest or potential for synergy is greatest.

A key difference from a consulting firm is that we are an operating company. There are no clean project endings; the work becomes a medium-to-long-term engagement that continues through PMI. The ability to provide sustained, long-term support toward the company’s vision is, I believe, something that people from a consulting background will actually find uniquely interesting — because they are able to appreciate that dimension in a way others might not.

— Could you elaborate on the background to your focus on strategy consulting experience?

Zigexn has grown as a lean, elite organization, and high-value, sophisticated output is expected. I believe people who are accustomed to producing that kind of output — which is to say, those with strategy consulting experience — are a natural fit. Of course, there are people from operating company backgrounds who would match well too, but even among those who have been involved in corporate strategy at operating companies, the depth of exposure varies considerably — some have seen from the upstream, others only from downstream. People from strategy consulting firms, by contrast, tend to have been operating at consistently high intensity.

— In terms of mindset, what kind of person are you looking for, and what are your key selling points?

Since its founding, Zigexn has positioned itself as a “group of entrepreneurs,” but going forward we are aiming to develop “UPDATERs” — people who go beyond growing businesses to actively solving social challenges within industries. The right fit is someone who has the ambition to take on a management role as a business unit leader responsible for solving the challenges facing the industries that will support Japan’s future.

Despite operating a large number of diversified businesses, our employee count is still around 1,000 — meaning we remain a lean, elite organization. The high pace of M&A also means the company structurally requires a large number of management positions. While we are listed on the Prime Market, the fact that the founding president is still actively managing the company means there is a startup-like speed and energy that still runs through everything — which I think is one of our attractions.

Having Experienced M&A Firsthand — Understanding Zigexn’s Strengths from the Inside

— Could you tell us about your career background?

My first employer out of university was a human resources startup with fewer than ten employees, where I worked as a human resources consultant. About three years in, the company was destabilized by the Lehman Shock — and that was the catalyst for me to take the plunge into founding my own company. I founded I&C-Cruise Co., Ltd. in 2008.

At I&C-Cruise we ran multiple businesses including energy-related media and a home renovation business, and in 2020 I sold the company to Zigexn. In conjunction with the absorption merger into Zigexn, I myself transferred to Zigexn. In the first year I acted as the business unit head in an extension of the I&C-Cruise PMI, and from the following year I became an Executive Officer, taking on management roles across multiple domains. I currently serve as Director and Executive Officer, Head of the Life Media Platform Business Division, Head of HR, and in various other roles, while also serving as Representative Director or officer at multiple group companies domestically and overseas.

— What led you to choose a startup company as your first employer out of university?

My father was a business owner, and that influence meant I had been thinking about starting my own company since I was young. I chose a startup because I felt it would give me experience of the speed of entrepreneurship and the founding phase from early on. It was also a time when venture companies and the IT domain were growing rapidly, and I wanted to be in a growth environment where I could take on challenges.

Being at a startup meant I was always working with a mental image of how to build an organization and a business, which meant I was able to take the step of founding my own company relatively smoothly when the time came.

— Could you tell us about the circumstances that led to the absorption merger with Zigexn?

At I&C-Cruise, like Zigexn, we ran multiple platform-style businesses. I had been watching Zigexn as a benchmark throughout my time at I&C-Cruise, since it was growing continuously with a similar business model. I&C-Cruise itself achieved significant growth — being nominated for Deloitte’s fast-growing company ranking three consecutive years — but when growth gradually plateaued and the trajectory flattened, I began considering M&A.

In that process, I concluded that joining forces with a company operating similar businesses and continuing to grow at scale would be good for the users of our services, our business partners, and our employees in terms of their next career steps. I made the decision to integrate with Zigexn, which at the time was the most rapidly growing company in our space.

As a result, our businesses grew significantly after joining the Zigexn Group. As the founder, I carry a strong sense of regret about what I wasn’t able to achieve while I was running the company independently — but the fact that the business ultimately grew significantly makes me feel the decision to join the Zigexn Group was the right one. Having experienced M&A firsthand and been able to benefit from it in this way has also given me insights that I can put to use in my current work.

— Could you share your vision and outlook for the future?

Zigexn has achieved success with a platform-style business model centered on diversified management. Going forward, I want to push hard to build larger, more core-scale businesses within that framework. Rather than simply expanding horizontally across businesses and domains, I believe growing deeply and on a large scale along the vertical axis is the challenge Zigexn must take on next.

We will also be putting significant effort into challenging the global market. We already operate multiple businesses in Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and Africa, and over the medium term we want to grow those cross-border businesses and accelerate our growth in global markets. Of course, PMI with overseas companies will be more challenging than with domestic companies — but that much greater challenge brings that much greater reward and excitement. The more interesting work like this that Zigexn accumulates, the more naturally talented people will be drawn to us. I intend to keep pushing hard every day to grow the company — both in terms of business domains and organizational scale.

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【Post-Interview Note】

Zigexn Co., Ltd. — Company Information

Founded	June 1, 2006
Representative Director	President, Executive Officer & CEO: Jo Hirao
Capital	¥125,000,000 (as of March 31, 2024)
Address	3-4-8 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001
Business Activities	・Life Service Platform business

Zigexn Co., Ltd. — Job Listings