Mirei Goda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joined Daiwa Securities in 2008. After working in consulting sales for individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises, she joined Bebit in 2012. As a consultant, she handled numerous CX strategy and new service planning projects for clients in the consumer goods, financial, manufacturing, media, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She joined NODE in 2020. Currently serves as a Director, involved in business creation support for consumer goods, financial, manufacturing, and media clients, as well as new service planning and promotion support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Takuto Kato<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born 1997, age 27. Joined an advertising agency straight out of university and spent four years supporting clients’ digital marketing. Joined NODE around 2022. At NODE, he supports digital marketing for financial-sector clients and handles sales support for financial products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Miu Hayashi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born 1999, age 25. Joined Accenture straight out of university and spent approximately two years on system development for the financial industry. Rejoined NODE in 2024 \u2014 a company she had previously been part of as an intern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Ryo Yonekawa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born 2000, age 24. Joined NODE as an intern from 2021, then joined the company as a new graduate hire. Supports digital marketing for manufacturers in the specialty goods sector.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n We provide consulting services covering a wide range of phases in a client’s business or service \u2014 from the conception stage through to implementation and scale-up. We also offer organizational transformation support to help clients reach the point where they can generate results independently. In particular, our support for business and service launches often centers on improving CX (customer experience), and one of our defining features is the thorough prototyping work we conduct with end consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prototyping is primarily used as a means of incorporating end-user voices into a business or service. At the same time, it is also effective for helping clients understand how to think about CX and how to embed it into their business or service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many clients have ideas for improving CX but struggle to translate them into concrete measures or product development. Improving CX often requires not just listening to end users, but also prompting a rethink of management direction and business strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our service conception and launch support typically begins with ideation sessions alongside the client and partner companies. Ideas cultivated through extensive discussion are then given concrete form together with partners, and validation is carried out iteratively while researching target personas and competitors. We refer to this entire process as “growth hack prototyping.” By implementing a framework that cycles rapidly through idea generation, product validation, and refinement, clients are able to develop businesses and services that meet the genuine needs of end consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are three. The first is that we support clients thoroughly until they achieve their goals. Many consulting firms tend to define the scope of their support narrowly. But the conditions at the launch stage of a business or service differ from those at the growth stage, and it is not uncommon for measures that were planned at the outset to stop working. To address this, we keep the client’s ultimate goal constantly in mind and are able to flexibly propose and execute the measures needed for each stage of the business. Going beyond limited engagement is one of NODE’s defining strengths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second is the ability to bring in professionals with deep expertise in specific fields. We have built a network we call the “open community,” through which we collaborate with specialists both inside and outside the company. Being able to draw on a community of professionals who are deeply familiar with the specific challenges of a wide range of industries is, I believe, a significant advantage that other firms cannot match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third is our company culture. At many consulting firms, the tendency for individuals to work alone on engagements can lead to an individualistic environment where it is difficult to build a genuine sense of solidarity among team members. At NODE, however, we all back up colleagues who keep pushing forward. We communicate closely, constantly sharing what challenges each person is facing and how they are trying to overcome them. Because a culture of mutual support has taken root among our staff, I feel it is a workplace where people find it easy to take on challenges and where genuine growth is a realistic prospect. We believe that this combination of teamwork and individual initiative delivers better outcomes for our clients. This is a strength that is uniquely ours \u2014 something no other firm can replicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I joined Daiwa Securities as a new graduate in 2008 and worked in sales for about three years. I then moved to another company but left after a year, and joined Bebit, a UX consulting firm. At the time, NODE’s Representative Director, Kon, was also at Bebit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Bebit I started in sales administration, but wanting to contribute to clients on the front line, I transferred internally to the consulting division. After two years as a consultant I moved to Sansan, a business card management service company. However, I was assigned to a different position from the one agreed at the time of hiring, making it difficult to do what I had set out to do. It was at that point that Representative Director Kon reached out to me, and I joined NODE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I asked myself what it would mean to do work that was genuinely meaningful for clients, I started to have real doubts about securities sales. I was spending my days chasing quotas without knowing whether the proposals I was making were truly the best for my clients \u2014 and it was in that context that I became interested in Bebit, which supported the development of better services for end users. Once I joined and saw the genuine dedication with which people there supported end users, I was moved, and began to aspire to be a consultant myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While working as a consultant at Bebit, I became acutely aware of my own limitations and felt a strong desire to grow further as a consultant. At Bebit we were deeply focused on the end-user perspective, but I sometimes found myself unable to fully think through the underlying system design and mechanics, and occasionally proposed systems that weren’t realistically achievable for the client. I had come to consulting with the desire to deliver things that were genuinely useful to society and to businesses \u2014 and yet I was falling short of considering the convenience and satisfaction of the people who would actually use what I was proposing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was while I was wrestling with these feelings that I heard Representative Director Kon describe his plan to build a company that would deliver genuine value to clients \u2014 not just theoretical ideas on paper. That was what led me to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to increase, even by one, the number of people who approach their work with genuine passion. To that end, I would be glad if our company’s support could contribute even a little to clients’ organizational reform and talent development. Through creating a better workplace, I hope to nurture in each individual member of our team a desire to grow and a spirit of challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also have a vision of our staff growing even further, in the service of building a better society. We currently have a large proportion of younger members. Precisely because they are young, I want them to propose fresh ideas to clients without hesitation, and to put forward new initiatives unconstrained by past track records. Developing these motivated individuals is our role \u2014 and if many talented people can grow here and go on to flourish in the wider world, there is nothing that could make me happier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: Information sharing is highly accurate, and the vast majority of information that isn’t restricted for compliance reasons is openly accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: Minutes and content from meetings that only senior leadership attend are made available, aren’t they.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: Beyond project-level chat exchanges, application details and approval statuses tied to each project are also visible unless restricted. You can of course also see where every other employee’s projects stand. Most consulting firms don’t share project progress, project status \u2014 let alone approval status \u2014 with all employees. Being in an environment where you can always see the state of the company gives you a strong sense of genuinely being part of NODE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: The first thing I noticed when I joined NODE was the culture of building the company together as a whole. I was struck by the fact that opinions were sought not just from senior management but from junior employees too, and that good ideas were actively adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yonekawa: The people at NODE are growing faster than anyone in any community I’ve ever been part of. You can feel how strong the desire to grow is, and there’s an atmosphere of everyone encouraging each other along. I think the culture of wanting to build and improve the company together as a whole is what drives that growth motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: Yonekawa, who has been with the company for just over a year since joining as a new graduate, is already running a project on his own. The degree of autonomy given to junior employees \u2014 unthinkable at most consulting firms \u2014 is what accelerates growth so significantly. Behind that trust in junior employees is a solid backup structure from more experienced staff. NODE gives junior employees real autonomy, but when something goes wrong, experienced colleagues step in to help. That support structure \u2014 one that doesn’t simply leave junior employees to fend for themselves \u2014 is another of NODE’s major attractions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: Yes. There is a structure in place to support people who take on challenges, so people can do so while maintaining psychological safety. For example, in the chat that serves as a daily log, each employee shares progress updates and struggles on their projects. It’s not uncommon for colleagues with relevant knowledge to respond to those posts with advice or words of encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: It’s when we put into the world a service that addresses a challenge our client is facing. Giving concrete form to a solution that incorporates ideas, refinements, and features not yet seen in the market \u2014 as a means of resolving a client’s pain point \u2014 and being involved from the very earliest stages of that process is the greatest source of fulfillment for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: I feel fulfilled when I realize one of our internal guiding principles: “Do harder work than yesterday.” For example, last week I was only trusted to handle a specific task on the project, but today I proposed to my manager an initiative to improve the overall quality of the project \u2014 and the next day I produced a document that clarified the approach and schedule for driving that initiative forward. I feel a real sense of momentum in the gradual expansion of what I’m capable of doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yonekawa: I feel growth when I manage to communicate really well with a client. Even when I struggled at first to convey my thoughts clearly or to pick up on what the other person truly meant, when I reach the point of being able to read what they’re thinking through repeated conversation, I can feel myself growing. That feeling gives me confidence going into the next interaction and, I believe, deepens the relationship with the client further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: We typically have a team of three to four \u2014 a Director, a Senior Consultant, a Consultant, and in some cases an Associate as well. The Director is responsible for ensuring overall project quality, the Senior Consultant leads the project’s execution, and below them are the Consultant and an Associate in a support role. The Associate role is filled by interns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: Enterprise clients make up a large proportion, and my impression is that the people in charge on the client side tend to be highly engaged with the projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: NODE puts forward the concept of “championing those with intent.” Rather than simply pursuing revenue, we want to actively support companies that have a genuine conviction and are willing to take on challenges. By making that stance prominent, I think clients with strong convictions and genuine drive naturally gravitate toward us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: At my previous job I was in sales in the advertising industry. While agencies were competing fiercely against one another, I spent two to three years involved in planning and directing campaigns. But once I reached a point where I was getting results, I started to lose sight of whether dedicating myself entirely to competitive pitching was really contributing to my own growth. It was around that time that I had the opportunity to speak with NODE’s Representative Director Kon, and I felt this was a place where I could be involved in a wide variety of work \u2014 which led me to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: My previous employer was a large company, but many of the people who were thriving there had joined when the company was still small and had watched it grow. Working alongside those people made me want to develop my skills within a smaller organization. Rather than building a track record at a well-known company that already had a visible impact on the world, I wanted to be in an environment where I could grow in step with the company’s growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: I have a goal of one day working in marketing and management strategy in the entertainment sector, and when I thought about the best path to get there, NODE was the answer. I had originally interned at NODE as a student before joining Accenture as a new graduate hire. But at Accenture, the consulting was IT-focused, and I felt that the solutions I could propose to clients were limited to the IT domain. I started to question whether Accenture was the right place to fulfill my long-term goals, and driven by a desire to engage with the fundamental challenges facing businesses, I decided to return to NODE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yonekawa: The main reason I decided to join NODE was that I felt I could work here with both a high degree of clarity about the work and a real sense of being part of something together. During my job search I looked at consulting firms of all sizes \u2014 from major players to smaller boutiques. Of all of them, NODE felt like the company most genuinely engaged with the fundamental challenges facing businesses, and the sense of unity in which everyone at a venture company grows together was something I was strongly drawn to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: Through my work at NODE with financial-sector clients, I have been struck anew by the importance of financial products. At the same time, Japan’s fintech sector is significantly behind the United States. Going forward, I want to be one of the people driving the development of financial services for the Japanese market, and I hope to contribute in some way to Japan’s fintech industry leading the world. To that end, I want to keep engaging deeply with the current financial system and supporting its evolution into services that are more closely attuned to people’s everyday lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: I want to be involved in marketing and management strategy in the entertainment sector. But specifically, I want to become someone who can participate in competitive pitches as the person responsible on the client side, and deliver results in winning engagements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yonekawa: I want to help build a society in which young people from my hometown of Fukushima can make choices about their future with genuine confidence. To achieve that, I want to develop the ability to identify business challenges early, and become someone who delivers results better than anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 You all have a strong desire to grow, but is there a particular source of that drive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kato: Because we’re in an environment where we can see other people’s successes and failures \u2014 the effort people are putting in \u2014 I think we all push each other to grow through mutual inspiration. It feels like the underlying foundation is a culture that treats growth as simply the natural state of things. If the people around you are attempting to summit a mountain by a difficult route, you’ll naturally think about taking the same route yourself. People who want to reach for a higher standard by following the attitude, drive, and ambition of those around them are the kind of people gathered here. If just one person had that strong drive on their own, they’d likely be pulled down by those around them and see their motivation eroded. I strongly feel that the NODE environment and company culture itself is what supports our growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hayashi: For me, the hunger I feel for my dream of working in management strategy in the entertainment sector is a huge motivating force. The origin of that dream goes back to wanting to become a manga artist as a child. I was drawn to the world of art, but I came to feel that people with true talent are rare \u2014 and I realized it suited me better to think about how to preserve great art for future generations, and by extension how to preserve entertainment, rather than creating it myself. The dream I have today is what I arrived at when I searched for the best way to give everything I have in support of the art I love. Wanting to make that dream a reality means that every moment I feel myself growing toward it becomes daily motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yonekawa: I want to be able to give something back to my hometown and to NODE in some way. I was slower to grasp things than those around me from the time I was an intern, but I am genuinely grateful to the people at NODE who looked after me and never gave up on me despite that. I am of course also grateful to the hometown that raised me. Being able to give form to those feelings and return them to the people who gave them would make me happier than anything else. I believe it is this feeling that underpins my growth. For now, I want to pour everything I have into the work in front of me and keep moving forward without losing the spirit to take on challenges. I trust that on the other side of that, I will find a version of myself that has genuinely grown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The support that Director Goda describes \u2014 with “consumer prototyping” as the defining weapon \u2014 was filled with a strong conviction about putting genuinely valuable services out into the world. The radical transparency of making everything visible to all employees, including meeting minutes and approval statuses, and the culture of entrusting significant autonomy even to junior staff, is striking. Seeing all the team members take pride in “doing harder work than yesterday” and inspiring each other is the very picture of an ideal growth community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the interview, I could feel a positive energy in which individual “hunger” becomes the engine of action, and taking on challenges is simply assumed to be the norm. For anyone passionate about “wanting to champion purposeful challenges with everything they have, and to evolve alongside the company,” this should be the perfect home. The sense of real impact that comes from giving concrete form to a new future together with clients who have genuine conviction. Why not join NODE and take your own market value to the next level?<\/p>\n\n\n\n ConsulNext Senior Consultant<\/strong>Leveraging Consumer Prototyping as a Weapon \u2014 Broad Support Spanning Service Conception to Growth Hacking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mirai-works.co.jp\/consulnext\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/company_node_01-1600x900.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u2014 First, I’d like to ask Ms. Goda. Could you tell us about NODE’s business?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Could you give us more specific examples of the kind of support you provide?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 What would you say are your strengths compared with other firms?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Creating an Environment Where Young People Can Thrive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mirai-works.co.jp\/consulnext\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/company_node_02-1600x900.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u2014 Could you tell us about your career background, Ms. Goda?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 What led you to move from a securities firm to Bebit?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 What brought you to NODE?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 What is your vision for the future, Ms. Goda?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
An Environment Where Young Professionals Feel Like Genuine Members of the Company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mirai-works.co.jp\/consulnext\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/company_node_03-1600x900.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u2014 Now I’d like to speak with Mr. Kato, Ms. Hayashi, and Mr. Yonekawa, who all work at NODE. What would each of you say are NODE’s defining characteristics?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Would you say it’s a company culture that encourages junior employees to take on challenges?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Could you tell us about moments when you feel a sense of fulfillment or personal growth?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 How many people typically work on a single engagement?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Are there any defining characteristics of the clients you support?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Common Thread: “The Ability to Grow” \u2014 What Future Do They Want to Build Using Their Experience at NODE?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mirai-works.co.jp\/consulnext\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/company_node_04-1600x900.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u2014 Next, could each of you tell us what motivated you to join NODE?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Were you also looking at large consulting firms during your job search?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Ms. Hayashi, you were previously at Accenture. Why did you choose to join NODE?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Mr. Yonekawa, you went from intern to full-time employee at NODE. What was the deciding factor for you?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 What is each of your visions for the future?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\u3010Post-Interview Note\u3011<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mirai-works.co.jp\/consulnext\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img-tsukada.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Masahito Tsukada<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nNODE Inc. \u2014 Company Information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Company Name<\/strong><\/td> NODE Inc.<\/td><\/tr> <\/span>Founded<\/strong><\/td> April 15, 2019<\/td><\/tr> <\/span>Representative Director<\/strong><\/td> Hitoshi Kon<\/td><\/tr> <\/span>Employees<\/strong><\/td> 35 \u203bAs of March 2022 (including interns and part-time staff)<\/td><\/tr> <\/span>Address<\/strong><\/td> HI Gotanda Building 2F, 2-11-17 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0031<\/td><\/tr> <\/span>Advisors & Fellows<\/strong><\/td> Toshihiko Aizawa
Representative Director, TSUNAGU Partners
Former Representative Director & President, am\/pm Japan; Former CIO, Daiei
Takaya Takeuchi
Representative Director, Q-inks
Representative Director, TSUNAGU LAB
Former Senior Executive Officer, Kakaku.com
General Manager, Tabelog Business Division & Tabelog Media Division
Former Senior Executive Officer (Strategy), Digital Garage; Group CEO Office Head
Katsumasa Yagi
Representative Director & President, Dentsu Consulting
Kazuyoshi Kishi
Digital Co-creation Officer, Sumitomo Life Insurance
Digital Advisor, Mamezou
Advisor, Keizai Sangyo Shinposha
Chief Digital Advisor, Next Education Think
Kunihiko Mishima
Representative Director, Suiing Inc.
Former Growth Officer & Head of Business Produce Division 9, Dentsu Group<\/td><\/tr> <\/span>Partner Companies & Affiliated Organizations<\/strong><\/td> Dentsu Digital
Dentsu Consulting
Underworks
Neophilia
Success-Lab
Behavioral Principle Marketing
Retail AI Research Association
Le Grand
Gixo
Q-inks
UNCOVER TRUTH
Marus Consulting
LIFE DESIGNING
hoppin
BELLOWL
Funday
and others<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNODE Inc. \u2014 Job Listings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2229,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"swell_btn_cv_data":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7926","industry","type-industry","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n