M&A Research Institute Inc.Revolutionary CEO, Shunsaku Sagami, Reveals the Key Qualities Every Entrepreneur Must Have (Part 1)
April 04, 2023
M&A Research Institute Inc., a Japan-based mergers and acquisitions (M&A) brokerage firm, has attracted the eye and attention of the public with its IPO debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market four years after its 2018 founding. Under the vision of "revolutionizing the M&A industry through digital transformation (DX) and AI technologies”, M&A Research Institute deploys an AI-powered matching system to help search for potential buyers of businesses whose owners are keen to sell out. In this interview, M&A Research Institute Founder & CEO Shunsaku Sagami sat down with DIMENSION Business Producer Masato Shimodaira to talk about what he thinks is the key to entrepreneurship and business growth.
Be super savvy about everything
Q: What do you consider to be the most important quality for an entrepreneur?
A: Follow through whatever we set our mind on and do not compromise anything. Entrepreneurs are expected to have a high level of competence and broad skill set across multiple spheres to effectively manage and navigate different aspects of their business. Although having relevant career experience and strong networks can be advantageous, I believe that young entrepreneurs who are starting from scratch must possess an exceptional set of abilities for others to be willing to support and follow them. Therefore, I always try to do everything myself to the best of my abilities, leaving no room for half-hearted efforts. As a student, I developed many services as a designer. After graduating from university, I joined MicroAd, a company that developed a DSP distribution platform, which was at the time the most advanced solution that helps businesses optimize their digital ad campaigns, as an engineer to acquire engineering skills that may become harder to learn as I get older.
I also learned about marketing there. When starting my own business (in 2016, I founded my first company, Alpaca Inc., and transferred its shares to Vector Inc. after about a year), I thoroughly worked on finance, human resources, and public relations by myself. Only in terms of hiring, I think I have interviewed more than 1,000 people to date.
Shunsaku Sagami (born in 1991) graduated from Kobe University. He joined Micro Ad where he gained experience in algorithm development for advertising systems. He then founded his first company, Alpaca Inc.Co., Ltd., in 2016 which he later transferred its shares to Vector Co., Ltd. In 2018, he established his second company, M&A Research Institute Inc., which was listed on the stock exchange in June 2022 after 3 years and 9 months since its founding.
Being self-equipped with a variety of knowledge and skills enabled me to have a quantitative understanding of the man-hours required for each task or assignment in the day-to-day operations of the business.
My working style is to have a complete grasp of the task first by doing it myself before delegating it to others to focus on my other duties.
The law of success is “reverse thinking.”
Q: Do you mean that you intentionally acquired various skills from your school days to become a business manager? Please tell us about any original experience that led you to this way of thinking.
A: My father was a police officer, and my grandfather was a business owner. I used to go to my grandfather’s house every week since it was nearby, and he would teach me about “business” during those visits. That was when I became interested in entrepreneurship. My grandfather often said, “Everyone is equal in terms of luck. What sets us apart is the commitment to continuous effort and the ability to grab and seize the opportunity when luck presents itself. Even if the chance of winning a lottery is 1 out of 100, we will eventually succeed if we try a hundred times persistently.”
I have learned the “law of successful business” through working on dozens of businesses, including those from my student days. This experience has allowed me to develop a mindset of “first try everything on my own.”
Q: Please tell us more about the “law of success”
A: Maybe it is “reverse thinking.”
Excellent managers always think backward to act with a clear objective in the first place. President Masayoshi Son of Softbank is a great exemplar of this way of thinking. By asking himself "What will I do by the time I am 60 years old?”, he can set long-term goals and work towards them. To succeed, it is important to establish a clear and measurable goal. Once this goal has been established, it is essential to identify any potential obstacles that may impede progress and develop a logical plan of action. Without a focus on numerical targets, management may struggle to achieve success.
I think this type of backward thinking is the difference between a business owner and a manager. For example, a business owner establishes a bubble tea shop to capture the rising demand for tapioca pearls. This is bottom-up entrepreneurial thinking, which is important in its own right. However, because the market size is not viewed from a macro perspective, it can lead to sales growth plateauing after an initial surge.
On the other hand, a manager who can think beyond short-term trends and has a clear understanding of the industry, target market share, and the desired size of their business before making informed decisions on their next actions.
I have always loved mathematics since I was a student, and even now I feel as if I am continuing to solve mathematical proof questions in the field of business.
Source (Japanese only): Link
