Confidence in Failure: A Business Framework Built from Experience
In 2018, when marketing through social media was just beginning to gain attention, influencer marketing and social media advertising became key drivers for business success. Within just five years, Nahat Inc. achieved sales of 12.7 billion yen.
The company’s founder and current CEO, Yuki Adachi, faced numerous setbacks in his early years, from job hunting struggles to failures in student entrepreneurship. However, he later identified trends, leveraged opportunities, and scaled his business significantly.
Yet, simply capitalizing on trends does not ensure long-term business growth. Behind Nahato’s success lies Adachi’s philosophy and approach to marketing and management. In this interview, Sogyotecho CEO, Okubo, delves into Adachi’s journey to entrepreneurship and his business mindset.
CEO, Nahato Inc. Yuki Adachi is the CEO of Nahato Inc. Born in 1993, he graduated from Chuo University’s Faculty of Law. During his student years, he studied abroad in New York and launched his first influencer business. After graduation, he used his own capital to establish Nahato Inc., growing the company through influencer marketing and SNS advertising. In 2020, he relocated the company to Shibuya Mark City. Within just five years, Nahato Inc. achieved 12.7 billion yen in sales. Today, Adachi is expanding his focus beyond advertising, actively working on new business ventures, M&A, venture capital, and talent recruitment.
Yuki Adachi
Founder and CEO of Sogyotecho Kosei Okubo is the CEO of Sogyotecho Co., Ltd. While working as an executive at a major IT venture, he noticed that many entrepreneurs faced common challenges after launching their businesses. This inspired him to create Sogyotecho, a comprehensive guidebook for startups. He later founded Sogyotecho Co., Ltd., pioneering a unique business model that has achieved remarkable success. The printed edition of Sogyotecho has sold 2.5 million copies, while the website attracts over 1 million monthly visitors—making it Japan’s most visited platform for entrepreneurship resources. Okubo also developed the “Entrepreneurship Concierge” Sogyotecho app, offering free startup consultations. He serves as a permanent member of the Cabinet Office One-Stop Company Establishment Review Committee, teaches at universities, and is widely recognized for his commitment to supporting new business owners. He’s also famously known for wearing a Sogyotecho T-shirt every day.
Kosei Okubo
Losing Everything to Embezzlement, Yet Rising Again Through Influencer Marketing
Okubo: You started your entrepreneurial journey as a student. What kind of student were you?
Adachi: During my university days, I vaguely wanted to be popular. I was the president of a drinking club with around 400 members and worked part-time at a bar in Nishiazabu, making me quite a noticeable figure among my peers.
Since most of my activities revolved around alcohol, I found it difficult to present myself confidently in job interviews or include them on my resume. As a result, I failed multiple job applications. To create a stronger academic and extracurricular record, I took a year off from university and studied in New York. However, when I returned to Japan, the job-hunting season had nearly ended.
At that point, I decided that job hunting wasn’t for me and instead focused on earning daily income. While continuing my studies, I kept working at a bar. Later, I wanted to find a more efficient way to make money, leading me to try importing apparel from New York to Japan. Looking back, this was my first encounter with the business world.
The business involved sourcing popular Japanese brand clothes from New York and selling them in Japan. However, it wasn’t as profitable as expected due to high import duties and a weak yen (around 120 JPY per USD). After two years, I shut down the business with neither significant losses nor profits—another form of failure.
Later, a customer I met at my bar job invited me to start a company together. That became my first venture before founding Nahato.
Okubo: Did you start influencer marketing at that time?
Adachi: Back then, bloggers were more popular than influencers. We launched a business where bloggers wrote about recommended products within their daily content, and I refined their articles. This was an early form of what we now call “sponsored content” advertising. Since it aligned with market trends, it was profitable.
However, I was just a hired CEO—the bar customer who invited me to start the company owned 100% of the shares. When the business was thriving, he suddenly disappeared with the company’s funds. At 24, fresh out of university, I lost everything.
Okubo: That must have been a tough experience at such a young age. What made you decide to start a business again?
Adachi: After suddenly losing my job, I asked various business owners if they had any work opportunities. Many welcomed me, saying, “We’d be happy to have you.” That reassured me that I wouldn’t starve, so I decided to take another shot at starting my own business.
I gathered local friends and launched Nahat, focusing on influencer marketing, which was just starting to gain traction on social media.
Building a Business That Sells Only What You Truly Believe In
Okubo: How was it to run your own company?
Adachi: It was a time when social media usage was exploding, and the social media marketing industry was growing rapidly. Our business expanded smoothly. Since I enjoy new challenges, just months after finding success with influencer marketing, I started a talent agency for YouTubers called “ONEVIEW” and launched an SNS advertising business.
Okubo: When the owner of your first business took the money and disappeared, wasn’t it extremely difficult?
Adachi: It was, but I take pride in having experienced more failures than most entrepreneurs. People often tell me, “You should have held onto your shares,” but I think otherwise. When you first start a business, increasing the number of people you involve is more important than the number of shares you own.
Maximizing the chances of business success matters more than ownership percentages. I believe I was just lucky to catch the wave at the right time. If I had involved more people, our chances of success would have been even higher.
The Future: A Shift from Small Elite Teams to Large-Scale Hiring
Okubo: What upcoming trends do you foresee in business management?
Adachi: One is team size. Currently, the trend is to maximize productivity per person with small elite teams. However, I believe hiring more people will be the winning strategy. A company with 100,000 employees will outperform one with 10,000, provided the culture aligns.
Today’s hiring trend focuses on specialized skills and smaller job-based teams. But I think companies should instead focus on mass hiring individuals who fit the company culture.
With AI automating more tasks, technical skills will become less critical. Instead, human creativity and ideas will define corporate value. As Japan’s population declines, the ability to recruit talent will be crucial, especially for startups and ventures.
Changing Japan’s Marketing Landscape: Redefining the Agency-Client Relationship
Okubo: What is your vision for the future?
Adachi: We aim to become Japan’s top marketing company, meaning the best at selling products. To achieve this, three pillars are essential:
- Creating genuinely great products.
- Developing products that people want to use.
- Maximizing marketing effectiveness.
These will allow us to provide value to clients while applying our marketing philosophy in real-world business.
Okubo: Since you know what sells, you can also create sellable products. What’s your ultimate goal?
Adachi: I believe Japan needs a fundamental shift in its marketing approach. In Western countries like the U.S., companies have Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) who make internal marketing decisions. However, in Japan, businesses heavily rely on agencies. This weakens in-house marketing capabilities.
Japan’s low talent mobility worsens this issue. Marketers working at the same company for years often lack diverse experience, leading ambitious marketers to prefer agency roles. However, agencies primarily aim to earn fees from clients, creating a gap between the agency’s and client’s goals.
Bridging this gap is key to improving Japan’s marketing landscape. Instead of an adversarial agency-client relationship, agencies should become true partners in success.
At Nahat, we often work on a performance-based model, meaning we only profit if we deliver results. This approach ensures authentic marketing solutions.
Okubo: That’s an innovative departure from traditional ad agency models.
Adachi: We can take this approach because Nahato isn’t aiming for an IPO. Public companies must prioritize profits to maintain stock prices and avoid hostile takeovers. In contrast, we can take long-term risks, even if some years are less profitable.
Okubo: Finally, do you have a message for early-stage entrepreneurs?
Adachi: Listen to those just one step ahead of you, not ten steps ahead. When you’re at level one, advice from a billionaire like Masayoshi Son won’t be practical. Instead, I read interviews from when he was just starting out.
Also, don’t rush into defining a grand mission too early. In the beginning, focus entirely on making money and stabilizing your business. Once you have a foundation, you can refine your vision.
At Nahat, we value entrepreneurial mindsets. If you’re interested in working with us, I’d love to connect!
Final Thoughts
Yuki Adachi’s journey reflects the resilience and adaptability required to succeed in entrepreneurship. His experience—rising from setbacks, embracing innovative marketing strategies, and redefining organizational growth—offers valuable insights for aspiring business leaders.
Adachi’s philosophy emphasizes involving the right people in business over clinging to ownership, embracing large-scale hiring for future success, and fostering an authentic marketing approach. His bold vision for transforming Japan’s marketing industry underscores his commitment to bridging the gap between agencies and clients, ensuring mutual growth and success.
For entrepreneurs, Adachi’s advice is clear: focus on learning from those just a step ahead, build genuine business connections, and be relentless in adapting to changing market trends. His story serves as both a testament to perseverance and a roadmap for those looking to make a lasting impact in the business world.
Disclaimer: This article is an English translation of the original content published on the website sogyotecho.jp, which is the parent company of the Founders Guide website. The translation aims to provide information to English-speaking readers while maintaining the essence of the original article. Please note that any discrepancies or inaccuracies in the translation are unintentional. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, kindly refer to the original article in Japanese on sogyotecho.jp
