This is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL
This is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL.
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"I Want to Launch a New Business, But I Don't Know Where to Start"
"I want to launch a new business, but I don't know where to start." "How do you actually make a new venture succeed?" For anyone wrestling with these questions, this article draws on a talk by Ryuta Hamamoto—a seasoned new business professional—to share the secrets to building a successful new venture.
In Part 1, Hamamoto reflects on his path into the world of new business and the mindset that leads to success.
- The three key figures who steered me toward new business
- Upgrade your OS
- Train your ability to find things interesting
- Train your etiquette instincts
- How to drive new business within a large organization
Affiliation: Co-founder & CEO, TIMEWELL Inc.
Background: Born in Okayama Prefecture
Born in Okayama Prefecture. After working in sales at a major electronics manufacturer, he became involved in intrapreneurship development programs and new business creation. In 2020, he co-founded the non-profit ONE X and was appointed as co-representative director. He has worked on regional revitalization projects in Shiojiri and Ota City, winning the Work Story Award W two years running. In November 2022, he founded TIMEWELL Inc. and became independent in January 2023. He currently leads the online business assistant service "TIMEWELL" and the cross-border e-commerce platform "LOCAL X" for traditional crafts targeting affluent buyers. Hobbies: attending music festivals around the world and DJing.
The Three Key Figures Who Steered Me Toward New Business
Hello, everyone. I'm Hamamoto, serving as both the head of TIMEWELL Inc. and the secretariat of CHANGE. Today I'd like to talk about some fundamental points in business development that I introduced when I lectured at CHANGE—in particular, some common pitfalls and challenges I often observe in participants.
First, let me tell you about the three key figures who led me into the world of new business. The first is Makoto Hamamatsu, known as "Mac." Invited by Mac, the co-representative of ONE JAPAN, I participated in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Shido" Next Innovator Program. That program brought me new colleagues and became the driving force behind the founding of CHANGE.
The Second Person Is Yoichi Aso
The second person is Yoichi Aso. In 2016, Aso came to Panasonic and gave a talk about "formative experiences." He said powerfully, "If you're thinking about new business, you absolutely have to do it now. There's no other time." His words pushed me to commit to the path of new business development.
The third person is my former boss, Kosuke Suzuki. Suzuki was the leader of a new business division at Panasonic. He pulled me into that division saying, "If you want to do new business," and gave me the opportunity to experience firsthand the challenges of driving new ventures within a large company, while applying what I had learned through the Shido program.
Suzuki gave me a piece of advice: "In a large company, you have to know when to wear a T-shirt and when to wear a suit." This later became the philosophical core of CHANGE. At the time, there was no systematized framework for this, but I felt the need for one—and it became the seed for founding CHANGE.
It was these three encounters that guided me into the world of new business. Their words and actions became the backbone of who I am today. I have come to believe that the journey into new business begins with exactly these kinds of extraordinary encounters.
The CHANGE Program That Systematizes the T-Shirt and Suit Philosophy
The CHANGE Program That Systematizes the T-Shirt and Suit Philosophy
To succeed in new business, you must update your OS to one that can handle uncertainty. Because transformative business innovation involves uncertainty, a traditional planning-heavy approach makes it very difficult for a venture to get off the ground.
Winners in every industry have all updated their OS to handle uncertainty. This OS is what is known as the OODA loop or effectuation. Effectuation is an approach that starts with what you can do now and opens new paths through action.
Causation, by contrast, tends to identify customer needs but then become paralyzed by fear of failure. You can spend forever making plans and never actually move forward.
That's Why It's Important to Develop Effectuation Thinking
That's why it's important to develop effectuation thinking. Take small actions from what you can do now, and carve a path from there. That is the secret to new business success.
I experienced the threat of disruptive innovation firsthand at Panasonic. I made up my mind to become someone who drives innovation, rather than being driven by it again.
I would encourage each of you to put effectuation thinking into practice. Update your OS. Have the courage to face uncertainty head-on. That will be your first step toward new business success.
Being able to find things genuinely interesting is critically important when launching a new venture. Intuition, sensibility, and the feeling of "this is exciting" are indispensable to getting a business off the ground.
The trick to training your ability to find things interesting is remarkably simple: when interviewing someone, listen to what they say and actually say out loud, "That's interesting." Saying it out loud makes that person and their topic feel interesting to you.
This connects to the idea of effectuation. By taking action first, your mindset starts to shift. By saying "That's interesting," the mental pathways for exploring customer challenges become easier to activate.
Looking at outstanding entrepreneurs like Yoichi Aso and Takashi Yamada, they all excel at finding things interesting. They just keep practicing, and they learn from doing.
That's why I'd encourage all of you to train your ability to find things interesting. Make "That's interesting" your reflexive response in interviews. Doing so will lead to discoveries of business ideas and customer challenges.
The Seeds of New Business Grow from Finding Things Interesting
The seeds of new business grow from finding things interesting. Use your ability to find things interesting as a weapon, and take on the challenge of launching your new venture.
For new business to succeed, building your etiquette instincts is essential. Making appointments, following up after interviews, expressing gratitude after mentor sessions, conducting yourself courteously in interactions with business partners—all of these are foundational to running a smooth operation.
In particular, making appointments in advance and presenting a clear schedule on your end—these kinds of courteous actions are indispensable when getting a venture off the ground.
Timee's CEO Ogawa, a widely noted emerging company founder, has a reputation for exceptional etiquette. Many people say in unison, "That person is so courteous." That kind of reputation attracts people and builds a fan base among customers.
In the early stages of a venture, achieving problem-solution fit is critical—but before that, you need people to become fans of you personally. That's where etiquette becomes indispensable.
Large company professionals are, in general, skilled at courtesy. Leverage that strength and put your etiquette instincts to work. That will drive success in your venture launch.
Your early customers will want to use your service precisely because they are fans of you. Use etiquette as your weapon, grow your fan base, and get your venture on track.
Understanding the full picture is essential to succeeding in new business. You start with identifying the problem, then move through solving it, building a model, scaling, and achieving growth.
Pay Special Attention to Misalignment in the Early Stages
Pay special attention to misalignment in the early stages. If you drift off course here, it will take enormous time to course correct.
Also, once you've built a product or a PoC, you tend to develop an attachment to it that makes it hard to adjust course. Confirmation bias kicks in—you unconsciously stack up logic that confirms your own theory is right.
That is precisely why hypothesis validation in the early stages is most critical of all. You must have the courage to look at data objectively—free from your own preconceptions—and pivot when necessary.
New business is, truly, a battle against uncertainty. There are no absolute right answers; it's a constant cycle of trial and error. To stay oriented in all of this, the key is to run hypothesis-validation cycles at high speed.
That's why the "ability to find things interesting" and "etiquette instincts" I've described play important roles. Building strong relationships with customers, and sharpening your insight to identify the essence of a challenge, makes hypothesis validation more precise.
New business inside large companies has its own unique difficulties compared to startups. Existing business considerations, organizational inertia, and many other barriers stand in the way.
But that is precisely why it's so important to keep the full picture in mind and adopt an exploratory, hypothesis-driven approach. The courage to face uncertainty and the flexibility to course correct—I am convinced these are the keys to new business success inside large organizations.
Continued in Part 2: "Seven Secrets for New Business Success, Learned from Ryuta Hamamoto."
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