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The production site, constantly on the verge of being cut off.
A man in his 30s, who became independent as an advertising production and agency business, and carved a niche into the massive market of the pachinko industry. He built sales with flyer production specialized for the industry, and at first glance, it might have seemed like smooth sailing. However, the inner reality was a constant feeling of walking on thin ice.

The business model at the time was a typical “flow-based” commissioned production. Sales increased when there were orders from clients, and were zero when there were none. Furthermore, the work of flyer production was constantly accompanied by the risk of “switching to another company.”

“Sayon-san, we found someone who can do it cheaper next time.”
“The new person in charge said they want to use a different company.”

With just such words, yesterday’s main source of revenue could disappear tomorrow. While rushing to acquire new clients, the days were spent continuing to handle the minute revision requests from existing clients. If I didn’t act, not a single yen would come in. Despite advocating for systematization, the reality was an extremely fragile foundation entirely dependent on my own labor.

“If this continues, I’ll eventually be cornered.”

That sense of crisis was what propelled me to the next big challenge.
From DVDs to the Cloud: Solving the Industry’s Common “Pain”
What I focused on was not individual production orders, but the lack of “materials” that the entire industry commonly faced.

At the time, it was extremely difficult for each hall to prepare high-quality design materials on their own. Therefore, I envisioned a business model of developing design material collections and providing them in an inexpensive subscription format.

Initially, I sold materials burned onto DVDs, but this had limitations in an industry where the freshness of information is paramount. So, I pivoted to transitioning to a download service utilizing the internet. While cloud services are commonplace today, at the time, internet speeds were slow, and server maintenance was not easy.

I installed dedicated servers within our company and secured multiple large-capacity hard drives, which were expensive back then.
“An environment where you can always get the latest materials, as much as you want.”
I gambled the company’s fate on building that infrastructure ourselves.

However, the startup was a series of hardships. System investment and material production costs came first, leading to persistent deficits, ultimately reaching 10 million yen. Voices around me called it “reckless.” Nevertheless, I didn’t abandon the conviction that if this “system” were completed, we could surely become the industry standard.
The Missing Last Piece: The True Nature of the “Excitement” of New Model Explanations
The turning point in escaping the deficit tunnel came from an unexpected place.

More than design materials themselves, what halls desperately craved was content that clearly explained the specifications of “new models” sequentially announced by manufacturers to users.

In the pachinko industry, the introduction of new machines is the biggest event. However, translating complex specifications and presentations into design is a laborious task. I focused on this, and for each new model, I established a system to deliver high-quality graphics specializing in explanations of its specifications at the fastest possible speed.

This perfectly matched the needs of the field.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
With such voices, contracts exploded. The service, which had been struggling, soon expanded to 300 halls, and then to 600 halls within three years.

Sales transformed into stable recurring revenue (stock), and I was finally liberated from the “fear of being cut off.” Instead of sales earned by my own feet, the system automatically generated profits and supported the company. This was one of the ideals I had been aiming for as a builder.
An Unexpected “Parting” at the Zenith of Stability
Having secured a solid management foundation and developed a team, I finally felt I could breathe a sigh of relief. In 2013, just as I was convinced of this, an event akin to a bolt from the blue occurred.

I found myself in direct confrontation with the senior executive who had provided funding, over management policy.
While I will omit the details, it was a clash at a point where my pride as a builder and their business perspective were irreconcilably incompatible.

“Even though it’s a system I created, I cannot stay by selling my soul.”

After a heated argument, I made the decision to leave the company I had poured my heart and soul into nurturing. I let go of everything in that moment: my stable position, the accumulated revenue, and the days spent with my companions.

In 2013, I was once again at the “zero” point, with nothing.
However, this sense of loss experienced past the age of 40 became the catalyst that led me into a further “异质的领域” (otherworldly realm).

Founder Principles 4: Tools are not the goal; working business flows are.
Setting up our own servers and acquiring large-capacity HDDs were merely means to an end. The essence lay in providing an indispensable piece to the operational flow of the halls: “delivering information on new models to the field as quickly as possible.” Even in the age of AI, what we should be creating is not “superior AI tools,” but the “entire flow” that propels our clients’ businesses forward.