[Founder & CEO Interview] The Story and Journey Toward the Future of Gridge: Building Global Entertainment for the World

This time, we are sharing an interview with our CEO, Kenichi Yabui!

Today, our company supports the global expansion of Japanese artists, ranging from indie to major acts. But behind that journey were many challenges — financial difficulties, failed PMF attempts, and even withdrawals from the industry.

From starting his musical life at age nine with classical guitar, to living as a member of a band and being a performing artist, then becoming an office worker at thirty, and finally returning to music as a business owner, what has Yabui’s thought process been like, how has he acted, and what kind of future does he envision now?

If you love music and entertainment, and are also interested in startups and global business, we encourage you to check this out.

Contents

• From a Struggling Band Musician to a High-Performing Office Worker, and Then to an Entrepreneur

• “It Would be Lame to End After Just One Year”: The Path from Financial Struggles to PMF

• UGC spreads in Southeast Asia, Leading to a TikTok Award

• “Business is Something You Do for Others”: Returning to the Origin of Our Mission

• Alongside Business Growth, Providing Opportunities for Talent Worldwide

From a Struggling Band Musician to a High-Performing Office Worker, and Then to an Entrepreneur

▍First, could you tell us how you came to start the company?

It originally began as a new business initiative at the company I had previously worked for.

Our current director, Yunoki, was also at the same company, and together we launched the project.

But even back then, I already had the feeling that “someday, I want to do this on my own as an entrepreneur.”

▍What were the circumstances behind that feeling? 

Actually, I had been active as a band musician until I was 30, and only then did I start working as an office employee.

I might have launched a new business when I was 38, but throughout those eight years of working, there was always this indescribable feeling inside me of — “I still want to do something on my own.” 

▍Why didn’t you start a company at that time?

Because I had no capital (laughs).

Around 2017, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies were booming, and I was thinking about creating a global fan club site for creators using that system. I even had a few discussions with the Financial Services Agency.

With this kind of platform service, you typically go into the red at first and draw what is called a “J-curve”※, so it was commonplace to launch a startup through fundraising because it requires a lot of capital. 

※ A growth curve where you first fall into losses before rapid growth

So, since I didn’t have enough capital on hand, starting a business out of nowhere was not an option.

▍How did you eventually become independent?

Because the business wasn’t growing as I had hoped, and because of that original feeling of “wanting to do it myself,” I decided to go independent with the support of my previous company’s president and colleagues.

“It Would be Lame to End After Just One Year”: The Path from Financial Struggles to PMF

▍After that, did the business start to grow smoothly?

Not at all — there was even a time when we had only about 300,000 yen left.

At that time, instead of a fan club site, we released a platform where creators could post content, like Pinterest or Instagram. But we quickly realized that it was not achieving PMF (※).

※ Product Market Fit: when a product is accepted by the market.

I reflected, thinking, “I ended up creating what I wanted to make, not what the world actually needed.”

From there, we withdrew from the platform business, and our CTO at the time also left. In that process, Ogasawara — who had been a user of the platform and continues to work hard at Gridge to this day — joined our company when there was basically nothing left. We began to consider launching a label and new businesses from there.

During this process, we managed to raise funds from angel investors and business corporations, narrowly avoiding bankruptcy.

Looking back now, I can’t believe we managed to raise funds at that time.

▍That must have been a really tough period. What kept you going?

To put it simply:

“If we ended in just one year, that would be uncool.”

That was the only reason.

At the time, it wasn’t about a beautiful vision like “I want to realize this big dream.” It was more like, “If we collapse here, wouldn’t that be embarrassing? That’s way too lame.” That feeling kept me going.

So we desperately applied for accelerator programs hosted by Deloitte and Sony Music, clinging to any chance we could.

▍Tell us about what happened after fundraising.

Funds came in around September 2019, and we felt some relief. But just a few months later, COVID-19 struck, and we faced our second hurdle.

At the time, we were working on globalizing music through YouTube and also running a label business. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire entertainment market came to a sudden halt.

While YouTube was actually a tailwind during COVID, since people could listen to music from home, our revenue was only a few thousand to tens of thousands of yen per month.

But then, one of our label’s artists started to go viral in Southeast Asia.

UGC spreads in Southeast Asia, Leading to a TikTok Award

It was purely by chance.

One day, when I looked at the artist’s YouTube channel, the view count suddenly spiked in places like Indonesia. Curious, I checked it out to discover that the local people, cover singers, and influencers were dancing or singing along to the song.

Nowadays, the term UGC (※) is common, but at that time, the concept wasn’t widely known, and we ourselves didn’t fully understand what was happening. Still, we listed every single video and commented “Thank you!” via the artist’s account.

※ User Generated Content: content voluntarily created and shared by general users.

Perhaps thanks to those comments, the amount of UGC kept increasing, and in 2020, we won the Grand Prix in the music category at the very first TikTok Awards Japan.

▍Did winning the TikTok Award change anything?

Yes. We were invited to speak at a famous music industry conference, presenting online to around 200-300 people. From there, big changes followed.

Inquiries started pouring in from people in the music industry.

As I spoke with them, I began to realize: “Maybe there isn’t much expertise in the music industry when it comes to ‘digital × global.’”

Until then, I had no direct experience in the music industry, so I had been looking at it with a very flat perspective based on my marketing career at my previous job. I still remember talking with Yunoki, saying, “Maybe we can actually be of help to the music industry.”

▍So that was when you thought, ‘We could achieve PMF here’?

That’s right.

But up until then, we had been running our own platform, media, and label. And since we hadn’t really contributed to the growth or hits of our artists, I felt some resistance toward shifting into a contract-based service model.

That said, the company needed to survive and generate income. So we set aside ideals like “platforms” or “startups” and decided to focus on solving the visible pain points of the people and industry right in front of us by providing contract-based services.

When you’re in startups, you hear the word “pain” a lot. And I finally felt like, “We can actually see it now!” Along with that relief, I also remembered the value and satisfaction of solving problems and being useful — something I had done in my previous career.

It was no longer about doing what we want, but rather more about doing what we can.

At that point, we had a meeting with our artists and decided to fully withdraw from our label and YouTube businesses.

“Business is Something You Do for Others”: Returning to the Origin of Our Mission

▍So you weren't that enthusiastic about it at the time.

To be honest, we were not.

I had been involved in agency business and our own media business at my previous job, so I didn't really want to do the same thing again.

However, when I actually started doing it, I was simply happy to receive orders from clients. Being thanked and relied upon was a feeling I hadn't experienced in a long time since starting my business, and it made me incredibly happy.

I had been involved in various businesses up until then, but most of them didn't make much money and only benefited a handful of people.

Through our current service, when I speak with clients, I see people who are actually struggling, and I listen to their desires and concerns, and help solve their problems.

Ultimately, I was reminded that “business is something you do for others.”  

Additionally, both Yuzuki, who was working with me, and I felt a sense of fulfillment.  

Especially since we had been building a team with members local to the US and Brazil from the start, we accumulated real-world information and marketing know-how that couldn't be obtained in Japan, which led to many people relying on us and feeling a sense of value in what we were doing. 

▍Nowadays, you provide support through various marketing measures, but what kind of service did you offer initially?

It was a simple service that involved having overseas influencers sing Japanese songs.

It was what is known as influencer marketing.

Then, about a year into switching to a consignment basis, from around the end of 2021, the service gradually morphed to its current form (comprehensive global marketing support through a combination of multiple marketing methods).

▍What sparked that change?

We received an offer from a leading Japanese entertainment company to support an artist who sings theme songs for world-famous anime.

At that time, we received our first annual contract. We decided to take on the entire year's worth of social media management and KOL marketing (*), which we had previously handled on an ad-hoc basis, and we realized that this type of support was in high demand.

*Key Opinion Leader, a marketing strategy that leverages influencers.  

Additionally, we have been conducting fanbase marketing — now one of our company's business divisions — since that time, analyzing the realities of fans worldwide. This has become the foundation for our services and business division, and we continue to accumulate unique expertise in this area.

Furthermore, the new song from that artist we supported gained significant global buzz. Through continuous referrals, we have had the opportunity to support many artists, ranging from indie artists to major artists who have completed successful Asian and world tours.

Recently, we have also been focusing on global-scale direct marketing through cross-border e-commerce and CRM centered around Shopify.

While terms like “digital,” “SNS,” “global,” and “buzz” are commonly heard, they alone are insufficient and superficial.  

We can implement these concepts by combining our expertise in global-scale customer management and cross-border e-commerce, which directly impacts sales, with fanbase marketing in collaboration with our members in various countries.  

Even for those who say, “EC isn't for us yet,” the perspectives of direct marketing and customer management can be fully leveraged, so we aim to promote these concepts while also raising awareness.

These days, while anyone can access basic analytics and tools for social media, we aim to continue providing support that informs decision-making across all levels — from the artist level to the management and business departments — by analyzing the voices of fans and stakeholders in each country, understanding those cultures and trends, and analyzing platforms and communities that are less familiar in Japan.

Alongside Business Growth, Providing Opportunities for Talent Worldwide

▍What are your plans for continued development moving forward?

I want to provide many opportunities for the next generation.

First, I want to provide more opportunities for Gridge staff to play a major role.

We currently have about 26 staff members, more than half of whom are J-POP fans living overseas, or more specifically, otaku.

I want to build a team of people who love Japan from around the world and create Gridge branches in each country to provide greater opportunities for local staff.

Additionally, we travel overseas every two to three months to meet with local labels, artists, influencers, and students to create such opportunities

While we get a feel for the potential and the dynamics of a country — its economy and its young people — we also often sense challenges that are not immediately apparent.  

We visit local universities and collaborate with them to host business plan competitions, so we can feel firsthand just how talented the local youth are. However, we clearly feel that there are few opportunities for them to shine.

▍You want to provide opportunities not only within the company but also to young people outside the company who will be the next generation.

That's right.

It's strange, but as we switched from doing what I wanted to do to providing our current service, I feel like a sense of mission has sprouted within me, separate from my desires.

Talking with young people around the world, I've realized that there are so many people who have the passion, skills, and potential, but can't shine because they don't have opportunities.

Seeing the current situation where they can’t fully utilize their abilities due to various constraints, I’ve come to think, albeit presumptuously, that we need to create opportunities for such young people.  

While this is separate from the company’s mission, I feel that as Gridge continues to grow and establish branches worldwide, providing opportunities to young people around the globe aligns perfectly with our vision. 

▍As the number of branches and staff increases worldwide, the scope of support for artists' global expansion will also expand.

The scope of support in areas other than music will also expand. We would like to provide more support for the travel, anime, and gaming industries.

In addition to supporting clients expanding internationally from Japan, we are also holding meetings with stakeholders in Europe, the US, and Asia to support clients expanding from overseas into Japan.

In fact, Japan's music market is very large on a global scale, ranking around 2nd or 3rd in the world, and there is significant demand from European and American artists looking to expand into Japan.

Japan still has a strong brand image beyond what Japanese people might think, but from the perspective of overseas business stakeholders, it remains a mystery.

In fact, we have been handling such cases for several months now, and we have heard many voices expressing interest in Japan. Going forward, we will actively support overseas artists in their marketing efforts targeting Japan and Asia.  

▍Finally, please tell us what kind of people you would like to work with.         

People who work as if it were their life.          

Of course, we value our customers and consumers, but we also value whether we ourselves are excited about our work. We want people who can enjoy their work without separating their on and off time.          

Next, we want people who can enjoy various sudden changes.          

In a global environment, it’s common for something that was “A” to suddenly become “B.” It’s not like “morning orders, evening changes,” but more like “morning orders, morning changes.”  

Also, adaptable people who are always learning and can naturally apply that learning in a business context.  

People who think about what customer success means and act accordingly — people who prioritize customer success.  

As I mentioned earlier, a business exists “for someone.”

We want people who can always think about and act on what it means to be “for the artist who is the client,” “for the fans who listen to the artist's music,” and then shape that into business activity.  

Some may ask, “Is it okay to do business in entertainment and music?” In my view, by monetizing through a replicable business model and passion, we can invest in creative aspects like music videos and sound production, as well as talent, thereby expanding the freedom and scope of expression.

The scale of financial competition is different on a global level. However, this doesn't mean it's all about money. In the entertainment industry, I believe the balance between aspiration and practicality is crucial.

Finally, I particularly want people with an entrepreneurial mindset to join us.

To establish branches overseas and build something from scratch, we need individuals with an entrepreneurial perspective and mindset.

If there are people capable of taking on leadership roles or representing different countries, we want to provide them with opportunities.

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How did you enjoy his story?

Gridge managed to get back on its feet through repeated challenges, failures, and comebacks.

Now, thankfully, we are receiving inquiries from many artists and companies.

But we still have a long way to go.

We are already taking on new challenges and will continue to do so tirelessly.

Our goal is to deliver innovative entertainment experiences worldwide and create a world where people can become engrossed in them.

At Gridge, we are seeking new members to join us in creating such a future!

Whether it’s a contractor role or a full-time position, 

If you are even slightly interested, we’d love for you to apply.

Thank you for reading until the end.