This time, I would like to share the background behind SOPHOLA’s ongoing new business development and what I call our “Second Founding Phase.”

Until now, SOPHOLA’s core business has centered on consulting and outsourcing services that leverage cutting-edge overseas marketing technologies. This business model is something I originally built during my previous role, and SOPHOLA remains the only company in Japan that specializes in this exact approach. (It is similar to Gaprise’s early model when they brought SimilarWeb from Israel into the Japanese market.)

There are several advantages to this model:

• We can introduce the world’s most advanced solutions to the Japanese market ahead of others, particularly in fast-evolving technology fields.

• Our initial development investment is minimal, allowing us to avoid the common risk of “building a product that ends up unused.”

• By selecting tools with strong competitive advantages over domestic alternatives, we can compete with a higher probability of success.

However, through more than ten years of working within this model, several structural challenges have also become clear:

• When a tech partner’s executive team changes, product direction, services, or pricing can suddenly shift, ultimately causing inconvenience to our Japanese clients.

• Even when we provide feedback on what the Japanese market needs, final decision-making authority rests entirely with the partner, leaving our position relatively weak.

• We are dependent on partners for sales, marketing, support, and documentation, yet we often cannot receive the speed or quality required—again resulting in client-side impact.

• Cultural differences—such as Japan’s emphasis on not burdening clients versus other cultures’ tendency to prioritize their own interests—can create friction and damage trust.

After years of confronting these challenges, I came to believe it was time for SOPHOLA to build a new business foundation that can address these structural weaknesses. This is the motivation behind our “new business development and Second Founding Phase.”

The core of this Second Founding Phase is simple but fundamental:

unlike before, we will develop all products and services entirely in-house.

By doing so, we can structurally resolve the issues we have long faced—lack of decision-making authority, cultural misalignment, delays in execution, and inconsistencies in service quality.

Building a system that does not depend on external partners allows us to take full responsibility for our clients and ensures that our values are reflected directly and consistently in our business.

We are currently developing several new in-house projects, though I will not go into detail here yet. What I can say is that this direction will allow SOPHOLA to strengthen the trust we have built over the years and create a long-term structure capable of protecting both our clients and partners.

For me, tech partners, clients (including agencies), and SOPHOLA itself are all “people.”

There are, of course, many times when I cannot respond perfectly due to my own limitations. But precisely because of that, acting without integrity—or failing to honor the relationships built with others—will inevitably come back to me someday. I believe this strongly.

This is why, regardless of the size of the offer, I have no intention of selling SOPHOLA (unless extraordinary circumstances involving my family forced me to close the business). I would never betray the people who have supported us. I have always—and will always—choose to act with sincerity.

To build an environment where we can continue to value people in this way, SOPHOLA will move forward into its Second Founding Phase through new, fully self-developed businesses.

SOPHOLA Inc.
Founder & CEO
Masaki Iino

P.S. Our “new business” is not actually bamboo craft.
I just cut some bamboo because I’m planning to make a bench with my kids. (Laughs)