E-preneur James
Nakagawa was one of the first to exploit the wide open frontier of Japanese cyberspace.
His company, TWI Ltd., began pitching innovative, web-centric marketing strategies to
companies in the financial industry a few years ago and was recently named by ING Barings
as one of Japan' top start-up companies to watch. Hilary Hinds Kitasei asked him about the secrets of his
success.
James Nakagawa,
an e-preneur to watch
Photo by Hilary Hinds
Kitasei
What is your
business model for tapping web business in Japan?
Ginza Directory (www.ginzadirectory.com) was
our first foray into online business. The site was free - a bilingual directory of food,
bars and dining information. The first month we got 33,000 hits, and it just grew and
grew. We registered through search engines, blanketed in English and Japanese, linking it
to everything - "Ginza," "sushi," "Japan."
We expanded into offering information on the performance of mutual funds as we noticed a
complete lack of such services at the time. This portal served as a quick gateway into
advising and consulting traditional financial powerhouses on their strategies of shifting
existing business onto the Net.
You have said, "Make your site interesting and revenue will follow." But
what about profits?
In today's Internet market, if you make your site interesting enough and famous enough
then it will be attractive as takeover bait to larger Internet groups or it will be
absorbed into a larger portal. That is, the payout will be when the founder sells or IPOs
[takes the company public].
E-business does need to be profitable, but what I mean by profitable is that the gross
profits are re-invested into enhancing the site or upgrading the technology base. Thus,
most e-commerce sites are in the red even though they are generating significant revenues.
Without any breach of disclosure agreements with our clients, we can clearly state that we
are in the black. Our research and advising services are a cash cow alongside a stable
revenue flow from site creation and related businesses.
Are there regulations to navigate in setting up Web businesses in Japan?
Servicing mainly financial institutions in Japan, we are bound by Japanese general laws
and regulations. However, we face no regulations for operations centered on the net.
What service does your company actually perform?
While our main focus is on providing strategic advisory services at the decision-making
level, we are simultaneously involved in both creation and maintenance of our own sites as
well as providing such services to other sites.
How can you help other individuals or companies to develop their own online
business?
We are in the process of establishing a business channel which aims at servicing
individuals and businesses in meeting their online needs. In particular, we will meet the
specific needs of B2C (business to consumer) as well as B2B (business to business)
schemes.
Until then, you can solicit more advice from James Nakagawa at TWI Ltd., 79-2-407
Shimizu-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo174-0055, tel: 03-5375-3921, fax: 03-5375-3922.
