"Entrepreneur's aspirations" to hear the background of deciding to start a business, the conflicts until the business gets on track, and the desires to realize through the business.
The 35th edition features Ms. Rie Yamamoto, CEO of EventHub lnc., who talked about her future business endeavors, and Nao Oishi, our investment member in charge, who provided her perspective on the company.
【Profile】
EventHub inc., Representative Director and CEO Rie Yamamoto
After graduating from the Department of Economics and the International Relations Program at Brown University in Rhode Island, USA, she joined the San Francisco branch of McKinsey & Company and engaged in projects in the financial, medical and public sectors. Seconded to Teach For Japan, a certified non-profit organization, while enrolled. Established EventHub lnc.. in 2016.
[What's EventHub, lnc.?]
Operation of the event marketing platform EventHub that supports highly engaged events and maximizes the effectiveness of corporate event marketing. It aims to create a world in which companies can meet and connect with appropriate customers as long as they disseminate their appeal and contents. As an important function for realizing the mission, API linkage started in January this year, and in the future, it plans to promote data linkage with tools in a wide variety of fields.
Event marketing that brings out the potential of companies
ーPlease tell us about the business of EventHub.
Yamamoto We operate the event marketing platform EventHub. In event marketing, the aim of which is to acquire leads and business negotiations through events and build stronger relationships with existing business partners, we provide support to facilitate activities and increase participant engagement to maximize sales effectiveness. Currently, we support online/offline /hybrid webinars and conferences for business companies.
One of our strengths is our ability to provide end-to-end support for event management. The support scope is not limited to event holding, but it also covers participant management functions from registration forms to post-event questionnaires, and lead management functions for participant behavior/viewing logs and dialogue. Since it is provided as a package rather than being customized for each customer, the service is highly stable and can be used on the same day. Since the flow line is not customized, the attrition rate of participants is low, and the result is that conversion increases.
- Originally, the service was for offline events, but in the early days of the corona crisis, it quickly shifted to online support. What factors helped you make quick decisions?
Yamamoto In the United States and ASEAN, webinars and virtual conferences have been held as a matter of course for some time.Having grown up abroad, I sometimes took part in online events. Therefore, I had been feeling that "the age of online is coming to Japan". Then the corona crisis came and it was obvious that all business would come to a halt, so we had no choice but to shift online. At that time, there were only a few employees and the business had just started, so it was an environment that made it easy to make decisions.
As a result, we received many inquiries due to the corona pandemic, and it was a good opportunity to put the service on track. The event participants from overseas increased to account for 10% to 15% of overall participants, and the foundation was laid for promoting the sarvice to overseas companies.
ーMs. Yamamoto, please tell us how you decided to start a business in the field of event marketing.
Yamamoto I was born in England and grew up in the United States, and I went to university and got a job in the United States. I used the secondment system of McKinsey & Company, my employer, to return to Japan. I was in charge of overseas marketing for Japanese companies. Later, I left the company and became a freelancer.
I felt that Japanese products were of very high quality but there was still room for improvement in PR and marketing. One month after I became involved in overseas marketing at a startup, the company was featured in 160 overseas media outlets and appeared on BBC radio, which made me realize once again the overseas potential of Japanese companies. If I can provide a chance to meet people and help companies overcome the language barrier and get grips with overseas business people, there is ample possibility.
As the population decreases due to the falling birthrate, Japanese companies will decline if they do not advance into overseas markets. When I thought about the best way to help prevent this from happening, I felt the potential of event marketing.
For example, the important thing in conveying a service that is not yet known is to let people know what kind of world view can be realized. In the case of websites and web advertisements, I think that in many cases, the attractiveness of the service cannot be conveyed only by reading the text for a few seconds and the appeal of the service is not fully conveyed.
On the other hand, event marketing is the only channel that allows customers to spend a certain amount of time and communicate the company's world view through dialogue and hands-on workshops. Even with cutting-edge products that are difficult to convey value to, I think it's easy for people to empathize with new values through hands-on workshops and dialogue. We believe that the appeal of event marketing is that companies can meet the customers they should meet because they can share their world view with such customers.
- Why did you choose the path of starting up a business?
Yamamoto When I work, I place great importance on how much society will move forward through my involvement. At the time, there were no entrepreneurs in this area in Japan. They often say "someone who notices will do it," but I thought that if I did it, it would help society move forward. I didn't particularly feel the risk of starting up a business. In this domain, there would have been about six people already doing business in the United States, so if I was living there, I don't think I would have launched a business (laughs).
Originally, I liked businesses with elements of "realism". Among the businesses I was involved in in the past, I preferred areas that were not limited to the web, such as hotel launches and space projects. I also had experience working abroad, so I was interested in services that transcend national borders. I didn't have any experience with events, but I thought that if I was going to do a business, it would be good to start in the area that I'm interested in, and that's what I'm doing now.
ーPlease tell us about the most difficult episode from the time you started your business.
Yamamoto In 2022, it was said that the headwind of returning offline would blow, and that the winter for startups would come in the United States, where startups would struggle to raise funds. In the midst of this, we hadn't raised any funds for a long time, so we felt a sense of crisis and strengthened cost cutting. Although we did not lay off employees, we had no choice but to make management decisions that were not positive, such as changing tools and parting with some outsourcing members.
JAFCO continuously believed in EventHub from a long-term perspective
Mr. Yamamoto and JAFCO investment member Nao Oishi (left)
- In November 2022, JAFCO took part as a lead investor in Series A round which raised 650 million yen in. Please tell us about your first encounter with JAFCO.
Yamamoto Actually, I first met JAFCO in 2016, right after the company was founded. After that, we exchanged information several times, but it was in 2020 that I met Ms. Oishi and Partner Isaka.
My first impression of Ms. Oishi was that she was a cute graduate hire. However, at the time, we had just finished a seed round and were not thinking about fundraising, but she continued to contact me, and my impression of her changed rapidly: "She is a surprisingly powerful and gutsy person." For the next two years, we met every two to three months to exchange information.
ーAs an investment professional, what appealed to you about EventHub?
Oishi When I first contacted her, I had only been in JAFCO for a month, so my perspective as an investment professonal was premature. When I saw the video of Ms. Yamamoto pitching, I intuitively thought, "I want to meet this person!" She was the type of leader that would make me want to join her company as a new graduate...Through our meetings, that impression grew stronger, and I could see a future where hundreds or even thousands of employees following Ms. Yamamoto.
Actually, I myself participated in a startup event on "EventHub" in my first year. Since I joined JAFCO during the corona crisis, I was frustrated because I didn't have the opportunity to communicate with entrepreneurs at real events. When I used "EventHub," various people contacted me, and I was able to send DMs and get 20 to 30 appointments. I still keep in touch with some of them I met then. Through such experience, I felt a desire to support the company, which aims to create a society where resources can be devoted to "essential work" and "rewarding work" through event marketing DX.
ーMs. Yamamoto, what made you decide to make JAFCO the lead investor?
Yamamoto In 2020, the market for online-related businesses was booming due to the coronavirus, and many VCs approached us. Among them, JAFCO contacted us from an early stage and continued to contact us even though there was no fundraising need. "Whether they believed in the potential of EventHub continuously from a long-term perspective" was the most important point for me when choosing investors, so when I started considering this round, the first thing I did was I consulted JAFCO.
Oishi I was relieved because I thought I was being a nuisance for contacting her many times (laughs). I was most enthusiastic about EventHub at JAFCO, so I'm glad I continued approaching while involving my boss.
-Please tell us what you expect from JAFCO in the future.
Yamamoto There are many (laughs). JAFCO has a coach in its business development support team, and I am looking forward to receiving coaching from him. Also, since startups have different recruitment and personnel issues for each phase, I would like to consult JAFCO on as-needed basis.
Towards a society where attractive products and companies can meet appropriate customers
Now that you have completed the fundraising, what are you planning for the future?
Yamamoto The first thing to do is recruiting. I would like to hire additional personnel for engineering, sales, and overseas expansion. In the medium to long term, I would like to provide support for attracting people to events and enable marketing that transcends language barriers through automatic translation functions.
In addition, in November 2022, we formed a capital and business alliance with Uzabase Inc., which operates NewsPicks, to focus on promoting video marketing. In recent years, BtoC businesses have focused on video and experiential marketing, and I believe that BtoB will probably follow suit. The more online events are held, the more video assets are accumulated, so we want to evolve EventHub into a platform based on 'video' and 'experience', like a video streaming service, where related videos are recommended and the more you listen to them, the deeper your understanding becomes.
ーMs. Yamamoto, what is your vision of the society you want to realize through your business?
Yamamoto It is a society where attractive products and companies can meet the right customers and acquire business leads. In fact, we have received feedback saying,"We were able to meet 10,000 potential customers by holding a conference on EventHub," and "We were able to hold business meetings with companies from overseas." We have also held our own webinars using EventHub, and the results have been positive, with a conversion rate of more than 30% and a survey collection rate of nearly 90%.
Marketing that makes full use of online communication is still in its infancy in Japan. If each company accumulates know-how and experiences, there is still room to increase the effect. My goal is to move society forward through that support.
-Finally, please give a message to all entrepreneurs.
Yamamoto It is important to find your own style without being bound by stereotypes such as "This type of person becomes an entrepreneur" or "An entrepreneur should be like this." People with leadership should lead everyone, and people who can show their weaknesses should manage with everyone's help. Looking at the entrepreneurs around you, there is no formula for successful entrepreneurs.
Growing up in the United States, I was always surrounded by people with different perspectives and backgrounds, so I know the benefits of a diverse environment. A standardized organization can run business more quickly, but in the future, it will not be possible to grow into a strong organization whis medium to-long-term perspective. As an entrepreneur, I think it vital to create an organization with a DNA that enables speedy collaboration while gathering diverse human resources. I hope see an increasing number of entrepreneurs who take on challenges while valuing their own axis.
Investment professional in charge: Comment from Nao Oishi
The online event market has grown rapidly due to the corona crisis and more companies have started webinars, etc., but from now on, we will enter the phase of moving to an upper layer; i.e., how to communicate with customers who really want to have contact among webinar participants and how to increase the rate of business negotiations and sales. EventHub will sure become an indispensable presence when strategically thinking about these issues and improving marketing efficiency. From the user's point of view, the ideal society is one in which people can obtain the information they want without barriers and can communicate across countries and regions. Ms. Yamamoto is a CEO who is also good at connecting companies and people globally, so I expect EventHub to play a leading role in realizing such a society.
