Since its founding, JAFCO has pioneered a new era together with its stakeholders by committing to creating new businesses that society needs.
In this edition, we feature JAFCO's HR support for MOON-X Inc., a company in which we invested in October 2019, which operates its own brands and promotes brand growth through co-creation M&A. Takayuki Nishinaka of the Business Development Division, Tatsuya Nagaoka from the Investment Division, Shin Hasegawa, CEO of MOON-X Inc., and Nobuyuki Ishii, Head of HR of MOON-X Inc., will talk about the details of the support when it started.
【Profile】
MOON-X Inc. Shin Hasegawa, Co-founder/CEO
Mr Hasegawa grew up in Seattle, USA from the age of 2 to 9. Graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Kyoto University and captained the University's handball club. Joined Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance in 2000 and engaged in corporate sales. Spent 10 years at P&G where he oversaw marketing and management for Pampers, Gillette, Braun and SK-II. After that, as a senior executive officer of Rakuten, he was in charge of global and domestic group-wide marketing. In 2015, he became the CEO of Facebook Japan,and while he was in service, Instagram's MAU increased from 8.1 million to 33 million. Founded MOON-X Inc. in August 2019. His latest book is "One-Page Thinking with Results Now" (Diamond Publishing).
MOON-X Inc. Nobuyuki Ishii, Head of HR
As a new graduate, he joined Minagin, a consulting company in the field of personnel and labor affairs, and experienced temporary staffing for the manufacturing industry, marketing, branch office & new business launch (personnel consulting business, etc.). After Minagin, he joined DMM.com where he experienced new business launch support, subsidiary PMI, and HRBP in charge of marketing headquarters. He became the HRBP manager who oversees the HR area of all 50 businesses. In November 2022, he was appointed as MOON-X's HR Manager.
[What's MOON-X Inc.?]
MOON-X was started by Mr. Hasegawa, who saw great potential in "manufacturing" that enriches people's lives while at P&G, and "technology" such as digital purchasing experience and information dissemination using platforms, which he experienced at Rakuten and Facebook. Since its founding in 2019, it has gathered professional human resources with various experiences under the mission "Launch Pads for Brands and People" and accelerated its efforts to build brands that are loved by many people, enrich the lives of customers, and contribute to the development of local and Japanese economies by launching and nurturing its own brands, supporting DX for other brands, and conducting co-creation M&A (*).
* The M&A approach advocated by MOON-X aiming for further leaps and continuous growth of a brand by bringing together the strengths of the two parties to become"ONE Team," rather than an approach where one party is absorbed by the other.
The mission set by MOON-X is "Lanch pads for brands and people." What is JAFCO's HR support for the realization?
─First of all, I would like to ask you about the background and motivation behind the founding of MOON-X. I heard that your desire to work passionately is behind it.
Hasegawa That 's right. When I was in university, I was the captain of the varsity handball club where I spent precious time full of joy that made me cry whether I won or lost. That deep sense of fulfillment and the feeling of wanting to gather friends and working hard at full speed have become the starting point of my work and the founding of MOON-X.
Mr. Shin Hasegawa, President and CEO of MOON-X Inc.
─MOON-X operates its own brand and promotes brand growth through co-creation M&A. You are developing your business based on "brands." Please tell us why you focused on "brands."
Hasegawa When I was the CEO of Facebook Japan, my previous job, I visited all over Japan as part of a regional revitalization project, and I realized that Japanese manufacturing is amazing.
Of course, the goods themselves are attractive, but the attitudes and techniques of the people involved are very meticulous, and I thought it was wonderful.
However, on the other hand, I felt that people who are engaged in manufacturing focus on making things, so they sometimes don't have time to "disseminate" or "spread" information. Therefore, we founded MOON-X, thinking that by combining the power of digital technology, we could create a big impact.
Nishinaka Mr. Hasegawa's passion is also reflected in MOON-X's culture. The desire to work passionately is reflected in MOON-X's values of "speed fanatics" and "WE are FAMILY," while the desire to spread the brand by leveraging the power of technology is reflected in the mission "Launch Pads for Brands and People".
Takayuki Nishinaka in charge of business development at JAFCO
─I heard that you had a connection with JAFCO even before the founding of MOON-X. Please tell us about the situation at that time and how you started HR support.
Hasegawa We founded MOON-X in August 2019, and even before that, we had been discussing business ideas and directions with JAFCO. About three months after the founding, JAFCO, together with other individual investors, invested more than 1 billion yen in our company, and was also involved in hiring the founding members. Since I had received such support from before the company was founded, when I had an issue related to HR, I immediately consulted with JAFCO.
─When JAFCO started providing HR support again (around August 2020), what kind of challenges did you have as a MOON-X organization?
Hasegawa At that time, I felt that "strengthening the system" was an issue.
At the beginning, my co-founder Shioya, myself, and several other founding members were involved in brand operations, but we needed a core member responsible for the core business of MOON-X in order to scale the business.
In particular, MOON-X, as a brand portfolio company, needed someone with a willingness to acknowledge a brand's mission as their own and run the brand by themselves. However, at that time, we lacked resources for hiring, so JAFCO helped us with recruitment-related work.
The attitude of being more frustrated than myself changed to trust
─From around August 2020, JAFCO's HR support for MOON-X's "strengthening the system" began. Specifically, what kind of support did you provide?
Nishinaka While "strengthening the system" was an issue, MOON-X at that time was also in the phase of "concentrating on the business." So while thinking how we can you create a situation where MOON-X can concentrate on its business, JAFCO took on the role of a recruiter, talked to about 30 people in the first interview, and eventually managed to hire several people in the business manager class.
─Were there any difficulties in supporting recruitment for MOON-X?
Nishinaka As Mr. Hasegawa himself leads a professional life, with strong preferences even in his private life, it was difficult to find a high-level character that he wished to hire.
At first, there was a plan to ask Mr. Hasegawa, who understands the importance of hiring, to be the first interviewer, but I thought that if he did that, the business would not be able to run, so JAFCO decided to take charge of document screening to the first interview and ask Mr. Hasegawa to take charge of the final interview.
Ishii I also joined MOON-X after going through an interview with Mr. Nishinaka, but halfway through, I turned down the offer. In my previous job, I was an HR manager at a company with nearly 4,000 employees. I was looking for a company with 200-300 employees for my next job, but MOON-X was still in the early stage. I declined Mr. Nishinaka's offer because there was a gap with the image I was looking for.
Mr. Nobuyuki Ishii, Human Resources Manager MOON-X Inc.
─Even so, you later went to MOON-X for an interview, and now you are a manager responsible for human resources. What was the background to that change of mind?
Ishii It is the carefulness and passion in the selection process, such as the skill of attracting interviewees and setting up a casual interview with an employee as part of the follow-up after the interview. During the interview, we mainly discussed my career at MOON-X, and Mr. Nishinaka used a presentation material to talk about MOON-X's future prospects, the opportunities that would arise, resultant benefits for my career, etc., and he spoke in a very detailed manner. His passion made me wonder what kind of company MOON-X was, and started to consider joining.
Nishinaka MOON-X's business is symbolized by keywords such as brand and M&A. Therefore, it was difficult to convey the uniqueness and attractiveness of its business only through document information. When interviewing applicants, I tried to convey the background and thoughts behind the document.
In addition, MOON-X seeks people who can think and act on their own. During the interviews, I kept in mind how the applicant's own career direction, skills, and mindset could contribute to MOON-X's growth.
─Looking back on HR support you've received so far, are there any episodes that left an impression on you?
Hasegawa At the beginning, there was this person who turned down our offer. Mr. Nishinaka was more persistent towards him than I was, and he was even more frustrated than I was when we couldn't hire them. His enthusiasm was shocking to me.
Nishinaka Well, he was a very attractive person, so it was very disappointing.
Hasegawa Of course, it is important to hire people and increase the number of members, but more than that, it is important for the growth of the company to have the newly hired members play an active role and raise the level of the business and organization over the medium to long term.
The member who is currently working as the head of the CEO office and Nobu (Mr. Ishii) here, who is the human resources manager, did not have their current positions in mind at their interviews, but Mr. Nishinaka insisted that these positions are necessary for MOON-X to grow, so I decided to hire them. When I see them doing great jobs now, I think JAFCO has given me support that has an impact that cannot be expressed simply by the number of people we have hired.
In MOON-X, we called him "Nishinaka General HR Manager"
─How did Mr. Nagaoka from the Investment Division and Mr. Nishinaka from the Business Development Division work together to provide support?
Tatsuya Nagaoka JAFCO's investment member
Nagaoka Usually, our investment members work on the front lines of portfolio companies to collaborate with BD members, but I entrusted HR support to Mr. Nishinaka with a sense of security and trust that I used to even hear from Mr. Nishinaka what was happening at MOON-X. Also, the reason I first consulted Mr. Nishinaka about HR support was because Mr. Nishinaka himself was once a member of the Investment Division. I was able to consult with him at ease because he has both a manager's perspective and an on-site HR perspective.
Hasegawa We often hear the phrase "put oneself in someone's shoes", but there are not many people who can truly do so. JAFCO, including Mr. Nishinaka, works to ensure that the people it hires play an active role and increase corporate value. JAFCO shares the same passion from the standpoint of management and provided support from the perspective of what is necessary for the organization. Of course, recruiting agents also provide recruitment support, but their roles and objectives are structurally different from VC support for portfolio companies, so I believe that both are important partners. Mr. Nishinaka coordinated with such agents and supported us as the "core" recruitment member.
That's why, half-jokingly, half-seriously, we sometimes called Mr. Nishinaka "Nishinaka General HR Manager" at internal meetings.
Continue to be "Launch Pads for Brands and People"
─Finally, please tell us about your next goals for MOON-X.
Hasegawa Well, having raised funds in 2022, we believe that 2023 will finally be the phase in which we will accelerate the realization of our mission "Launch Pads for Brands and People" through co-creative M&A.
Regarding recruitment, MOON-X is a brand portfolio company, so there are many positions where you can experience actual management. In that sense, I am very much looking forward to recruiting excellent human resources as the business expands and seeing such members grow significantly.
Ishii We expect to hire dozens of people this year. As the Manager of the Human Resources Department, I would like to build a follow-up system that will allow new members to contribute to business growth as quickly as possible.
Nishinaka When considering a career, ``what to do'' is important, but ``who to work with'' is also a very important theme. I think MOON-X is perfect for those who want to devote all their efforts to work. If you feel the same, please take a look at MOON-X.
Nagaoka MOON-X is a group of professionals in each field, but at the same time, it is also a team that works closely together to achieve a common mission. I think it is entering such a reproducible state that it can continue to produce results as a result. I think now is probably the time when its employees can have the most intense experience. JAFCO remain committed as a partner to realize the MOON-X's mission to allow it to achieve a breakthrough.
