Akamai went broad because it was first. Fastly and Cloudflare had to pick a segment and own it. The public record on how that played out, in Japan and globally.

Both entered Japan within eighteen months of each other and both won. What separated them was the order in which they hired, not the product and not the funding.

Anaplan appointed one Japan leader and kept him in the seat for ten years. This is what that continuity did to the business, and why it is so rare.

The joint venture is a common way into Japan and a quietly risky one. What happened at Sprinklr, and the accountability questions to settle before signing.

How the Celonis Japan country seat was filled: a full market map scored against the brief, then a back-channel reference that decided it at the close.

Japan judges a new entrant on visible commitment. What nCino and Recorded Future each put in place on the way in, and how quickly the market responded to it.

Glean has appointed Shoji Ozawa as Country Manager for Japan. A look at how a fast-growing AI company builds its Japan business well before it has to.

Workday's turning point in Japan came from proving it was serious about the market. The specific commitments behind that message, and what they cost.

Asana and monday.com entered Japan at around the same time. Their hiring sequence, partner choices and leadership continuity took them to different places.

Zendesk entered Japan in 2013 and won SMB quickly. Enterprise took five more years, a patient build and a deliberate addition of senior leadership.

Two American cloud collaboration companies opened in Tokyo within a year of each other. A decade on, the smaller of the two owns the enterprise market.

Wiz went from a small founding presence to a substantial local organisation and a visible partner ecosystem in a short time. The sequence it used to do it.

Zscaler built its Japan business in two distinct stages, several years apart. The contrast between them shows how much more sequencing matters than headcount.

If you are hiring a Japan President to launch a business, settle one question first: does that leader have to create credibility, or can they inherit it?

Transformation is hard anywhere and harder for a challenger brand. In Japan it also runs against the status quo, which is a specific problem to solve.

How Recorded Future became the default threat intelligence brand in Japan, written by the person who helped place the leadership team that did it.

Splunk's five-year Japan rollout, from a small beachhead team to a full leadership bench and enterprise-scale revenue, read as a capital allocation decision.