Two essential attitudes for the growth of a web director and the ability to grasp the essence - Interview with Masayoshi

[mdabuhasan]

On Tuesday, February 16th, Mynavi Creator will be holding an online seminar, Web Industry Evolution Practical Course #03, "Two keywords for web directors to grow that I learned from changing jobs."

The third installment of the "Web Industry Evolution Practical Course" will discuss the "desired talent" of web directors who want to be involved in large-scale projects in the future. Masayoshi Sano, CEO of SRI Co., Ltd. , who became independent as a web director , established a company, and worked in marketing at a major foreign company, will be the guest to talk about the perspectives to consider when thinking about your career.

In this interview just before the event, we asked Mr. Sano about his career industry email list history, his current job, and the future of web directors .

Profile Introduction

Masayoshi Sano,
CEO of SRI Inc. / Head of Career Center, Japan Direction Association

Born in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture in May 1978. After graduating from the Faculty of Engineering at Musashi Institute of Technology (now Tokyo City University), he worked in the construction industry for one year before moving to the IT industry. After experiencing BtoC business in EC (retail), he worked for a systems development company. He was in charge of various development projects such as web, smartphone apps, Facebook apps, and corporate in-house systems. After
that, he promoted web marketing business with O2O (OMO) as the core of his business, and experienced campaigns and new service development mainly for national clients such as retail and distribution (AEON Retail, Circle K Sunkus (now FamilyMart)) and restaurants (Lotteria). In May 2019, he established SRI Co. , Ltd. and developed web and IT-focused business such as marketing, CRM, campaigns, and new service development for major foreign restaurant companies, Nifty Lifestyle, and Excom Global.

By experiencing multiple fields of work, you can see the big picture
-- I heard that you worked in the construction industry after graduating from university. What kind of career path did you follow before moving into the IT industry?

Mr. Sano: I graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at university, so I applied to a construction company so I could make use of that experience. After joining the company, I worked mainly in construction management at a company that handled concrete structures such as roads and bridges.

My switch to the IT industry was triggered by an invitation from a friend. He was starting a venture dealing with e-commerce and asked me to help him. I had been working at a construction company for one year, but at that time I was feeling anxious about the future of the construction industry due to the earthquake resistance falsification issue and I was interested in IT, so I decided to change jobs without hesitation.

- Did you have any IT skills at that time?

Sano: No, I only used a PC to report from the field and create documents. I learned site production and marketing from scratch and gained experience by practicing in the field. I started by creating pages with CMS, and eventually I was in charge of directing the production of new sites.

After working at my friend's company, I changed jobs to two other companies. One was a system development company. They took on a wide range of development projects, such as websites and smartphone apps, and I was in charge of direction and project management (PM).

The other was a web marketing company, where I directed an owned media promotion project, mainly for national clients, and ultimately managed the entire project as an account salesperson.

I then went independent as a freelance web director in 2016, and founded SRI Inc. in 2019, where I continue to work today.

-- What kind of business does SRI Inc. conduct?

Sano: I am developing my business with the aim of expanding my clients' businesses through web marketing, consulting, new service development, etc. I can say that I am just putting into practice the experiences I have gained up until now.

-- Indeed, you have experience in a wide range of work, from direction and system development PM to account sales.